Weight Loss Law

June 3. 2012

Previously, I may have hopped up on the soapbox about weight loss … well, here I go again!  The Yahoo Home page recently had an interesting article –  ‘Fat Forecast: 42% of Americans Obese by 2030’.  Huh, so not even 20 years from now it is assumed that every other person you look at will be OBESE.  And, no that does not mean “a little fluff or slightly soft”, but OBESE.  Unfit, over fat, and on a slippery slope towards medical disorders and financial ruin.  The report also predicts that the proportion of Americans who are severely obese, meaning more than 100 pounds overweight, will reach 11 percent, about double the current rate.  Although the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shared this alarming report with us they did not solve the problem or diagnose the epidemic.  Who could?  The problem is personal. We all enjoy eating right? Food is essential; food is fun; food is yummy; food is critical for life.   

The reasons for weight gain are numerous and the opportunities to eat are infinite. To eat is a primary need and the U.S. is (fortunately) not short of resources when it comes to food.  The problem really does not lie in our ability to eat, does it?  I think not.  So then, I repeat the simple Law of Weight loss.  Ready!  Calories in = calories out!   

Any able bodied athlete, fitness instructor, nutritionist, Personal Trainer, and Doctor will tell you the Law of Thermodynamics. If you eat more calories than you burn off … the excess is stored as fat.  And I promise you that our bodies are fat saving machines when given the opportunity. 

Ok let’s put it on paper; your body has a natural metabolism that is the basic number of calories it takes to maintain life.  Unless you’re in a coma, your body is always active.  Now then, your basic metabolism or Basic Metabolic Rate is the number of calories you need to consume on a daily basis so that your body does not begin a process called catabolism.  This breakdown of molecules into smaller ones (resulting in energy) is your body feeding on itself.  Not a good thing.  But back to the paper, food is your friend and we really should eat AT LEAST our BMR.  OK. Now that is enough calories to sustain basic bodily functions, so everything else is additional.  Walking, working, thinking, laughing, exercising … all burn some number of calories.   

Back on the soapbox … America has a weight problem!   

Love to talk more about this with you and invite you to contact me today. We can look at your goals or develop a personal plan of action. 

In good health, 

Bob 

“Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the beach ….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You tried on last years swimsuit …”