“Think”: a Little “Respect” for Me

Last month, I reported on a long-term Harvard study tracking almost 70,000 women over 16 years. The researchers reported a statistically significant relationship between getting five or less hours of sleep a night and weight gain. The sleep-skimpers had a 32% greater chance of gaining more than 30 pounds over the 16-year study period.



When I look back on it, I have to admit that sleep-skimping probably was a contributing factor to my gaining 38 pounds over a 15-year span (see my last blog entry). First came love. Then came marriage. Then came Jean with the baby carriage. I was working full time, taking care of the house without help and required to take graduate courses to retain my job. There were not enough hours in the day for sleep! Or for healthy eating. Plus there was probably a good bit of stress eating going on.



Musing on all this brings to mind snippets of two great Aretha Franklin songs.



Think

“You better think (think, think) about what you're trying to do to me

Yeah, think (think, think) let your mind go, let yourself be free.”



I need to think about what I am doing to myself if I don’t watch my weight.



Respect

“R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Find out what it means to me

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Take care, TCB” (take care of business).



And the business I need to take care of is me.



Tags: weight creep, Aretha Franklin, moderation

Fooling Oneself over Weight Creep

It’s so easy to fool oneself as excess pounds pile on gradually. “It’s just water weight gain. It’ll be gone tomorrow” or “I definitely overdid it this weekend; but I’ll get back on track tomorrow … or the next day” or “I can’t help it if my job includes so many social functions and business lunches.”



One or two pounds a year take several years to force you to go up a size. I speak from experience. I remember as if it were yesterday the wake-up call my doctor gave me after watching me waddle down his office corridor looking like a stuffed sausage. I refused to admit I needed to move up to a size 14 (which is probably today’s 16).



He sat me down in his office and said, “I notice from your records that you’ve been gaining a couple of pounds a year. It’s really time to do something abut it.” I was so mortified that I started a sensible diet that very day. Within a year, I had lost 38 pounds and was back to my wedding weight. That was such a powerful lesson to me that I’ve maintained my ideal weight (plus or minus five pounds) for 25 years.



Now my diet mantra is “Everything in moderation.” I don’t deprive myself of my favorite foods. I weigh myself daily and if that needle shows two extra pounds, I monitor my food intake more carefully for a few days.



I know that if I don’t keep an eye on the scale, the pounds could easily pile back on and I wouldn’t be fooling anybody but myself! Find some of my favorite diet tips here.



Tags: weight creep, weight watching, moderation

Daily Weigh-In: I Told You So

A recent study led by Rena Wing, PhD, Director of the Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center at The Miriam Hospital and Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown Medical School in Rhode Island, found that subjects who reached their goal weight and subsequently monitored their weight with daily weigh-ins were 82% more likely to maintain their weight loss. They were advised to note a weight gain of three pounds and to restart their weight loss measures if the gain grew to five pounds.



Ah-ha! This was one of the anti-aging tips I gave in the August 2005 issue of What’s New in Ageless Beauty.



FYI, here are two other anti-aging tips I stand by from that newsletter.



1. Buy the book, Younger Next Year: A Guide to Living Like 50 Until You’re 80 and Beyond. The thought I left with is that so much of what we usually think of as necessary negative aspects of aging is really not necessary. The authors explain how vigor and vitality are possible as we age, and how so much illness in later life is the consequence of an unhealthy lifestyle.



2. Calculate your Body Fat Percentage (BFP) every six months or so. It encourages you if you are in the normal range and, when you’re above the normal range, it might just motivate you enough to focus more on resistance work. Did you know that studies show you can dramatically improve health and mobility even into your eighties with a minimal strength training program?



Tags: antiaging tips, healthy Body Fat Percentage, Younger Next Year