stress, metabolism and weight loss

Since I'm on a weight loss kick at the moment, I thought I'd post a few thoughts on the subject. I'm a little hesitant to do it, ultimately it's not something that really matters and in the game of weight loss, women often feel very beaten (when the playing field was never level to begin with...) But anyway, here are a few ideas.

1. Weight loss and stress
Most women fall into one of two categories: stress eaters and stress non-eaters. Me, I'm a stress eater. Put me under a bit of pressure and that block of chocolate, tub of ice-cream, or loaf of bread looks irresistible. My stress non-eater friends assure me that their plight is pretty bad, but I wouldn't mind it occasionally (They tell me that they get anxious and can't eat and later because their stomachs are so empty the thought of food makes them nauseous, so they continue not eating, and just feel sicker and sicker...) Unsurprisingly, stress non-eaters tend towards being underweight, and stress eaters tend towards being overweight. It's not rocket science.

But what this means is that it's very difficult to lose weight if you are stressed. A friend of mine has put on considerable weight in the last few years. She has a very high maintenance family (no, worse than you are thinking) as well as other significant pressures. To label her as greedy or undisciplined because of her current waist circumference would be unfair.

So, unless you're a stress non-eater, you'll lose weight best when you feel some degree of calm and contentment about yourself and life. This will be a considerable hurdle for many of us. (An aside: ever notice how being told that you're chubby doesn't make it easier to lose weight? It causes stress and makes that mud cake all the more appealing!)

2. Weight loss and metabolism
I read up on this last night and am pretty taken with it. Hope it's useful to you.

Our resting metabolism (which is the amount of energy we use when we're doing nothing) is dependent on the amount of lean muscle we have in our bodies. The more muscular we are, the more energy we use, simply because it burns a lot of kilojoules just to maintain muscles. So if you have a slow metabolism (if you put on weight easily), you could increase it by getting a bit more muscular. If you want to lose weight, the most efficient exercise to do is weight training. If you walk you'll burn kilojoules while you're out walking, but if you do weights, you'll burn the energy while you're working out and your metabolism will increase and you'll continue to burn the kilojoules during the day.

Now here's what was new to me. When we lose weight, we lose it from fat AND muscle. If we only diet and don't exercise, we will lose weight at first but pretty soon our weight loss will decrease because our metabolism has slowed because our overall amount of muscle has decreased. So if you diet for a couple of weeks without doing any exercise you could end up with less muscle and a slower metabolism - resulting in weight gain reasonably soon. Interesting, huh?

3. Weight loss and the future
It's not a competition. The person who dies the thinnest doesn't win. (In a hundred years time none of our bodies will have much flesh on them.) The person who averages the lowest BMI over their lifetime doesn't win either. Actually, how much we weigh is something of an irrelevancy in the eternal scheme of things. Most women worry about their weight far too much. And because of point #1, such worry is counterproductive. We need to be more concerned about loving Jesus and serving our neighbours and families than we are about our dress size.

If you're interested in a much more thorough look at dieting - check out these posts on Jean's blog.

some wisdom

"When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise." Proverbs 10:19

So why am I blogging?

Thoughtlessness

If it were possible to ingest one's own foot
I'd have done it.
My soapbox against your latest passion,
Claims that pants like that are out of fashion.
I forgot your birthday, called your mum a cow.
If feet were smaller, I'd have swallowed one by now.

Clueless doesn't nearly sum it up.
I'm the friend you can trust to say
the One Wrong Thing.
Call for winter weather in the spring,
Suggest the cake you've eaten is enough,
I deliver insults off the cuff.

Tact is not my gift.
Diplomacy, poise all escape me
and toenails scratch my heart.
Still, as I make thoughtlessness an art,
know that this is true:
My thoughts are never far away from you.

SAR 2008

It's amazing...

...how quickly an idea can become an obsession.

Joy

Joy is an island surrounded by a sea of fear.

sar