Quick Fixes

As an American, I am as guilty or guiltier than 95% of my fellow Americans (and probably western societies) of wanting a quick fix. With respect to the diet and exercise thing, though, I am convinced there are no safe, sustainable quick fixes.

I was watching Oprah at one point when she was having a show about weight issues. Truth be told, in some ways I identify a lot with Oprah. She is so successful in so many areas of her life, but she struggles mightily with weight. She has become the poster child of the yo yo diet movement. On one particular show I watched of hers, she basically said the following (I wish I could provide you with the exact quote, so please forgive my paraphrase):

I am one of the richest people in the world. I have spent a ton of money on trying to lose weight. There are no magic pills or diet products which will magically make you lose weight and allow you to continue eating whatever you want. Trust me, I have the money and if I could buy this mythical product I would. And please save your money, if I find this magic pill I will tell you about it. But it doesn't exist.

Today I was in the hallway at work. One of the people I don't see much paid me a random compliment, which I appreciated. "It's like you're a completely different person. You don't even look the same anymore." She proceeded to tell me that she was going to start the HCG diet. I don't know much about it, but I think that anything that promises such huge results and requires such an immediate and drastic overhaul is not such a great recipe for success and is unlikely to be sustainable. However, that is not the point of this post.

The person told me "You know, I have done WW before, but I just don't have the patience. I don't want to have the choice to eat whatever I want." For me, that is the hardest but most worth it point of WW, counting calories, or just living healthy. It is all about balance, but I do enjoy and appreciate the fact that I can eat whatever I want, albeit not as often and often not in the quantities I would like.

As I have written before, I don't think this is a journey with a finish line. I don't think this is something you can try hard at for 2 weeks or 2 months or even 2 years and then just do a victory lap. I think this -- healthy living and staying at a reasonable weight -- is something you do for the rest of your life. This is why the phase after losing is called "maintenance." Maintaining your weight takes effort, just like maintaining your car or your house. It isn't autopilot.

It makes me simultaneously sad and angry when people think they will do something magical and all this weight will fall off and life will be glorious. It really just doesn't work like that. Losing weight takes an emotional commitment and changes to the way you eat and/or move. There are no quick fixes. Period. And even if there were, I am not sure how that would work emotionally. It seems like that would cause secondary issues and unintended consequences.

Food Ignorance

I am a researcher. This is what I do, day in and day out. Research is a large portion of my job. I research things in my personal life too -- reading reviews before I buy almost anything of consequence, making spreadsheets with my nerd friends to plan our Disney vacation. I am a born researcher.

It should come as no surprise that I like to read about weight loss, living healthy, and exercise now. Almost anything I do of significance, I research. While I don't expect or think it is at all reasonable for others to do this, it sometimes really shocks (and very much saddens) me when people who are trying to lose weight have no idea what is going on with their bodies or with the food they put in their bodies.

Commence rant.

I was at a restaurant the other day and I overheard someone talking about my gym. It caught my attention and I began eavesdropping. One of the ladies was also giving a glowing review of the gym to someone who was considering joining. The lady giving the recommendation was quite large, although not as large as I was when I started this journey (if I had to guess, she was about 250). While she did mention that the equipment was in good shape, the main reasons she gave our gym the thumbs up were the interior decoration and the smoothie bar.

"You should really try this one smoothie. It tastes like a Snickers bar! That way I can have something sweet and not feel deprived!" I wanted to scream! Those smoothies at the smoothie bar are probably delicious. I don't know, I have not had one. The reason why is because they have about 400-600 calories each. Even the "light" smoothie has 250 calories. No thanks. A snickers bar has 270 bar. I of course kept my mouth shut.

It just made me sad. I see people trying their darndest to lose weight with all of these misguided attempts! A 600 calorie smoothie won't really do you any favors in losing weight, even if it has protein added and is sold at a health club. Neither will limiting your entire daily consumption to 800 calories and pushing your body into starvation mode. I hate how society has made eating healthy something mystical. It makes simultaneously angry and sad how ignorant people can be (probably myself included) about living healthily and eating right. Although this is not really rocket science, we have made it so.