Lose weight, gain life

Dr Douglas Street, Contributor

Recently, we spoke about the hazards of obesity, but how do you lose weight and how much weight should one lose?

There are a lot of books, articles, advice and programmes out there about weight loss, but still there are a lot of persons who feel imprisoned by obesity and seem powerless to emancipate themselves. Let us take hold of the keys that will help to set you free.

We spoke about the BMI (body mass index) and this will guide us as to how much weight to lose. We should aim for a BMI of 20-25 as the appropriate weight will vary according to height. We should ideally have a doctor's check-up so as to find out firstly if there is any underlining problem which may contribute to obesity, such as an eating disorder or depression.

We should resist the temptation to lose weight quickly for a number of reasons. First of all, easy go, easy come. Persons that lose weight quickly tend not to keep it off. If our weight has been stable for a while, then our bodies will tend to bring our weight back to that weight.

Second, it is important to adopt lifestyle changes that are sustainable and, when we lose weight quickly, we tend not to get used to the changes and we tend to go back to our old habits leading us back to where we started. We should aim for one to two pounds weekly. Weight loss produces a lot of harmful substances so we should not have our weight swinging up and down from crash diets. Slow and steady is best.

REDUCE CALORIC INTAKE

We basically lose weight by reducing our caloric intake from our foods and increasing our level of physical activity, such as by appropriate exercise. To reduce our caloric intake we should have less processed foods and have wholegrain foods (like brown rice) and fruits and vegetables instead and lesser quantities of food.

Also, get a greater portion of your proteins from plants (peas, beans and nuts). These tend to have less fat and also keep you feeling full longer. We should also have less food and drinks with sugar added. Have a fruit and a glass of water instead of drinks or juice. And of course, we should cut down on fatty foods such as fried foods, butter, margarine, gravy and cheese.

Dr Douglas Street is a general practitioner and has private practices at Trinity Medical Centre, Trinity Mall at 3 Barnett Street in Montego Bay, and Omega Medical Centre at Plaza de Negril, Negril. Send feedback to drdougstreet@yahoo.com.