Weight loss: Fit Not Slim

Are you on a roller-coaster ride to losing weight? The scales tip a 60 kg today, two weeks later you are lighter by 5 kgs, but to your dismay three weeks later, you find that you are touching 65 kgs. Experts believe that this kind of a seesaw does more damage to your psyche than the extra weight does on your health.

How can you prevent this from happening? The key is not to focus on your weight alone as a criteria for good health. Concentrate on staying fit, not thin and create a well-balanced body. Have you noticed that those who follow quick weight loss programmes succeed in losing weight, but they also lose their good looks and temper. They look drawn and haggard, feel irritable, tired and cranky. Their skin does not get sufficient underlying tissue and consequently, gets wrinkled, losing its elasticity and shine.

Nutritionists believe that metabolic or aerobic fitness is a better indicator of physical health than body weight. This means that regardless of what you weigh, your blood pressure, blood glucose and blood cholesterol levels are within normal levels – this puts you at low risk for developing heart disease, the leading killer of both men and women today. Aerobic fitness is also a better indicator of health than body weight. Recent studies have found that it is better to be fat and fit than skinny and unfit. One study followed 10,000 men for eight years and found that overweight men who were aerobically fit had a much lower death rate than the thin guys who were unfit.

Another study found that obese women who walked on a treadmill for 45 minutes for 6 months reduced their blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose to normal levels without actually losing weight. They were still fat at the end of the study but were aerobically and metabolically fit.

A golden rule to remember is that being obese is not your fault. Obesity is a disease and not a question of overeating or lack of exercise. It is because of medical ignorance and a lack of nutritional knowledge that you are fat, which may have accumulated over the years. How can you expect to lose it instantly? Concentrate on the long-term goal of achieving a fit and active lifestyle, rather than the short-term one of shedding excess fat.

Feeling good and positive about yourself is another aspect of good health. Unfortunately chronic dieting and an obsession with weight control makes it hard to have a positive self image. After all, don’t most diets aim to cut your "ugly flab" or reduce your "thunder thighs." Using adjectives like this make you feel ashamed of your body and project a negative self-image. Remember that healthy bodies come in all shapes and sizes and learning to like the way you are is the best remedy for staying healthy. So don’t let the scales dictate your life. Finally, it’s up to you to be healthy and happy.