Commit to a Healthy Weight
- The Bad News:80% of all diets fail after 1 year.
- The good news is 20% succeed in keeping the weight off.
- The recidivism rate for commercial programs is a lot higher.
I believe the reason for failure is a commitment to a short term goal, not the life time commitment to a healthy weight. Healthy weight is a long journey. Slow and steady is the winning strategy.
Like any project, let's start with a list of tools:
Strategies
Know your BMI
BMI (Body Mass Index) the favorite index of insurance companies, is a function of your height vs. weight. It is a fair approximation of your health and life expectancy. It is a good number to know and is a good motivator to lose and keep the weight off. There are BMI calculator available on the web. I have one listed in the Foot Notes. The "Calorie King" lists the BMI values in relation to health risk.Know your BMR
Your BMR (Basic Metabolic Rate) is a measure of the calories you burn daily just to maintain life. There are several calculators on the web to estimate what yours should be. The calculation is a bit complex and is an estimation. A true measure of your BMR requires sitting in a Plexiglas box doing nothing but breathing in oxygen and expelling carbon dioxide. If you are a true data freak, like me, you can get a good estimation from measuring your caloric intake, caloric expenditure and change in weight over time.BMR changes with diet as well as weight
If your dietary intake is less then your BMR, then three things happen.- Your BMR will lower and
- You will not want do anything and
- You will be bitchy.
- Keep your caloric intake above your BMR, but below your caloric expenditures.