Weight loss headache: When weight loss turns tragic
You probably know the usual weight loss advice by heart: Eat less and move more. Depending on how you got overweight, the journey down the weight pedestal is never an inspiring one. All of a sudden it is always about getting it done as fast as possible. And therein lay pitfalls, from dangerous weight loss pills to surgeries conducted by quacks.
Lilian* is a career civil servant in the government of South Sudan. When we meet for this ‘short interview’ on her weight loss journey, she does not appear like a woman who should be worried about her weight. She’s towering, well groomed and her face is glowing. If anything, most if not African cultures have no qualms with a plump woman.
“I have shed 10 kilos since I started exercising and taking slimming tea six months ago. My weight was posing serious health challenges. I am not feeling better,” she tells me.
She has improved eye sight unlike before. The pains she used to experience on her knee joints are all gone. She is eating and sleeping better.
“I take a concoction in the morning that comprises of ginger, lemon, garlic and natural honey every morning. In the evening, I take a stronger concoction of ginger, turmeric, black pepper and a few drops of lemon for the flavor. On top of that I walk for one hour and run for twenty minutes every morning,” she says.
For someone who was weighing over 100 kilos, shedding ten kilos after six months may appear as an attempt in futility, which brings us to the question: how many kilos should someone shed in a month?
According to the Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention – CDCP, it’s natural for anyone trying to lose weight to want to lose it very quickly. But people who lose weight gradually and steadily (about 1 to 2 pounds per week) are more successful at keeping weight off. This comes to about 8 pounds in a month, which is equivalent to 3.6 kilos.
The history of fad dieting goes back centuries. The Romans used to stuff themselves with so much food, only to purge soon after. This “dieting” technique, today known as binging and purging, does not make for a successful method of weight control.
In the early 1800s, there are various accounts of dieting methods. The vinegar and water diet was popular in Europe. The inventor of the graham cracker preached the virtues of a bland diet which involved plenty of whole grains, graham crackers (of course) and no meat, coffee, tea, or alcohol. Both the vinegar diet and the graham cracker diet left people weak with extreme nutritional depletion.
Is being ‘big’ overweight?
Body Mass Index (BMI), which is a person’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters (or feet). A high BMI can indicate high body fatness. BMI screens for weight categories that may lead to health problems.
One may appear ‘big’ but if that does not correspond to his weight, then chances are that the individual will be healthy.
Obesity or overweight contributes to health complications and reduces life expectancy with up to approximately 20 years.
Forbes reports that there’s no magical combination of foods. There are low-fat diets, low-carb diets, low glycemic diets, Paleo diets, and a lot of iterations of all of these.
Decreasing food intake is much more effective than increasing physical activity to achieve weight loss, while building muscle can help your body burn a few more calories throughout the day, but it’s also likely that you’ll have to work harder aerobically in the long run.
