Hi, John!
This is a heavy subject (no pun intended), and I'll try to hop around
some basic points, giving a very brief overview. Do keep in mind that
my remarks are not to be considered as authoritative medical advice.
It is always wise to visit your physician before beginning a
weight-loss program.
A well-accepted method of determining whether or not one is obese is
with the use of the BMI (Body Mass Index), which is a height-weight
formula for estimating total body fat and assessing weight-related
health risks. A BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese. The higher
the BMI, the greater the risk of obesity-related health problems.
At a height of 5'8" (68 inches, or about 1.73 meters), at your
previous weight of 71 kilos (approximately 156 pounds), your BMI was
23.9.
At 78 kilos (about 172 pounds), your BMI is now 26.0.
To determine BMI, weight in kilograms is divided by height in meters,
squared. Here you'll find a useful chart for finding your BMI without
doing any fancy math:
Oxford Radcliffe Hospital
http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/booth/hliving/bmi2.html
The good news is that you are NOT obese, from a medical standpoint;
your weight gain may affect your assessment of your appearance, but it
is not a major health issue at this stage. Of course, if you were to
continue to gain 7 kilos per year, you'd join the ranks of the obese
very soon down the road, so you're definitely doing the right thing by
taking control of the situation now.
The bad news is that, while you are not obese, your current BMI of 26
does put you into the "overweight" category:
"A BMI of 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight and 30 or above is
considered obese... Previously scientists considered between 23.5 and
24.9 as the optimal BMI for men and 22.0 to 23.4 for women. The
optimal BMI range may be revised downward as a result of studies
involving 121,701 nurses and 51,529 men, headed by Dr. Alison Field et
al. of Harvard Medical School. Their conclusion: "relationship btween
BMI and risk of developing chronic diseases was evident even among
adults in the upper half of the healthy range (BMI of 22.0-24.9),
suggesting that adults should try to maintain a BMI between 18.5 and
21.9 to minimize their risk of disease."
Unlock Your Life
http://www.unlockyourlife.com/BMICalcul.html
So now the question is: how to lose the weight in the least
unpleasant, most healthful manner, and ensure that you keep it off? As
you're no doubt aware, there are literally thousands of
weight-reduction plans, many of which contradict one another. Plan A
will assure you that you can slim down by eliminating the fats from
your diet, while Plan B tells you to eat lots of fatty foods, but few
carbohydrates. The field of weight reduction is so filled with
quackery that it resembles a duck pond. I'll try to cut through the
mumbo-jumbo in a non-technical way; I'll tell you what I have learned,
as a former fatty who now weighs 115 pounds, and I'll give you some
links to what I consider to be good advice and sensible menu plans. It
is entirely possible that, after I've answered your question, the
"Comments" section will fill up with people telling you that I am full
of baloney, and my advice is worthless, since the commenter knows the
One Easy Way to losing weight. Please trust me: there is no easy way.
Anyone who tells you that maintaining a healthy weight is going to be
easy is probably trying to sell you something (or parroting others who
are peddling metaphorical "snake oil.")
Many years ago there was a hugely popular diet book called "Calories
Don't Count." The notion that your caloric intake can be ignored if
you just eat certain things, or certain combinations of things, has
been around for a long time. This is nonsense. Calories do count.
Basically, the number of calories you take in, minus the number of
calories you burn, is pretty much the ONLY thing that counts. The
calorie is a measure of energy-producing potential. If you bring in
more calories by eating than your body burns in its activities and
metabolic processes, you will gain weight. If you burn more calories
than you take in, you will lose weight. It's theoretically possible to
lose weight by eating nothing but butter and bacon, and it's possible
to gain weight by eating nothing but lettuce and carrots; it's just
the caloric content that counts. Weight-reduction diets that greatly
restrict the variety of foods from which you can choose may be
successful in the short term, but they don't really teach you anything
about making proper dietary choices. The same is true of liquid diets;
by narrowing your field of choice, they do not pave the way for the
maintenance of your weight loss in the future, when you return to the
normal world of restaurants and convenience-foods.
As I mentioned, I have fought my own Battle of the Bulge. In 1975,
inactivity and an affinity for Sara Lee Cheesecake caused me to
balloon to 180 pounds. At 5'3", I didn't look so good, and I felt
sluggish and depressed. I tried several "fad" diets (one involved
eating only fresh pineapple, spinach, and olive oil!) The fad diets
usually helped me take off a few pounds, all of which returned once I
chucked the silly diet and began eating "real" food again. Finally I
decided to look carefully at what I was eating, to see whether there
were any simple changes I could make that might help me to lose weight
slowly. One thing I noticed right away: I was drinking so many sugary
soft drinks (root beer is my favorite) that I was taking in about 500
calories a day just in soda pop. I had read that the reduction of 500
calories a day, 3500 calories a week, will cause a weight loss of
about a pound a week. Just by eliminating the soda pop, and drinking
lots of ice water instead (sometimes flavored with a squeeze of lime),
I could lose a pound a week -- that's 52 pounds in a year's time! Of
course, I was eager to lose weight quickly, so I made other
sacrifices, but in my case the soda pop was the key. Most of us have
some secret vice, a food or drink in which we overindulge. It's wise
to analyze one's eating patterns and eliminate some of the "hidden"
sources of calories. Things such as putting fatty salad dressing on a
salad, having an extra pat of butter on the toast, slathering sour
cream on a baked potato, or choosing fried foods instead of their
baked equivalents can make a huge difference over a period of time.
Another very important thing to note is that more physical activity
not only helps you burn calories, but it also results in a greater
percentage of muscle mass, thereby enabling you to consume more
calories without gaining weight, since muscle cells burn more calories
than fat cells do. Your activity of walking is an excellent one. Try
to do as much walking as you can, and do it regularly and frequently.
Here are some good articles about the weight-loss benefits of walking:
About Walking
http://walking.about.com/library/weekly/aa091699.htm
http://walking.about.com/library/weekly/aa010900a.htm
http://walking.about.com/library/walk/blweight.htm
Since 3500 excess calories results in a weight gain of about one
pound, In order to lose 7 kilos (approximately 16 pounds), you will
need to eat 56,000 fewer calories.
Here's a handy caloric-needs calculator that can give you an idea of
the number of calories your body is using. I entered this data:
gender, male/height, 68 inches/weight, 78 kilograms/age, 41/activity
level, moderately active. The calculator gave these results:
To maintain your current weight of 78 kilograms, you should consume
2580 calories per day.
According to the USDA, that number of calories should be broken down
as follows:
USDA Daily RDI
==============================================
Calories/Day Grams/Day
60% Carbohydrates 1548 387
10% Proteins 258 65
30% Fats 774 86
==============================================
To maintain a weight of 71 kilograms:
To maintain your current weight, you should consume 2436 calories per
day.
According to the USDA, that number of calories should be broken down
as follows:
USDA Daily RDI
==============================================
Calories/Day Grams/Day
60% Carbohydrates 1462 366
10% Proteins 244 61
30% Fats 731 82
==============================================
Marathon Guide
http://www.marathonguide.com/FitnessCalcs/Caloricneeds.cfm
I suggest that you reduce your caloric intake to approximately 1800
calories per day, using the USDA guidelines of 60% carbohydrates, 10%
proteins, and 30% fats. Select a variety of foods that you like, not
"diet foods" that you would never eat by choice.
Here is a good site which will tell you the number of calories in
foods, with a nutritional breakdown:
Calorie Counter Charts
http://www.caloriecountercharts.com/chart1a.htm
You ask specifically about the advisability of eating steamed rice. As
long as you are not adding large amounts of fats such as butter or
margarine, steamed rice is an excellent food; since it is very filling
and satisfying, it may help to curb cravings for many hours. There is
even a popular plan called "The Rice Diet", adapted from a medical
weight-reduction plan used at Duke University (this is bordering on
being a fad diet, in my view, but you might want to investigate it.)
The Rice Diet
http://www.angelfire.com/sc2/ricediet/
Here's a neat recipe-search utility that enables you to specify the
parameters of the search. For instance, I chose to search for the
keyword "rice" and I clicked the "low fat" radio-button. Quick as a
wink, 54 delicious-sounding low-fat rice recipes came up. Each has
full instructions for preparation, with nutritional information about
the caloric content and amounts of fat, protein, carbohydrate, fiber,
and sodium.
Discovery Health
http://discoveryhealth.foodfit.com/dh_recipe_search.asp
This is one of the best weight-loss sites I've found:
Weight Loss Information
http://www.weight-loss-i.com/
Several of my friends speak very highly of eDiets.com, which prepares
customized menus for you, based upon your personal data and weight
loss goals:
eDiets
http://www.ediets.com/programs/programs.cfm
Some more useful links:
Principal Health News
http://www.principalhealthnews.com/article/bellhowell/103412043
Discovery Health
http://health.discovery.com/centers/nutrition/dietmyths/fatcarbs.html
Chase Freedom Diet Reviews and Information
http://www.chasefreedom.com/
Diet Shack
http://www.dietshack.com/welcome/diets.htm
Search terms used:
"bmi"
"body mass index"
"weight loss"
"weight reduction"
"diet plan(s)"
"menu plan(s)"
"steamed rice"
"the rice diet"
"calorie chart"
I wish you the best of luck in trimming down! I hope this is helpful.
If you have any questions, please request clarification; I'll be glad
to offer further assistance.
Best wishes,
pinkfreud (115 pounds/52 kilos) |
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