Weight of the Nation: Part 1

Okay, so when I first saw the info on this documentary and saw that it was on HBO, I prepared myself to be underwhelmed and over-sensationalized.  I also chuckled at the thought that overweight people are classified as couch potatoes and that this was encouraging them to sit on the couch for 4 hours of documentary watching.  But I decided to watch the first one and then decide whether or not to watch the rest.

Part 1: Consequences starts with an explanation of how the calculation of BMI (Body Mass Index) was determined.  This was really interesting to me, b/c I had never realized how it was calculated.

Then it goes into a section on the Bogalusa Heart Study.  It was a study started in 1972 to study the overall health of children.  The study continues today with many of the same people still being followed.  It has proven that heart disease begins in childhood, which is something that I never would have imagined before.  The study is in its 40th year of following over 16,000 children to adulthood.

One fact from the study that really struck me was that only 7% of children that were at healthy weights in childhood became obese adults.  So if I help my son learn how to maintain a healthy weight, he's more likely to be healthy later in life.

On the other hand, with these findings, it's easy to blame your current situation on a past you had no control over.  As a child, I didn't chose my foods, I ate what my mom put in front of me.  And my health choices began at that time.  I could easily cop-out and say, well it's not my fault.  But I do have to take responsibility for my current self and step up and say, "No more.  I'm not going to live this way anymore."

I was also surprised to find that obesity is as widespread as it is.  All states, all income-levels, all races.  Obesity no longer is limited to certain areas and people groups as it was before.

They also made a balanced case for obesity.  They didn't skew too much to either the nature or nurture argument.  Some people try to blame obesity all on genetics or all on where you grew up. Obesity is caused partially by genetics but is also influenced by environment and behavior.

Halfway through part 1, there is a section where actual doctors who have autopsied hearts show the differences between hearts of obese people versus normal people.  It was pretty disgusting and really made me realize how I need to change for my heart's sake.

One study that was highlighted in part 1 was a study where they studied people, had them gain 5% more weight and then lose that weight again over the period of several months and studied the changes in their levels and organs.  It was really interesting to see their findings in this study.

Overall, Part 1:Consequences, highlighted all of the problems created by obesity.  The list of chronic health problems is just overwhelming.  One that surprised me was: obese people are 80% more likely to have dementia because obesity even affects your brain.  It also highlighted the healthcare costs and the overall impact of the obesity epidemic.  It impacts the workforce, the armed forces, and the nation as a whole.

I found Part 1 to be very interesting, if not a little alarming.  All the health implications that they put forth in this documentary were pointing at me.  It made me see that something has to change or I would be the one having the heart attack or having a foot amputated due to diabetes.  And that's a very scary thought.  It's something that I know I don't want.  And to avoid that future, I've got to make some changes in my life.

Delayed

Sorry, no updates or recaps tonight.  I have a serious migraine and looking at this screen right now is making me hurt.  Hopefully better tomorrow.

The Weight of the Nation

I've been watching a really interesting documentary online called The Weight of the Nation.  It was shown on HBO, but is now available to watch for free on the internet.  It's a four part documentary, each part lasting about an hour.  I don't sit and watch it for long stretches, but I've been watching it little by little while folding laundry and doing mindless chores like that.

I thought it might be fun and interesting for me to post my thoughts and things I learned from each of the different parts of the film.  So expect my "review" of Part 1: Consequences tomorrow.

Full disclosure, I haven't actually finished watching Part 4 yet.  But I was completely convicted by Part 3: Children in Crisis and after watching it have really felt like I need to change my habits for the health and well-being of my son.  So I decided to pass on the info that I learned from these films, in hopes that maybe it'll help others too.

5/27/2012 food and exercise

Breakfast: A banana and some assorted berries that I took to Sunday School. 185 cal

Lunch: Tortilla soup from my favorite Mexican restaurant.  Overall, not too bad if I could just avoid eating the chips. The soup only ran me about 450 calories.  But w/ chips and bites of Agent P's enchiladas, it added up to  704 cal

Dinner:  We kind of skipped dinner tonight.  Agent P is spending the night elsewhere, so we just didn't cook anything.  Then, as it got late, we went out for blizzards, because how often are we kid free? 650 cal

Snack: A glass of milk 129 cal

Total for the day: 1668 cal, which comes in under my daily calorie goal.  I just didn't make the best choices to get there.

I worked in the garden again today.  I worked for another two hours digging up dirt and grass and hauling it to the other side of the yard.  The digging part is all finished, so tomorrow I can start laying the weed barrier, building the flower box, and planting flowers.  I just have to decide what I want to plant.  Anyway, all that heavy lifting and work in the 95 degree heat earned me a few extra calories.  Tomorrow I start back with walking, since my gardening won't be so intense.

5/26/2012 Food and Exercise

Motivated by my previous weight loss, I did pretty well today.

Breakfast was a banana and a soy chai latte from starbucks (so gooooooooood!) 324 cal

Lunch was not much, I was hot and not hungry.  A fat free yogurt, a small handful of pita chips, some veggies dipped in pico de gallo. 367 cal

Dinner was delicious, hamburgers and asparagus on the grill, fat free baked beans, and corn. And pickles. mmm.  All portioned and measured to keep track of my calories. 700 cal

For a snack, I had a weight watchers snack size vanilla chocolate cone. 90 cal (I had to wait until Agent P was in bed to eat it, otherwise he'd want one too!)

Total 1481 cal for the day.  I came in way under my new calorie goal of 1730 calories per day

Today, I gardened.  Like ridiculous amounts.  I spent 1 hr 15 minutes mowing the lawn with the heavy push mower.  I also am working on building a flower garden behind my house.  I dug up grass, carried buckets of dirt, carried landscape timbers and concrete stepping stones for almost 2 hours.  In 90 degree heat.  I am whooped and ready to go to sleep.

5/26/2012 Weigh In

So I got up this morning and I weighed myself, first thing.  I'm still not ready to tell you the exact number, but I lost 9.5 pounds since last weigh-in. That's a total of 18 pounds.  Or 23 pounds from my in-a-towel-with-wet-hair weigh-in, if you count that one, which I totally do, b/c 23 pounds sounds really impressive!  But I guess I'll go with the more accurate 18 pounds, which is still more than 5% of my original body weight.  Which makes me pretty happy.

Even though I've had slips these past two weeks (the cookie incident), I've managed to stay on track enough to lose some weight.  And I have to say, it feels good.  My pants are a tiny bit looser.  My bras fit a little bit better.  I have more energy.  And I sleep better when I exercise.

Now the bad part, when I input my new numbers into myfitnesspal, I totally lost 110 calories per day!  That means less eating every day.  But if I want to keep losing, I have to continue to eat less and less. (Teaser: More on that in a later blog, really interesting fact I found out.)

Thanks for checking in on me and for reading my blog.  The encouragement and help I've received from my friends is keeping me focused.  I've usually lost that focus by now, so thank you!

Seriously?

Something that made me laugh at the grocery last night:

Gordo's cheese dip

Gordo's?  Really?  Gordo means "fat" when translated from Spanish. I know that cheese dip probably tastes so good, but anything named "fatty's cheese dip" should really be avoided for obvious reasons.