Moral, motivation, and Stress
Newspapers and magazines are constantly referring to
dress sizes – they express shock and horror if
they find out that a celebrity is a size 14!
However, if that celebrity is 5' 10" tall, then
a size 14 is a reasonable size to be, and if she
was a size 16, then that wouldn’t mean that she
was overweight either. A woman’s dress size
depends on height, age, and general body shape,
so the media are causing many women to feel
stressed about their dress size, when it is not
a true indicator of whether a woman is a healthy
weight, or not. Some women think that they are
overweight if their midriff bulges slightly over
their waistbands, but it may be just that their
abdominal muscles need exercising, and if they
lost weight, they would be too thin, and be
putting their health at risk. Therefore, if you
are in any doubt as to whether you really need
to lose weight, or whether you just need to
tone-up by exercising, ask for your doctor’s
opinion – don’t be influenced by newspapers and
magazines.
As suggested in the guidelines, it’s less stressful to make gradual changes
to your diet, and making gradual changes also has the advantage that other
people are a lot less likely to notice and comment on the changes – which is
useful if you also want to change the way your family eats, without them making
a fuss, or don’t want work colleagues to start asking if you’ve lost any weight
yet.
If you live with other people, or you have to eat in front of people at work,
you may feel self-conscious if anybody comments on any changes that you make to
your eating or drinking habits – and they may try to encourage you to eat or
drink things which aren’t good for you. There can be several reasons why people
do this – e.g. because they don’t realise that being overweight usually leads to
health problems which get more serious over time, or they have a strange sense
of humour!
If anybody comments that you’re not eating or drinking your usual items, you
could say that you just felt like something different, or use your imagination.
For example, you could say that you’re drinking mineral water instead of a
sugary canned drink because you’ve found that it quenches your thirst better, or
if you’re munching on strips of peppers, you could say that you were looking at
them in the supermarket, thinking how nice they looked, and a woman came along
and told you that they’re so crispy and juicy that she eats strips of them as a
snack - so you bought one, and now you’re ‘hooked’ - get the idea? Don’t mention
that you’re hoping to lose weight, or it could prompt everybody to discuss their
own failed attempts to lose weight, which can be demoralising. Somebody could
also try to convince you that being overweight is your ‘right’ or something
similar – when it’s your right to be healthy and reduce the risk of being ill in
the future. However, you could tell them about this website when you do achieve
a weight that you’re happy with!
People often appear on the TV or in newspapers saying that they’re
overweight, but they’re healthy. The reality though, is that they will
eventually develop serious health problems, such as diabetes, heart disease and
strokes. It may be that they won’t have any serious problems until they’re
senior citizens, but who wants to have any of those problems at any age? One
thing that isn’t well publicised, is that having a stroke can prevent you from
speaking and swallowing, so that you can’t eat normal food – you can only
consume thickened liquids (not very nice) and soft or gooey food, or even worse,
you can’t eat at all, and you have to have special food pumped directly into
your stomach. Being a healthy weight (not stick thin) doesn’t guarantee that
you’ll never be ill, but it can certainly help you to avoid many serious
illnesses – which should be a considerable motivation to eat healthily.
Stress can be the reason why some people eat a lot of sweet things, munch on
crisps, or drink excessive alcohol. Obviously, if you’re suffering from stress,
then you need to consider ways of reducing it, but you don’t want to make it
worse by eating and drinking things which aren’t good for either your health or
your weight. Dieting itself can be stressful, but the aim of this website is to
help people to achieve and maintain a healthy weight without getting stressed
about it. You may also benefit from doing the ‘Strengthening and release’ and
breathing exercises which are contained in the book that’s recommended in the
Exercise section of this website. If you feel that your stress is severe and
affecting your health and weight, you could speak to your G.P. about it. It's
possible that s/he can refer you for some kind of alternative or complimentary
therapy - such as hypnotherapy, which can help people who are suffering from
anxiety, stress, depression and obesity. Details of various therapies are
included in the NHS Directory of Complimentary and Alternative Practitioners .
However, as it states on that website, your G.P. might not be able to refer you,
and may suggest someting else. If you decide that you'd like to try one or more
of the therapies in the NHS Directory anyway, then at least you can be assured
that any therapist whose details are given on that website, or on one of the
websites it links to, are reputable.
If you think that you may be consuming too much fat, sugar, or alcohol,
because you’re bored, then as well as making changes to your diet, you could
start doing something different in your spare time, such as volunteering for
something. Local newspapers usually carry advertisements for volunteers, or you
could contact your nearest animal shelter. There are usually requirements for
volunteers to do work in the evenings and weekends, as well as during weekdays.
If you've been watching the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing programme, then you
might want to consider some dance classes - see the Exercise section of this
website - which offer the opportunity of a new social activity, as well as some
fun exercise. Of course, there are always evening classes during the winter, and
you could learn a new skill, to either get a more interesting job, or to form
the basis of self-employment – which could be the start of a new business
empire!
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