Why Should You Lose Weight?

I feel so sad that people have to fight to loose weight, I am one of those fighters struggling.

It is much harder than it looks, the determination, the temptation. Inner demons. I struggle all the time.

People might say that I am mad but I do wanna lose weight for my man! I picked up coz of Prozac and now I need to lose it to keep him. Not only do I have to deal with the pains of weight loss but the emotional pain as well.

I want to be slim and trim and sexy again!

Is that a crime?

I recently returned from Ukraine where I spent five weeks on an adoption trip. I was struck by the differences in lifestyle and incidence of overweight and obesity.

Most of the people there had, from what I could observe, a normal BMI. In the areas of Kiev and Odessa where we lived it was common to walk a lot every day.

I made a simple daily trip to the market down four flights of stairs, across a half mile of ice and snow covered ground, and back again carrying the food and water for the day. I probably walked five or six miles per day total. So did everyone else. And they walked fast! – they walked much faster on the ice than I could even on dry ground. I was routinely passed by men, women, and children.

There was a grounds keeper in the apartment complex where we stayed. One of his jobs was to clean the carpets which he did by carrying them down the stairs, hanging them over an iron hanger in the courtyard, and beating them with a broom and an iron implement. These were carpets that probably weighed fifty pounds or more and the outside temperature was below freezing. He would then spread them out on the snow and sweep both sides off, then roll them up and carry them back up stairs on his shoulder. The apartment building was ten stories.

One day when I had a translator with me and observed him taking his snow covered boots off as he entered his apartment doorway. He did this by standing on one foot and untying the boot on his other foot without resting it on anything. He was flexible, had perfect balance. I asked him through the translator how old he was. While untying his boot he looked up, smiled, and told us he was 71 years old.

I returned to the land of plenty with a new perspective on just how soft we really are here. So we can rationalize and justify being over weight and super-size our hospital beds and our caskets, but it doesn’t mean it is good or desirable. It just means as a culture we are fat and lazy.

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We certainly live in an age of relativism - be it moral or physical. We compare ourselves with what we see around us. However - in affluent Western countries we've surrounded ourselves with cheap "time-saving" devices (cars, machines, etc) so that we don't have to walk 5 miles in the snow.

Who knows - maybe an oil crisis would eventually result in increased fitness...

Hey Randy...I was in Ukraine too! I was in Kiev, Donetsk, and Mariupol. My observations were very similar to yours. People over there are just not lazy. Almost no one had a washing machine...people would wash their clothes in the tub and hang them to dry. And even though the food was, in my opinion, pretty rich, the serving sizes weren't overly huge.

I think we are such an impatient culture and it's reflected in our lifestyles. It's not enough to have 5 minute rice, it has to be ready in 90 seconds. Everything is automated and we have to do very little walking as a culture. I bet if everyone walked 5 miles a day, a LOT fewer people would be fat.

Personally, I love to run...it's become a hobby/sport for me and it makes my body look the way it does. My original "goal" for losing weight was to look good and have more energy. Now, I look good and have tons of energy, most of my health problems have disappeared, and I feel great. I hope I'm one of those old grannies that still enters races when I'm 70. I think I'll still be able to do it ;)

I don't worry about losing weight as much as being healthy. The two go hand in hand but the key one is being healthy.

If you focus too much on weight you can become depressed easily. So far I've lost 3.5 stone without hardly even realising. (The only reason I know is because my doc weighs me) It's all been it's all been because of focusing on the health aspect rather weight.:)

My reason for losing weight is to have a body like Beyonce Knowles. Well, I know that when it is all said and done, I probably will not look like her, but she's great motivation. I heard the rumors about Janet Jackson gaining so much weight, and then having to lose it all for her upcoming album. I saw some pictures of her "fat" and then a most recent picture, and WOW! She lost all of that weight. Seeing those pictures motivated me as well.

My post was slaughtered.

I wanted to say that walking is very common in Spain, Italy, Portugal and other european countries, because everybody does it and you meet people on the street. It is a vital part of social life.
Even kids play soccer until 12am on public places, if the weather permits it (with parents sitting or walking nearby.
You walk, because you like it. You ride a bike, because you like it, not for losing weight.

Of course we are all much healthier by watching our weight, but a much more accurate way of describing a person is by volume--how much space they take up in the world through their personality, hygiene, and habits. I call it "volumism." Someone who may be physically slight, but is loud, obnoxious or smells like a dumpster will create a space around them. That person is said to be "volumaic." You know it's true. Check out my blog on the subject: http://noweighting.blogspot.com.
Thanks.

I get what Randy and Spectra are saying about European vs. American habits. I've traveled a lot in the German-speaking countries and noticed that the people living there were always fitter than Americans because they walked everywhere and ate nutritious, small-portioned meals with a lot of fresh produce. But they're losing these healthy habits due to US influences/increasing affluence. German-language magazines now feature more and more articles about dieting and weight loss and have more dieting ads.

Katy, you can cut Portugal out of your list, there you stand a pretty good chance of being ran over if you jogg or fall on a hole if you bike on the streets.People too are getting fatter nad it is oh so hot to have dinner at mcdonald´s

Personally, Jim, I don't mind walking 5 miles in the snow. However, when push comes to shove---that is, if the temperature is below minus 10 C. with a wind chill of minus 20 C.---I prefer to take Toronto Transit. It's anything but cheap but it does save time.

And where have you been? We've had an oil crisis since 1973.

We are fat, because not only we are eating too much grain, we are eating grains for snacks. We eat too much corn for dinner, and too much corn or potato-based snacks in America.

Potatos and chips are grains, not vegtables. Replace them with fruits, dark green leafy vegtables.

And one more thing, we are eating too much trans fats. It's the trans fats, not the saturated fats that are causing the health scare.

Okay.

I take Portugal off the list. But my statement still applies to Spain (where I have lived myself), to Italy (where I go frequently) and Germany (where I am from). It is prob."in" to eat at MC, but usually only for teens, who think it is cool.
When I grew up I bicycled/walked to school, to clubs, to swimming class, to work, to friends. There were no parents who would constantly take you everywhere in their SUV's all day long. When I went to University I could not afford a car and bicycled everywhere too. You get an average 2 hour work out on your bike, if you do that just to go from one place to another. All in all I have the impression that in Germany there are less skinny people and less overweight people, just a lot more averagely sized people.
But sadly many people think that everything that comes from the U.S. is "cool" and they follow every trend. That is bad as far as fast food is concerned.

I watched my dad sit around and not exercise at all. His legs were his worse enemy. Because of the lack of exercise they let him down later in life. I promised myself that I would start walking, and have been for the last several years. I also lost about 50 pounds and definitely feel like this has added years to my mobility.

Do you think that slim people are slim because they care about their health?If you think so ,you are wrong.Most people,especially women want to be slim to be admired by men,not for their health.I've always been criticised for my shape,only one person in the street told me that he pitied me and that I should lose weight.Of course I don't need anyone's pity,but I didn't get angry with him because he advised me to lose weight for my health .He didn't criticize me for my shape .But I don't need to be advised too.Because I know when to lose weight,for example,if one day I want to have a child,I will lose weight.