29th November, 2020
When I started my blog the first time in 2014, it was for me to write down the thoughts that came into my head and my experiences on my weight loss journey. That was it, and that was great because it was about weight loss. I stopped writing it when I lost most of the weight I needed to. Everything was great. Life was great. All my problems went away once I had lost weight and become “thin” - NOT!!
That is not what happens. Life remains the same. You have lost weight, you know how to lose weight, but not many people tell you how to keep it off. The emphasis is not on that, is it? The heatlth profession tell yo that if you are overweight/obese, they have a chart, but they don't tell you what you have to do to keep it off. G.P.s have a lot to deal with, so many illnesses and diseases to help patients cope with, but their training on nutrition is limited.
I don't know how correct this is, but I read somewhere that while a G.P. is doing their four years at medical school the total amount of time spent on nutrition is about 10 to 20 hours. They have so much else to learn so it's understandable, but then when they tell us to lose weight the knowledge they can pass on to us is limited, and, quite often, can not be up to date. Even then we are not really told how to maintain weight, so if we take their advice and lose weight then what happens next? More than likely we will go back to old habits and put the weight back on until the next time we need to lose it.
We may turn to some part of the slimming industry to help us. Again the emphasis is put on losing the weight because in the beginning that's what we need to do. Now I have not been to a slimming club for many years so things may have changed and you may get the help you need to keep it off once you reach your target, but the majority of people coming through the door paying their money want to lose weight. You don't pay when you get to your target, so surely there is no profit for them in getting clients to their target weight and keeping them there. You put weight on, and then you pay again to lose it.
The cost of this on you financially can be great. It can also be a great cost to your health, both physically and mentally, if you yo-yo weight loss, especially if you have a lot of weight to repeatedly lose and put on. It can be a great strain on your organs and make you feel very down if you feel as though you are always failing. We are not failing. For whatever reasons there is no reason to train us to lose weight and keep it off. In my research, I am now hearing of some methods that say they help you to retrain your thinking, but they come at a financial cost, and I would not be able to find out if they work without spending money. For me, now at the stage I am with my weight loss and retraining (D.I.Y. style) I don't want to take that route but they may be worth trying if you have tried everything else and have the finances.
This time, for me, I knew I had to do it differently. Down the free route there is very little information to pass on to patients about weight loss and conquering your weight gain beast, while down the paid route most that I have experienced gain financially by you losing weight once you have put it back on again, etc. etc.
As we go into the season of eat, drink and be merry – even if it is in a more limited way this year – our thoughts will soon turn to “oh dear, I have put some weight on, I better do something about it!”
Think about how you do this, look seriously at what is best for you and go for it. There is so much to learn if you go out to look for it, but beware, finding the right information is not always easy. If you stick to the basics of nutrition and health that is a good start but always take into consideration who is telling you the information, how do they know this, and for whose benefit it's for. Yours... or theirs?
Food for thought.
Until next time,
Jackie
xx
No comments:
Post a Comment