I was watching a television program and the series of four or five ads came on. What caught my attention was that two of the ads were about improving your body image. The first one had the people take a pill to lose weight. A series of individuals told how many pounds they had lost with this method. I glanced at the small writing on the bottom of the ad. The list of about a dozen side-effects had some very serious conditions. A brief note at the bottom stated that the people who were on this pill taking program also had a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity. Having been in the fitness arena for many years the standard program for weight loss is a reduced diet and increased physical activity. I thought that the people taking this pill could have followed the diet-activity portion of the program and not had to worry about the serious side-effects.
The second advertisement was about body contouring via the “nip a bit here and tuck a little bit there,” and you will have a nicer looking physique. It also had a few examples of individuals that had the before and after photographs showing the improvement. The problem with this procedure is that the long-range success is not always guaranteed. The initial cause of the excess accumulation of weight came from too many calories and not enough activity. If after the body contouring procedure, the person does not change their diet habits and activity level the weight will come back. I have known several individuals that have done liposuction and body contouring and some months later the original physique is back.
The necessary changes are not that difficult to follow. It might take some adjustment in your favorite high calorie food choices, but it does not include being hungry. Little changes such as buying lean meat instead of high fat meat, fat free milk versus whole milk, reduce the number of sodas during the day and try water instead. A session with a nutritionist is a good start to learning which foods are healthy and filling but not high calorie.
