When the weather begins to get warmer the tradition of spring cleaning soon arrives. I was digging around some containers and plastic storage bins a few weeks early and found some long lost papers. There were several race measurement papers that I had sent in 2010 for certification. Some old handouts and a copy of one of my newspaper columns from about the year 2000. I read the article and thought that it might still be appropriate.
When I first started teaching, a professor at Tufts University by the name of Dr. Jean Mayer first came up with the relationship between eating, exercise, and weight control. He studied children from Boston schools and noticed the difference between children that were overweight and average-weight children. He observed them in the lunch room and at recess. What his research showed at the time was that the overweight children ate less than the average weight children. At recess he noticed that the overweight children moved much less than the average weight children. His conclusion was that even though the overweight children ate less, they also moved less. By moving less at recess, the calories eaten at lunch were still more than what they were able to use by moving. More calories, less movement, and you gain weight.
The other term he created was called “creeping overweight.” After graduation, for example, individuals would say that, “I have only gained 5 pounds this last year.” This went on year after year until five years later the gain was now 25 pounds since the start. In ten years the weight gain was 50 pounds. The weight just seemed to “creep up on you.”
