Losing Weight and Feeling Great

In the last post I discussed binge eating; in this post we’ll look at bulimia causes.  Bulimia is another form of eating disorder that is far too common in today’s society.  It’s normally the “purge” part of a “binge and purge” eating session.

Bulimia is officially called bulimia nervosa and purging through vomiting is only one method of ridding the body of the binge food.  Other ways include laxatives, enemas and excessive exercise.

But why do people succumb to the siren call of bulimia?  It can’t be because the purging is pleasant (it isn’t).  So why do people go it?  Let’s take a look at five possible causes of bulimia nervosa.

Cause Number 1:  “Thin Is In”

Like it or not, we live in a world where the emphasis is placed on being thin and beautiful.  This, despite the majority of people in the United States are overweight!  This leaves a lot of people dissatisfied with their body. It’s especially true for women, in their teens and twenties, who are constantly bombarded with unrealistic images. 

But the popular culture also says, “supersize me” when it comes to dining out!  Restaurants, especially fast food restaurants, serve far more food than is needed for a healthy weight, and we’re conditioned to clean our plates.  You see the paradox. 

Number 2:  Self-Esteem 

People having a low self-esteem are highly susceptible to bulimia.  The feeling is that no matter what, they aren’t thin enough or pretty enough or good enough.  Then there’s the added feeling of guilt after a binge session, driving the self-esteem even lower.

Perfectionists can also fall into this category, especially if the purge of choice is exercise.

Cause Number 3 - Dieters Beware (Especially Yo-Yo)

There’s a lot of us who fall into this risk category.  And if you are a perpetual yo-yo dieter, you’re even more suseptible.  Why?

When you are constantly going on and off diets, lowing weight then gaining it back, you short-circuit your metabolism.  After awhile, dieting alone doesn’t seem to work very well.  It’s at that point that the idea of purging may occur. 

You’ve probably purged in one form or another in your life, but most of us don’t make a habit of it.  It’s when the need to purge becomes a habit that bulimia looms.

Number 4:  Changes in Life

Now I’m not necessarily talking about the “change of life”, but rather large changes in your life.  Examples include a new job (especially if it’s stressful), getting married, getting divorced, buying a house, becoming a parent.  You get the idea. 

The stress of a major life change leaves many people without a coping mechanism, if they don’t have supportive family and friends.  Bilimia becomes part of a coping mechnaism, because it’s something they think they have control over.

But when it comes to bulimia, the control eventually passes from the person to the purge.  And this leaves you worse off than when you started.

Bulimia Causes and Effects

So you’ve seen some possible causes of bulimia.  Now what are some possible effects?  Well, death is the most extreme example, but it is a possibility.

For those whom vomiting it the purge method, problems include all sorts of digestive and throat problems.  Not to mention problems with the teeth, from the acid in the stomach contents.  There’s evidence that excessive vomiting of the kind found in bulimia is also linked to esophageal and stomach cancer.

For the purge with laxatives, obviously your intestinal muscles stop working the way they should.  Malnutrition is also a problem, since many nutrients are absorbed in the intestines.  Watery stools can also be a cause of dehydration.

For those choosing diuretics, the low potassium levels prevalent with getting rid of all that water can cause heart failure, as you’re not likely binging on bananas.

Exercise as amethod of purging carries its own problems.  While exercise is good, too much strenuous exercise can lead to muscle failure, when they don’t have a chance to relax and recouperate.  There is also the problem of dehydration and heat stroke.

If you suffer from bulimia, the first thing is to admit it; first to yourself and then possibly to others.  Get help, because you may not be able to do it alone.  A therapist, a group or a trusted friend are all invaluable.  There are also online groups where you can encourage and receive encouragement.  You can check out the message boards on SparkPeople, for one.  You can also check the Yahoo groups.

Can you lose weight while you sleep?  Well, yes in the respect that weight loss happens all the time — not just while you’re awake.  However, there’s something you really need to know about sleeping and losing weight.

There is a connection.  If you don’t get enough sleep, it may prevent you from losing weight (or at least slow down your weight loss).  But why?

Today I have guest author Gail Davis, who has put together some great information on how sleep deprivation can slow down or even prevent weight loss.  Especially in today’s culture of trying to get as much done as possible, sleep may be losing out to chores, activities, work, etc.  And really, we sleep in order to be healthy.  So let’s see what Gail has written on sleep and weight loss.

Lose Weight While You Sleep;  Sleep Deprivation and Weight Loss

Let me ask a question — are you plagued by sleep deprivation?  Do you get your 8 hours of sleep in a night?  No?  Then let’s look at some facts.

In the past 40 years, American obesity has risen from one in nine adults to one in three.  And here’s something to consider.  During the same time frame, there has been a decrease in the amount of sleep by up to two hours each night!

Unfortunately, this isn’t just an American issue.  A study recently conducted at the University of British Columbia on adults between the ages of 32 and 49 determined that participants who slept less than seven hours a night were significantly more likely to be obese!

Why is this?  Well, there are 2 hormones, leptin and ghrelin that may be responsible for these alarming statistics. Let’s take a closer look.

Your energy intake and expenditure are both regulated by leptin, whose primary purpose is to tell the brain when you’ve eaten enough.

Now for the flip side:  ghrelin’s main function is to trigger hunger. Your ghrelin levels are naturally higher prior to a meal and naturally lower following a meal.

Leptin, Ghrelin and Sleep

How is sleep affected by these hormones?  It’s because when your body is deprived of adequate sleep, it produces more ghrelin, which is the appetite stimulator.  And again the flip side, it also produces less leptin, which is the appetite depressant!  Do you see where this is going?

A study conducted at The University of Chicago in 2004 demonstrated alarming results. Participants, who slept only four hours a night for two nights in a row, had an increase in their ghrelin levels by 28% and a decrease in their leptin levels by 18%!

Appetites on Overdrive

Would you agree that these number show that sleep deprivation appears to cause people to have appetites that are on overdrive?  As if that weren’t alarming enough, the same lack of sleep hinders the body’s ability to recognize that it’s had enough food.  It’s quite a vicious circle.

About the Author:
Gail M. Davis offers more facts about the alarming relationship between sleep deprivation and weight-related. Peruse her website, Easy Weight Loss Tips where you’ll find many weight-related topics such as this in addition to healthy recipes.

Sleep and Your Diet

Thanks, Gail, for this information.  You’ve given us quite a bit to think about.  We’ve always know that we really do need to get the proper amount of rest.  I know for me, it’s at least 7 hours a night, with 8 even better.  I’ve never thought about if getting less than 7 hours regularly would hinder my weight loss.

But I do remember a time in my life where 7 hours of sleep a night was actually a luxury; I usually got 6 or less.  And despite the fact I hadn’t changed anything else (same amount of exercise, no change in the foods I normally ate), I do remember being hungrier.

So, you really can lose weight while you sleep — just not in the way you might expect.  What about you?  Do you get the sleep you need on a regular basis?  Do you notice a difference to your appetite on days where you didn’t get enough sleep the night before?

When it comes to losing weight, we need all the help we can get.  Now consider that sleep is another tool in your fight against weight!

A lot of people ask, “What is binge eating?” wondering if they may possibly be a victim of this not-often-discussed eating disorder.

Well, according to WikiPedia, you can have a binge eating episode, without actually suffering from the disorder, as seen on this page.

So technically, binge eating is uncontrolled overeating.  It can be small, like when you decide to eat half a candy bar, but eat it all instead.  Or it can be large like eating several fast-food value meals, one right after the other.  It’s the inability to stop eating, no matter if the amount is large or small.

What is Binge Eating Disorder?

I mentioned that you can have a binge eating episode without actually suffering from the full disorder.  And really, who hasn’t had it happen before?  Thanksgiving dinner is an excellent example; the vast majority of us eat far too much, then shuffle off to the couch, groaning in discomfort.

The disorder itself (which I think deserves a post of its own) is characterized more by how compelled you are to overeat.  In other words, is it something that periodically happens and you feel you have no control when it does?

The disorder is also characterized by frequency.  Once or twice a year at holidays is one thing.  One or more times a month could be something else.

In my next post, I’ll cover common signs of the disorder, as well as some binge eating facts.  Meanwhile you now know the answer to, “what is binge eating?”.  It’s when you just don’t have control.

Oh my, I seem to be covering a lot of fast food information these days.  Here’s something interesting I came across.  I’m not sure it will help, but maybe it’s a baby step in the right direction?  Read on and decide for yourself.

South Los Angeles has decided to ban any new fast food restaurants from opening for at least one year, to give the restaurants with healthier foods a chance to gain a foothold and following.

As reported by the Associated Press, City Councilman Bernard Parks said that ”Our communities have an extreme shortage of quality foods”.

No surprise there, especially after my previous post on what restaurants, fast-food or traditional, feed us. 

Fast Food’s Reply:  No, Don’t Ban Us!

How about this:  72% of the places to eat in South and SE LA are fast food restaurants.  Ouch!  No wonder why the restaurants are trying to challenge the ban.  And no wonder why healthier alternatives are having a hard time.

And another statistic:  30% of children in south Los Angeles are obese.

Now here’s a quote I loved from Don Bailey, who has owned/operated a McDonalds for 22 years.  He told the LA Times that “McDonald’s believes in healthy choices”.

Sure.  Right.  And the Easter Bunny delivers colored eggs.  OK, maybe I am being too hard on the franchise; here’s some information so you can decide.

McDonald’s and Nutrition

I went to the official McDonald’s website and they do make it hard to locate the nutritional information!  I did find it, and so here it is for you to peruse:  McDonald’s Nutritional Charts

Now at first glance, the hamburger doesn’t look too bad — just 250 calories and 9 grams of fat.  Ah, but look farther, at the trans-fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium.  Hmm, healthy isn’t what I’d call it.

So, let’s move to one of the “healthier” alternatives, the grilled honey mustard snack wrap.  At 260 calories, that doesn’t seem too bad.  And no trans-fat.  Still, read on and get a load of the sodium!  And the saturated fat isn’t anything to write home about either.  And just 1 gram of dietary fiber?

Raise your hand if you don’t usually order fries with your McDonald’s meal?  If you’re like most people and do get the fries, you don’t want to look.  Or, maybe you should so you know how much fat — of all kinds — you are feeding your body.

Mr. Bailey, I challenge you on your statement.  Or maybe I shouldn’t, because just because the franchise believes in healthier foods obviously doesn’t mean they offer them.

And in case you think I’m leaving out all their salad offerings, I’m not.  After looking over the chart, the salads aren’t anything to write home about.  And if you are counting calories, bring your own salad dressing because their low-fat dressings are not low calorie.

It seems like I’m picking on McDonald’s, but I’m just using them as an example.  Burger King, Jack in the Box, Wendy’s — they are all purveyors of fat, er, fast food. 

Ok, here’s the original article I plucked the information from, and you already have the McDonald’s nutritional chart from earlier in this post.  

Is the ban on new fast food restaurants justified?  Or should it be all restaurant franchises, seeing as some of the regular places (Applebee’s, Red Robin, Outback, etc.) aren’t where they should be nutrition-wise either?

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I saw an interesting article on the obese American the other day.  The article makes the prediction that if we continue as we are, 86% of all adult Americans will be overweight or obese by the year 2030.

Before that, by 2022, 80% of Americans will be at the very least overweight (if not obese).

So, what is the definition of overweight and obese?  A body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more.  Overweight is considered at between 25 and 29.9 BMI.  Just as an example, a woman 5 foot 6 inches tall weighing 186 pounds has a BMI of 30.  (Naturally that can vary somewhat, depending on how muscular you are, but any way you look at it — at the very least you’re likely overweight at that weight and height.)

Want to calculate your BMI?

The Obese American — The Study

These figures come from a study published by the journal, Obesity, which was published online July 24 of this year.

The study was authored in part by Lan Liang, Ph.D., with the federal government’s Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and was led by Youfa Wang, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of International Health and Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

OK, credentials aside, are we doomed to be a nation of fat people?  What are some of the other numbers the study came up with?

In the Year 2048…

The possibility that 100% of Americans will be overweight or obese.  Now, researchers’ credentials aside, I find that extremely hard to believe.  There will always be people who are a normal weight, or underweight.  So the credibility of that number is far-fetched, to say the least.

But, could the 86% by 2030 be correct?  Hard to tell.  If we continue with our current habits, possibly so.  But that’s an awfully big “if”.  Anything can happen between now and then — we’re talking 22 years here.

Still, it’s a hard study to swallow (puns aside).  The fact is that unless we do decide to change our ways, more and more of us will either not lose or will gain weight in the coming years.  And what’s going to be doing to our health?  If we’re not doing great right now, what’s it going to be like once we reach 60?  70?  Do we really want to be confined to a wheelchair or bed because we didn’t take care of ourselves today?

At any rate, you can read more of the article here, and decide for yourself if you will be an obese American in 2030.  Me — I don’t intend to!

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The previous post was the first 20 ways that sugar affects our health.  Anyone up for 20 more reasons?

Sugar can cause a decrease in your insulin sensitivity thereby causing an abnormally high insulin levels and eventually diabetes.  (This is called Syndrome X.)

Sugar can lower your Vitamin E levels.  (Do you get enough vitamin E in your daily diet?  Or should you take more?)

Sugar can increase your systolic blood pressure.  (As we get heavier, our blood pressures tend to go up…we don’t need help from sugar.)

Sugar can cause drowsiness and decreased activity in children.  (The is the flip side of the hyperactivity sugar can cause in children; this is the infamous “sugar slump”.)

High sugar intake increases advanced glycation end products (AGEs)  (Sugar molecules attaching to and thereby damaging proteins in the body).

Sugar can interfere with your absorption of protein.  (Protein builds muscle, and it’s also important in slowing down the absorption of sugar into the blood.)

Sugar causes food allergies.  (I know it does in me!)

Sugar can cause toxemia during pregnancy. 

Sugar can contribute to eczema in children.  (Eczema is not only itchy, but it can be disfiguring if the patches show up on exposed body parts.)

Sugar can cause atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease.  (As our hearts and blood vessels age, they lose function — we don’t need extra help to hasten heart attacks and/or strokes.)

Sugar can impair the structure of your DNA.  (This can open us up to all kinds of diseases.)

Sugar can change the structure of protein and cause a permanent alteration of the way the proteins act in your body.  (This can be the pre-formation of cancer.)

Sugar can make your skin age by changing the structure of collagen.  (We don’t need more wrinkles!)

Sugar can cause cataracts and nearsightedness.  (I wonder if this is part of the “aging eyes”?)

Sugar can cause emphysema.  (This is a terrible disease.)

High sugar intake can impair the physiological homeostasis of many systems in your body.

Sugar lowers the ability of enzymes to function.  (Enzymes are critical in the day-to-day  operation of your body.)

Sugar intake is higher in people with Parkinson’s disease.  (Not a fun disease; we need to do everything we can to avoid it.)

Sugar can increase the size of your liver by making your liver cells divide and it can increase the amount of liver fat.  (This can be a pre-cursor to cirrhosis and/or cancer.)

Sugar can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney such as the formation of kidney stones.  (If you’ve ever had a kidney stone, you know how terribly painful they are.)

So, that’s 20 more reasons to take a long, hard look at your diet today.  Now I’m not saying you should ban all sugar forevermore.  What you might want to do, however, is take steps daily (or weekly if you are severely addicted) to reduce the amount of sugar you eat on a day-to-day basis.

Sugar is sweet; a healthy life is sweeter.

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Eggs are in.  Eggs are out.  One minute they’re wonderful for a diet — the next they should be banned.  How in the world can you know what to believe?

Well, you really can’t, so you have to go with your instincts on this one, along with a modicum of information to help you decide, if you’re on the fence about these ovoid wonders.

Eggs are high in protein. That is, the egg whites are high in protein; the whites of three large eggs with some sauteed (use PAM or some other spay) veggies is a wonderful way to start your day.  And even better, egg whites are very low in calories.

Eggs are high in cholesterol.  The egg yolks, that is.  If you’re the type of person where your cholesterol never goes about 180 no matter what you eat, this may not even be a concern to you.  If your cholesterol is on the "watch out" list, you may want to consider using Egg Beaters instead.

Eggs linked to reduced breast cancer. Now this is interesting.  The intake of choline may be related to breast cancer; a study found that women who had a high intake of choline had a reduced chance for breast cancer.  But the flip side is this — choline is only found in the yolk of the egg, not the whites.  Argh!

And while this blog is really more female-oriented, there are probably men in your life who’s health you may be concerned over.  Here’s just one more thing to worry about — another study found that men who ate seven or more eggs a week had a higher risk of dying sooner.

And if diabetic men ate any eggs, that raised their chances of dying sooner even more!  Depressing if the men in your life crave eggs — you can read the story here.

To egg or not to egg in your diet — that’s a tough one.  Studies change all the time, so what’s good one day is bad the next.  Most likely, moderation is in order — like with anything else.

Well, my little jaunt (i.e. the walk in the woods) pretty much has done me in for almost 2 weeks.  I really should know better than to try and do a 2.8 mile hike in the hot sun when I knew that my sciatica was a little twitchy.  So, between that and the sunburn, I’ve put off the facercises and the bands and ball exercises.

Well, actually not the ball — I’ve had to get it out to do my physical therapy exercises!  It really does help, but it’s a bit of a struggle, seeing as I have to get down on the floor for these.

(When I did this for the first time, all three of my cats came running over to me, wondering why I was flat on my back on the floor.)

Anyway, I’m putting my newsletter together this weekend, so I can get it out next week.  If you haven’t signed up for it yet, mosey on over to my Losing Weight Over 40 home page and get on the list for it (sign up is on the left under the navigation menu).

Then hopefully I will be back on track.  Catch you later!

Ever feel like you’ve been at your diet for forever and not much seems to be happening?  You’ve come along way, perhaps, but it doesn’t really seem like it.

How about a novel way to document your weight loss — scrap it! 

The Power of a Scrapbook for Losing Weight

I discovered this quite by accident when I was around 13 or so.  I was probably around 40 pounds overweight and knew I needed to lose weight.  But being 13, I didn’t have the money for diet foods.  I didn’t know what I was supposed to eat (only that candy was bad).

I bought some of the teen magazines and in one, I remember a story about a teen who lost 100 pounds.  All kinds of pictures, and stories of what it was like, being fat and being thin.

I cut out that article and put it in a notebook.  And as I found other weight loss articles in other places, I put those in my notebook, too.  Whenever I was feeling low, I’d get out that notebook and look through all the pages.

(Yes, I did eventually lose the weight, got skinny and kept it off for many, many years.  Turning 40 did me in, but that’s a whole other story.)

Create Your Own!

So why not create a scrapbook about you and your weight loss?  No one else has to see it, but it can be there for you to page through when you’re feeling low on willpower.  Make it nice, just like you would any scrapbook.  Find old pictures and take some new ones.  Find motivational stories in magazines and cut ‘em out and scrap them.  Play around with it and have some fun!

Don’t know how to scrap?  If there’s a craft store near where you live (and there should be — they sprout like weeds), they probably have a intro class.  If there’s a scrapping store near to you, they will be more than happy to help you!

There are also some home scrapping parties around — someone you know probably knows someone who does one.

While learning in person is probably best, there are also scrapbooking magazines and books from which to learn.

And of course there is online information.  One place that seemed interesting is Scrapbooking101.  Another you might like to check out is Learn2Scrapbook.

So, scrap your weight loss!  You’ll be able to look back and realize how very, very far you’ve come.

I saw something interesting a week or so ago, and it was an article about how dieters who kept an online blog were more successful in losing weight.  More successful even than people who kept a journal.  Why?

Public accountability.

Sorry I can’t post the direct link to the article; I meant to bookmark it but it slipped my mind…and now I can’t find it again. 

Anyway, the whole idea is that blogging about your weight loss makes you more motivated.  Of course it could be that people who decided to blog are more motivated from the very beginning.  A chicken and egg proposition I guess.

I’ll raise my hand to be a poster child of how this can be; here’s the scoop.  In January 2005, I started a weight loss blog to give me some accountability, and hopefully give others some information.  I think I blogged pretty well for a month, then less and less.  And yes, that kind of paralleled my weight loss success.  The less I blogged about it, the less motivated.  The less motivated, the easier to go off the diet.  Which I did, in a big way.  You can see this old blog here.

Fast forward to Summer 2007.  I finally decided to lose weight again.  And this time keep it off.  I really needed some accountability, seeing as I had (gulp) 135 pounds to lose.  I’d need a ton of motivation and accountability for that!  You can see in the above blog that I had 7 posts from that time, then I quit the writing.  Why?

To start building my Losing Weight Over 40 website.  And then of course this blog as well.

No, you don’t have to build a whole website to get the weight loss benefit (although if you want to, contact me for some information).  Blogs are much cheaper (free, even) and much easier to set up and use — takes 10 minutes or less.

If you want to try this route, why not go for a free blog over at Wordpress.com or Blogger?  Start up a blog and post.  You’ll not only help keep yourself motivated, but also perhaps help someone else with your writings.

If you think this blog you’re reading has helped you, why not put me on your blogroll of links?  Just use the address http://blog.losing-weight-over-40.com when you do (thanks!).

Maybe we can all help each other in our weight loss journey.  To our success!

By the way, is there anything in particular you’d like to see me cover in this blog?  Post a comment and let me know.