When I was 18, I made a decision to avoid scales as much as possible. I wasn’t fat. Quite the opposite. But paying close attention to the tiny shifts in my weight from one day to the next was making me unhappy. I also hated feeling hungry all the time, which was what was required to keep the dial pointing down the kilogram spectrum.
And, when a friend – a very skinny friend – started pondering out loud how many calories might be absorbed while brushing your teeth, I realised that to be the kind of thin that the world wants us to be is impossible if you live (and eat) like a normal human being. Apparently there are some people who are blessed with turbo-charged metabolic rates, which means they can eat what they like, but many I know are in the habit of starving themselves or doing other silly things to keep their weight at Hollywood thin.
So, I made a decision to not get too fussed about the kilos and worry about the holes in my belt buckle instead. When my buckle gets tight I skip breakfast for a few days and my belt loosens up. I don’t have a body like Alexa Chung or Cara Delevingne, but I also don’t spend my entire day thinking about food and how to eat so that I don’t put on the pounds.
Diets are the topic of Chris Brewer’s latest blog (below). He too is an advocate of sensible eating. The South African CEO is convinced diets do not work. Consume in moderation and you could be on your way to maintaining your six-pack just as he does, is his advice. Plus, you won’t be grumpy. – JC
Fat and happy: Get used to your flab because diets don’t work
By Chris Brewer
I’ve noticed a lot of grumpy people around since New Year. Apart from my neighbour, who’s a miserable bastard most of the time anyway, they all seem to be on diets (or “eating regimes”) and mostly morose as a result.
As a very experienced dieter (and there are lots of us) I can tell you that not one diet works without dire consequences. In well over 90% of cases the weight comes off and it goes on again – plus a bit.
Diets don’t work.
It’s obvious really. If dieting really did work then there’d be no fat people in the world would there?
It’s true that you can change your eating habits and bring your weight and size down to the very best it can be for you. This definitely does not mean that everybody will get a Ryk Neethling or Eva Longoria figure. Not everyone is blessed with a torso of rippling muscle like me after all.
You are the size you are – so get used to the idea and get on with enjoying life.
In any event, why lose weight and give up laughter in the process? Look at any illustrated Dickens novel and you’ll see what I mean – the overweight man will always be laughing and creating jollity wherever he goes and the emaciated bloke will always be the misery (or the crook).
I’ve been looking at a few eating programmes lately and I’m absolutely gob-smacked at the number of eminent “experts” who disagree totally with each other. One bloke was saying “eat low fat” and another (Atkins) was saying “eat high fat”. One commentator I read recently summed it up as “The history of the Diet Heart hypothesis is riddled with scientific missteps and even outright fraud.” So there.
I remember once that butter was proclaimed as being incredibly bad for you and margarine so much better. Then they said that margarine was just one molecule short of being plastic and that butter was the wonder food (“Good Better Butter” was the slogan).
I remember the ads on TV saying “go to work on an egg” and Tony Hancock saying he has two every morning – that’s fourteen eggs a week. Lovely. The next minute we were told by experts that you should eat no more than two eggs a week otherwise your heart will seize up and shrivel like an old sausage.
Now, apparently, it’s extremely healthy to eat 2 or even 3 eggs every morning – and fried in butter too!
It’s all very confusing for the man or woman wanting to lose a few kilo’s and avoid a heart attack but I think I’m right in saying that if you do everything in moderation and avoid the obvious high-sugar stuff then you’ll be okay. I mean, you know that bread is fattening don’t you? And any idiot realises that a chocolate eclair (as wonderful as they are) is going to put weight on.
The old maxim of “eat a bit less and exercise a bit more” is probably closer to the truth than any “weight expert” will tell you.
Chris Brewer is CEO of Brewers Data Services, which manages on-line database Apps of all advertising agencies, major advertisers and all media in South Africa. His blog, Brewer’s Droop, is republished here on Biznews.com with his kind permission.
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