DOHA-HealthTalk: Permanent weight-loss: Don’t give up on the goal Friday, 03 February 2012 03:43

With Sonya Schneider-Ghaddar, RN

Starting off the New Year with all the best intentions regarding taking the weight off and finally keeping it off is common.  Having the energy, stamina, self-discipline and self-awareness to find the tools necessary to achieve it is another thing altogether. Maybe the key to reaching your goal should be to focus on the end result. “Keeping your eye on the ball,” so to speak, may be the road to success.  We need to fixate on the end benefits of permanent weight-loss. I mean really fixate on all aspects of the impact of achieving that elusive goal would have on your life as a whole. There are very tangible rewards from a medical perspective, a physical perspective and on a psychological level as well.

Let’s work backwards by starting from the psychological benefits of permanent weight loss.  The boost to yourself-esteem is the most personal psychological gain of all. So many of us beat ourselves up over not knowing how to do it and not following the Nike ads’ slogan geared to just finding any way to “Just do it”!  When we finally achieve the weight loss we feel that we look better physically and are in control of our eating habits. This feeling spills over into every aspect of our lives in a positive way.  The quote for this week in the health section by Kate Moss says it all: “Nothing tastes as good as thin feels.”  Some may disagree with this sentiment, especially because it comes from a professional model who symbolizes the term “skinny.” But few would disagree that finding a way to eat healthy and reach a healthy weight range is good for our morale and our spirit.

The Center for Disease Control website (www.cdc.gov) in the US describes a study involving participants in the National Weight Control Registry that found that “those who maintained a significant weight loss reported improvements in not only their physical health, but also their energy levels, physical mobility, general mood and overall self-confidence.”  The physical perspective related to permanent weight loss is probably the most obvious aspect. This is because it can be seen and felt by the person who has lost the weight and everyone else also.  It translates directly into an increase in energy and stamina levels. With this increased energy level usually comes a renewed interest in physical activity. This may result in joining a gym, an exercise class or taking up a new hobby that was virtually impossible when you were carrying around all those extra pounds. Exercise has also been well documented as a stress-reducer and a mood lifter. Therefore, the physical benefits overlap into added psychological perks. The mind, the body and soul are of course interrelated, which makes it impossible to change one part without impacting the other two. That can be a good thing.

When you look at the big picture related to the health/medical benefits, numerous studies have shown that reducing one’s weight is a major step in reducing the risk of heart disease, elevated blood pressure, high-cholesterol levels and the development of Type II Diabetes.  In turn, this results in a lowered risk of dying from one of these chronic conditions. In an attempt to further understand and examine the medical benefits, I sat down for a chat with Dr. El-Sakhil Khalil, Medical Director and Consultant General Surgeon at the American Hospital in Doha. Khalil stated that losing weight impacts so many diseases and all the body systems. According to Khalil, “Permanent weight loss allows your circulatory system to return to a normalized state. It relieves the added stress on the heart and the entire circulatory system as a whole. Metabolically, it usually results in normalization of the endocrine system and hormonal functions. This is especially important regarding blood-glucose  levels and management of Type II Diabetes. From a muscular/skeletal point of view, permanent weight loss relieves the added pressure/stress to the hips, knees and lower back, which often are sources of chronic pain.” Khalil summed it up well with his final comment, “The benefits are numerous, and in general, you just become a healthier, psychologically happier person.”

Therefore, if your resolve is waning, focus this week on the end result. Post the benefits on your refrigerator door and review them daily.  This is one New Year’s resolution that could possibly impact you way beyond the end of 2012.  Keep your eye on the prize: permanent, sustainable weight loss that allows you to reap all its benefits, whether medical, physical or psychological.

So, until next week: “Here’s to your health”!

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