What's Your Healthy Weight?
If you're feeling blue because the old, faded Levi's in the back of your closet don't fit over your hips anymore, don't despair. It's simply not realistic to judge your body by high-school standards. Heredity, hormones, metabolism, declining muscle mass and a more sedentary lifestyle are a few of the factors that lead us to gain weight over the years and then the struggle to take it off. While you may never slide into those high-school jeans again, you can aspire for your own "healthy" weight. And by healthy, we mean a weight that's not only attainable, but also maintainable through healthy eating habits and plenty of physical activity.
Why We Gain Weight
Before you can find your healthy weight, it helps to understand why you may have added pounds over the years. Poor eating habits and insufficient exercise are common culprits. But other factors come into play.
Heredity. Genetics may help explain your weight gain. If your parents and siblings tend to gain abdominal weight, for example, then you may struggle with stubborn abdominal fat, too.
Pregnancy. Many women find it difficult to return to their prebaby weight and may become discouraged by their newfound belly fat, which can be difficult to exercise and diet away.
Hormones. Women tend to add body fat in the years leading up to menopause, gaining about one pound a year. And they may continue to gain weight during menopause, possibly because of declining estrogen levels. Menopause-related weight gain isn't inevitable, but it does require extra effort to avoid. After menopause, most women can maintain their weight on 1,500 to 1,600 calories a day, according to the Mayo Clinic. For men, a gradual decline in testosterone levels contributes to more body fat and less lean muscle mass. And for both sexes, aging brings a decreased metabolic rate; you simply don't burn calories as efficiently as you once did, so it takes more physical activity to get similar results.
Find That Magic Number
A healthy weight will be different for everybody, says Robin Bowman, RD, bariatric program dietitian for Summa Health System's Advanced Bariatric Care and Weight Loss Management program, in Akron, Ohio. "If you're happy with the way your clothes fit, and you're healthy and able to do the things you like to do--whether it's exercising or chasing kids--then you've probably found the weight that's right for you," she says.
One obstacle to finding and staying at your ideal weight is a trap known as "false-hope syndrome," when you set yourself up for failure by having unrealistic expectations, says Bowman. You may set unattainable goals by wanting to lose too much weight too quickly. Sometimes, failing to achieve those goals may send dieters into a cycle of weight gain and loss. A better approach is to think about your lowest and highest adult weights. Unless you've always struggled with overweight, your healthy weight is likely to be the one in the middle of these, and the one you can maintain over a long period of time. For those who have struggled with a weight problem, you probably need the help of your doctor or registered dietitian to help you determine where your weight should be.
Reaching a weight that's healthy for you may mean increasing your physical activity, adding resistance training to build lean muscle mass, and consuming fewer calories or less fat.
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Recipe Of The Week!
Baked Chicken Fingers with Mango Ketchup
Ingredients:
Baked Chicken Fingers
Cooking spray
1 cup plain bread crumbs
1 cup corn flakes or toasted rice cereal, crushed
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½: teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon curry powder (optional)
2 tablespoons olive or canola oil
½ cup all–purpose flour
3 eggs, beaten
1 to 2 pounds chicken breast tenders or boneless breasts, cut into 1–inch strips
Mango Ketchup
1 tablespoon olive or canola oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 pounds ripe mango, peeled and diced into ¼–inch pieces
¼ cup fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon agave nectar or honey
Salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon seasoned rice wine vinegar
1/3 cup fresh lime juice (2 to 3 limes, squeezed)d
Directions
Baked Chicken Fingers
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Lightly spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray and set aside.
Mix bread crumbs, cereal, brown sugar, salt, pepper, and curry (if using) in a large mixing bowl or casserole dish.
Drizzle oil evenly over the breading, then mix in.
Arrange three shallow containers, one with the flour, one with the beaten eggs, and one with the bread crumb mixture.
Individually dip chicken tenders into flour, then eggs (letting excess run off), then breading mixture. Arrange breaded chicken pieces on the cookie sheet.
Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until crisp and brown all over.Serve with mango ketchup
Baked Chicken Fingers
Heat oil over medium heat in a medium saucepan.
Add onion and cook, stirring, about 7 minutes, or until translucent but not browning.
Add mango, orange juice, and nectar or honey to pan.
Season with salt and pepper.
Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes more, or until thickened.
Remove from heat and stir in vinegar and lime juice, adding more to taste, if desired.
Serve alongside chicken fingers warm or at room temperature.
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Exercise Your Stress Away
Chronic stress can have negative, physical consequences.
While human intellect has developed rapidly since our species first walked upright, the physiological mechanisms that maintain our survival have evolved comparatively little. Unfortunately, the body's traditional fight-or-flight response to stressful situations seldom offers the best way to deal with the problems we encounter daily.
The bulk of today's stress is cognitive--not physical--in origin. Yet the body is still reacting as it was millennia ago when physical attack was high on the list of concerns. When the stress response overstays its welcome--as it often does with our work-related worries that never seem to go away--unhealthy and often chronic stress results.
The physical and emotional manifestations of the stress response, such as increased heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar levels and muscle tension are designed to dissipate when an immediate physical threat is over. When stress stays on because of the complex set of our worries, they can turn against the body. Over time, the hormones causing these responses may wind up causing heart disease, hypertension, suppressed immunity, colitis, irritable bowel syndrome and even depression.
In a life-threatening situation, the body shuts down all non-vital functioning to better mobilize its fight-or-flee response. This includes digestion, which during prolonged periods of stress can lead to gastrointestinal disorders. The reason stress causes ulcers, for example, is that the body has ceased producing the mucus that protects the stomach during digestion, when hydrochloric acid is secreted to help break down food.
The body knows that we won't be stopping for a meal during a fight or a narrow escape from a predator. But the sources of stress today do not cause us to actually fight or flee, and so we find ourselves stressed, but nevertheless eating. This results in the production of digestive acid without the protective mucus. An ulcer results. Our bodies cannot distinguish between life threats and more common sources of stress such as traffic jams and marital spats.
There is a sound scientific basis, then, for the effectiveness of regular exercise on stress relief. Since the fight-or-flight response is designed for physical action, exercise is a great way of dissipating the physical manifestations of stress hormones in the body. Exercise, even regular stretching, can relieve tension in the muscles. While fight-or-flight mode often taxes the immune system by preparing it for physiological warfare against an outside force, studies show that moderate physical activity can bolster the immune response.
Exercise can also counteract the anxiety that stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol may cause when in the bloodstream for prolonged periods. Exercise also uses up the excess adrenaline, and has been shown to blunt cortisol production. But another way it achieves this is by releasing serotonin, a neurotransmitter that stimulates the brain's "happy centers." This occurs most dramatically within the first 30 minutes of physical activity, then tapers off. Exercise also induces the release of endorphins, which block pain messages. The result is mood enhancement.
Finally, there are peripheral benefits to physical activity. The self-confidence that comes with weight loss and improved body image affects our outlook, and so our interactions with others, which in turn further improve our mood.
American Running Association, empowering adults to get America's youth moving. For more information or to join ARA, please visit www.americanrunning.org .
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