I’m excited to be able to finally report some progress this past week! Another 2.4 pounds lost! I’m not sure whether I’ve fully escaped the doldrums yet—we’ll see what next week’s weigh-in brings. It’s very tempting to weigh myself every day. If I’m honest, I do sometimes sneak onto the scales mid-week, and it’s usually a disappointment. But willpower only stretches so far, you know?
Last week a friend commented on my blog that my version of diet and exercise is “keeping it real.” That statement got me to thinking about different weight loss and exercise plans and the lengths to which we go to stay thin, or in shape, or both.
Seems like no matter where we look—movies, magazines, television, the internet—“slim and trim, young and beautiful” is being shoved down our throats like some bad-tasting medicine. It’s no wonder so many of us look in the mirror and just want to puke. The pressure for perfection has reached biblical proportions.
In 2009, Americans spent a staggering $45 billion on diets. That’s a hell of a lot of money for lettuce and carrot sticks. While evidence continues to show that weight loss from exercise and healthier eating can increase longevity and decrease medical issues, if you add another $10 billion a year for plastic surgery, $1.2 billion for liposuction, $1.1 billion for breast augmentation, and $8 billion for cosmetics, it’s easy to see our obsession with looks goes far beyond simply maintaining a healthy weight.
How many times have you looked at a glamorous movie star or fashion model and thought “Man, why can’t I look like that?” I know—me, too. But did you ever wonder how far they go to maintain that size and shape?
I found an article at celebrity-diets.org that claimed to have the inside skinny (I love a good pun, don’t you?!) on how the rich and famous maintain their sleek physiques. For instance, it said Renee Zellweger maintains her 7st (7 stone) figure on tuna, cold meats, dressing-free salad and raw vegetables, for a total of 773 calories a day.
OK, I had to Google to find out how much 7st is in the first place. Imagine my shock and horror when I found out it’s only 98 pounds. The calories I can appreciate because I stay anywhere between 750 and 1000 per day, but 98 pounds? At 5’4”? I remember being 108 pounds at an even 5’; I could fit into a size 1, and every time I saw my grandma she was on my case for being too thin. What size must Renee be—00?
The article goes on to give the typical daily intake of actress Liz Hurley—a paltry 449 calories—which I’m pretty sure is less than that of most people in third world countries. As if her micro-diet isn’t enough, she takes regular pilates classes which burn around 300 calories per session. Supermodel Claudia Schiffer’s typical daily intake was listed at 537 calories.
Spice Girl Victoria Beckham was reported to have been on a strawberry diet before the birth of her third child, eating a bowl of strawberries for breakfast and little else for the rest of the day, except for liters of mineral water.
I’m sorry, but I just don’t see how this sort of eating is either reasonable or healthy. I wonder what sort of medical issues these girls will have in, say, 25 years or so. While I’m not condoning a diet like what the article listed for Kelly Osbourne—over 2000 calories’ worth of cheeseburgers, fries, shakes, and colas—it has been scientifically proven that there are minimum calorie requirements to maintain healthy body functions. And I would bet none of these ladies comes nowhere close to meeting that standard. After all, what good is having a knockout body when it’s going to conk out on you before you’re 50?
It would be nice if we could all have our own private chef to cook only sensible meals for us and a personal trainer to see that we get the proper amount of the right kind of exercise. Maybe in some parallel universe where watching TV is good exercise and chocolate is one of the five food groups.
The fact is the majority of us are just regular people with regular lives and regular jobs. Which means we must resort to regular means of eating healthy and staying fit. Can’t afford a membership to the gym, much less a personal trainer? Not a problem. Walking doesn’t cost a dime. Neither do many other types of exercise. All you have to do is a little research and find what works best for you. Make Google your best good friend. Don’t have a computer? That’s not a problem, either. Your local library is a great resource for books and magazines, and many of them also have computers with internet access available for patrons’ use. And while you’re there, check out some cookbooks and magazines for healthy, easy-to-prepare recipes you can fix yourself at home.
Trust me, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to come up with a recipe for success. A pinch of research, a dab of determination, and drop of perseverance will take you a long way. And, as always, make sure you consult your health care professional before starting any diet or exercise program.
Good luck!
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