I recently heard a veterinarian comment that the ideal situation for a cat’s diet involves the cat being just a little bit hungry. With this approach a cat will stay closer to its ideal weight and avoid the pitfalls of gaining weight that lead to certain diseases and lack of mobility as the cats age. After making that comment the vet then added that it’s an approach that would help humans with their overall health as well. Basically what the vet was saying was to not feed the cat too much. Many cats gain weight as they age since their metabolism slows down and their humans associate a full tummy with a well taken care of cat. This turns into a vicious cycle where the cat becomes accustomed to more and more food as it burns less and less calories, ultimately leading to obesity. Hearing the veterinarian describe this I realized that the same exact things happens with humans as we age.
My own experience with weight as I’ve aged (currently mid-50s) reflects the challenges that many people have. My job is sedentary. I spend hours a day sitting and working at a computer. That certainly does no good for weight management. My job can be quite mentally stressful at times, which leads to what I call stress snacking, which is eating just to calm myself down. I work almost exclusively remotely from home these days, and while I mostly enjoy it I have settled into eating habits that aren’t serving me well. While I’m careful about what I eat and even what I have in the house available to eat I’ve gotten used to regular snacking that is adding unnecessary calories to my diet. Hence, while my weight is just a little over what it should be for my age and height I don’t feel comfortable at this weight. I know that I should be at least 5-10 pounds lighter. At least.
I write this as a person who exercises at least five days a week, with four days of cardio from 45 minutes to 1 hour and one day of weights for the same amount of time. Yet, I still have trouble getting my weight to budge downwards. This is a situation that has driven many people to pharmaceuticals in order to control their weight. I’m not a fan of such measures and I’m dead set against becoming one of the millions of Americans who spend their lives on prescription drugs. If I can help it at least. I’ve already written about the importance of eating less and eating better. The truth is that is easier said than done when habits become ingrained to the point where you don’t even recognize that it is a habit. Owners of pets can condition those pets into different habits but we condition ourselves into our own habits and it’s very difficult to condition ourselves out of those habits. The first step towards change is recognizing that the amount of food we consume is a problem. But the factors that drive us to snack and overeat can be difficult to overcome.
Much like the pet owner who overfeeds their cat we have people in our lives who equate food with love. Many of us have people who want to make us dinner and when they make dinner they want us TO EAT! “Take more,” is a frequent exhortation at dinners in my family. It can create an embarrassing situation even when you attempt to politely refuse. I know that often I’ll give in and take just a bit more food rather than get into a debate about weight and health that will change the mood at the dinner table. When I worked in an office it seemed like every day leftover cookies, cake and other sorts of food would end up in the break room. It was a similar situation to the family dinner table. Everyone is meeting in the break room to get some and it seems strange if you decide to stay in your cubicle. Peer pressure around food is difficult to overcome and contributes to overeating that leads to weight management problems.
If you’re someone like me who only takes a little more when placed on the spot at dinner or only snacks a little bit on generally lower calorie foods (like fruit or pretzels) you may be perplexed about the impact even that has on weight. The thing that we learn the hard way is that as we age and become more sedentary even a little bit of extra food has an impact. Perhaps you won’t gain much weight but dropping down even a few pounds becomes a Herculean task.
The other thing that’s very impactful in terms of the proverbial battle of the bulge is the abundance that we have in the west in terms of food. Living in the United States there’s all kinds of food everywhere and it’s more readily available than ever with all the delivery services that exist. I know people who have no qualms about indulging in all the options weekly and their body sizes reflect those choices. As someone who is actively working to slim down even just going to the grocery store is an exercise in will power. There are all kinds of hot, prepared foods ready to go, a giant bakery section with things on sale and rows and rows of shelves packed with a seemingly unending volume of food options. It’s difficult not to come home with at least a couple of items you didn’t plan on purchasing.
There’s no definitive answer in this post to the issue of human eating habits and their negative impact on body weight. Just an understanding that there are multiple complex factors that affect our eating habits and the assertion that we need to actively acknowledge those factors if we want to change our relationship with food. That, and maybe that we can learn a thing or too about weight management from veterinarians. 😉
In The Midst Of A Journey 