When It’s Time for a Diet

We all can tell when we’re putting on a few more pounds than we are comfortable with.  I know that I only reach a certain peak weight before I can’t stand it any more and whittle my way back to my comfort zone.  Yo Yo dieting?  Maybe, but this has been the system that has worked for me to keep me out of the obese category and in the normal, fit category for my height and build for my 34 years here on this earth. 

In fact, scientists say that we all have a set-point weight that our bodies are most comfortable with, and that nature never intends for us to breach, whether it is lower or higher than our set-point weight.  This may be a disappointment for some of us that want to be lower than what our current weight is that we can never seem to get lower than, but it’s also a comfort that at least nature has a plan for us to be of a normal weight span, and that nature strives to tell us when we are out of that weight span by making us feel bad, heavy and not as healthy when we surpass it or when we diet too vigorously or starve ourselves and fall under that weight.

So, the way I know that it’s time for me to get back on track with a healthy and reduced calorie diet, is I begin to notice that my pants, even the ones with a little more give, are all starting to fit me more snugly.  And not just that, but it seems as though my actual body is changing shape becuase they will hug me in a way that they never have before.  I also notice that my mood seems to be fairly erratic when I’ve been eating bad for a week or more. 

The thing about gaining and losing weight is that it seems to take much longer to lose it as you get older, and more challenging to burn and lose body fat, and it also takes less time to put that weight back on.  Thanks to a slowing metabolism as we get older, we tend to not be able to shrug off our weight gains as quickly, so if you have a weekend of total pigging out, it may just put all the hard worked off weight back on, especially if it’s just five pounds or so, which unfortunately is very easy to put back on quickly.