I was inspired to blog, because of this great article in the Atlantic Monthly: Beating Obesity. Nutrition, Wellness and Exercise have become major interests of mine. I have really began to understand the importance of taking care of your health. It is very easy in this country to eat too much, not exercise enough and ignore unhealthy habits. I am as guilty as the next person when it comes to these vices. I thought it was interesting in this article, that she shared much of her own personal experience.
I have not had never been classified as obese, but I have been overweight recently in my life. In fact, my current BMI is 25.8. It should be under 25 to be considered a healthy weight for my height. I Just need to lose 6 pounds to achieve this. But that is definitely a goal of mine. I want to lose that weight in the next 3 months. So by around August 1st, I should be at a BMI under 25.0. Now that I have it in writing, it is official.
Growing up, I was very fortunate to never have problems putting on weight. A big reason for this was that I was always active. I played 3 sports for most of my childhood years. I stopped being as active towards the end of high school and in college. But I never seemed to have a problem putting on too much weight.
Another huge factor that prevented me from becoming overweight as that I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease when I was 17 years old. When I was first diagnosed, I had a very difficult time eating food at all. I lost a lot of weight and at one point, I was down to 133 pounds. It was a slow process, but eventually I was able to eat more normal. But it would come and go throughout my college years. So even when I was not extremely active, this likely prevented me from putting on more weight. At this stage in my life, I could have benefited from putting on a good 5-10 pounds. I looked very skinny for my age.
I didn’t start putting on weight until I entered the workforce. The first time I put on weight I was amazed. I remember my jeans starting to get tighter all of a sudden. I had been trying to put on weight for a while, because my doctor recommended I put on weight. So I was drinking whole milk with my cereal and eating good size portions of food when my stomach could tolerate it. But for a long time, that did not matter. But suddenly my waste, stomach and thighs started getting bigger. I was 23 at that point. So now, I finally had to start paying attention to what I ate.
For the most part it has continued until my present age of 28. I have had some relapses of Crohn’s here and there that prevented me from eating many calories. But from 23 years old until now, this has been the best my Crohn’s disease has felt. I have slowly put on weight over this time. I made it to a maximum weight of 195 pounds; almost 200 pounds, I could not believe it. That was the turning point when I realized I had to start paying attention to what I was eating.
There were several reasons why I was putting on weight. They were the common culprits: poor diet, lack of exercise, and a work schedule that did not support a healthy lifestyle. I was traveling for work almost every week at the time and I was eating fast food on a daily basis. I would work out occasionally, but it was not on a regular basis, so it did little to help.
I lost a little weight once I switched to a different position in my company that didn’t require as much travel. But the real change in my weight happened when I was in living in Switzerland for about 5 months. I lost close to 15 pounds over that time period. It was a very dramatic change for me. I don’t think there was one, magic thing I did that allowed me to lose all that weight. I think it was changing the 3 habits I mentioned above:
- Healthier (smaller portion) Diet
- More Exercise
- Better work-life balance
I started to work out on a much more regular basis. Most weeks I ran at least 3 times per week, typically 4 times. I also did a lot of hiking over the summer months. I was common to go for a hike most weekends. Additionally, we did not have a car. To get places we had to walk or take public transportation. I would walk a lot on most days. I would go to the grocery store almost every day and would often walk to other parts of the city. It was great.
One thing about Swiss food though is that it is definitely not the healthiest. I ate a lot of cheese, sausage, potatoes and other similar German/French style food. I ate less meat than in the US, but otherwise my diet was pretty similar. We ate out a lot less too. The food was so expensive there, that is was very cost prohibitive to eat out. Meat was also very expensive, so I limited what I ate. Plus, my wife starting limiting the meat she ate, so I typically only ate meat when we ate out.
Now that I have been back in the US for about 4 months now, I have put on 5 pounds. I now weight 185 pounds, I was at 180. The reasons are easy to see. I have been working out 1 or 2 times most weeks. This week I worked out 4 times, so happy to report that. I have been eating out every day for lunch and also having a lot of dinners out. I have definitely been walking less too. I have a 45 minute commute to work each way now. I walk very little while I am at work too.
Some other positives I had while living in Switzerland was that my Crohn’s disease felt much better. I don’t know why. The only reason my doctor and I can figure is that the bacteria that is in the food/water there just agrees better with my gut than in the US. It was a dramatic difference though. So even though my Crohn’s felt better, I still lost weight.
But because of my experience above, I am much more conscience now about what I eat. I think the quality of food in the US is much less than that of Europe. I am much more conscious of what I eat now. Food was very expensive in Switzerland, but it was definitely better/fresher than here. Also, fruit, vegetables, bread, etc. had much less preservatives. I you did not eat them within 2-3 days they would go bad quickly. In the US, you can buy some things and they will not grow mold for a very long period of time. This is a big reason why I went to the store every 1 or 2 days. It was important to get stuff fresh and in small quantities at a time. We would only buy things we knew we would eat. In the US, I find myself buying a lot more frozen and non-perishable food, because I can hold onto it for a long time. It often takes a long time for me to eat that food or it eventually goes in the garbage. That is very wasteful.
So going forward, I will likely write more posts about healthy food and exercise. I just want to keep myself motivated. As the Atlantic Monthly article pointed out, it is very difficult to stay healthy in this country. But it definitely a choice you have to make every day, not something you can just do every now and then.
Until next time, stay healthy!
