Cam's Blog
You Can’t Play With My Yo-yo
Camela L. Douglass, M.S. ED.
Have you ever walked past a mirror, stopped, backed up, looked in the mirror again to make sure it was you that you saw the first time? Or maybe you have gained and lost weight so many times that you’ve earned the super hero name “elastic-girl” or “stretch man.” How is it that you can walk into your closet and find a Petite section and a Plus section? If you have experienced the aforementioned, you may be a victim of Yo-yo dieting.
Small scale fluctuations are normal especially when it’s that “time of the month.” However, losing a considerable amount of weight then gaining it back is not normal. It’s not okay to lose weight, gain weight, lose weight again, only to gain it back and then some. “Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles analyzed 31 long-term diet studies and found that about two-thirds of dieters regained more weight within four or five years than they initially lost.” (http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/36716808/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition)
Yo-yo dieting is the process of losing weight and gaining weight throughout one’s life. Diet fads sound good, but never deliver willpower as an ingredient. After a person fails at eating only crackers and juice for 3 days, they turn around and eat a pizza, a cinnabon, and drink a 2 liter of Pepsi. Or they successfully lose 25 lbs., experience a misfortune or a disappointment and within months they pack the weight back on. Yo-yo dieting can be very dangerous and can have long-lasting effects. Some of which include: liver problems, loss of muscle, lower metabolism, high blood pressure, diabetes, and a shortened life span.
Yo-yo dieting transcends race, gender, and socio-economic status. Luther Vandross, Oprah Winfrey, Kirstie Alley, and Janet Jackson can attest to this fact. For years, millions of fans have been puzzled as to how you can be overweight with personal trainers and personal chefs at your beck and call. The truth is, personal trainers and private chefs cannot control a person’s willpower. A healthy lifestyle is a daily personal choice; one meal at a time, one exercise at a time. Willpower is challenged every day. Some days it is stronger than others. However, there are important steps that must be taken to achieve a healthy life. 1) Define a realistic weight loss goal, 2) eat 5-6 small meals a day, 3) drink plenty of water, 4) exercise regularly, 5) prepare yourself for the weak moments and 6) keep your eyes on the prize.
Dying from Eating Too Much
By Camela L. Douglass, M.S. ED.
It is inevitable that everyone will die one day. Human beings are mortal. Everyone is subject to death. Many have asked, “when will I die?” According to the bible, “the years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty..” (Psalm 90:10). Then the follow-up question is, “how will I die?” Even with cancer, murder, and vehicular deaths on the rise, people have more control over “the how and when” than they realize.
There’s a preventable method of dying that has increased at a substantial rate over the past few years: eating too much! Americans are dying at an alarming rate from overeating. Most would rather sugar coat this statement because it’s too hard to grasp that someone can actually die from eating too much. Therefore, if you want to put a little sugar on it (which is in itself unhealthy), it is politically correct to say that people are dying from obesity-related complications.
A prime example of the effects of this epidemic is the increase in the eating of junk food. Grab bags of chips, sodas and candy bars are stocked at every checkout line, vending machine, and corner store. Eating junk food alone is one of the main contributing factors to the development of certain cancers. The body desires and needs certain vitamins and minerals to function properly. However, when you eat a poor diet, you severely impair the body’s ability—its immune system—to fight off toxins and diseased cells. As a result, those cells can become cancerous.
It’s just like playing dominoes without a winner. Eating too much of the wrong foods lead to obesity, obesity leads to other medical conditions such as heart problems, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes. Unfortunately, these conditions can ultimately lead to a preventable death. Therefore, overeating is literally killing people. Type II Diabetes and heart disease has increased and surprisingly asthma has been at the top of the list. One in 3 Americans born after 2000 will contract Diabetes. The number is lowered to 1 in 2 in minorities.
Who would choose to die like this? According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, approximately 300,000 adult deaths in the United States each year are attributable to unhealthy dietary habits and physical inactivity or sedentary behavior.
It is time for all people to adopt a 3-E plan of action to live a more active and healthy life. The 3 E’s are: EDUCATE, EAT WISE, AND EXERCISE. It is important to educate yourself on the risks taken when you choose to eat the wrong foods. Find out your personal need for the intake of vitamins, minerals, and water. After you do your research and consult with your doctor, eat the right foods and get moving. It’s simple, it’s realistic, and it’s a lifestyle change.
Go Hard or Stay Soft
Camela L. Douglass, M.S. ED.
A quick fix always seems like the best resolve when it comes to feeling good and looking better. There are 1,161,685,127 overweight people in the U.S. This number is growing by the second. Statistics show that on any given day half of the women in the U.S. and 1 in 4 men are on a diet. Weight loss surgery, liposuction, pills, and starvation are amongst the quick fixes that are dominating the weight loss industry with no guaranteed lifestyle changes.
Anything worth something doesn’t come easy. Ask the individuals who choose to fight obesity the natural, healthy way. People are choosing to get healthier one meal at a time-one exercise at a time. Many more are taking it to the next level by inquiring the help of a personal trainer; especially women. I have been a personal trainer for 12 years and I have watched the gym evolve from a place of barking and bragging “hard legs” into a co-ed, competitive space for toning, sculpting, and getting it in. Women are pressing, pumping, and repping it up just as much as the fellas.
As the wave of interest in weight training grows, so does the desire to look like somebody else. Some of my prospective clients adamantly tell me they want to start weight training but they don’t want to look “like a man.” They desire to look like Angela Bassett or Michelle Obama. Then my question to them is “are you willing to do what Angela and the First Lady did to get what they have?”
When you look at someone like Angela Bassett you know (without asking) that her training regimen is top notch. I can guarantee that she not only exercises and eats healthy but she is disciplined and committed to the process. It’s easy to look at what someone else has and want it for yourself. The hard part is actually taking the proper steps to make it happen for you.
Testimonies are just that—a test that an individual had to go through to get to where they are. If it was easy or a quick fix anybody could do it. Going “hard” means giving 110%, practicing discipline, and totally committing to the process of doing better. It does not mean cheating, quitting or making excuses as to why you can’t do something. If you desire Angela Bassett or Michelle Obama arms you are going to have to do what they did to get them. Work hard, go harder. Stay focused, go hard or stay soft. Someone is depending on your testimony.
