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While I was young and single, my fit (regularly running and lifting weights) weight was around 185 lbs. After getting married and having kids, my weight slowly crept up to a peak of 231.6 lbs on 2008-09-21. Afterwards, my weight would drift between 212 to 220 lbs. Besides the unhealthiness of being overweight, I didn't like the way I looked. I have been slowly working to become much leaner but, like for many people, this has not been easy. Over the years, my weight increased but every summer I had ambitions of burning off the extra pounds with exercise (biking, cutting my lawn, splitting wood, etc). By winter, I saw that the weight I had lost by autumn was temporary and insufficient. As I got older and heavier, my blood sugar increased and eventually needed medication to control diabetes.

In February of 2018, my doctor switched me to new medication that caused me to excrete excess glucose, which resulted in an immediate weight loss and reduction in my blood glucose. This also resulted in a reduction in my other medication. Although I thought I was eating reasonably well, I was pretty much following the recommendations of Canada's Food Guide to eat healthy carbohydrates and avoid saturated fat.  With advice from the diabetic clinic's dietitian, I started to cut back on carbs and eat more protein.  I've now lost about 30 pounds since the dietary and medication changes.

The population of western societies and especially those living in North America tends to be overweight. The obvious causes are poor diet and a lack of exercise due to a sedentary lifestyle. When it comes to shedding excess weight, exercise for the sole purpose of losing weight is unsustainable. It is important to stay stay active and keep moving as much as possible - easier said than done though.

The states of being overweight and obese are medical classifications based on BMI (Body Mass Index). Dr Arya Sharma explains that a person's highest body weight becomes the normal state that the body attempts to maintain at all times. If a person loses weight, the body has a various of responses that try to return the body to the "normal". Whatever method is used to lose weight is the method that must be continued to remain at that weight. Effectively, this means that obesity should be treated as a medically chronic condition. This is the reason that fad diets generally do not work in the long term and result in yo-yo weight loss.  If it took years to become overweight, it is completely unrealistic to expect to lose it (and keep it off) in a matter of weeks or months.

A good mental attitude is crucial. People want to become less overweight for a variety of reasons (need to fit into dress for an occasion, going on vacation and want a beach body, etc). This will not work in the long term and will set you up for failure. Instead, a better reason is because you want to become slimmer because YOU like the way you look and feel. As you start to shed weight (or rather fat), the changes will be positive reinforcement for your efforts.

DISCLAIMER: My background is engineering and what I have written here is from my personal interest in staying healthy. If you disagree with any of it, let know what you feel is inaccurate and include some references so I can make corrections. This is a work in progress so check back often for updates as I continue to learn. CONSULT WITH YOUR DOCTOR BEFORE MAKING DIET AND LIFESTYLE CHANGES.

Weight Loss