The weight-loss obsession is spreading like wildfire across all age groups. Teens are no longer lagging in the swapping wave of looking cool, middle-aged people to looking younger, or the elderly, in the pursuit of living longer. The pharmaceutical giants are coming up with the latest drug technologies to make fat loss and weight loss easier and the masses are picking up and hitting extreme targets to fit in somewhere.
According to a study published in Research Gate, “in the wake of the obesity epidemic, a cultural shift has begun that emphasises establishing healthy eating habits as a way to achieve weight loss. When taken to an extreme, this can lead to a disorder known as Orthorexia Nervosa”.
Whatever the reason, valid or invalid, there needs to be a certain individual benchmark; is it just weight that defines an absolute status of health? Weight is just a number and there is a whole set of parameters and body markers that define, determine and assist or hamper weight loss. A particular number cannot be set as a standard one-size-fits-all for all individuals of the same age and ethnic group. This is where we are failing miserably in the weight loss obsession trap.
You could weigh perfectly well on the scale, but you could be skinny fat, your bone density might be under normal, you might have fat accumulation around your visceral organs like heart, liver, kidneys, or intestines, or you could be having serious nutritional deficiencies that could be potentially dangerous. Since you weigh your desired number, you feel alright and satisfied.
On the other hand, some are overhydrating themselves, or surviving on warm herbal teas all day long, while others are abandoning rice or bread, some are fasting for as long as 4-hour eating windows and the list is long. Now and then, I am faced with the weirdest queries, such as I want to lose 10 kgs for so and so event in a few weeks, or advise me on instant fat melter potions to look prettier than ever.
Let's say, at age 55 with a height of 5’5’’, you cannot practically dream of attaining a weight of 60 kg if you have lived the last 20 years at 75-80. Realistically, the body has found its threshold weight at somewhere around 70 plus, owing to age and metabolic factors. Even if you manage to lose, you’ll regain. The aim should be to avoid getting drowned in lifestyle diseases and not just orbiting around weight loss.
Yes, sometimes life events can be an inspiring trigger to achieve back the lost health goals, but the vision while doing so has to be clear and sustainable.
When things won't work as desired, people resort to instant hacks or weight loss pills, or even surgeries, without any professional guidance or advice.
However, weight loss or maintaining a healthy weight is not an unattainable target. It’s a mental discipline that needs to be built to cultivate health in the long run. If you fail to engage in physical activity or activeness, or choose clean and minimal eating over the food industry’s garbage stuffing, nothing can come to the rescue.
Moreover, everyone’s weight loss or weight loss maintenance journey is different. It can't be compared or copied, or pasted for all. It depends on an individual's own bodily demands, social and mental environment, genes and heredity; and above all, the lifestyle that you pick and count on!
Dr Nisma Haris
The writer is a general physician and content creator
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