The Slim Habit Blog

There are days when you discover something that you’ve been wishing for years. When you find it, you just want to tell the world. You want to shout it from the roof tops. I had one of those discoveries recently, and I want to share it with you. I’ve been going on diets for years. I always lose weight, but I always put the weight back on again – and some. Frankly, it’s very depressing. I can’t lose weight and keep it off. Diets simply do not work. Until recently I thought I was destined to be overweight for the rest of my life.

My great discovery is that permanent weight loss is not about restricting what I eat for eight weeks, but about making change, permanent change. It’s all about recognising and understanding the behaviors that made you overweight in the first place and learning new habits – you can call them slim habits, if you like. If you learn new habits you will be able to make the changes in your life that will allow you to lose weight and keep it off – permanently. This is not rocket science, but the concept is revolutionary in its simplicity.

What’s been a great revelation to me is that I was never, repeat never, going to have any chance of losing weight and keeping it off unless I changed my ways. You can’t go on doing the same old, same old, year after year, occasionally going on a diet to prove you have some small amount of will power left, unless you make a commitment to change.

Nobody’s going to do it for you. You can’t buy your health, you’ve got to make it happen. To change you’ve got to learn new habits, hot wire them onto your brain if you’re ever going to have any chance of leading a normal, diet free life. I never thought of myself as a revolutionary, but I’m a fully paid up member of the habit change revolution. I have said goodbye to diets forever. New habits are going to be my passport to a slimmer, happier, healthier life. Change is possible for all of us. This is the helping hand we’ve all been waiting for – we all need to get the habit – the Slim Habit!

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Obesity contagious? You can almost hear John McEnroe screaming in disbelief ‘You can not be serious!’ It might sound a bit far-fetched, but a group of researchers at the Harvard Medical School are pretty convinced. What they do not mean is that you are all of a sudden going to put on weight after you’ve shaken the hand of someone who has a few more pounds round their middle than they should have.  

The reason obesity’s contagious doesn’t lie in the fact that obese deliberately people find other obese people to hang out with, it’s more because there is a direct causal relationship.  In other words, a person’s idea of what is an acceptable weight changes as a result of being in the company of obese people. If all those around you are obese, then you start to believe – perhaps sub-consciously – that it’s okay to be like them.

For the first time obesity has been put into a social context.  If everybody is carrying too much weight then it’s easy to see why people are not concerned by their body weight. In fact many probably take comfort from the fact that they are no different to anybody else. If not in a ‘club’, they are certainly not made to feel that they need to make change – probably completely the opposite.

Interestingly, the obesity link between friends was very strong, and in several cases distance didn’t appear to be a barrier to contagion. Friends could live far apart and there could still be an impact. Researchers felt that this helped to show that the links could not be solely put down to lifestyle and environment.

What is alarming about this study is that it shows how social factors have amplified the current obesity crisis. Social acceptance of obesity may be the main cause of the dramatic increases that have been seen in the last few years.

If we take this situation to its logical conclusion, obesity will soon be the norm. Society will accept that excessive weight is not something to worry about…or will it?

The consequences of an overweight population is already a cause for concern for many developed countries around the world. Health care costs are going to increase dramatically and many people will face a very miserable old age unless something changes – soon.

It’s not all gloom and doom though.  If obesity is contagious, there is no reason why being slim can’t be contagious too! A ‘slimness’ epidemic is perfectly possible, but would it be difficult to sell? If feeling a million dollars, being physically able to do whatever you want to do, being happy, being on top of your job and in good health is hard to sell we should all pack our bags now! It’s time to get the slim habit!

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There are some pretty scary statistics coming out about the dangers of being overweight or obese. What is alarming is how few people are aware of those statistics. One recent survey put it as low as 30% – and that’s very worrying. There is one very obvious risk which should get most people thinking.  Being overweight or obese increases the risk of developing cancer – fact! In the US recent research found that among men and women who had never smoked, the risk of cancer death is increased by up to a third in overweight and obese people.

‘Cancer is not a fate, it is a matter of risk and you can adjust those risks by the way you behave’ – a comment from Professor Martin Wiseman of the World Cancer Research Fund.

In a report by the fund, it made clear that there were no fewer than six cancers that are linked to body fat. The writing is clearly on the wall and it’s down to all of us to take note.  If you’re in the ‘It’ll never happen to me’ camp it’s probably time you wised up.

If this wasn’t enough, scientists at London’s Hammersmith Hospital have discovered that we can be ‘fat on the inside’ – whatever next!  They’ve been looking inside the body using MRI scanners looking for any fat that may be lurking round our organs and they’ve found that many of us – perhaps up to 40% – have dangerous amounts of fat around major organs such as our heart, pancreas, and liver.

It’s quite normal to have fat round our organs, but we shouldn’t have much more than a total of 2 pints of fat on the inside. Alarmingly they found many of us have between 6 and 7 times that amount.

Why is this ‘fat on the inside’ bad? Because it can increase the risk of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes.  One interesting fact is that you don’t have to be ’fat on the outside’ to be ‘fat on the inside’. It is quite possible for people who are not overweight in any way to be ‘fat on the inside’. I’m sure you’ve heard of people having heart attacks or strokes who are not overweight and don’t smoke. ‘Fat on the inside’ may well be the reason.

What can you do about ‘fat on the inside’? It’s really very simple. Have a healthy, well regulated food intake and take regular exercise. Essentially it’s what we all should do. This simple solution cures ‘fat on the outside’ and ‘fat on the inside’.

All of us need to be conscious of our behaviors. As Professor Wiseman points out illness is not a fate, but we’ve got to take positive action ourselves if we are to limit the risks we are open to. If we recognise the behaviors that gave us the problem in the first place and learn new habits, we can make successful change. It’s worth it!

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