Lisa had reached her early 40's and started to notice that her jeans were feeling a little tighter! Lisa decided to weigh herself and calculate her Body Mass Index (BMI). Her BMI was just over 25 and this put her in the overweight bracket. A moment of truth had arisen. Was Lisa to carry on as she was and see her weight creep up year on year or was she going to take control of the situation and do something about it?
Lisa was determined she wanted to do something about it. It would take willpower but the end result would be worth it. Lisa made a list of all the things she could gain by taking control.
- Reduced risk of heart disease
- Reduced risk of stroke
- Reduced risk of hypertension - high blood pressure
- Increased cardiovascular ability
- Increased bone density
- Improved health and wellbeing
Lisa set herself a target to get her BMI down to around 22.
Lisa planned to lose around 0.5 to 1 kilogram a week and she would have a weekly weigh to see if she was on track to reach her goal. But how was the goal to be realised? Lisa had not participated in regular structured exercise for over 20 years and her meal choices and portion sizes had become in line with the rest of the family. Crisps were the snack of choice and if truth be told, cake featured on a regular basis. Does any of this sound familiar?
Lisa was not keen on a crash diet or meal replacement products. She wanted to eat her meals with the rest of the family and still enjoy her food. On the exercise front, Lisa had been walking a couple of miles a day for the past 3 to 4 years but that was about it . A too drastic change may put her off exercising and she would never reap all the benefits that a healthy body can bring.
A plan of action was drawn up to include simple dietary changes and an increasing exercise intensity over the coming months.
In the next post we will look at what dietary changes Lisa made.
Note: After the age of 40 the body looses around 0.5 kilograms of muscle year on year. Now muscle cannot turn to fact anymore than lead can be turned into gold but muscle does burn more calories than fat even when our body is at rest. The end result is a creeping weight gain over the years at a time when most people are not as active as they used to be.
