Baby Steps

How many times have you decided you are going to change your life? Get organized, start exercising, drop the treats and add the fiber, etc. etc. I get on one of these rampages every few months (usually after we've been on vacation!). But I've found that it never works for me to tackle everything at once.

It’s smart to begin with one change at a time. Small differences can add up to big results. Taking care of yourself doesn’t have to rule or completely change your lifestyle. Baby steps are the key to making lifelong changes. Instead of losing weight with a crash diet – which always comes back on – or starting an ambitious exercise program and getting injured or burned out, take it slow and change one thing at a time.

One change a month is a great goal. In a month you can make something into a long-term habit and if you concentrate on one goal you won't be so overwhelmed.

For example:

• January - make a goal to eat five servings of fruits/veggies a day.

• February - outline a plan to lift weights twice a week.

• March – decide to use only child-sized plates and bowls to force yourself into eating smaller portions.

• April - convince your family to go for an after dinner bike ride or walk. We have a jar of healthy activities. We draw one every night (or that's the goal at least).

• May - trade white bread for high fiber bread.

Our main goal should be healthy and fit for life not just a desire to lose weight because we have a trip or class reunion coming. So go write on your calendar what your next month’s goal is going to be. I write my monthly goals on my desk calendar then I’m reminded of them many times a day. This month the goal is running. I've got a half-marathon on the 29th so I'm logging at least twenty-five miles a week. My poor legs are tired!

What's your latest fitness/health goal?

Genetics or Lifestyle?

What's more important? The genes your parents handed you or the foods they taught you to love?

I've been reading up on the debate about which factors are more influential - genetics or lifestyle - in maintaining a healthy weight. As you can imagine, it's pretty tough to prove either way. Maybe a person wasn't genetically predisposed to be obese, but their family's lifestyle factors influenced them in that direction. Or on the flipside - my father's family has been studied by the University of Utah because of the high incidence of obesity and yet not one of my siblings is overweight. I remember as a teenager my aunt telling me, "You're just a big-boned girl." (Loved that) Or the former Mr. Utah who taught me more about personal training than a university degree, "I love those thick Coats' legs." (As he grabbed my thigh during a lifting session.) Let's face it, because of genetics (and my ice cream addiction) I will never be a size two, but honestly, I'm okay with that. I just want to be fit and feel good.

I liked the four points that writer, William Saletan brings up in his article in The Dallas News, "Is genetics or lifestyle a bigger factor in obesity?"

"First, heritability by itself can't prove the limits of what environmental changes might produce. Environmental changes can significantly raise or lower average weight – as, in fact, they have – even if genes largely determine your weight relative to your peers.

 

Second, any environmental factor that affects the whole study population is too big to show up in the analysis. I'm not talking about things each family could do. I'm talking about things that affect nearly all families simultaneously: urbanization, pollution, the arrival of television and the proliferation of fast food.

 

Third, just because something is genetically caused doesn't mean it can't be behaviorally controlled.

 

Fourth, diet and lifestyle can themselves be genetic pathways. For example, fidgeting has been shown to burn lots of calories; it's highly plausible that fidgeting is genetically influenced and that it drives people to exercise. To the extent that genetics overlaps with fattening behavior, old dichotomies have to be chucked. You can't just blame fat people for eating too much. Nor can you assume that because fat is hereditary, there's nothing they or society can do about it." (i)

I think the bottom line is our propensity to be overweight or thin is definitely affected by our genetics but if we're one of those unlucky people who are more likely to be overweight we have to fight harder and employ all the tricks. It isn't fair, but hey, those skinny people have other challenges like, um, never being able to compete in sumo wrestling.

What do you think? Is lifestyle the determining factor or is it impossible to overcome your ancestry? 

 

(i) http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/points/stories/DN-saletan_30edi.ART.State.Edition1.46af628.html