At the beginning of the year did you go into the social thing of making a ‘New Year’s Resolution’?
Mine was to resolve to stop making resolutions that I never follow through with at any age.
Many people that I know made the resolution to lose a few pounds especially before bathing suit weather.
Everyone seems to be looking for that magic ‘pill’ that will miraculously strip away those unwanted pounds…..good luck that.
Most will fail….but that is not why I am here….this is a good time for me to drop some history after all it is Sunday and an FYI type of day.
With a new year comes an opportunity to start fresh and, for some Americans, that means losing weight. According to a Forbes survey on new year’s resolutions, 48% of respondents reported they wanted to improve their fitness, 34% wanted to lose weight, and 32% wanted to improve their diet. Resolutions related to appearance and health outweighed several other wellness goals, such as spending time with loved ones (25%), improving work-life balance (7%), and meditating more regularly (5%).
In 2024, these resolutions have been bolstered by the emergence of quick weight loss drugs, like Ozempic, a drug intended for adults with Type 2 diabetes that has been harnessed for its weight loss side effects. Some celebrities have spoken openly about using Ozempic to lose weight and the drug has exploded in popularity among the public. On TikTok, #Ozempic has acquired 1.3 billion views and #OzempicWeightLoss is catching up with 429.6 million views. Shortages of the drug are expected throughout 2024.
Dieting has existed for centuries, at least since Ancient Greece, where dieting emerged as a holistic approach to physical and mental health. But the conception of dieting as primarily a way to lose weight or change one’s body first appeared in the 19th century.
Historians trace the contemporary Western relationship between dieting and weight loss to 1863 when English writer William Banting authored “A Letter on Corpulence.” However, Banting didn’t have a background in health or medicine. His writing came from his own struggles with his weight. At age 64, Banting was 5’5” and weighed 202 pounds.
When he started to lose his hearing, Banting turned to surgeon William Harvey. Harvey had recently attended a lecture in Paris about the connection between the liver and diabetes, and had since been investigating how sugar, fats, and starches influenced the body. When a distressed Banting asked for solutions to weight loss, Harvey recommended that he cut out “bread, butter, milk, sugar, beer and potatoes and to live on mainly animal protein, fruit and non-starchy vegetables.” About nine months later, Banting had lost 35 pounds and his quality of life had significantly improved. He then self-published “A Letter on Corpulence” detailing his journey and gave copies away for free.
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/diet-culture-history-from-ancient-greece-to-ozempic
Here’s my ‘diet’…. eat less and exercise as much as you can. I have not changed what I eat just eat less and a walk with the dog is my exercise and Pelaton got zero dollars from me.
That concludes my sermon for the day.
Enjoy your Sunday and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
I don’t make resolutions at New Year. In September 2012 I decided that cigarettes had become too expensive, and stopped smoking. I haven’t had a cigarette since. It shouldn’t be about dates in the calendar, if something needs to be done, just do it.
Best wishes, Pete.
I do not either and I agree if you need incentive to do right then you will probably fail. chuq
A terrific post…here in the US, the airwaves are overrun with ads for weight loss of all kinds: pills, shots, food programs that give you what you are allowed to eat, or food programs that assign you “points” to use however you want, but an apple is one and a cookie I 100…that kind of thing. You point out that exercise and moderation have the longest lasting health benefit!
THanx John…..I struggled with 235-240 lbs until I was diagnosed with diabetes and I learn to eat less and exercise…..now it is down to 200-205. I feel great. chuq
Congrats! I was just talking to a friend about how my wife and I walk 50-75 miles a week here in New York…because my work is in LA I can go out into Central Park for 2 hours before they are even open for business! That really helps keep my weight down!
I wish I could walk more but limited mobility in my right leg makes it painful at times but I push on as best I can. chuq
There is a mechanism inside the human body that is connected to both the brain and the body that has determined the best stable weight for each individual person and it resolves itself into something the medical people call “The Set Point.”
The body, being inclined to do everything it can do to preserve itself and to protect the life force within it, fiercely battles to maintain that predetermined “Set Point.”
So, in all reality, we can mess with it by our numerous dietary anomolies and we can unbalance it from time to time to make ourselves think we have lost weight….but eventually the body wins the battle and that lost weight reappears and usually brings a few more pounds with it, thus resetting the set point upward because the body believes that more is better.
That is one of the reasons you will hear doctors tell patients that extra pounds are a real asset in the event of catastrophic disease.
So, aside from voluntary anoxeria or starvation, there is no permanent way for mankind to achieve those idyllic goals of perfect physical symmetry and bulk because the inernal planogram automatically adjusts every function of the personal chemistry to keep the individual organism in step with the dictates of that “Set Point” algorhythm.
I lost 25 of those extra pounds and I feel great….my limited mobility has nothing to do with my weight and everything to do with a fucked up right leg and foot….dieting cannot help that as hard as I would wish. chuq