Achieving The Balance

My Facebook friend -- and wonderful author of the blog "Optifast Mom" -- posted a great picture the other day drawn by her Optifast clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona. I have "stolen" it Martha (wink, wink) because I think it is most telling. Here it is:

What this picture illustrates is if you exercise frequently (top), you can eat more to maintain your healthy weight; whereas if you exercise less (bottom) you have to closely watch/restrict your eating to successfully maintain. I am a good example of the bottom one. My new goal is to incorporate more exercise so I would more closely resemble the picture at the top -- though I would probably, ultimately, be something in between these two images.

For those who struggle with incorporating exercise, like me, closely monitoring your calorie/fat intake (with MyFitnessPal or equivalent) is fairly crucial, I am finding. So I would advise those who lost their weight through the Optifast program without consistently exercising to keep in mind that if you really want to keep it off, you pretty much must watch your calories etc. like a hawk. This can get tiring, or boring, and you might start to "stray" -- and then, there you go: the weight starts coming back. The upshot is fairly simple. If you like to eat a lot, you must exercise regularly to maintain.

Now in my case, I have found that I cannot really eat a lot anymore. My tummy can't handle rich food and I just don't desire "bad" things like fast food or highly-caloric food often found at "chain" restaurants. I am much more comfortable eating things I prepare myself. I have full control of the ingredients and the portion size. I like to cook -- and that's been the key to my own success. I also have time to cook (I only work part-time and we have no children) and go to the grocery every day. I can easily tell what is newly "on sale"; get the best vegetables and lean meats; and if my grocery store does not have what I need, there are two more groceries very close by. So I am very lucky in this regard. It makes smaller -- but very interesting -- food intake possible, and I maintain without the need for full-tilt exercise every day.

However, I want to remind everyone that all of the experts in weight management know that key to successful weight maintenance is a healthy diet and exercise. Also, good emotional health, which I harp on all the time. I may be on this "lower exercise rate" course now, but it is not the path I intend to follow in the long-run. I will say though that if you are struggling with exercise while newly in maintenance, continue watching what you eat very closely. You don't want things to get out of control while you begin to implement a more steady exercise routine.

So thanks Martha for sharing this picture! I found it very helpful. Ah, the wonders of the Optifast blogging community. (For those who have not visited Martha's "Optifast Mom" blog, there is a link to it on the right side of my blog.)