Working out is essential. Thanks to fast food culture, even kids are becoming overweight

The words sound good, like something you can desperately hold on to in a world filled with transient relationships and broken promises.

Actually, these are the ugly tires of fat hanging from the sides of the chest visible through all attire even if it is loose fitting and voluminous.

Being “fat” is not in the eye of the beholder. It exists when the weight is 10 per cent more than it should be.

Ideal body weight depends on height, body habitus (endomorph, mesomorph and ectomorph) and age. It can be read off from life insurance charts. A simple calculation is the Body Mass Index the BMI (wt in kg/ height in metres square). It should be maintained at around 25. Less is bad, but more is worse.

Thanks to the new couch potato syndrome, fast food culture, TV viewing and obsession with computer games, children too are now becoming overweight.

Professional success means motorised transport that reduces the physical effort of going to work. Elevators remove the need to climb stairs. Housework becomes less physically taxing with domestic help and affordable appliances.

Love handles appear with increasing age and slowing metabolism. The balance begins to tilt upwards owing to a marginal increase in intake over expenditure.

No longer is all the fuel (food) consumed utilised by the level of activity. The extra food deposits itself in convenient areas, like the midriff, arms and thighs.

Today, losing love handles seems easy, with no hard “work outs” involved if the television and Internet are to be believed. Diets are advertised widely, meals are substituted with “health drinks” (they provide no satiety) or a rigid unfamiliar eating pattern is advocated.

It is not practically possible to sustain eating habits different from that of the rest of the family on a long-term basis. Once the diet returns to normal any weight loss benefit also quickly disappears.

There may actually be a re- bound weight gain instead! Also, some advertised diets are positively harmful. They upset the body’s natural metabolism and lead to dangerous conditions like ketosis.

Gadgets like seaweed wraps, steam baths, “natural” adhesive patches and vibrating belts make weight loss seem even easier.

They are advertised to reduce weight and contour certain unsightly parts of the anatomy. Though safe, their efficacy is doubtful and unproven.

Actually, weight loss is based on a pure mathematics equation.

Food eaten, (calories consumed) minus exercise (calories expended) determines the eventual weight gain or loss. To lose weight you need to eat 20 calories/kg/day, to maintain your present weight 30 calories/ kg/ day and to increase your weight you need 40 calories/kg/day. Pregnant and breast feeding women need to take 30-35 calories/kg/day.

This calculation has to be reset as you lose weight. As the weight falls the requirement also falls. A reduction of 3,500 calories results in the loss of ? kg. A sustainable weight reducing diet is one, which provides about 1,200 calories a day. A diet containing 800 calories a day may ensure initial rapid weight loss but cannot be maintained on a long-term basis.

It is useful to remember a few food equivalents and never take a second helping. Each teaspoon of sugar adds 20 calories. Oil adds invisibly but tastefully to the calories in cooked food at the rate of 45 calories per 1 teaspoon (5 ml).

Natural foods like fruits and vegetable salads are complex, require breakdown and digestion. They increase the blood sugar levels slowly and this imparts a feeling of satiety.

Simple sugars like honey, jaggery, sugar and glucose on the other hand need practically no digestion at all, absorption is rapid and satiety is less. This leads to greater consumption and hence weight gain.

Fizzy sweetened carbonated colas are dynamite. They contain 100 calories for every 200-ml consumed, and all of it is in the easily digestible readily assimilated simple sugar form.

Around 400 calories / day can be worked off with exercise, resulting in a weight loss of 1 kg in 2 weeks (26 kg /year) if a 20 cals/ kg/ day weight reducing diet is maintained at the same time.

Vigorous exercise, (sweating and an inability to speak except in short bursts) pedalling on a stationery bicycle, using a rowing machine or treadmill works off around 10-12 calories / min.

Walking consumes 5-7 calories/ min as opposed to running fast (11 calories / min), rapid stair climbing (14 calories/ min), swimming (8 cals/min), yoga, stretching exercises and low impact aerobics (6 cals/min.).

Most housework utilises 6 calories/ min and watching television or attending meetings a miserable 1 calorie / min.

Start today, for a healthy tomorrow. Calculate, diet, exercise and get rid of those love handles before it is too late

Dr Gita Mathai is a paediatrician with a family practice at Vellore. Questions on health issues may be emailed to her at yourhealthgm@yahoo.co.in