By Jay Steiner


As the mother of a 14 year old teenager, I am reminded of how hard I was on myself, and how easy it was to suffer from low confidence and self-esteem issues as an adolescent. I was never overweight as a teenager, but I was never happy with my weight either. For that matter, I wasn't happy with my hair, skin, nose, clothes or pretty much anything about myself. Now at 43, I am always self-confident, and I feel much better about my appearance. Maybe it is just one of the benefits of maturity, or maybe it is because achievements in my personal and professional life matter more than obsessing over my looks. As a result, I think I look great, even though I have put on a lot of weight.

Having grown up with a mother who obsessed constantly over her weight and made everyone around her miserable, I vowed that would like my body no matter how it changed, and change it did. Unfortunately, it seems I acquired a relentlessly high self-esteem when it comes to body image, so when increasing demands on my time meant more fast food and fewer trips to the gym, I was able to gain a whole lot of weight without thinking twice.

My doctor has good reason to recommend that I lose weight. You see, excessive weight is associated with large number of health risks. Let's look at just the top 3:

*Heart Disease: Heart disease is number uno when it comes to cause of death in the US. Excess weight can give you bad cholesterol levels which can cause heart attack. *Cancer: Coming up number 2 in cause of death is cancer. Gaining weight in later life makes you more likely get various cancers, including as colon and kidney cancer. If you are an overweight woman, you are also more likely to get uterine cancer and breast cancer. *Stroke: Third place in the biggest killers in the United States is stroke. High blood pressure can cause stroke, and overweight people tend to have high blood pressure. *Type 2 Diabetes: Weighing in as the 6th leading cause of death in the United States, Type 2 diabetes also leads directly to killers such as heart and kidney disease and stroke. The fact is, almost all people with type 2 diabetes are overweight, and getting rid of the excess weight will get rid of the diabetes in the majority of people. Avoiding blindness and amputation is another bonus.

I see my doctor again in a year. Can I lose the 30 pounds (yikes) that she recommends in only one year? Turns out that is quite doable: barely more than half a pound a week. Losing weight slowly is also recommended to avoid the negative consequences, such as gall bladder disease, associated with crash diets). Losing this small amount of weight is something that most people can do with small changes in what they eat, and 30 minutes of daily exercise (which also boost your mood.) However, this can be hard for some people. Our slow economic recovery means that those of us who have jobs are working extra hours to cover for those who got laid off, or they are working multiple low paying jobs to make ends meet.

I have a whole year until my next annual check-up. Can I lose that 30 pounds in one year? That's barely more than half a pound a week (which, by the way, is considered a healthy amount to lose weight and avoid the gallbladder disease that can come with crash diets). This is something that most people can do with modest changes to diet and a little bit of extra exercise (which is good for you in many other ways too.) But this might very well not work for me. As I said, there have been increasing demands on my time. My job has me working more hours, and my teenager keeps me busy with all of her extra-curricular activities. Sadly, in what little time I have for myself, the thing I like to do most is eat. That's the Sensa diet plan makes the most sense for me. What is Sensa? Sensa is a diet plan created to help me get more satisfaction out of smaller amounts of food, so that I don't feel like I need to eat so much. I've read reviews on Sensa, and I am convinced that it is convenient and easy and doesn't require that I have to buy special foods or avoid restaurants: perfect for my increasingly busy life style.




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