Keeping Track of Your Weight:

What Clothes Are You Wearing This Spring?

by Jewel Mullen, MD, MPH

Most of us are relieved that winter is finally over. As the weather warms, we engage in a variety of springtime activities. Some people start spring cleaning:  washing windows, hanging new curtains, or placing colorful flowers on their porches.  Other people wax their cars, believing they have seen the last of winter sand and salt for awhile. Children rush out to ride bikes, jump rope, and play.  Eventually there is the aroma of barbecue in the air.                       

            Many of us face a much less pleasant task.  Knowing it’s time to shed our winter clothes, we must look at our wardrobes and decide what we’re going to wear as the weather warms.  For some people this time becomes the “moment of truth,” the time when they learn whether eating holiday food and being less physically active throughout the winter now shows around the waistline, on their thighs, or from the “rear.”

            Have you ever stood in front of your closet and tried to figure out whether or how your clothes shrunk while they were put away?  Even though I know such shrinkage doesn’t happen, there have been times when the question crossed my mind.  Stepping out of the denial mode, I eventually tell myself to get real and be honest about all of the times I ate a bit more than I should have -- or did not stay as physically active as I had planned.  In general, though, my own health-consciousness (and vanity) helps me keep my weight in check. 

            How do you keep track of what is happening to your body size?  Some people weigh themselves, some rely on the mirror for feedback, and others go by how their clothes fit.  Although none of those methods is perfect, it is important to be in touch with whether or not we are gaining too much weight. Being overweight increases one’s risk for hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, strokes, and some cancers; and African-Americans experience higher death rates from those diseases than do White Americans.  Those facts make the epidemics of overweight and obesity serious public health matters for our communities.

            More than half of adults in the U.S. are overweight.  With overweight becoming so common, it may be getting harder for people to understand what a normal body weight really is.  In my medical practice, I have had to stop just talking to people about the specific number of pounds they weigh.  Instead, we talk about the impact their weight, their eating habits and their activity level have on their health.  I try to get my patients to think about themselves and what their own personal health goals are.  I also discourage patients from comparing themselves to other people.  That is especially important advice for my patients who are not overweight.  Some of them believe they need to put on some pounds because they feel abnormally thin.  Many people judge their own size by the size of people around them.

            Even though losing just five or ten pounds can improve one’s diabetes or high blood pressure, I spend less time telling people simply to lose weight.  If the idea of trying to lose five pounds is hard for most people, who wants to hear that they should lose ten, twenty-five, fifty, one hundred or more?  In addition to celebrating pounds lost, I also congratulate some patients whose weight has not changed.  They deserve to know that not gaining more weight is an accomplishment too!

            When patients come in weighing less, I want to know how they did it.  Slim Fast, high protein, low carbohydrates, cabbage soup, grapefruits, Weight Watcher’s and eating smaller portions are some of the answers I get.  Whatever the method is, if some type of physical activity is not included, I’m not satisfied.  Pounds lost are more easily gained if a person is not active.  And getting some type of exercise, even walking, can improve our health in general – even if we are overweight.  I tell my patients that using stimulants like ephedra and dexatrim are dangerous and should be avoided.

            Rather than just talking about the scale, I also ask people about their clothes.  Do they still fit?  Do you still wear the same size you wore last year, two years ago?  Have you let out the seams?  Can you still button the waist?  Do you only wear elastic waistbands now?  The waist question is particularly important.  When the majority of extra fat settles around the waist, the risk of getting diabetes and heart disease is especially high. Dieting alone is not an effective way to lose waistline fat.  You also need to be active enough to work up a sweat to reduce fat from that area.

            So, if you pull out last spring’s clothes and they do not fit you well, think twice before you go shopping.  If your clothes are snug, use that as a signal to get moving and increase your activity level.  At the same time, think about where those extra pounds came from.  Do you have a weakness for high calorie things like soft drinks and greasy foods or do you just eat too much?  Are you a couch potato?  Be honest with yourself and cut down on the foods you know are bad for you.  Use the combination of eating less and moving more to help you fit your clothes better. 

            If your clothes seem to fit the same as they did last year and you had hoped they would be looser, don’t be discouraged.  Eating less and moving more will work for you, too.  Again, remember to eat less of the “bad” things especially.  If you discover that everything is too small to wear, you really need to take action.  Set a goal of getting back into those clothes.  See your doctor to be sure that your blood pressure is normal.  Discuss avoiding diabetes and high cholesterol levels. Those are good health practices for all adults.