Excess weight especially in certain parts of the female anatomy, was until recently considered a sign of beauty in our continent. However, with the experience of our girls in international beauty contests, it has become very obvious that though every country must project aspects of what it considers to be female beauty, the basic criteria of feminine attractiveness are pretty well standardized. Among the most important are the vital statistics – the three measurements of the bust, the waist and the hips.
In case my readers wonder why I am carried away, I am soon coming to my main theme. Vital statistics emphasize the problem of weight and its control. They draw attention to the fact that overweight has to be assessed as much as tape measures as by scales. Putting it another way, overweight is concerned with not only what you weigh, but also where you are carrying the excess.
People who are overweight are liable to get diseases of heart because the heart is constantly called upon to carry weight in excess of what it is meant to carry. Obesity also leads to fatigue of the lungs.
The arteries in overweight people get fat deposited on the inside of their walls. This leads to reduction of blood supply to various parts of the body, resulting in damage there. Joints start creaking under excess weight, because of arthritis. Finally, diabetes and high blood pressure are common in obese people.
There are certain times in life when the matter of putting on weight has to be carefully watched. One is after illness during convalescence, when people are liable to over-eat as a help to quick recovery. Enforced inactivity and over-feeding during holidays is another danger period. In men and women, when they reach middle age there is a natural tendency to bulge in the middle. In women there is sometimes inability to lose weight after pregnancy and also around menopause, there is a phase when weight will accumulate where it looks least attractive.
In the way of treatment it is far more difficult to shed weight once it has been put on than to prevent getting overweight. Making a diet sheet in our countries is extremely difficult because there are so many types of diet being consumed.
In principle it is not only enough to cut down fats, but also sugar, for the latter is converted into fat in the human body. Rather than depending on a rigid regime of a weight-reducing menu, which can seldom be followed for any length of time, it is preferable to discard “unsafe” items and indulge in “safe” ones. These are classified according to their fat and sugar content and the higher the proportion, the greater the “unsafety”.
Then there are tablets, and it seems that the popular conception is that if a person takes tablets his fat will melt away like snow in the sun. Nothing is further from the truth. As a matter of fact, there are no tablets to cut down weight: they are meant only to cut down appetite. These days there are tablets available which, if taken once in the morning, help to cut down appetite for the rest of the day. There is also the question of exercise. It is worth emphasizing that it needs a lot of exercise to shed any appreciable amount of weight, though it may help to re-distribute fat.
Finally, four more pieces of advice. Firstly, motivation on the part of the person to reduce weight is the most sure means to a slim figure. Secondly, it is worth remembering that in the early stages of weight reduction in a fat person there is naturally a quick success, but this will slow down. Thirdly, it is better not to aim for a loss of more than one or two pounds a week, if one wants to continue with normal working. Finally, once you have got to the level of weight that you want to be, strict discipline is necessary to keep it there.
