snacking

It has long been thought that it’s not just what you eat but when you eat that has an effect on gaining weight. A new study reaffirms this.

Researchers fed mice a high-fat diet during the normal time they ate. Those mice gained about 20 percent of their weight over a six-week period. But, when the researchers fed other mice the same diet, but during the time that they would normally be sleeping, those mice put on 48 percent of their weight.

While these results need to be duplicated in a human study, the researchers believe that the results will be the same.

Last week on Oprah, Roger Schultz shared his pre-Biggest Loser ranch daily diet, including the snack of an entire sleeve of store-bought cookies which he said he ate while watching the Biggest Loser. Other Biggest Loser contestants have made similar revelations and I’m sure several of you snack while watching television. In graduate school, I often kept my mind engaged on my studies through continuous motion of hand to bowl to mouth. I was lucky to be young and active to balance such mindless habits.

How many times have you watched The Biggest Loser or Dr. Phil’s Ultimate Weight Loss Race or even Oprah’s Biggest Loser episode while eating? We eat more when we are focused on something else, not paying attention to what we are doing, and not paying attention to our bodies. Why do you choose to watch these shows in the first place? Do you relate to the contestants? Are you on a similar journey? Are you looking for new ideas to help you along the path? Do you consider these shows to be more family-oriented entertainment than other shows on during prime time and want to communicate a healthy lifestyle to your children? What are you thinking when you make the choice to watch these shows?

Sean Amore, weighing 483 pounds at the time, had gastric bypass surgery in March 2007.  Having lost 250 pounds since, Sean continues his weight journey while living with his wife and daughter in Wichita, Kansas and working in public relations – writing about all of the above, and more, on his own blog, My Bariatric Journey.

General consensus in the white-coat-wearing, research-driven medical community is that the “benefits” of gastric bypass surgery (rapid weight loss, compliments from strangers, etc.) only last about 18 months.  The limits on a patient last a lifetime.  For me, that is a good thing.

With dozens of failed diet attempts behind me, I know all too well that I need tight limits and diet guidelines or disaster (in the form of thicker neck, waist, fingers and toes) will follow.