Monday, September 26, 2005
Ninety-Five Percent
There is a percentage that I roll around in my head a lot, especially the more weight I lose on this journey. (Not that I am currently losing weight, I am still hanging out in the land of 155.5 lbs). The percentage is 95% or in the alternative 5%, the ever looming statistic that virtually every dieter knows by heart. Over the long term, 95% of people who lose weight will regain the weight and only 5% will permanently keep the weight off. This is a daunting statistic, especially if, like me, you have struggled with weight your whole life. Heck, I was a chubby baby by all accounts, and I was never a thin child. So, when do you know that you have crossed the threshold into the elite 5% group and out of the 95% group? I don't think you ever do, and some days that is an exhausting thought. I think I will always have to think about what I put into my mouth, always worry about whether I am getting enough exercise, and always fight the scale. I think this in part because I have an older brother who was an elite athlete in college, works out as much as three hours a day for his job, and still struggles with weight issues (albeit on a much smaller scale than me). He has never been overweight, but then again he has never achieved that elusive six pack set of abs either, I know, we have discussed this fact at times. Our workout ethic only gets us 95% of the way there, and our genetics balk at the remaining 5% to absolute physical perfection. Then again, absolute physical perfection has always been highly overated in my book. I know what 95% of the way there looks like, because my brother has been there for a long time (just ask my father about the fact that when they used to run together, my brother would run backwards just to get a better workout, go ahead just ask), and I know I am not there yet. That is what gets me up in the morning somedays and gets me to the gym, and I hope someday that keeping myself in the 5% group of people who keep the weight off will keep me going to the gym. In the end, only time will tell.
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3 comments:
Let us be clear about the rules when your brother and I ran:1) No running backwards;2)No running around me;3) No commenting on the pace, i.e. "If I knew it was going to be this slow, I would have brought something to read." We would return home, I to go the nearest ICU,and he would eat and then go work out.
That is a scary statistic indeed. I always knew that many people gained weight back, but 95%? I literally got butterflies in my stomach just thinking about that.
Funny how that is the first thing people say when I tell them how much weight I have lost..."Careful you don't gain it back", or "keeping it off is harder".
Kat, I read you every day and you inspire me beyond belief. I believe that we are strong because of our struggles.
You are already in that 5% group, even though you are still in a weight loss phase. In my honest opinion, it's about having the right mindset. And you have definitely got it.
95% sounds about right, but I bet that the the odds get better the more weight you lose. Once you have lost enough weight that it would take multiple new wardrobes to get back to where you were are you likely to let yourself slip that much?
Most of those 95 percenters probably only lost 10 or 20#.
I wouldn't worry about it too much.
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