Healthy eating, exercise go hand in hand with weight loss

By Karyn Daugherty

The turkey has been carved, the presents have been un-wrapped and the fudge has had plenty of time to firm on your outer thighs. In addition to the holiday family dinners, from the first fun-size chocolate bar consumed on Halloween to the last personal sized chocolate heart that is digested around Valentine’s Day, holiday weight continues to inch its way up the scales and eventually forcing you out of your jeans.

These are some of the signs that the holidays are over and it is the beginning of a New Year. This is also when most people decide it is high time to shed the holiday pounds from the previous year.

Statistics from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention show the United States is facing a weight crisis as more than 54.9 percent of Americans are overweight. Centered in the heartland of the country Missouri is not immune to the national obesity epidemic and has an alarming high obesity rate of 27.5 percent according to the CDC. A person is classified obese when their body mass index is 30 or higher.

Although there are many accommodating fitness facilities in the area, Missouri Western students needn’t look further than their own back yard when it comes to finding a place to trim their waist lines.

Fitness Center Coordinator Amy Foley encourages students to take full advantage of the Baker Family Fitness Center as it offers students a free place to work-out with many accommodations without traveling far.

“If they’re not sure where to start I can give them suggestions,” Foley said. Fitness assessments similar to those performed during PED 101 are also offered at the fitness center. The assessment involves measuring height, weight, sit-ups, pushups, flexibility, resting heart rate, blood pressure as well as determining body fat.

Foley said that in order to loose weight people need to exercise for one hour a day. Foley encourages everyone staring out to do something at least 10 minutes a day.

“Even if its 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes at night that’s 20 minutes total,” Foley said. Foley said that getting people motivated is half the battle.

“I always wear my work-out clothes to bed at night so when I get up in the morning that’s one less thing that I have to do,” Foley said.

“Everybody’s different,” Foley said. “You can do the work-out buddy thing, you can buy the membership, spend the money trying to get that to motivate you; but until you get to the point where your clothes aren’t fitting the way you want them to and you have to go up to the next size you just don’t do anything about it.”

Foley suggested making simple changes such as parking further away; using the stairs, and drinking more water as other ways to loose weight.

“If they would just add the exercise into their life, they could probably get away with continuing to eating the way they are,” Foley said.

“When people do begin to exercise most times a light bulb goes off in their head that tells them, ‘If I eat less then I will the lose weight faster,’” Foley said.

“It is supposed to make you live that much longer. When you take care of your body you’re joints aren’t going to be as bad, your heart is going to be in better shape and your cholesterol is going to be better,” Foley said.

Esry Student Health Center Registered Nurse, Sandy Kemarling said students have plenty of healthy options in the cafeteria on campus.

“It’s all about choices. It’s not that difficult to see what’s healthy and not healthy. You don’t have to eat a salad every day to feel like you’re doing a good thing,” Kemarling said.

Even if you are going to have a salad, Kemarling suggested student’s to do without the bacon bits, regular dressing and try to avoid putting extra chicken on their salad.

“Be careful and put those things on in moderation,” Kemarling said.

“A big problem these days is portion size. You can go and eat what you want, but eat it in moderation,” Kemarling said.
Kemarling suggests drinking an eight ounce glass of water before eating out in prevention of overeating.

“You’re supposed to drink eight, eight ounce glasses of water a day anyway.” Kemarling said.

“Not only does that help with your requirements to stay hydrated, metabolism and burn calories, it also gives you a feeling of being full.

“A lot of people have given up soda for New Year’s resolutions and they have lost so much weight because they don’t realize how many calories are in soda and it just turns into fat,” Kemarling said.

Kemarling said exercising first thing in the morning is the best time of the day to exercise.

“It gives you those endorphins, boost adrenaline, and it helps with attitude. Mentality it gives you an overall feeling of happiness. It will help you to eat better,” Kemarling said.

Kemarling said that many students do not identify themselves as being overweight. She also said that the students who do feel like they are overweigh ask about diet pills which are a quick fix. She said they put a strain on your body by boosting your metabolism in a way that your body wouldn’t naturally taking a walk would. People tend to gain the weight they lost back and then some when they lose weight through these methods.

Foley and Kemarling both agreed that drinking alcohol adds extra weight for students. Foley said that if a student has 10 beers on a Friday night that is at least 1000 calories.

“If you look at all the beers that are consumed at parties and bars, nobody’s paying attention to what’s being taking in,” Kemarling said.

“They don’t call it a beer gut for nothing. Even drinking the light beers,” Kemarling said. Kemarling is an advocate for drinking in moderation and always having a designated driver.

“People need to make wise choices,” Kemarling said.

“If the students have good motivation and good direction showing the calorie intake and showing how these things affect your body in the long run might help them make better choices in the long run.”