Gaining by Losing

Last year I got interested in doing research on the economics of obesity. I got so into it that I actually wrote a research proposal to study the determinants of obesity in the South. Unfortunately, eventhough our proposal was good enough to enter the top 10 round we missed out on the funding (they gave grants to the top six, ugh!). All the models I developed had Body Mass Index as the measure of how normal or abnormal your weight is in relation to your height. Check out your own BMI using this.

It turns out I was overweight myself! Weighing in at 172.5 lbs my BMI definitely would identify me as overweight in my own model. In my literature search I came across this tidbit: consuming an extra 3,500 calories above your caloric requirement (could be in week's time, or even a year's time) would add 1 pound to your weight. The flip side is if you can cut your calorie consumption by that much you would lose a pound. Last summer I decided to do an experiment. I bought a digital scale. I computed my daily caloric need to maintain my weight using tools like this. I designed a diet (two ham sandwiches a day on lite bread-The Graduate School Diet?) and an exercise routine (4-mile jog a day). By my calculation my reduced caloric intake and increased physical exercise would net me a reduction of 2.5 lbs a week. I lost 4 lbs that first week (by no means safe by Department of Health guidelines).

The first few days on this diet-exercise routine was brutal. Energy level was definitely down but gradually my body adjusted and I'm not as cranky as before :) By the end of summer, I have lost 22.5 lbs and am now back to normal weight by my BMI measure and so far maintaining it. Good food provides such instant gratification that it trumps the long-term benefits of healthy eating. Economics tells us that consuming now is always better than consuming later, this effect is magnified even more if our own preferences discount the future by a bigger factor.