In case you missed it, January 1 was, by decree of Life Time Fitness, Commitment Day, and has been for 10 years. The Founders suggest:
Celebrate the day by making a commitment to a new and healthy way of life. Set goals and choose one positive action to start the year with. Take part in classes and events…
… especially those held by their company. The decision to “go on a diet” is probably the #1 New Year resolution made by Americans. Not surprisingly, the initial seven days of the first month also constitute National Diet Resolution Week. The same time period is also designated as Lose Weight, Feel Great Week, which has been a thing since at least 2008.
Writer Claudia Strasbourg credited U.S. Olympian fencer Jana Angelicas (a big fan of portion control) for introducing the Week, and explained by noting that restaurants tend to serve customers very large portions of food. People who were brought up under the “Clean your plate” rule feel obligated to eat it all. Of course, such parents always had logical reasons for the dictum. After all, they had paid good, hard-earned money for the food. As if that were not sufficient justification, there was also the guilt factor. Starving children in China, India, or Bangladesh would be grateful to have that meal. So eat up!
The writer says that 75% of obese people believe that they “eat healthy” and perhaps they do — it’s just that they eat too much of it. Also, 40% of adults who answered a telephone survey claimed to engage in “vigorous exercise” at least once a week. Strasbourg added,
Of the 11,000 individuals contacted, about 3,800 were of normal weight, 200 underweight, 4,200 people overweight, 3,100 obese or morbidly obese.
Just 19% of obese respondents said they read nutritional labels as opposed to 24% of normal weight people… Larger people ate all they were served regardless of portion size. Thinner people rarely cleaned their plate.
Looks like there was some cognitive dissonance going on among the survey respondents!
More recently, in 2013, an New York restaurant called 4food, which specialized in local, natural, gluten-free and vegan dishes, offered original treats for Lose Weight, Feel Great Week. In addition to new menu items, they gave customers the opportunity to complete a nutrition profile, along with professional fitness advice, vitamin and supplement information, and other incentives like product discounts and one free session with a personal trainer.
National Lose Weight/Feel Great Week, which aims for a positive body image and establishing a healthy relationship with food, is also endorsed by a professional online school that trains people in the corporate world whose jobs involve the health and wellness of employees in their companies and organizations.
Your responses and feedback are welcome!
Source: “Commitment Day,” Checkiday.com, undated
Source: “How Did National ‘Lose Weight/Feel Great’ Week Affect You?,” NewspaperWomen, 04/14/08
Source: “4food Delivers the Scoop On Lose Weight, Feel Great Week,” PRWeb.com, 2013
Source: “Health and Wellness at Work — Online Course,” MandatoryTraining.co.uk, undated
Image by Stock Catalog/CC BY 2.0
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