When losing is winning
Andrea Baptiste is a bit of a celebrity these days.
She actually made it to the finals of one of those reality television shows.
She didn’t win.
She lost.
And lost, and lost.
And that was a good thing, because the show, “The Biggest Loser,” was all about contestants losing weight and getting fit.
Baptiste lost 65 pounds, and it marked a turning point in her life. Instead of obsessing about the actual numbers, she is more focused on living a healthier lifestyle — eating well and exercising on a regular basis.
“There’s no magic pill,” she said.
And that’s the problem. In a nation obsessed with super-sized food and instant diets, Baptiste knows that discipline and hard work are the only solutions to what has become one of America’s most persistent problems — obesity.
The Boston numbers are not good, particularly in neighborhoods with substantial minority populations.
In a recent analysis by the Boston Public Health Commission, the neighborhood with the most overweight or obese residents was Mattapan, with 70 percent. Dorchester and Hyde Park were next at 64 percent, followed by Roslindale at 60 percent, East Boston at 58 percent, Roxbury at 57 percent, and South Boston at 55 percent.
By all accounts, excess body weight is a known risk factor for diabetes, heart disease, many forms of cancer and premature death.
A large problem is weight misperception and outright denial.
According to a recent report, overweight black Americans are two to three times more likely than overweight white Americans to say they are of average weight, even after being diagnosed as overweight or obese by their doctors.
Gary G. Bennett was the lead author of that study by the Center for Community-Based Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The report was based on an analysis of data collected in the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES), a government-sponsored research study begun in the 1960s.
Although blacks are more overweight and obese than the national average, Bennett said less pressure exists in the black community for people to lose weight because of cultural acceptance of higher body weights.
“We think that misperception can be very useful when it comes to protecting people against overly stringent body image ideals and eating disorders,” Bennett said in a recently published report. “But it’s a problem when people fail to realize the health consequences associated with obesity.”
The study reported that men were more likely than women to misperceive their weight. The prevalence of misperception was highest among overweight black women (40.9 percent compared to 20.6 percent in overweight white women) and overweight black men (66.4 percent, compared to 43.2 percent in overweight white men).
The percentage of misperceptions, however, declines among those diagnosed as obese rather than overweight. Only 3.1 percent of obese white women and 11.2 percent of obese black women considered themselves of average weight.
Misperceptions are one thing, economic reality is another, and when it comes to eating healthy food, there is a higher price tag and lower accessibility.
A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Washington and the U.S. Department of Agriculture noted that when money is a factor, people tend to rely more on low-cost, energy-dense foods that are high in calories and low in nutrition.
Similar findings were reported in “The Healthy Heart Initiative: Barriers to Eating a Heart Healthy diet in a Low Income African American Community” a special report by Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Instead of eating fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy products, many of those on low incomes eat foods with added fats and sugars.
For individuals and families relying solely on food stamp benefits to purchase food, for instance, the study found that healthy food is not affordable.
A senior citizen receiving the maximum FY2003 food stamp benefit of $139 per month would need an additional $103 to purchase a heart healthy diet.
A family of four, the study found, would need an additional $227 to their monthly maximum food stamp benefit of $465 to be able to purchase a heart healthy diet.
“It is not sufficient,” the study concluded, “to merely tell people to adhere to dietary recommendations when they do not have the economic ability to do so.”
Kathy McManus is the director of Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Nutrition Department. She said she knows that losing weight is a lot easier said than done.
“The reality is that we need to do a better job of explaining the many layers that are needed to make a lifestyle change. We really haven’t invested enough time and resources to changing behavior.”
Instant diets that promise quick results are not the answer.
“The biggest problem with these diets are that the results are often short-lived,” McManus explained. “Some of the diets do produce short-term results. But almost all report a return to being overweight over the long haul.”
Gaining weight was not an option for Baptiste.
As a child, she was considered skinny, and one of her early doctors said they thought that she might be malnourished. But Baptiste was eating right back in those days. Her West Indian parents prepared all of the family’s meals with lots of fresh vegetables and fruit.
It wasn’t until she went to college that she started the slow and steady weight gain. She gained almost 50 pounds within the first school year.
Baptiste attributes the gain to a lack of exercise and eating more fast foods rather than her mother’s home cooking. The irony is that she was majoring in exercise and science.
The second major weight gain occurred in her late 20s, when she became depressed over the end of a personal relationship.
The trouble was that the more weight she gained, the deeper in denial she went.
She even blamed the dry cleaners for supposedly shrinking her clothes.
All that came to a screeching halt when she turned 29 years old and really looked in the mirror. She didn’t like what she saw.
Determined, she got on a scale for the first time in years. And as is usually the case, something almost divine happened. She heard an advertisement one day while driving in her car that sought participants for an audition for the show “The Biggest Loser.”
Once selected, Baptiste was able to work out about nine hours a day in California for the show. She said she realized that sort of schedule was unrealistic. But she did learn a priceless lesson about herself — self-acceptance.
For the first time in years, she realized that she was finally doing something for herself.
“Women must feel better about themselves and live a healthier lifestyle,” Baptiste said. “Women often put others’ needs ahead of themselves. But actually they should take the lead on having a healthier lifestyle — and then instill that in their families.” |
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(Top) Andrea Baptiste is now a motivational speaker helping others take charge of their lives. She is also a celebrity spokesperson for the American Heart Association.
(Above) Before: 215 pounds, After: 150 pounds
Andrea Baptiste was one of the first contestants on “The Biggest Loser.” She became the biggest female loser on the show.
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| Kathy McManus, Director, Department of Nutrition, Brigham and Women’s Hospitall |
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