DR. WALLACE: Like many people, I’ve gained weight the past year and a half since I’ve been home so much during the pandemic. I’ll readily admit my eating habits have not been the best. I’m 19 and now find myself 20 to 25 pounds heavier than I was back then.
During my time at home, I ate a lot and often because I was so bored and even slightly depressed that the world had seemingly stopped on its axis. Now, I know I need to lose at least 15 to 20 pounds just to get back near my original, healthy weight. So my question at this point is, how many days, weeks or months should it take to get back to my goal weight? I’m normally pretty good at following through on a goal once I make my mind up to commit to it. And when it comes to this issue, I will follow your instructions as long as they seem workable and reasonable. I know I could just start this project off on my own, but I’m writing to you so that I’ll feel accountable to someone. I’ll now consider you to be my “accountability buddy!” — Want my old body back, via email
WANT MY OLD BODY BACK: First of all, I’ll absolutely be your de facto accountability buddy! I’m always up for rooting for our readers to reach their worthy personal goals.
Doctors and nutritionists alike mainly agree that when you seek to lose weight, you should still follow a healthy and nutritious eating plan. Ideally, this plan will be one designed especially for an overweight person. The ideal weight loss goal should be approximately one pound per week.
Since you’re looking to drop somewhere between 15 and 20 pounds initially, this would give you a target window of about four to five months to reach your goal. Don’t expect to lose the weight any sooner and don’t do anything to rush the process forward in a radical manner. Keep your body healthy and happy along this journey. Stay properly nourished!
Weigh yourself every day before bedtime. Keep a written log you can refer to so that you can monitor your progress. You’ll see some short-term fluctuations, but over the longer term, you should see positive trends emerging.
Keep active, too. Seek to add some aerobic exercise. You will soon enjoy seeing the excess pounds melt away, as long as you keep your goal front and center. Good luck and keep me regularly posted on your progress!
WHO PAID FOR YOUR EDUCATION?
DR. WALLACE: I was recently discussing college tuition with some of my friends and then later with my parents. It then made me curious about you and your education “back in the day” when you attended college. Did your parents pay for your education, did you get a job to pay for it yourself or did you get a school loan? — Curious college student, via email
CURIOUS COLLEGE STUDENT: My parents did not pay for my college education, and I did not have to work to pay for my tuition and books when I was in college. But I did have a part-time job at a pizza restaurant so that I could have some spending money for my social life back then.
So who paid my college tuition? Well, I was a Korean War veteran at the time I enrolled at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, and the U.S. government covered my tuition as a benefit of my just-completed military service. I consider my college education and the opportunity to make lifelong friends onboard the ship I was stationed to be the greatest benefits I garnered via serving my country, along with the pride that came from defending our nation and its national interests.
Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at [email protected] To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
