True Confessions of a Waitress and a Teenage Boy

Have you heard the one about the waitress who gained 15 pounds in her first year on the job, then signed on at an Internet forum and pleaded for help? True story.

Her problem perhaps is emblematic of what happens when one dines largely on restaurant food.

But it wasn’t the two meals a day she ate at the restaurant that was the problem. It was the continuous snacking in between meals.

That snacking came about because her boss encouraged his employees to eat all they wanted.

The snacking never stopped. Bacon. French fries. Potato chips. She was powerless to resist.

She tried to stop her expanding girth, tried to lose weight. She drank plenty of water, jogged regularly, did some resistance training. But the snacks were an unstoppable force.

And so she asked her friends on the forum for help. She got a load of advice, not all of it so good.

But here is one suggestion she, unfortunately, did not get:

Find an office job. Or maybe a job at a dress shop. Just anyplace where potato chips are banned.

Get rid of the food, and you get rid of the weight.

***

Then there is the true story of a teenage boy, who, even though he stayed active by playing basketball and baseball, said he needed to lose weight. He had the good sense to consult an online doctor, inquiring about a low-carb diet.

It might sound silly, but the first thing the doctor asked was whether the boy was fat. Turns out it wasn’t a silly question after all. Teenage athletes, especially boys, the doctor said, typically weigh more than their non-athlete friends because their muscular system is better developed.

Only people with excessive fat should go on a diet, the doctor said. Well-developed athletes, on the other hand, run the risk of losing muscle and thus weakening themselves if they try to lose weight. And weak athletes seldom make the A team.

Furthermore, the latest research on low-carb questions their effectiveness, especially for teens, the doctor said.

Rather, she told the boy he should continue to exercise regularly, plus stop drinking sodas and juices and limit how many calories he takes in each day.

Sounds like good advice.

Who
can help me
lose weight? As an Internet health and fitness researcher, Cindy
Cameron has written extensively on ways to lose weight. True Confessions of a Waitress and a Teenage Boy