Indulge me in a sweeping generalization: most of us either want to lose weight or maintain our present weight. Now, a reality check: the odds are against us. A recent University of Colorado Health Sciences Center study indicated that adults who do not make adjustments to their ordinary eating and exercise patterns tend to gain one to two pounds each year. Fortunately the study also included a suggestion for avoiding this “natural” weight gain – simply eat 100 fewer calories per day. That’s about half a candy bar, or a few bites of a hamburger, or a cookie.

If your goal is to avoid weight gain, this is a viable option. For those who want to lose weight, this strategy could be very frustrating, as it would take about five weeks to lose a single pound (for most individuals, a safe and effective rate of weight loss is about a pound a week). In any event, this strategy seems a bit defensive. Why don’t we think about what has caused this trend toward gradual weight gain in the first place?

Although certain physiological factors are unavoidable as we age, I see two primary societal culprits that we can control: (1) the conveniences of modern society encourage us to be more sedentary, and (2) we’re being inundated with larger portions of food.

Don’t Forget to Move

You may think this admonition sounds silly. Think again. We as a society are much more sedentary than we used to be. I read an article a few months ago that described how a school district purchased pedometers for elementary school children to encourage them to walk and run around more. That’s a step in the right direction (no pun intended), but the fact that it’s needed is just plain sad.

If our kids aren’t moving enough, dare we examine our own lives? Consider a typical work day:

Your commute: Most of us walk a few steps to our garage, drive to work, and take an elevator from the parking garage to our offices. Compare this to people who live in cities that are heavily-dependent on mass-transit systems. Their commute may involve a brisk walk to the subway or bus station, a sprint up or down an escalator to catch a train, and another brisk walk to the office…carrying a heavy briefcase the whole way.

Conducting business: Have you noticed a trend toward conference calls and telephonic court appearances instead of face-to-face meetings? Understandably, many of us enjoy the comforts of our own offices, and don’t want to mess with traffic and parking. By doing so, however, we’re missing an opportunity to get up and move.

Research: With a few clicks of the mouse, you can get just about any court decision, statute, or regulation you want without ever leaving your desk. Just for kicks, I recently did about 15 minutes’ worth of research the old fashioned way. I walked two flights of stairs to the library, perused the shelves for the books I needed, found what I wanted, and carried a book back to my office. Imagine when we all used to do that every day.

Our cars, elevators, parking garages, telephones, and computers are time-savers designed to make our lives better and more productive. And we’d be nuts to give them up entirely. But we should be mindful of how we rely on them. If you’re using your “saved” time to play tennis, take a brisk walk, or bike with your kids, you’ve got the right idea.

But if you’re using your “saved” time for other sedentary activities, you might consider finding ways to make your ordinary days a little more physical. Rather than jockeying for a parking spot closest to the building, why not park as far away as possible, and walk to the entrance? Next time you find yourself alone in your office on an interminable phone conference, don’t slouch in your chair and stare out the window. Put the caller on the speaker phone, walk around your office, and do some light stretching. If you work on the fifth story or lower, do you really need to take the elevator every time? And, those of you in high-rises can still put that dreaded stairwell to good use. Take a tip from some former colleagues of mine on the 16 th floor, who used to run down and up the stairwell at least once before lunch every other day.

With a little creativity, you can pick up the energy level of your typical work day, and buck the trend toward weight gain.

A Super-Sized Conspiracy

Think about the last time you went to dinner at one of those chain restaurants. You ordered a chicken salad, and got the equivalent of an entire head of lettuce, eight ounces of chicken, half a loaf of bread, and six to eight ounces of dressing. How about pasta? Chances are, you got a heaping bowl the size of a dinner plate. A few weeks ago, I ordered a sandwich that was the length of my forearm. Even the items we serve food on are bigger. Go to your mother’s house and look in her kitchen cupboards. Notice the size of the plates and glasses she used when you were a kid. Now go to a department store and try to find plates and glasses that size.

Combine this with the fact that we’ve all been conditioned to clean our plates. And sadly, many people have risen to the challenge. Last year, researchers at Penn State University conducted a study on portion control, and noticed that virtually all the participants responded to larger portion sizes by eating more. Different groups were served with larger and smaller portions of food. People had a tendency to eat all that was put in front of them, yet those who were served the smaller portions reported feeling just as full as those who were served with the larger portions.

Stop the madness! Don’t let restaurants and supermarkets dictate your portion size. It’s time to fight back, and your best weapon is a knife. Next time you find yourself with a mega-portion, pick up your knife, and proudly whack it in half. Eat one portion, and box the rest. Or, split an entrée or dessert with your dinner companion(s). At fast food restaurants, order a kids’ meal. You’ll get a wider variety of food in smaller portions, and a toy, to boot. An adult friend of mine always buys the kids’ snack at the movies, where she can get a small bag of popcorn, 8-ounce soda, and mini-bag of M&M’s instead of the traditional tub of popcorn and the equivalent of a Super Big Gulp. The solutions are endless.

It’s no secret that attaining or maintaining a healthy body weight depends on how many calories we consume, and how many calories we exert. But societal factors can be subtle, particularly when they develop over time. By enhancing our awareness, we can maintain better control over our health, our fitness level, and our quality of life.

Published in March 2003 Arizona Women Lawyers Association, Perspectives.