Balance of Food

Bad enough trying to diet when it's just you and only you involved. But imagine the audacity of trying to get 1.1 million people to go on a diet for a whole year.

Oklahoma City mayor Mick Cornett has that audacity, personally going from 217 pounds in April 2007 to his current weight of 179 pounds, a 38-pound weight loss. So he figures if it worked for him, why not his city? But Oklahoma City wasn't going to be the easiest place to start. In 2007, Fortune magazine crowned the city as the fast-food capital of America. Oklahoma is 9th in adult obesity, at 26.8% of adults being officially obese. And the Oklahoma City chapter of Overeaters Anonymous has fewer than 100 members. The "good" news in Cornett's plan for the 1.1 million people in the metropolitan area is that they only have to lose less than 1 pound per person to reach the goal of 1 million pounds. But that takes some of the fun out. These are people apparently in seriously bad shape, and all they have to lose is 1 pound each. But the pressure of diets will force some residents to gain weight, so the average needs to be about a pound to reach Cornett's goal. Diets are considered successful for long-term success if you lose ½ pound per week. So hopefully, in a year's time, the residents of Oklahoma City can take advantage of this quest and make some significant progress. The hope is that the residents won't think of it as a diet, but more as a matter of changing approaches. My relatives are from the Southeast, but I do know there are similarities in eating patterns between the two regions. It's great for Cornett that he lost 38 pounds, but he shouldn't expect his fellow Okies to shoot for that rate. These are people who need motivation but not pressure, a fine line for sure. When I first started to lose the weight when I made the transition, I wondered to myself what goal I should set. I had read that losing 10% of your body weight is a great goal in the beginning. The beauty of a percentage is not confining it to 10 or 15 pounds. If you are 300 pounds, 10% is 30 pounds and yes, 270 is still big. But losing 30 pounds when you're 300 can make a difference.

Cornett lost 17.5% of his body weight when he went from 217 pounds to 179 pounds, a rather impressive figure.

I started at 180 – I realize that's not huge, but for me it was. I was thrilled when I hit 162, because that 10% figure never left my mind. The 162 mark was still higher than I wanted to be, but I knew when I hit that mark, I was in better shape. So good luck to those in Oklahoma City. Don't let the huge numbers influence you. Eat a little less, walk a little more, and soon 10% will be in your sights. And Cornett will have reached his goal to make Oklahoma City a little bit healthier.