I went to medical school in Brooklyn, N.Y. and I remember around Christmas time, 1978, lining up outside in the cold to see a movie that opened only in a few theaters at the time. The movie was “Saturday Night Fever” and the music, written mostly by the Bee Gees, sort of defined the disco generation. One of the great dance scenes was John Travolta dancing with Karen Lynn Gorney at the nightclub to the song, “More Than A Woman” (see below).
Turning to weight control: Women comprise 88% of the entries to our Serotonin-Plus Program as opposed to 12% male patients. Does this mean that there are 8X more women overweight/obese than men? Of course not. The stats are around the same. However, it is apparent that many more women than men appear to accept “help” for controlling weight and my experience has shown me as a doctor that by and large, women are more proactive in prevention/health maintenance than men.
I have found that much more often than not, women tend to focus on everyone else’s issues other than their own. Aside from simply being a “woman”, the “more than” includes:
- Being a wife
- Being a mother
- Being a grandmother
- Being a full time worker
- Being a friend
- Being an influencer to colleagues and friends
- Being a daughter
- Being the main “nurturer” to the family
- Being a decision maker/caretaker for elderly relatives
There are many more bullet points that may be added to this list.
The point: Successful weight control requires focusing on “you”. If pretty much all of your awake hours are spent attending to everything/everybody else, there is a very low chance of weight control success.
YOU are important. YOU need to be at the very best health as possible. YOU should never feel guilty spending time/focusing on your own health. YOU are (MUCH) more than a woman.
Enjoy a throwback song and dance routine…disco is back! (at least for this blog)
