Rid Fat And Keep Health

“Let us escape obesity and gain back healthy weight.”

Korean Society For Health Promotion And Disease Prevention (president Hur Bong-Ryeol, medical professor at Seoul National University) and Donga Ilbo are hosting the `Rid Fat And Keep Health` event, and its establishment ceremony was held at Seoul National University Hospital on the 13th.

The ceremony hosted the society members, such as Hur and his pupil Dr. Park Min-Sun, professor Park Hye-Soon of Ulsan University, and professor Park Yong-Woo of Sungkyunkwan University, and 10 obesity patients who are to participate in the event.

The participants will challenge dieting in pairs under doctor’s prescription at 5 clinics, including Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul Asan Hospital, St. Mary’s Hospital, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, and Ilsan Paik Hospital over the period of 12 weeks.

Healthy weight generally represents the most comfortable and well-felt weight after the age of 18. Even if there is 5 – 10 kilogram difference based on sch weight, it can still be called healthy weight if the body feels good.

The next is the participants’ jargon. Experts point out that an important factor in diet, as in quitting smoking, is to make good opportunities personally.

“I weighed 43 – 45 kilograms before marriage, but as I went up to 78 after giving birth to our child, my husband looks at me differently. I can bear it when he tries to avoid going out with me, but whenever I reach out for tasty food, he glares at me. He also sometimes hurts my pride saying how would I reduce weight without patience. But I feel sorry for my hard-working husband, when I take the expensive diet pills.”

“One day, there was a TV scene, in which a son told his dad `Don’t come to school because you are fat, dad`. I asked my 4 year-old son `I would be okay to go to the school, right?`, and he bluntly said `No.”

“After taking the ankle surgery probably due to heavy weight this year, my son held my hand and said, `Mom, let’s exercise even if it’s not easy.` He works in part-time job to send me 300,000 won every month for clinic treatment. I want to gain back my health at any cost for my son.”

“I stopped growing at the present height, 162 centimeters, in the 4th grade at elementary school. Since then, I’ve gained so much weight. I tried different diet programs, but quit after a few days because of weak willpower. I was looking for an easy way and got into a diet club paying 500,000 won. I lost 8 kilograms in a matter of few days, but I had to get carried out on a stretcher, and I gained back the weight right after that. I know the right path is the best even in diet, but I couldn’t practice it. I’ll do it now.”

There are also cases of men, who put off diet while slowly gaining weight, and start dieting after losing health.

These participants wrote their aiming health-weights on paper and submitted.

Who would be the one to get closest to the health-weight and receive the society’s prize?

Seong-Ju Lee stein33@donga.com