One pound of fat may be more than you realize

Since I reached my goal weight I have been trying (to some degree) to maintain my weight. I don't always eat healthy and sometimes I get depressed when I fall off the wagon, but I use a trick to keep things in perspective. I recently posted this picture on my Facebook but I decided to post it on here too. This is an image of 5 pounds and 1 pound of fat. This picture is enough to keep me moving in the right direction. I know when I only lose 1 pound per week, I have lost approximately a fist sized mass effect fat; that is inspiring. Increasing my activity level for a month, for example, could help me lose 5 pounds.

Right now my mom is on the Nutrisystem diet. So far she has been losing about 1 to 2 pounds per week. She was hoping to lose weight more rapidly so, I showed her this image to help her understand exactly how much 1-2 pounds of fat is. There are so many products and commercials out there that give people false hope and prey on their lack of knowledge to sell products. Unfortunately even if people don't actually buy the products they still expect to lose an insane amount of weight per week. I never try to lose more than 1-2 pounds of fat per week because that is the healthy amount to lose (CDC, 2011). Also some people may lose weight more rapidly on fat diets because they lose more than fat. So in conclusion I will stick to a healthier lifestyle and plan to lose weight at a slower rate. 

"Losing Weight." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 17 Aug. 2011. Web. 19 June 2012. <http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/losing_weight/index.html>.