A happy start of 2009

Dear Bloggers,

Welcome back in 2009, and now the happy eating days are over.
It is every year the same that you think maybe this year I am gone lose some weight as the last days of 2008 were passing with loads of delicious food.
And I am not sure if I gained any weight but in my case, I can loose several kilo’s anyway.

Every year again I am making the resolution to loose a bit of weight and gain a bit of happiness.
It seems that fat people are happier than thin ones.
The studies have concluded that:

Thin people are much more likely to commit suicide than large ones (suicide decrease by 15 percent for each 5kg per square meter increase in BMI - body mass index);

As the BMI rose the risk of depression decrease;

Fat people are more jovial and content than skinny ones;

Not fatness alone cause people to be happier, but increase in body mass index (fat & muscle mass) which, think researchers, is correlated with insulin resistance, and insulin associated with serotonin - the feel-good hormone.



So increase in your BMI determine a rise in the quantity of serotonin in your body, which leads to a happy state.
What if we think this causal chain conversely - fat people are happier not because of fat but they get fat because they are jovial, cheerful and content.
Because they see life and all what happen to them in a more optimistic way.
This can be a “vicious circle”, we don’t know which one happen first: happiness or fatness.
And we may say that if we are happy then we get a little fat, and if we got fat then our level of happiness rise, this new level of happiness will determine a new increase of our weight, and so on. Here rise two questions: Which one occur first? When stops this causal chain?

I think it’s a matter of balance, if we fall in one of these extremes we can’t be happy at all.
One may say that even if fat people are happier than thin ones, the latter ones are more healthier, good-looking and physically active than first ones.



Obese people can’t be happy even if they live in a juice of serotonin.
How may they be if their health suffer a lot, if they don’t look very good, and aren’t physically active (physical exercise and activity correlate strongly with happiness)?! Very skinny people can’t be happy either. Their level of serotonin is too low, health isn’t too good, whole energy level is low.

The middle way was always the golden way.
The fit people (naturally or through light and regularly exercises) aren’t too fat but have enough fat and muscle mass to be happy.
They aren’t too skinny but are thin enough to be healthy, to look great and to be physically active.



Yes, lets hope that fat will become muscles, and still being able to enjoy a little bit of a happy life.
And let’s hope that we all gain something else extra instead of weight.

In my case, I’m not entirely satisfied with how I did.
I did grow in some aspects of my life, but the growth wasn’t as good as it should be.
In certain ways, I was distracted here and there.
On the other hand, I’m glad because I learned some good lessons and that will help me for the years to come.

It’s amazing to see how fast time goes by.
Don’t waste your time next year.
Make it a year of difference.

The Old Sailor,