Q: Dear doctor, need your advice please. I was working part time since a year. Now, I am doing a full 9 hours with an hours commute, 6 days a week. Plus i have taxing caregiving respinsibilties at home. Life is a blur of duty now. I feel exhausted and very very hungry and my eating is increasing. I have gained a kilo and an inch in 10 days…..im terrified. But docter I feel so tired and hungery. Plus no time to exercise anymore. I know I shud eat less but I feel famished and drained and stressed. I dont want to gain weight but its becoming an uphill task. Any advice please…..
– Tom
A: You are certainly working a great many hours. There is a relationship between not sleeping enough and gaining weight. It is probably more than just that being awake allows more time for eating. There are a number of physical and psychological factors that encourage eating, most of them not well-understood. I think a conventional response to your question might include some remarks about the need to reward yourself after such a punishing schedule. Perhaps that is true. Still, you are gaining weight at such a pace that your health will be threatened soon. In order to live successfully, you must be able to find some time to exercise. If you were suddenly told you had heart disease (as happened to me in the past) you would find time in your busy life to exercise. It is a matter of priorities. Still, I know it is easy to say that sitting here at my computer. I see many people who are driven to distraction trying to make ends meet. Still, as hard as it seems, you have to find some room for living properly. As for the details of a proper diet, look at my book, “The Stuff-Yourself Diet.” For the really obese, I do not hesitate to recommendation an operation such as bypass or the sleeve procedure.
– Dr. Neuman