Since I have had my own struggles with weight I know what its like to be scale obsessed while trying to loss. Agonizing over every ounce and trying to figure out why I’m up 1/2 pound when I ate salad and protein all day Well I have news for all of you who are scale is your best friend and worst enemy, it is one of the worst ways to gage your measure of fat loss!!!
Let me break it down:
Bodyweight naturally fluctuates up to five pounds up or down over the course of any given day. Most people who are chronic “weighers” hit the scale three or four times a day and agonize over every pound. What’s the point, when it could be reflecting: water you just drank, urine or feces that haven’t been excreted yet, food you just ate, or an increase in muscle mass? The number on the scale tells you nothing.
Weight loss is not linear. The body will often dump fat and fill the fat cells with water to “hold” the space, anticipating a refeed of carbs to fill up those storage cells again. Eventually, when it doesn’t happen, the body gets the message and dumps the water out. Fat cells shrink, and “whoosh” - you lose five or six pounds in one day. You actually already lost the fat, but your body was hoping you would replace it. When you don’t, the body adjusts - eventually - and your weight goes down a little bit. But the timing of this event is not predictable because too many other things affect it for us to say “after five days, you will have a whoosh.” Everyone’s body is different. The point here is that you cannot expect consistent weight loss or linear weight loss as we’ve all been trained to believe in. It doesn’t really happen that way, no matter other weight loss programs wants you to believe.
You may have unrealistic expectations of what you should weigh. If you are 5’7” and you weigh 150 and you really, really want to weigh 130, that’s fine, but it may not be realistic, especially if you’re building muscle mass. A muscular woman who weighs 150 is still going to fit into smaller clothing sizes than a skinny-fat woman who weighs 150.
There are dozens of other ways to measure your health. The number on the scale is not one of them. A pound of feathers and a pound of concrete both weigh a pound. Is the composition of those two pounds the same? Of course not. The composition of a pound of fat and a pound of muscle is not the same, either - and the scale will not tell you which pounds are fat and which are muscle. So throw it out. It’s arbitrary, and it’s not worth your health to obsess over a number.
Ways to measure health as well as fat loss:
- Measurements
- Clothing fit and sizes
- Energy levels
- Sleep patterns, restfulness, and refreshed-ness
- Hunger patterns
- To some extent, blood work (glucose levels, triglyceride and HDL levels, LDL patterns)
So, the upshot: throw the scale away and refocus your goals. This isn’t about weight loss. This is about living your life.
Questions about Wellness, healthy living, and losing fat email me at skuretzky@ffrc.net
Sarah Kuretzky, M.A. ,CPT, CHHC
Gluten hides in a lot of very common foods in the Standard American Diet. In addition to avoiding the gluten containing grains like wheat, spelt, rye, barley, farro, kamut and semolina, you also need to watch out for the hidden gluten in many processed foods. Start reading labels, choose more whole foods with no (or at least very short) ingredient lists, and begin to cook more at home. One great benefit of going gluten free, whether allergic or not, is that it automatically helps you to cut back on a lot of processed foods! That’s a great step for anyone to take.
1. Soy Sauce (and Tamari and Nama Shoyu) You may have thought the neighborhood sushi joint was a gluten free haven, but unfortunately there is plenty of it lurking in the soy sauce. Soy sauce is made with fermented wheat. An easy solution is to bring your own gluten free soy sauce, tamari or coconut amino’s.
2. Sauces and Soups Flour is often used as a thickener in soups and sauces. When eating out, make sure to ask your waiter or just order your food without the sauce.
3. Condiments Ketchup, Mustard and other condiment sauces: Gluten is used as a stabilizer and thickener in many products. Same goes for pasta sauce, tomato paste, BBQ sauce and pre-made marinades (and any marinated fish or meat that you buy)! Also, watch out for spice blends such as taco mixes. Pure spices and herbs are fine, but mixes often contain gluten.
4. Asian Food Also be careful with Asian sauces (and when ordering Asian food). Many of them contain gluten.
5. Licorice candy I know, this makes a Northern European very sad, but licorice candy contains wheat. Both the red and black, sweet and salty kind… There are some gluten free alternatives out there however. Google it!
6. Seitan Seitan and other “fake” meat products popular amongst many vegetarians and vegans are loaded with the wheat protein gluten. Seitan is in fact pure gluten and that’s what gives these products their chewy, meat-like texture! Also be careful with vegan cheeses as these may contain gluten.
7. Processed Meat Products Sausages, hot dog’s, deli- and luncheon meats are meat-like foods that also fall under the category of processed foods. They have often been filled with flour (gluten) for texture, as filler and for thickening purposes. Please read labels carefully and speak to your local butcher. Better yet, stick to clean, organic and grass-fed meat and poultry. Also jerky and vegan jerky often contain soy sauce and bbq sauce that contains gluten.
8. Coffee Substitutes I don’t drink coffee so I never really thought about it but many of these coffee substitutes’ list barley and malt in their ingredients, which unfortunately contains gluten. Please read labels thoroughly and when in doubt, avoid it.
9. Oats Although naturally gluten free, there is a lot of cross-contamination during processing as most factories that process oats also process spelt, wheat, rye etc… Wheat flour can remain in the air for up to 24 hours! Just look for gluten free oats instead and you’re good to go!
10. Anything Barley and Malt Malted barley, barley and malt is often used as a sweetener in things like chocolate, carob and candy as well as coolers and hard lemonade.
Most of us probably want to eat healthier. It’s not as hard as you think, in fact, it can be pretty easy. Here are seven super-easy tips that anyone can implement: 1. Don’t follow a diet. Most diets aren’t healthy. Eating healthy doesn’t include rigid rules or evil perfection. Besides this, diets only last for a short amount of time and when the diet is over you will gain weight again. Find a way to eat healthy that you can embrace as a lifestyle. 2. Realize that it is not only what you eat, but also the amount you eat that counts. You can use smaller plates to manipulate the eye and stomach into believing you are eating more then you actually are. 3. Eat slowly. We all heard it before without really knowing why. It takes twenty minutes from eating your first bite until you can feel any kind of fullness. 4. Eat to nourish your body, not to fill it. Be aware of what you eat. The food we eat can either be the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison. 5. Always take the time to sit down and eat. Pay attention to what you are eating. Examine the different tastes and textures of the food in your mouth. Try localizing the flavors and enjoy chewing. Honor and enjoy what you eat. 6. Find a motivation that works for you. It needs to come from you. No guru or expert can make you eat healthier if your motivation doesn’t come from within. 7. Try not to eat or buy food when you are tired or stressed. The lack of metal energy inclines you to choose unhealthier food.
I was recently reading an article about “why you may not be losing weight” and it made me think of my own roller coaster I experienced throughout my 30’s. The three points that I truly believe people don’t take into account are, processed foods, workouts, and sleep. I will breakdown each.
1. Processed Food- Highly processed foods like bagels, chips, pretzels, and baked goods are void of nutrition and full of empty calories. When your body is deprived of nutrients your brain will keep craving food to get your nutrient intake up, no matter how many calories you’ve already consumed. Eating highly nutritious food satisfies your cravings and will keep you fuller longer.
2. Your eating habits cancel out your workouts-
If you are an avid exerciser and still overweight, this is probably the culprit. So many people fall into the trap of thinking, “I worked out today, so I can eat that burger and fries.” A 45 minute moderate workout will burn between 300-600 calories depending on the person and type of exercise, so adding in a 1,500 calorie meal because you worked out that day will only lead to weight gain. In this example, you’re still consuming at least an additional 1000 calories. (FYI: A pound of body fat is roughly equal to 3500 calories. So you’ll want to create a 500-calorie deficit each day to lose about 1 pound per week.) Eating healthy, low glycemic index meals along with exercise will help you meet your weight loss goals.
3. Sleep, please go to sleep- This has been proven many times over. People who sleep less than 8 hours each night tend to weigh more, most likely because lack of sleep causes an imbalance in the two hormones, leptin and ghrelin, that regulate your appetite. Sleep also allows your cells to renew and your body to repair, and gives your mind a much needed rest. Next time you have a sleepless night, notice how hungry you are the next day, as opposed to a day when you had a full night’s sleep. Turn off all electronics and dim the lights an hour before you want to fall asleep to calm your brain and signal to your body that it’s time to turn in.
Since our weight and overall health is an accumulation of everyday choices that add up over the years. Some of them are good, some maybe not so good, and some we don’t even think about at all like sleep.
From the CBS video, I will agree with Lustig points out that our sugar consumption has dramatically increased since the Ancel Keys instigated a low fat mandate of our food supply. And because taking the fat out of food makes it taste terrible, lots of sugar was added and today Americans eat roughly 130 pounds of sugar per year.
But what else has increased? Unsaturated fats!Lustig said it himself… there is no sweet food found in nature that is poisonous. “When you taste something that’s sweet it’s an evolutionary Darwinian signal that this is a safe food.” Huh? So we should avoid sweets because we’ve evolved to identify them as safe? Makes no sense.
This is what I got from the CBS report: PROCESSED foods that include copious amounts of sugar AND other ingredients (like food dyes, chemicals, flour, unsaturated fats etc) are unhealthy.
Our natural attraction for sugar is primal instinct kicking in. Instead of eliminating sugar all together, why not just eat healthy sweets? Sweetness is pleasure and there is a healthy way to get our fix!
The other day I posted on my Facebook page a quote about writing it down: “The biggest lie I tell myself is “I don’t need to write that down, I’ll remember it.” I have heard this countless times and I have said it myself but when it comes to food journals you have to write it down. Here are questions I have received over the last few months and I wanted to share my answers.
Food Journaling FAQ’s
Q: I hate having to keep a food log; it’s such a pain. Do I have to?
A: I’ve tried to loose weight many times and have yet to meet a single person who LOVES food journaling. Yet I have met thousands who would LOVE to lose weight. Consider the idea of choosing to keep a journal, versus having to keep one.
Q: Do I have to record everything, everyday, forever?
A: In the beginning, I recommend that you do. When you see your diet records in black and white, you’ll be better able to analyze progress and detect areas that may need improvement.
That being said, I suggest diet journaling regularly for at least one month. At that point, if you are tired of keeping records every day, consider using the journal only at the times of day or week you have determined most difficult for you.
For example, after keeping diet records for an initial month, you may discover that what you eat on the weekend is undermining your “perfect weekday” intake. In this scenario, it may be most helpful to continue food journaling only on the weekends.
Or, if after a month you see a pattern of overeating in the evening, then maybe you continue to write in your food journal what you eat after 6 p.m. only.
You get my point.
Q: Do I have to record even when I am having a “bad” meal or “bad” day?
A: Absolutely. The time you want to write in your food journal the least is the time you benefit from journaling the most.
I ask my clients to keep food records. They LOVE to share them with me when they are eating “perfectly.” But then they cancel appointments or conveniently “forget” to bring food records after a “bad” week.
(We usually have a good laugh about it later, as I know very well what is going on…and they know I know.)
I subscribe to the philosophy that there is “never failure, only learning.” If you can learn to accept that “bad” days provide you with valuable information about yourself and your choices, then eventually you will WANT to write in your food diary on those days. Consider it an opportunity to learn and grow.
Q: How can I use a daily food journal to assure my long-term success?
A: Make a commitment to using a food log to record everything, everyday, for the first week of every month…regardless of whether you think you need to or not.
Using a food diary to bring yourself back to a state of heightened awareness on a regularly planned and scheduled interval will keep you on track…or get you back on track before you have strayed too far.
Q: I have established a calorie goal for myself. If I go back and review my food journal, what should I be looking for besides the numbers?
A: A lot of really good info is lurking on the pages of your food diary! In my experience I have found there are no bad foods or bad meals or bad days…only bad patterns.
(Think of your shopping habits. One extreme shopping spree isn’t likely to break you, but making a habit of it could.)
Look at what you’ve eaten and consider whether any of the following have become patterns
Q: What if I am keeping food logs religiously and am not losing any weight?
A: Go back and revisit the numbers. You may need to change your daily calorie goal, or possibly your eyes have “grown” and your portions are off.
It’s easy to get sloppy with portion sizes. You may think you know what 1/2-cup or 3 oz. looks like after a while. If you are eating a 4 oz. chicken breast and recording it as 3 oz., you will be off by 50 calories per day. This translates to a 5 lb. weight gain per year! (Or 5 pounds you didn’t lose!) You may also want to consider whether your exercise routine needs adjusting.
