Milestones and Other Weighty Matters

Image Courtesy Google Images

The bullet list to follow is shamelessly cut-and-pasted from Yoni Freedhoff’s site. He is an Ottawa-based MD, professor, and blogger.  I learned about his blog via my go-to nutritionist, Monica Reinagel. She wrote:

He’s also the author of a terrific book called The Diet Fix, which aims to help people stop dieting and start on a path to sustainable weight loss. and he blogs at weightymatters.ca. If you don’t already follow Dr. Freedhoff’s blog or social media feeds, I highly recommend them.

Plus he’s a Canadian, so there’s that.

I’ve been following Monica for several years and if she recommends this guy, then I’m sold. Both focus on lifestyle and healthy choices all backed by science, not hype.

Freedhoff’s Public Service Announcement – a reminder to those of us making lifestyle changes.

• Scales measure the gravitational pull of the earth at a given moment in time – nothing else.
• Scales don’t measure the presence or absence of health.
• Scales don’t measure happiness.
• Scales don’t measure success.
• And scales don’t measure effort. [emphasis mine]

He goes on to point out that many of us consider the readout on the bathroom scale as the only valid measure of improvement.  He encourages us to consider that scales do not take into account the other positive changes such as

• cooking from scratch
• limiting liquid calories and
• cutting down or cutting out alcohol
• rarely eating out
• cultivating sleep
• exercising as much and as often as you can reasonably enjoy
• keeping a food diary

He says, “The answer to those questions (and of course that list isn’t exhaustive, nor will all questions apply to all people) [will tell you] are how you’re doing.”

Please don’t confuse what you weigh with how you’re doing. Though there’s often overlap, they’re definitely not one in the same.

So! How am I doing?

I’m doing great!

In the data department, I broke a weight milestone and the scales now read 10.5 pounds lower than they did at the beginning of the year, 5 pounds lower than they did last month when I got my blood-work reports.  I don’t keep a food diary, because, in spite of my love for spreadsheets, and in spite of the fact tracking helps, I’ve been there, done that, and don’t want to spend any more time behind the keyboard. The exercising bullet could use more attention, but it’s better than before.

Yay me!

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Categories: Food

Tags: diet, healthy lifestyle choices, Monica Reinagel, Yoni Freedhoff