On Losing Weight

Humans beings don’t like to lose things, try to rephrase it as Gain Health.

Just weight is one-dimensional, which one is better 60kg or 90kg? It depends! Are both of these people alive? How tall are they? Which one has diabetes? What’s their body composition?

Relying solely on weight to measure your progress towards being a healthier human being will be disappointing and confusing at times. If you are extremely overweight, losing weight is the first indicator, if you are almost healthy, your weight changes less and other things like how far you can run, how tired you feel come into play. Keep that in mind. Add more dimensions, more measurements, other data.

Weight check-ins with the right frequency. I used to measure it daily, it’s a bad idea, you may lose hope after a lasagna night and a pint of beer. Go for weekly check-ins, I do them twice a week now, as soon as I wake up. It’s easier to remember, easier to see the progress.

You cannot out-exercise your diet, you cannot out-exercise your drinking. The best way to improve your health is by eating better and drinking more moderately.

Eat more fiber, leafy greens. Eat less carbs but don’t stop eating them: pasta, bread, potatoes. Prefer less processed everything, the less processed the food more your body has to work to digest them. You are probably eating the right amount of protein already.

Fast if it’s for you. Fasting is not for everybody. It works great for me, my first meal is usually at noon. Before that I drink coffee, water, tea with no additives, no milk, no sugar. I stop eating the day before around 8 PM. Intermittent fasting allowed me to understand when I am hungry and when I am bored and would like to chew on something. That made me pick healthier chewable alternatives, like homemade popcorn where I control the amount of salt and oil.

Sometimes things get hard and if you are an emotional eater like me you will eat your feelings, so other things come into play here. Living a well balanced life. To deal with stress and life drama as best as possible. An incomplete list of rituals you may consider adding to your life: therapy, journaling, meditation, exercising, sleep hygiene, expressing gratitude.

I am just like you. Imperfect. Just because I am preaching this, it doesn’t mean that I don’t drink, that I don’t exaggerate sometimes, that I don’t eat some of the highly additive and tasty processed foods, or that I don’t skip some of my rituals sometimes.

It’s not about being perfect. Make some progress towards your own goals.