Lessons From The Scale
Hello again. It’s me. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?
Let me just say that it’s been an eventful few weeks since this blog went offline. I felt like bringing it back, though, so here we are. After a rebrand, I’m going to make The Lion’s Lair better than ever before.
Anyway, the other thing that’s different in my life is that I received a sobering health diagnosis. I’m not an old man by any means, but being slightly pudgy has already started catching up with me. My doctor recommended that I lose about ten pounds.
At first, it was a little hard to accept the news. Most people don’t want to accept that they aren’t as healthy as they thought they were. There’s a reason that Sacha Baron Cohen segment with Bernie Sanders, in which Cohen played a man previously oblivious to his horrendously unhealthy lifestyle, was so funny.
When I told my mother about what the doctor’s note said, she talked to me at first as though I were a sick puppy. I’m sure she didn’t mean it this way, but I wanted my other family members to know that I’d rather not be talked to like I have cancer. The fact is, I do not have cancer - at least, I don’t think I do.
I realize that compared to many people who struggle with the size of their waistline, I had a relatively mild amount of weight to lose. I also realize that I'm not at my goal weight yet.However, I want to share my insights anyway. These aren't necessarily revolutionary conclusions that will put scientists to shame - at least, not for many people who’ve lived this struggle. But here's what has helped me the most.
You Get Used To It:
After a few weeks of not eating excessive portions, I get full a little faster than I used to. Previously I might have eaten two or three large plates of food without hesitation, but now my portions are a decent bit smaller. I don’t know if my stomach has shrunk, or if that only happens to people who have bariatric surgery. And obviously, bariatric surgery isn’t recommended for people who are only moderately overweight - it’s a drastic step that, contrary to popular belief, is not an easy way out. I'm by no means depriving myself, of course; any fad diet suggesting to eat extremely little is not to be trusted. The most important reason is because…
It's Not A Diet, It's A Lifestyle:
The word diet, for many people, has the connotation of a temporary restriction on your caloric intake. For better or worse, it doesn't work that way. If you want to keep the weight off in the long term, you need to view it as a permanent lifestyle change.
This doesn’t mean you can never have pizza again. In fact, I’ve noticed that if you allow yourself to indulge once or twice a week, it’s a lot easier to keep these habits up in the long term. If you crave pizza, maybe make it an occasional treat instead of eating it every other night. I’ve personally started only eating dessert on the weekends, if at all.
That's the main reason why fad diets are to be avoided - the changes they suggest aren't realistic to maintain for life. And you want to maintain this for life, for which it's helpful to realize that…
It's Not About What You're Giving Up:
If you are to maintain your lifestyle changes for, well, life, it's best to have a certain attitude. Don't look at your new lifestyle as giving up what you love. The only thing you're renouncing is the extra pounds (or kilograms for non-Americans). In all seriousness, there are plenty of healthy foods that taste delicious.
One of the hardest parts of losing weight is finding time to cook for yourself, but if you see this journey as an opportunity to find new recipes with healthier ingredients, it'll be far more enjoyable. Sweet potato fries taste at least as amazing when you cook them in the air fryer, and they're a lot better for you than when you get them at a restaurant. It's not about giving things up; it's about finding better ways.
Don't Obsess Over The Scale:
I know. Ironic, right? Before officially starting my weight loss journey maybe two months ago, I often weighed myself every single day. This made it easy to overreact to what basically amounted to a daily fluctuation. This may be controversial here, but I advocate for weekly weigh-ins rather than daily. This way, I believe you'll have a more accurate view of whether you're on track to meet your goal. I'm the sort of guy who likes instant gratification, but this isn't the sort of process that gets you instant gratification. As mentioned above, the weekly weigh-ins also allow you to treat yourself once or twice a week, which is okay as long as you eat healthily the rest of the week (and also makes it easier to maintain the lifestyle in the long term).
Finally, it's easier to eat zero potato chips than one. This is a lesson many of us have learned the hard way, but it's true. Potato chips, like many junk foods, are designed to be addictive. People don’t always think of unhealthy foods as being akin to drugs, but it can be an addiction just like any other.
Indeed, the difficult thing about a food addiction as opposed to one for alcohol or nicotine is that you need some amount of food to survive. If you’re trying to quit smoking or conquer alcoholism, you can simply quit. It might not be pleasant, which is why I’m glad I don’t smoke or drink in the first place. But food is a biological necessity that you can’t break up from; forging a healthy relationship with it is essential to success.
Again, I'm not pretending to be an expert on everything to do with weight loss. I’m not naïve to the fact that this is a difficult journey for the vast majority of people who attempt it. But this is my personal blog, and I’m just sharing what I’ve observed over the last few weeks.
As of the day I write this post, I’m about 6 pounds down compared to my weight on the morning of my diagnosis. I’m not at my goal yet, but I’m getting there. Say what you will about Andy Grammer’s musical style, but his song “Workin’ On It” has basically become my anthem over the last couple of weeks.
Different people have different stumbling blocks on this road. I read this AskReddit thread a while back about the hardest part of eating healthily. While some people gave cynical answers like “living in the USA”, the one I related to most was the difficulty of cooking every single meal. But it’s made me more passionate about food, as I become more intentional about what I use as fuel.
The reward is very handsome indeed. At merely 6 pounds beneath my starting weight, walking long distances already seems to put a little less strain on my knees. Family members and a few friends have also said I look a little leaner. I cannot tell you how gratifying that feels and how fervently I wish to remain on this path toward a healthier body.
Thank you for reading.
