Weighty Matters

It happened again; the scale! Or rather the scale wasn't telling the person what was truly happening with her body. She still remains unconvinced. She was sure she wasn't losing much weight simply because the number on the scale wasn't moving down as much as she had hoped, week to week. Her eating has been excellent and she has been very active. However, when I measured her hips and waist, she was down over an inch off the hips! This represents 10 pounds of fat loss--- a great result. Yet even as she left the office, I knew she was still remembering the number on the scale and thinking, "I haven't lost weight".

I must emphasize, yet again, that if you are shrinking, you are losing fat. In some people there is a change in muscle fat ratio and in this situation the scale will not show you the fat loss, but the measuring tape will. It's important not only to look at the scale, but to follow measurements so that you don't get discouraged.

On another note I was struck by another patient's hesitancy to start a weight loss program because of the fear of failing. She, like most others, has been on many diets in her lifetime and has lost and regained it all. This is very very common, as the hormones that regulate fat always want us to return to our previous 'set point' (highest weight). Unless we have a very strict ability to watch our portions and snacks, and do regular exercise, the fat weight will come back on quickly.

In her situation, it's important to set small goals; achievable goals; sustainable goals. Truthfully, if everyone could learn to cut out their mindless snacking, most would consistently lose body fat. So, we focused on one goal, which was to reduce her evening snack to a protein-fat snack such as cheese and a few nuts, rather than the insulin inducing snacks of cookies, chips or crackers. I also tried to encourage her not to measure success (or failure) by a number on the scale, but rather to be happy to change a negative eating habit with the ultimate goal of improving portions and introducing regular activity.

Another client thought she was eating well only to see the number on the scale stay the same. I simply encouraged her to start accurately tracking her foods. Without doing this, we have no idea how many calories or how many grams of carbohydrates we are consuming daily. As it turns out, she was making 'fruit smoothies' with a bit of coconut milk. This sounds healthy, but in fact it's mainly a sugar laden drink. I had her cut back on a lot of the fruits and use lower carbohydrate berries and add a protein powder to either higher fat milk and water, or Greek yogurt (low carbohydrate, low sugar Greek yogurt).

Summarizing, I would suggest that we try to not to react negatively to the scale and that we pay attention to clothes getting looser, or how much better we feel. Don't be afraid of trying. Don't put undue pressure on yourself. Change habits gradually and be happy with these successes. Lastly, track your foods. The more closely you track, the better you will do because you will discover where you might be going wrong with your eating.

Fat loss is not easy, especially over the long term, because in the long term we need to have developed hard skills of portion control, less snacking and regular exercise in order to keep the weight from coming back on.

You can do it. Don't ever give up trying!
Dr. Doug