Top 50 Things I’ve Learned About Weight Loss and Health

Are you looking for an easy fix for your weight loss and health goals? Spoiler alert: It’s a lifestyle! Wrapping up this month’s Top 50 Countdown is the Top 50 Things I’ve Learned About Weight Loss and Health. Some of these will be new to you but for those things you already know, the repetition can be very beneficial!

1. It’s a lifestyle, silly! (sounds nicer than “stupid!”)
2. Weight loss is a side effect of healthy choices
3. When you lose weight, you lose muscle in addition to fat
4. Yo-yo (up & down weight gain/loss) is actually bad for your health
5. The “yo-yo” also makes it harder to lose weight the more you do it
6. Everyone is unique so comparing your results to someone else’s is unhelpful
7. Small steps go a long way
8. Quantum leaps are great, but few can sustain them so, not really great…
9. Non-hunger eating is a huge factor in gaining weight
10. Snacking in and of itself is not good or bad (are you hungry?)
11. Water is your friend
12. So is fiber
13. Good stress (e.g. striving to reach a goal) is healthy
14. How you view a particular stressor affects your health and your habits
15. Substituting “good” for “bad” foods as a late-night treat is still over-eating if you’re not hungry
16. Being healthy is more than a number (scale, blood pressure, cholesterol)
17. Being thin does not equal being healthy (it can, but it’s not a given)
18. Pound for pound, muscle is more compact than fat (it doesn’t weigh less, it just takes up less space)
19. People tend to recall that they exercised more and ate less
20. The scale is not god, nor does it tell the whole story
21. Objective feedback, like that provided by a heart rate monitor and accelerometer, is motivating and lets you know that what you’re doing is working.
22. Non-scale victories keep you going for the long-haul (link to March)
23. It’s gotta be about more than weight loss
24. You know the guy who smokes, eats bacon and is a couch potato who lives to be 90? He’s the exception NOT the rule
25. There’s no “getting away” with over-eating, over-drinking or not exercising – again, the scale is not the whole story
    

    

26. One day of “blowing it” doesn’t cause a 5lb weight gain (any weight gained in one day is typically water weight)
27. When you accept your body type/shape you’re more likely to focus on what you can control
28. When you actually like your body you’re more apt to treat it well
29. It’s easy to get in a food rut, but we need a balance of many foods (especially plants) for optimal health
30. Wide-ranging research shows the healthiest diets include a LOT of plants (nutritionfacts.org)
31. Strength training will boost your metabolism and help shape your body
32. Spot reducing is a myth
33. “Where” your body loses fat is genetically pre-determined
34. The fit of your clothes is a good measure of progress
35. Sleep affects both health and ability to lose weight
36. Food as entertainment alone is not serving its proper purpose
37. But when hungry, food is meant to be enjoyed
38. You can train your brain to enjoy healthy habits
39. Strong, positive relationships promote good health, independent of weight
40. Most of the reasons someone gains weight has little to do with not knowing what to do
41. Deprivation almost always leads to a backlash
42. If you keep telling yourself “it’s hard” it will keep being hard
43. How you start off the day impacts the rest of the day, so be intentional to start it well
44. The oxygen mask demonstration from the flight attendant is a transferable lesson to daily life
45. Our natural bias leans negative – we must intentionally focus on the good
46. Self-compassion is integral to healthy living
47. When we let go of things we’ve been holding onto (clutter, grudges, resentments), sometimes weight follows
48. Now and then those we love the most make it hard for us to change – they don’t mean to, it’s like an auto-responder…
49. Healthy habits are easier when you surround yourself with other healthy people
50. If information was all we needed, everyone would be fit, healthy and at their ideal weight

Like non-scale victories, when you broaden your effort beyond calories-in/calories-out, your focus is on truly living. And in my experience, that’s the only way weight loss and healthy habits last.
Enjoy food. Love life. Be you again.