It's the little things - Part 1: You are what you eat

A lot of people think that being healthy is all about the stressful hour at the gym and an ascetic lifestyle/diet rivaling that of a cloistered monk (and not in one of those monasteries that brews yummy beer). The truth is actually a lot less likely to make it the stuff of a good television mini-series.

Small, intelligently thought out changes made consistently over long periods of time are much more likely to produce sustainable results than are heroic efforts that can only be sustained for a couple of months at a time. In wellness, it seems, pacing is key. This is true for both the individual wellness program and the corporate wellness program.

We'll cover an individual wellness example today and a corporate wellness example in next week's blog.

Part 1: You are what you eat


You might have trouble reading this but the table on the left shows a client's food log. Nothing too crazy on there...this person never felt as though she was binging or eating excessively. In general she averaged about 3000 calories a day, which given her unique body composition and level of physical activity was just right to maintain her post baby weight. Trouble is, she wanted to be pre baby weight - a mere 10 pounds lighter. Losing any more weight was not necessary or healthy.

The stuff highlighted on the left shows things she worked with a consultant to substitute or go without. Little things: cheese - OR - BBQ sauce on her burger, but not both. A bagel with low fat cream cheese instead of a soft pretzel. Little things. But the little substitutions added up. The table on the right - with the substitutions amounts to only about 2,300 calories per day. Big difference, huh?

Is cutting out more better?

While it might be tempting to think that if she made heroic changes she would lose EVEN more EVEN more quickly, the truth is that few people can sustain, for very long, dramatic shifts in their eating patterns without breaking down to binge or their body down-regulating their metabolism. If the goal is weight loss, then neither of those outcomes is going to help our friend achieve her goal.

After following a consistent, healthy pattern of eating our female friend should expect to lose about .5 pounds per week following about two-six months of consistent and moderate exercise and diet choices. The longer she maintains her consistent and moderate plan the closer she will eek to a weight where he body will happily stay - a healthy weight appropriate for her body type.

Plan well. Be informed. Pace yourself. Slow and steady wins the race.