If you’re not assessing, you’re just guessing. Why weighing and measuring is essential for health, performance, and weight management.

WHAT DOES "HEALTHY" MEAN?

“I eat healthy/good/clean most of the time” is a phrase I’ve heard a lot over the years in response to my question about a client’s nutrition. The problem with this phrase is that it’s extremely vague. How is “good” defined? What does “good” mean to the client versus what it means to a nutrition professional? Is it the absence of junk food on a particular day, or is it the inclusion of several servings of fruits and vegetables? And how often is “most of the time?”  

The main problem is that generalizations do not give the client a good placeto start when they want to change something about their health and fitness. Without defining the problem, we can’t start looking for solutions that will actually result in the desired outcome.

"HEALTHY" DIET DEFINED:

A web search for “how to define a healthy diet” brought to me to this scientific review on the National Library of Medicine site:

“A healthy diet is one in which macronutrients are consumed in appropriate proportions to support energetic and physiologic needs without excess intake while also providing sufficient micronutrients and hydration to meet the physiologic needs of the body.”¹

That’s quite a mouthful, and here’s what it means (my additions are in the brackets):

A healthy diet is one in which macronutrients [proteins,carbs and fats] are consumed in appropriate proportions to support energetic and physiologic needs [how many calories you need each day to support life functions like heartbeat, breathing, etc.; activities of daily living, like brushingyour teeth; and exercise] without excess intake [which will be stored as excess body fat] while also providing sufficient micronutrients [vitamins and minerals] and hydration [water] to meet the physiologic needs of the body.”¹

So how do we to make sure that we’re consuming enough food and water to support our lifestyles, while getting all of the nutrients that support good health and fight disease, but not eating too much so that the excess calories are stored as fat? Oh, and that we actually eat stuff we enjoy?

THIS IS THE WAY:

We weight and measure, and log those numbers. Then we use that data to make decisions on what needs to change. I need to find the shortcomings and the patterns that contribute to those shortcomings so I can address them one by one. Everything else will just be guessing.

I’ve found that the easiest thing to start with is water consumption. Buy a water bottle if you don’t already have one, remember how much water it holds, and write down how many times you fill it up and drink it empty. Record your data in an app or in your phone notes or the old-fashioned paper and pencil method. For the first week, just record the data. Then analyze – how much did I drink? Are there days I drank less than others? Why? What color is my urine? Dark yellow? Then you need more water. Light yellow – perfect! Pale yellow or colorless? Too much water. Then pick a daily target and see if you hit it the next week.

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Congratulations! You have started weighing and measuring!  You’re assessing and not guessing.

In the next post, I’lltalk about the next step – weighing and measuring your food.

References:

1.    Cena H, Calder PC.Defining a Healthy Diet: Evidence for The Role of Contemporary Dietary Patternsin Health and Disease. Nutrients. 2020 Jan 27;12(2):334. doi:10.3390/nu12020334. PMID: 32012681; PMCID: PMC7071223.

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