The definition of metabolism is: a series of chemical reactions that take place inside our body to sustain life. I know that shocked me too but I always assumed metabolism just meant the process by which someone is fat or skinny.

So then why is the word metabolism so closely associated with weight loss ?

Well, the bodies ability to sustain life (think back to the definition) boils down to the bodies ability to use 4 bio molecules, protein, fat, carbs and something called, “nucleic acids.” Nucleic acids are things like DNA & RNA.

So in the simplest terms we eat food to obtain these necessary bio molecules for metabolism. But every food we eat isn’t the perfect configuration of what our body needs. So what happens is, a food is broken down during digestion into simple and more scientific sounding particles. I like to think of each piece of food we eat as a bowl of rainbow M&Ms that then get separated by color. So after digestion we take our food (bowl of rainbow M&Ms) and break them down into 4 bowls of individual colors (blue, red, green and yellow)

So you’ve eaten a food that contains protein, fat, carbs & nucleic acids and digestion breaks it down into fatty acids (fat) glucose (carbs) amino acids (protein) & nucleotides. With me so far?

Then we need to use what our body needs. So we take the configuration of colors our body needs. And that takes energy. So the same food we eat is being broken down but also built back up at the same time. It’s a cycle. And guys…what regulates that cycle?! you guessed it…hormones.

And it is still very confusing. So did I help? Eh, not sure:)

DAY 1:

Marie Kondo and her methods for tidying up are sweeping the nation. It seems like everyone is talking about her and implementing her advice into their lives. On Saturday morning my husband and I started tidying up our bedroom. And I said, if we’re going to really do this I need coffee first. And I thought, I need a latte, because that latte sparks so much joy. A lightbulb went off in my head. What if we all used her simple principle of “does this spark joy?” to everything we eat. I began thinking of the foods that really sparked joy in my life. I made a list of four: lattes, big bakery style cookies, Australian red licorice and recess peanut butter holiday shaped cups. Nothing else made the list because even though I like it, it doesn’t spark joy. It actually sparked feelings of angst and regret and shame.

Most of the foods that spark joy in all of our lives will probably be high fat, high sugar, “non diet” foods. All foods we assume we shouldn’t eat on a diet. Wrong. Don’t think of it like that. Think, anything that’s not on this list of joy foods should be removed from my diet.

Most of the time when we fall of our diets its not even for something we love. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve eaten 150 chips and salsa mindlessly while watching football or 6 lackluster store bought cookies at a BBQs or 9 random pieces of candy from a bowl at work. None of this food brought me joy. I eat that stuff because it was there and because I think I like it. I think I need it. But the truth is, cutting out all of these foods are going to be the key to success. Because that’s the stuff that’s around more. Those are the foods that are more detrimental because we eat more servings of them. And since we don’t enjoy them when we’re eating it’s usually mindless. And this food isn’t satisfying so we continue to eat to find the satisfaction.

It’s ok to eat what you love. But if you love pizza, make sure you eat the best piece of pizza in NYC. If you love cookies, go to the best bakery and get the best cookie. Let yourself enjoy the things you truly love. Make a list in your head of the things you truly love and those things should never be removed from your diet. And if you eat them with love and the best versions of them, you will have success.

Remember, understanding your mind will always be the key to weight loss success.

DAY 2:

Today, think about a food that pop culture has deemed unhealthy that you actually enjoy. Or a healthy food that you loathe but eat because you think you have to. For me, it’s peanut butter. I love peanut butter! I know there are healthier nut butters I can choose, I’ve tried them all because most diets call for the removal of peanut butter but you know what I love peanut butter and it can easily be part of my daily life without being detrimental. Maybe you’ve sworn off carbs but you want bread, add a slice back in. Maybe the diet your on calls for you to eat plain Greek yogurt and you just want your strawberry more sugary version back. Maybe you love pasta but are struggling to choke down zoodles each night. Portion it the same way you’d portion a healthy good. That’s right, Bring it back! All foods can be part of a healthy diet. 

What’s a health food you just can’t get on board with? And what can you replace it with that brings you more joy?

Yesterday was Superbowl Sunday. Frankly, there is nothing I love more then sitting on the couch in leggings and an oversized football shirt eating chips and salsa and watching a game. This morning, as I was driving to work, I was thinking about all the people that woke up feeling bad this morning about doing just that. I too, didn’t feel the greatest. I went to a Superbowl party for the first half of the game, planned on not drinking. But of course, I drank two spiked seltzers which led to me eating half a box of cereal at home during the 4th quarter.

Then, I joined a weight loss challenge my good friends are having. It’s called Diet Bet and everyone pays $10 and if you lose 4% of your body weight in 4 week you get to split the pot with everyone who reached that goal. And today and tomorrow are the final weigh ins and I’m pretty positive I am not going to be one of the winners. So that, compounded with overeating on Superbowl Sunday, made it easy for me to go to a place where I felt pretty down on myself.

Because of that I started thinking of failed dieting attempts in general. Many of us can’t even count the number of times we’ve failed when trying to make a healthy change. And I thought, what can we learn from these? Can we find a way to make every failure feel like a huge success?! Yes, we all can. And we have to change our mind state to that mentality. And we have to find that one thing that we did succeed at and hold onto it tightly. For me, even though I didn’t have the return on the scale I hoped for, I went to the gym upwards of 15 times this month. Even though I didn’t have a return on the scale, I brought my lunch to work every single day this month. And once again, the post is a public service announcement to remind everyone that even though the scale seems to be the only thing that can determine our success, it’s not. Only we can determine our success and that’s why it’s up to us to constantly find the silver lining to a failure and constantly work to find peace within ourselves.

You deserve happiness and peace no matter what you weigh today.