Weight Loss, Part 1: Getting the Data

Many people become interested in fitness because they want to lose weight.  For about two thirds of us in the American population, this is a useful and worthy goal because that’s about how many of us are overweight.

The best approaches to weight loss are holistic (yes, I’m from Berkeley and I’m allowed to use that word).  We want to address what and how much we eat, as well as how much and what kind of exercise we get; we also probably need to figure out how to be motivated to keep going when things get tough, how to deal with setbacks, and what to do about our friends and family, whether they are supportive or not.

There are many places we can start the journey, but I think the first thing to do is get some information.  We can’t change what we don’t see.  That means logging what we eat and what we do.  The low-tech among us can play with pens and paper.  Those of us who like gizmos can use any number of devices and apps.  No matter what, the first goal is just to see where we are.

This is harder than it sounds.  How big was that cookie?  Did I use two or three cups of greens?  Did I walk for ten minutes or twelve?  How fast was I going?  We are terrible at remembering what we eat—like those two pieces of bread we snarfed down while waiting for our pasta or that handful of pretzels we swiped from our kid in the car on the way home from school.  Most of us underrepresent what we are eating and overrepresent the amount of exercise we get.  It’s like we know we need the benefit of the doubt, except in this case we don’t.

We can do two kinds on analysis on the data we get, quantitative and qualitative.  The quantitative stuff is a lot easier with technology than with pencil and paper because the gadgets’ brains do the math for us.  What we are looking to see is what our energy balance is.  If we eat more calories than we burn, we gain weight.  If we eat and burn the same amount, we stay the same.  If we eat fewer calories than we use, we lose weight.  When we do the math, we figure out what our situation is, although if we’ve already decided it is time to lose weight, we probably know the answer without even checking the numbers.

Qualitative data includes things like when we tend to snack—energy low in the afternoon anyone?  We might notice that we can pass on the candy with no problem, but the chips work like extremely seductive kryptonite.  We may find that we feel better on days with a big breakfast or even no breakfast.  We want to know what works for us.

Armed with all this information, we can make an initial plan.  Which I will write about in the next post!