{"id":3271,"date":"2010-03-11T07:18:43","date_gmt":"2010-03-11T05:18:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.ultimatefatburner.com\/?p=3271"},"modified":"2015-02-15T09:24:54","modified_gmt":"2015-02-15T14:24:54","slug":"quit-harping-scale-jennifer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/quit-harping-scale-jennifer\/","title":{"rendered":"Quit Harping on the Scale, Jennifer!"},"content":{"rendered":"

I get health and fitness e-mail updates from the Washington Post, so I can’t help but be aware of columnist Jennifer LaRue Huget’s “Me Minus 10” quest to lose 10 pounds<\/a>.\u00a0 She’s using her column for motivation, which is cool, in a way.\u00a0Nothing like having a nation-wide audience to help you stay accountable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She’s apparently following Brian Wansink’s<\/a> advice, and starting with small, do-able lifestyle changes.\u00a0 This is all well and good, and is in line with recommendations I’ve made in the past<\/a>. While the changes LaRue Huget chose to make are a\u00a0little odd, it’s still early in the game.\u00a0 Ultimately, the\u00a0idea is to make permanent, healthy\u00a0lifestyle changes, so there’s a point to even pointless\u00a0objectives like “…stop[ping] after every treadmill mile to do jumping jacks or squats.” I’m not sure what this is realistically supposed to accomplish, but hey – it’s good practice\u00a0at goal setting and implementation. More power to her.<\/p>\n

But – while she’s cut back on some of her indulgences –\u00a0there’s no indication that she’s actually cut calories below a maintenance level (or is\u00a0establishing a\u00a0significant deficit\u00a0via exercise).\u00a0 So what’s with the obsession with the scale? Her column both begins…<\/p>\n

Me Minus 10 got off to a rocky start two weeks ago: No sooner had I pledged to lose 10 pounds than I got, first, a GI-tract malady and then a wicked head cold (both now resolved). Neither helped me mentally or physically. Nor did learning, upon purchase of a new scale, that I have 12, not 10 pounds to lose to get to 135.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And ends with it…<\/p>\n

I’m happy to say that these changes are going mindlessly well. Still, the scale hasn’t budged. But neither has my resolve.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well, duuuh.\u00a0 What on earth was she expecting from chewing gum, changing her cheese preferences and adding a few minutes of calisthenics?<\/p>\n

The small changes are nothing…it’s what they add up to over time that’s important. If she stays on track, eventually she’ll be exercising regularly and making healthier eating\u00a0choices…. which will be a great big step in the right direction for maintaining her ideal weight once she reaches it.\u00a0 But she doesn’t seem to\u00a0grasp that\u00a0ultimately, the scale ain’t gonna budge very much, in the absence of a sustained calorie deficit.\u00a0Simply not eating a calorie surplus isn’t enough, however much of a sacrifice it may seem.\u00a0So she will be doing herself (and her readers) a favor if she gets real, and stops\u00a0fretting\u00a0over this aspect of her program.\u00a0 She’s\u00a0made a start in\u00a0the right direction, but needs to\u00a0travel a lot further down the path\u00a0before the desired changes will kick in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I get health and fitness e-mail updates from the Washington Post, so I can’t help but be aware of columnist Jennifer LaRue Huget’s “Me Minus 10” quest to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14,28,29],"tags":[1116,1863,1236,1750,1867],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3271"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3271"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8931,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3271\/revisions\/8931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}