How do I know what’s the right size for my body?

By Bari Mandelbaum

Diet and weight loss is a multi-billion dollar industry. There are many diet plans and all kinds of contradictory nutrition information out there. And unfortunately, most of the companies putting out diet plans and nutrition information are trying to sell you a product – a food item, a book, a gym membership, etc. It isn’t in the industry’s best interest to have you feeling empowered around food or around your own body. If you felt good about yourself, you wouldn’t buy their products.

So how do we figure out how to choose foods and be realistic about our weight and our health, given all the misinformation out there? Let’s start with a redefinition of an outdated concept: weight management. Healthy weight management should never mean starving yourself or putting your health or safety at risk. Healthy weight management will not make most of us look like supermodels. Rather, the goal of healthy weight management should be to develop better techniques for getting to and staying at a weight that is comfortable and healthy for your own body.

The secret to healthy weight management is healthy self care – the two are the same, or should be. This means eating healthy foods, minimizing your intake of cigarettes, drugs, and alcohol, getting enough sleep, exercising, and reducing your overall stress. There is no special magic pill or secret plan – healthy living leads to a weight that is healthy and sustainable for your own body.

Here are some basic guidelines to consider:

• Ignore the scale! There are a few basic rules to remember before you step on the scale:

1) Muscle weighs more than fat – as your body composition changes the scale may not accurately reflect what’s happening,

2) Your weight shifts by at least 5-10 lbs based on whether or not you’ve eaten/drunk, when was the last time you went to the bathroom, etc.,

3) The numbers don’t really mean anything per se, since there is disagreement among medical and scientific circles as to what is a healthy weight, and the original numbers were created by folks in the diet food industry as a marketing tactic.

Scale-gazing will just give you a headache. So, if you’re not looking at the scale, how will you know what’s the right weight or size? Start by asking yourself how you feel. Do you feel energetic? Sluggish? Achy? Tired? Let your own health be your guide. Fitness is actually defined as your ability to do what you want to do and not get sick. If you feel ok, you may be at your ideal weight already.

• Health and genetics play a big role:

Do you have any health conditions that make weight loss less likely or more difficult to achieve (such as physical limitations that prevent easy movement, or endocrine challenges such as diabetes, thyroid issues, or other conditions)? Some of us were born with the predisposition to have certain health challenges. And some of us were just born with the ability to be larger or smaller, just as we were born with a certain hair color, height, etc. Look at your family, and look at your own bone structure. If you’re a larger boned person, you’re never going to look like Kate Moss, and that’s ok.

• Your age: Our society values very slender young people over just about everyone else. As we get older, what is healthy for us weight-wise changes. There was actually a study done that showed that thin women who gained about 10 lbs post-menopause were three times less likely to die from heart attacks than other women (Singh PN, Haddad E, Knutsen SF, Fraser GE. The effect of menopause on the relation between weight gain and mortality among women. Menopause. 2001 Sep-Oct;8(5):314-20). And according to Dr. Kurt Donibach, PhD, in his book Hypoglycemia and Diabetes, the standard charts used by most doctors and insurance companies are drastically incorrect. In fact, the famous Framingham Heart Study sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute found that the lowest death rates in their study were found among men and women age 40-59 whose average weight was 15-20% higher than those shown on the Metropolitan Life tables. For most of us, age slows down our metabolism, and for some of us this may even have some health benefits. It is still important to keep an eye on your weight, especially if you have a history of diabetes, heart disease, or high blood pressure, but it is also the case that perhaps “excess” weight is not as cut and dry a health “problem” as many experts will have us believe.

• Movement and activity levels: Do you exercise? Are you active or do you sit around at a desk or on the couch all day? This will significantly impact what size your body settles into.

• Stress levels can also cause us to hold onto weight: Chemicals released by our body when we’re under stress can contribute to weight gain. These chemicals are very similar to cortisone – do you know anyone who’s gone through cortisone treatments for illnesses? The side effects of this medication are similar to the symptoms of stress-related excess cortisol in your own body, and one side effect is weight gain. Stress will bio-chemically cause you to hold onto weight, even if your diet hasn’t changed at all. Stress also makes some people hungrier, while shutting down your ability to properly digest food, which further contributes to the role of stress in weight gain.

• Toxins are another factor to consider. Toxins you may be exposed to include excess caffeine, alcohol, cigarettes, prescription and non-prescription and recreational drugs, food preservatives and additives such as artificial flavors, colors, and artificial sweeteners, and common chemicals that may be found in your home, hobbies, or workplace. Toxins add a burden to your liver, and it’s your liver that actually produces the enzymes needed for your body to burn fat, balance hormones, rid your body of wastes, and perform other necessary functions. If your liver is having a hard time, you’ll have a harder time managing your weight.

• Look to your eating style and meal frequency. Do you skip meals? Do you wait until you’re starving then over eat? Are your meal times erratic? Are you a night time eater? All these factors may interfere with your body’s ability to properly process food and use nutrients, which can also lead to weight problems.

Simply reducing your overall food intake will not be sufficient to help you lose weight in a healthy way and maintain the weight loss – the minute you start eating your “regular” diet, you put it back on (if you lost it at all). And yoyo dieting or simple reduced food intake diets can actually upset your metabolism, resulting in a much harder time losing weight regardless of how little you eat. Eating less than 1200 calories per day puts the body in a “famine” mode, and your metabolism slows down to account for the reduced food intake. In other words, the common folk wisdom of “eat less, lose weight” doesn’t really work for most of us.

Great health is something that needs to be built slowly over time, and abrupt or excessive changes to your current diet, exercise, or lifestyle may even cause symptoms such as digestive problems, headaches, or mood swings, and are less likely to be changes you can maintain. Build healthy habits gradually, and be kind to yourself in this process. Every little bit helps.

And most importantly, enjoy your food! Food is one of life’s great pleasures, and eating healthy does not have to mean eating bland or boring foods. Try spicing your food - herbs and spices are simply an opportunity to add extra vegetables (leaf and bulb herbs like parsley, garlic, or onions) or seeds (seed herbs such as cumin, coriander, or aniseed) to your meals. Take time to savor your meals, and really taste the foods you eat. You may learn something about your food likes and dislikes, and any diet changes will be more rewarding and more sustainable if you enjoy the process.

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About the author: Bari Mandelbaum is the founder of Food Fairie Nutrition and Wellness Services. Bari’s background includes expertise in holistic nutrition, patient advocacy, stress management, herbalism and meditation.

Bari received her BA form Stanford University; and her four levels of nutrition certification from Bauman College, where she works as an instructor. She is registered with the National Association of Nutrition Professionals, and serves as Vice President for the California chapter of NANP.