I have radically reduced my meat intake and I spend much time putting together exciting, exotic salads and vegetable dishes. Friends and family see me as the epitome of healthy eating. Yet, I am not losing any weight. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks for planting a OneRepublic earworm into my head for the day. “I feel somethin’ so right doin’ the wrong thing. And I feel somethin’ so wrong doin’ the right thing. I couldn’t lie, couldn’t lie, couldn’t lie.”
It would be terribly presumptuous to write that you are doing something wrong without seeing a sample recipe. Even then, a nutritionist or dietician would be far better placed to explain why you are not losing weight, your stated goal. In the absence of medical conditions that would require professional diagnosis and intervention, you’re probably falling into the hidden calorie trap.
In the build-up to the G20 Summit, while traversing pothole-ridden roads the foreign dignitaries would not be exposed to, I noticed something. When I would cross a bridge spanning a major highway, a police van would be stationed strategically to provide law enforcement visibility for those on the highway and those of us squeezing through suburban bottlenecks.
Police visibility is the right thing to do — not just for the G20, but always. Yet, it needs to signal active policing. In this instance, just a few hundred meters before and after the said police van there would be illegal vendors, homeless people directing the traffic and young idiots in hot hatches drag racing on small, suburban streets.
Sometimes one needs to take a deeper look beneath the hood. Are you really doing the right thing? Radically reducing meat intake is not a ticket to weight loss on its own. Unless you are prioritising protein in other ways, it will be a sure ticket to lean muscle mass loss, and you do not want that. You might not know you don’t want it, but trust the sage old Water Cooler, you do not want that. That’s what the typical body mass index measurement gets wrong.
You want a healthy body composition. More muscle and less fat is more desirable than less muscle and more fat. We are not speaking about aesthetics, we are speaking about quality of life. If you have slashed meat, prioritise protein in other forms. Design your meals around protein lest you board the train to the Republic of Muscle Atrophy.
If you are filling yourself with processed pasta, for example, in lieu of protein, then you’re boarding the train to the Republic of Weight Retention. Many disagree. Let them — the Water Cooler couldn’t be bothered because the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
I also love delicious and exotic salads. Let’s look at an estimated calorie count of some of the most delicious additions. A handful of mixed seeds is about 150-160 calories. A handful of feta cubes is about 75 calories, while the same of cheddar is about 115 calories. Two tablespoons of Greek salad dressing amount to about 100 calories, while a typical vinaigrette mix could add 100-180 calories. A handful of mixed nuts would be about 170 calories, the same size portion of strawberries would be about 40 calories, blackberries would add about 60 and a handful of apple slices would add about 95 calories.
You could easily add 600 calories to your salad. How many times a day are you eating that? Most people trying to lose weight obsess about the need for “snacks”. Do you eat nuts? Or a packet of dried fruit? How many snacks have you provisioned for the day? Do you grill your vegetables with oil? Do you add cheese sauces or other toppings? Have you considered the calorie count of these flavour additions?
Weight loss, which is hopefully fat loss and not muscle loss, requires a calorie deficit. It is incredibly easy to do the right thing by choosing healthy bases and then doing the wrong thing by topping up with sugar-based fillers or calorie-dense additions.
Mindful eating requires an honest assessment of all ingredients. The Water Cooler is not advocating for rigid calorie counting or a dangerous obsession, just an awareness of the energy value of each ingredient added to so-called healthy choices.
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