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Ask anyone what it means to get healthy and virtually all of them will say weight loss.
This has been ingrained in our culture and in our minds over the past few decades.
But it is really important to understand that weight loss is not always good, just as weight gain is not always bad.
This is how we explain it -
Weight Change is correlated with food QUANTITY
Health Change is correlated with food QUALITY
What this means, is that you can adjust your weight either up or down, just by paying attention to the total calories you eat. If you eat less calories than you burn, you will lose weight. If you eat more calories than you burn, you will gain weight.
However, nowhere in there did it talk about actually improving HEALTH.
You adjust your health by adjusting the QUALITY of food you eat. If you improve the quality of food, you will get healthier. If you decrease the quality of food, you will become less healthy.
Something important to note is that, if you improve the quality of food, but DON'T lose weight, that doesn't mean you efforts were wasted. All it means is that you weren't eating in a caloric deficit, and that isn't always a bad thing.
If you are eating high quality foods, even if you are eating in a caloric surplus, you will still heal on the inside. Your inflammation and swelling will decrease, your hormones will stabilize, and your energy will improve. None of these things have to do with weight loss.
Now, for the majority of our clients, weight loss is the goal. So in that situation, we want to eat high quality foods while still eating in a caloric deficit. That is the key to getting healthier WHILE losing weight.
But don't discount your effort if you've improved your diet but aren't losing. Body weight isn't everything!
