Missed last week? Catch it here before you read this.
Reader, have you ever looked at the number on the scale, or a blood glucose reading, or a lab value and thought:
$hit. I really need to get it together.
I do love this quote though lol...
It is sooooo stinkin’ easy to let these numbers put you into a panic. I know, because I have been there, too. And I see clients everyday who feel alarmed because they are at “their highest weight” or “have an abnormal lab” and so forth.
It is really easy to let these numbers dictate our next move...
Get into a calorie deficit
Pull out the sugar
Go vegan
But before you blow up your entire way of eating because a number scared you, I want you to stop, take a breath, and ask yourself one thing:
Is the behavior I’m about to adopt one I can actually live with?
Not just for 30 days, or until the next lab draw. Actually live with.
Let me save you some time & money
After years of doing this work, I know, cue in Charlie Puth:
That’s not how this works, no. That’s not how this works!
An outcome (weight, labs, performance) are lightbulbs. Outcomes let you know something that might need attention.
But it does not tell you what to do next.
Only your behaviors can do that.
Outcomes may or may not even respond to what we do. They usually do NOT tell us the full story about our health. They are merely information: useful, sometimes urgent, but incomplete. Outcomes, alone, do not drive healthy change.
Healthy behaviors drive healthy change.
Your behaviors are the only thing you actually have meaningful control over - more than your genetics, your environment, your history, etc.
Before adopting a behavior, ask yourself:
Is this a healthy behavior, or a disordered one?
Is this something I can actually do?
Can I sustain this realistically (not just this month, but long term?)
Does this even make sense in the context of my life?
The behaviors don’t have to be things you love. But ask yourself honestly if they are really sustainable, and not harmful. Yes, new behaviors can push you out of your comfort zone (sometimes that’s exactly the point).
But they cannot cost you more than the outcome is worth 👇
Does it matter if you hit the BMI your doctor wanted if the only way you got there was to starve yourself, or cut out a food you actually love and have no medical reason to avoid?
Does it matter if your cholesterol went down because you went vegan (no shade to vegans) if that isn’t a way of eating you can sustain, or even enjoy?
The outcome cannot dictate the behavior. The behavior has to stand on its own. And if the behavior is one you can live with, that you feel is meaningful, that you can keep doing six months from now... then the outcome becomes a byproduct. A welcome one, hopefully. But a byproduct.
Now, are there situations where an outcome is urgent enough that we do what we have to do? Yes. Absolutely. There are clinical realities that change the equation. But that is the exception. Most people are not living in that exception. Most people are just trying to feel better in their bodies and their lives, and they deserve a framework that starts with behavior, not an outcome, like the number on a scale.
Those are the levers. Weight, A1C, body composition, energy, strength, mood are what tend to respond over time when the levers are being pulled consistently. Not always on your timeline. Not always in the way you expected. But that is the direction of travel.
Save this newsletter or share it with someone who has been staring at the scale waiting for it to tell them what to do next.
I am turning this into a full blog post eventually. And why a “healthy weight” is a lot more nuanced than a specific number. Something else is coming with it that I think you will find genuinely useful, so stay tuned. More on that soon.
P.S. need a nutritious, delicious and easy soup recipe to kick off your week? Head over to Instagram or TikTok:
Who Marissa works with:
Adults
Disordered eating & ED, weight concerns, sports nutrition, chronic disease, and the messy overlap of everything in between.
REVV Health is licensed in Washington State and accepts Aetna, Regence, Premera, Lifewise, and BCBS. Marissa also sees clients nationwide depending on state licensure - check out the new map!
