Are abs "health"?

Why do you want to lose weight? Health? If so, that's an admirable goal & pretty easily accomplished w/ some simple lifestyle changes & a small amount of weight loss. But if it's abs or a beach bod you're chasing, that ain't health. That's something else. Be honest w/ yourself .

The most common answer I get from clients in my applications is that they’d like to lose weight to improve their health. Which is fantastic as my goal is to help clients to improve their health through nutrition, movement and improved emotional regulation.

The great news is that we can see health markers improve considerably with some pretty small changes. Eating more vegetables (& fiber), walking between 8-12k steps per day, resistance training1-3x/week and prioritizing our mental & emotional health. These will often lose to weight loss and we know that as little as a 10% drop in weight that is maintained will improve metabolic health and life expectancy immensely.

However, 10% often isn’t what we imagine when we fantasize about our fat loss journey. No, we imagine the images we see on IG that show Liver King-esque abs or Kardasian glute gains. They’re the outliers. And benefit from a great number of surgical and pharmalogical advantages. (Most if you fav influencers do).

If you have aesthetic goals, that’s ok. Just be aware of them and also aware of the downsides. It’s unlikely to lead to happiness, it will require certain sacrifices that may exacerbate mental health issues or disordered patterns of eating, and it might strain personal relationships. It also might not. Only you can determine that.

If you have a history of yo-yo dieting, it might behoove you to take the time and examine exactly what it is that’s driving you. Are you coming from a place of abundance and wanting more from life or one of restriction and a desire to be smaller? Because that can determine a lot when it comes to success and how you view it.