Kale & Quinoa Soup

Those of you who were on Facebook and Twitter last night, and experienced my impromptu “cook-a-long” may wonder what prompted me to make soup, from scratch, after 10 p.m.

And that would be a valid question.

Yesterday I had a small bout of LPS (Little Pouch Syndrome, or, when you just get full very fast with very little food). I won’t go into my theories about the causes of LPS (because this is a food blog) but let’s just say it…er, cleared itself up late in the evening and then I was FAMISHED!

Being that it was late and it was, like, two degrees outside, I wasn’t even remotely tempted to go outside the house to get something indulgent. And everything in my house is WLS approved. So since it was cold, and I was hungry, I figured, why not make some soup?

(PSA) People…stay in good communication with your veggie bin. Seriously. I have toned down my farmers market addiction (I used to buy WAY more than I could realistically consume before it all went bad and I’m notoriously too lazy to vacuum seal it most of the time) but still. I had lots of veggies that were well on their march homeward. So I knew that there would be some veggie action going on. But seriously. Check the veggie bin. Your veggies didn’t ask for this life. It was your choice to buy them. So use them!!! (/end PSA)

This particular kindof soup was actually inspired by my friend Denise who invited me to a soup potluck recently. Ultimately I was unable to make it to the gathering but before that came to pass I gave great thought to what soup I would bring and decided on a kale and quinoa soup with white beans that I found on Google.

But you know me…(at least I hope you do)…I like to play with my food!

So here’s what I came up with. What I like about this soup (as demonstrated from your comments during the cook-a-long) is that there are a million different directions you can take it in. That’s to say if you don’t dig what I did to it, put your own spin on it!

Best of all, it doesn’t have a bunch of ingredients and literally takes about 30 minutes to make. And I made it all in one deep skillet (easy clean-up)!

Nik’s Kale and Quinoa Soup

(This recipe yields a good deal of soup. Halve this if you will be the only one eating it!)

Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion, sliced into slivers
• 1 pkg. smoked sausage of your choice, sliced (I used just regular Polish sausage but Andouille would also be nice if you want a Cajun feel or some companies make great flavored chicken sausages!)
• 2 cans (14.5 oz. each) reduced sodium chicken broth
• 1 lb. kale, stems removed and rinsed
• ¾ c. quinoa (I used red quinoa, use whatever you like best)
• 2 cans (14.5 oz. each) white beans (I used Great Northern, but cannellini would be good as well OR if you wanna be different, try garbanzos for extra bite!)
• 2 c. water
• Your favorite spices/seasonings/flavorings. I used:
• Garlic
• Salt
• Pepper
• Red Pepper flakes (1/2 tsp.)
• 2 tbsp. rice wine vinegar

Directions:

Spray down a deep skillet with nonstick and let it get HOT on the stove.

Add your onions and cook, stirring constantly, about 3-4 minutes or until they begin to brown a little.

Add sausage rounds and continue to cook, stirring, until sausage begins to crisp on the outside.

Add one of the cans of broth (or, if halving, half of one can) and stir any bits from the bottom of the pan. Top with kale and seasonings and then cover the pan and allow it to cook about 10 minutes or until kale begins to get tender and darken in color.

Add second can of broth and quinoa and stir it into the mixture. Cover again and allow it to cook an additional 10 minutes. The quinoa is done when it the ring pops out of the grain and it is to your desired tenderness (note that quinoa is a hearty whole grain so it’s never going to get “soft” like rice does).

Add your beans and water, then drop your heat to medium-low, cover and allow it to cook 10 more minutes or until the kale has reached your desired consistency.

What you see in the picture at the very top is my final bowl of soup with a little goat cheese on top. That was absolutely perfect because the way I spiced it, it needed a bit of tang. I thought the vinegar was going to deliver that tang (and it did a little bit) but the goat cheese put it over the top!

Anyway, this soup is warm, comforting and it was way healthier than most other things I might be inclined to eat at 10 p.m. Give it a try using the things you like. And if it turns out well, snap a pic and send it to bariatricfoodie@yahoo.com. I’d love to share what you did!

The Bariatric Foodie Pledge (Part Four)

(If you're looking at this post title going, "What the HELL is the Bariatric Foodie Pledge??? Click here. Thanks!)

For those of you keeping track - YES - I went out of order with the posts. But I had to in order to get you guys to help me test the pledge submission form. A word about that.

I don't want you guys to worry about whether you'll be able to submit your pledges. The reason I did the test is to find out what doesn't work so I can either fix it or make a way around it. The point is NOT to disqualify you from this thing but to make it possible to participate. I'm already asking you to do a lot in making a goal, pledging it, working on it AND staying accountable by reporting back. I don't want to give you any technological headaches.

So just remember that the  Pledge begins February 2 and I will work extra, extra, EXTRA hard to make sure everyone who truly wants to participate can, k?

Moving along...

At the heart of the Pledge is the concept of a goal. While you can pledge any goal you want, I should tell you that S.M.A.R.T. goals work the best, especially come check-in time. So many times when I see Foodies report they didn’t make their goal, it seems to be because it was not a S.M.A.R.T. goal.

So what is a S.M.A.R.T. goal?

It’s a goal that is Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. Here’s the break-down:

• Specific: I’ve seen a lot of goals that go like this “My goal is to be happier…” Ok…so how exactly do you tell when that’s happened? Or when you’ve crossed the finish line. While being happier is a good “macro-goal” (large scale) it can be supported by smaller S.M.A.R.T. goals. Like if you have determined one reason you are unhappy is because you don’t get enough “me time” then a specific goal could be to set aside 30 minutes a day to do something you like to do.
•  Measureable: Notice something about the goal I posted there. 30 minutes/once a week. You can measure that. If you spent 10 minutes every other week, you know you’ve not yet reached your goal. If you spend 60 minutes twice a week you know you’ve exceeded it. The ability to measure your goal gives you irrefutable evidence that you did, in fact, achieve something!
•  Achievable: While it is admirable to pledge to not eat any carbs in a week, are you capable of doing that? (Not really…some carbs are unavoidable! And you shouldn’t avoid carbs!) Make sure your goal is something you are actually capable of doing.
•  Realistic: This may seem the same as achievable but it’s not. For instance if you’ve been on a walking program for a while and you pledge to run a half-marathon, that may be possible (given enough time and the will to do it) but is it realistic? Is it realistic to pledge to go to the gym three hours a day? Unrealistic goals are possible to achieve but highly unlikely. And all they end up doing is making you feel like a failure. So be honest with yourself and set realistic goals!
• Timely (time-sensitive): By virtue of the Pledge your weekly goals will be time-sensitive, but in general S.M.A.R.T. goals do have expiration dates. For example, if your goal is to be improve your mile time by 1 full minute by six months from now, you are setting a target for yourself. The point is NOT to pressure yourself into anything. But how much motivation would you have if you said “I want to increase my mile time by one minute…whenever…” That’s not very motivating. But this ties in to the realistic nature of a S.M.A.R.T. goal. Make your goal challenging, but do-able…then go for it!

Having said all that, you won’t be disqualified from The Pledge for not having a S.M.A.R.T. goal. How you decide your goal is completely up to you! But insofar as achieving goals begets achieving goals, you might want to consider setting up a goal you can smash! Then next time you can set a bigger, more challenging one and smash that too. See how that works?

2014 Bariatric Foodie Pledge (part five)

***Testing is done. Thanks to everyone who helped!***
So...I'm going to assume the lack of questions about The 2014 Bariatric Foodie Pledge either means either A) You all get it B) You've done the pledge before so you know the drill or C) You are waiting to see how this all goes!

Either way, cool with me. But I need your help!!! Last year we used a form I created in Google Docs to submit pledges and check-ins. I also allowed people to see the entries submitted live so that you could see, with your own eyes, that your pledge went through.

Based on the feedback I got, this worked well (or at least ok) for about 90-ish% of you so I'm going to go with the same system this year BUT this year I want to do a little test run. So I've created the form below which will be the same TYPE of form you'll fill out to submit your pledges/check-ins. Do me a favor and follow these three EASY steps. There will be a reward!

1. Fill out the form below. Be sure to answer all the questions (there are only five) to the best of your ability. Don't forget to hit "submit" when you are done.
2. Wait a few moments and then refresh this page. Below the form you'll see a spreadsheet and your entry SHOULD be on it after a few minutes max. (My suggestion is to wait about 3 or 4 minutes which I know is an ETERNITY in web time but...thank you...I love you!)
3. If you submit your entry and can see it on the spreadsheet below, great! You're done and you don't need to do anything else. If you don't see your name (or if you have any trouble filling out the form in the first place), please leave a blog post comment explaining exactly what happened and I will follow up. 

So what's the reward?

For everyone who fills out this form, I will email you an extra chance code good for every BF giveaway through the end of 2014. Please note, the Pledge does not use extra chance codes so it won't apply during the Pledge BUT will be good for the rest of the year!

***Testing is done. Thanks to everyone who helped!***

BF Test Kitchen: Sugar-Free, Low-Carb Protein Mini-Pound Cakes

First let me explain exactly what a test kitchen recipe is (in my head). That means it’s a recipe I’m working on that hasn’t quite “made it” to where I want it to be.

I say this again and again but I am not the Bariatric Foodie, I am aBariatric Foodie, so I realize there are some bakers out there that might have a suggestion!

Of course there is a backstory.

Before Christmas I was at the craft store and found the cutest mini-bundt pans for a dollar. I bought two. I ended giving one away to my sister-in-law thinking I probably didn’t need two. After this fun experiment I need to go buy myself a few more!

S’anyway. I love pound cake. Don’t you? Even though I can only eat a few bites of pound cake now, I still adore the stuff. I made a few during the fall and all the while I was thinking about whether a pound cake could ever truly be WLS-friendly.

Enter my good friend Toni. She, for some generous reason, gifted me a bag of Atkins Baking Mix. You’ll see a lot of recipes on this blog using this mix (although that will change soon) but unfortunately Atkins has discontinued it. There are still bags out there but they go for a premium price and are not easy to find so when Toni sent me one it was like a dream! I felt obligated to do something more creative than my standard protein pancakes.

Now…enter the polar vortex. This gave me the time to think about my recipe. And, finally, enter the freezing rain that is set to usher in spring-like temperatures to Maryland over this weekend. The storm first produced freezing rain which delayed my children’s school opening by two hours which gave me time, during which I was awake, to give this thing a first shot!

Ok, so now that we’re all up to speed, here’s how I made the cake you see above.

Nik’s Sugar-Free Low-Carb Protein Pound Cake (Test Recipe)

(Makes two of the mini-bundt cakes shown above)

Ingredients

• ¾ c. Atkins Baking Mix (while we wait for Atkins to come to their senses my alternate suggestion is EITHER using ¾ c. low-carb baking mix – which would have less protein – or ½ c. low-carb baking mix with ¼ c. of your favorite vanilla protein powder)
• Pinch of salt
• ¼ tsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. Cream of Tartar or egg white powder (if you don’t have either you can omit it but it helps with the texture)
• 3 tbsp. butter or butter substitute (I highly recommend just using butter)
• No-calorie sweetener equivalent to ½ - ¾ c. of sugar (check your favorite sweetener’s website for a conversion chart because it’s not all the same!)
• ¼ c. unflavored Greek yogurt
• 1 large egg + 1 egg white
• ½ c. milk (I used unsweetened almond milk but use whatever you have on hand)
• ¼ tsp. lemon zest (or, in a pinch, ½ tsp. lemon juice or ¼ tsp. lemon extract)

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine Atkins Mix (or equivalent), salt, baking powder and cream of tartar/egg white powder (if using) in a bowl. I actually sifted the Atkins Mix to make it a bit more fine although the fiber in the Mix doesn’t sift easily!

In another bowl mix the butter with the Greek yogurt and sweetener (I’d call it creaming but it’s not really!). Add the egg and mix in thoroughly before adding the egg white. (In retrospect I think I could have gotten away with just using two egg whites, so I’m going to try that on the next batch!).

Add half the egg/yogurt/butter mixture to the dry ingredients and stir (I used a hand mixer). Then add half your milk and stir again. Repeat once more until all ingredients are incorporated. Batter should be thick but not so thick as cookie soft cookie dough batter (it should look like cake batter).

Grease and flour the mini-bundt pans (Note: Actually this pan is actually a more convenient thing to own if you ask me. Also, I generally flour with actual flour and not the Atkins Mix but if you want to save a few carbs you can also just use non-stick cooking spray). Divide batter between evenly between two mini-bundt pans. This should mostly fill up the pans. Do not overfill! Set extra batter aside.

Bake for about 20-ish minutes or until the cake is set and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Turn the pans over onto a cooling rack and they should pop right out.

What I did like about this recipe

It was the correct texture. Pound cakes are very dense and ones made with Greek yogurt/sour cream have that crispness to them. The cream of tartar also helped with that.

It wasn’t overly sweet. It was sweet enough and I liked it.

Some of you might not like this, but it tasted like a cross between a pound cake and a pancake but I think that’s just because that’s what my mind associates Atkins Mix with!

What I did not like about this recipe

Atkins Mix has this special “peripheral taste” (I don’t call it an after taste because it doesn’t come after you swallow it but while you are eating it). I have not found an adjective to adequately describe it. It’s not a bad taste but not a delicious one either. At any rate, I could taste that. Usually once I’m done tinkering with the mix I can’t taste that anymore. Now, if you use something other than Atkins Mix you are very likely not to get that taste. In retrospect I notice I forgot to add vanilla to my batter so that may have made a difference.

How I think I should proceed with this recipe

I think because the cakes took on the Atkins Mix flavor, I need to make a more flavorful pound cake. I thought the lemon would do it but it did not. I’ve made chocolate pound cake before and I think that might be the way to go here. You’ll see I also did not top the cake itself with anything (although I did put a dollop of whipped cream on my lil’ slice that was the size of half my thumb!). If I make a chocolate one, I could see myself dusting it with some Chike PB powder. That would make an awesome combo!

So why am I telling you all this?

Well, I’ve given you the recipe I used. I’ve given you the method I used to make it and my initial impressions. (NOTE: Every recipe you see on BF goes through this process, by the way, I just don’t usually bore you with the details unless I get stuck!) I’m willing to make these suckers as many times as is necessary to get them right! So if you have a suggestion to help the cause, let me know! Once the recipe is where I want it to be I will publish a final version of it and then you get to make and enjoy it!

The motto of this blog is “play with your food” so let’s get those creative juices flowing!

The 2014 Bariatric Foodie Pledge (Part Two)

*****The Bariatric Foodie Pledge has NOT begun yet. It begins February 2. This post is for informational purposes only.*****

So yesterday, we learned what the Bariatric Foodie Pledge is. Today, I'm going over the most frequently asked questions.

Of course this list is not exhaustive. If you have other questions, feel free to put them in the comments, on the BF Facebook Page or Tweet them to @BariatricFoodie.

Just to review, the Bariatric Foodie Pledge begins February 2. Every Sunday I'll call for folks to pledge a goal to work on that week. Then you'll work on your goal throughout the week. On the following Saturday I'll ask you to "check in" or say how it went. For every person who both pledges and checks in, they are entered to win a special weekly prize. If you pledge and check in all four weeks you are entered to win a super-big GRAND prize.

Here are a few common questions.

I am a pre-op/non-op, can I still participate? 

YES! I've been getting this question a lot and I take it as a sign that I was right about having newer folks in our midst. Hi!!! No matter how you came to Bariatric Foodie, you are welcome to participate in the Pledge. This point is so important, in fact, that I have to pull out my bold, italics, ALL CAPS and underlining: ALL ARE WELCOME TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PLEDGE. YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE POST-OP!

Do I have to sign up for the Pledge in advance? 

No! There is no registration (or fee) for the Pledge. Just stay in touch with the blog as February approaches. I'll put out the first call for pledges on February 2nd. DO NOT PLEDGE BEFORE THAT DATE! And please...for the love of all that is good and yummy READ THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE PLEDGE POSTS! I'll try to keep them brief.

Do I have to have achieved my goal in order to be eligible for the prize? 

No. You need only pledge your goal and check in. The check-in questions are designed to help you see where your goal might have gone astray, which hopefully will help you down the line.

Do I have to make a different goal every week? 

Nope! You know you best. If you want to keep working on the same goal throughout go for it BUT you do have to re-pledge every week, even if you're working on the same goal.

How much time will I be given to submit my pledge/check-in?

I give the call for pledges at noon each Sunday during The Pledge. You have until Monday at noon to submit your pledge. I post the call for check-ins by noon every Saturday. You have until noon on Sunday (when the next week's pledges begin) to submit your check-in.

What happens if I don't submit my pledge/check-in on time?

Remember that you must pledge and check-in by the deadlines to be eligible for the weekly prizes and  to get credit for that week so that you can be eligible to win the grand prize (all people who pledge and check-in on time for all four weeks are eligible for the grand prize drawing). 

If you didn't submit your pledge in time, I encourage you to still work on your goal for that week and re-join the next week. If you didn't submit your check-in on time, I encourage you to still be proud of the work you did and re-join the next week. Remember: healthy goals are their own rewards!

Gee, Nik, that seems kind of brutal. You don't make ANY exceptions? Why?

There are two reasons. One is "you-based" and the other is "Nik-based."

You-based: A big part of the benefit of the Pledge (if past participants are to be believed!) is that it promotes accountability. You are working on a goal of your own choosing and holding yourself accountable to it. The reason why the prizes are drawn randomly is so that the ONLY person you are competing with is yourself. Having a deadline helps to make sure you do, in fact, hold yourself accountable to that goal. Sometimes the best lessons we can learn are from falling short. Trust me, I know this!

Nik-based: There are a lot of moving parts to The Pledge. On any given week (besides the first week) I'm simultaneously collecting Pledges, wrapping up check-ins, communicating with prize sponsors and troubleshooting tech problems. In order to keep everything running on schedule, I cannot make exceptions to the deadlines. That's why I am stressing them up front. I'll leave it up to you how you choose to remember the deadlines, but please do. It's worth it!

How can I tell if you got my pledge? 

Each week I will publish a list of the pledgers I have on record for the week. If your name is missing, there is a period of time to let me know about it. And you'd want to do that because not only is that the list I use to draw for weekly prizes, but I also use it to compile the list of people eligible for the grand prize. So you wanna be on that list. So check it!

What if I have difficulties submitting my pledge?

If you have technical difficulties, you can email me at bariatricfoodie@yahoo.com. Please only do this if you are experiencing true difficulties! I will say that because of the nature of web applications sometimes the problem can be easily remedied by going to a laptop or computer to submit your pledge. Be warned that I will ask you to do that before intervening any further.

If your difficulty is accessibility (for example, you are sight impaired or have another disability that makes filling out the online pledge form difficult for you), email me at bariatricfoodie@yahoo.com and I am more than happy to assist!

Is the Pledge only open to U.S. residents? 

NO! I have asked my pledge sponsors to open up the prize pool worldwide. Some have been able to do that, some have not. Where they have not, I will cover shipping for any non-US-based names that come out of the hat.

Do I have to be on Facebook or Twitter to participate? 

No! Stay tuned for more information about the technology we'll use during the Pledge in part five of this series (this is part two).

If I still haven't answered your question, feel free to post yours in the comments, to the BF Facebook Page or Tweet it to @bariatricfoodie. 

The 2014 Bariatric Foodie Pledge (Part One)

***The Bariatric Foodie Pledge has NOT started yet. It will begin Feb. 2. This post is for informational purposes only.***

There's an adage in internet communications that goes "If you have to spend a lot of time explaining it, it isn't a good idea." One might think this about The Bariatric Foodie Pledge. Yet many people have participated and gotten a LOT out of it. Therefore, I'll keep doing it!

But this year I vowed to do a better job of explaining the Pledge to newer folks. So...since there's a lot to say, I am doing this as a "BF Basics" series, which will run throughout this week. Here's what we'll cover:

• Part One (which you are reading now): What the heck is The Bariatric Foodie Pledge?
• Part Two: Frequently Asked Questions
• Part Three: Making goals that succeed.

So let's begin at the beginning.

“What the heck is a Bariatric Foodie Pledge?”

I’m glad you asked! The Bariatric Foodie Pledge is an annual event that helps you to make and keep healthy goals and rewards you RIDICULOUSLY for doing so!

The concept is simple. Follow me here.

Each Sunday in February, I call for you to "pledge" a goal. It can be any goal you like. Maybe you want to get more protein in, exercise more, drink water, get back on plan with your vitamins, WHATEVER. Your goal, your choice.

Throughout the week, you work on your goal. On Facebook, Twitter and here on the blog, I'll post helpful articles, be your cheerleader, we can talk about your struggles...whatever you need, I'm here for ya!

On Saturday of each week, I'll post a call for you to "check-in" on your goal. You'll do so by answering a few questions about how it all went: what worked, what didn't work, what you might do differently in the future.

Everyone who pledges AND checks in for a week is entered to be one of three winners for the weekly prize for that week (I'll announce what those are as we get closer to the start). I just want to clarify. There are four Pledge Weeks. Each week will have a different prize. Each week three Foodies will win that prize by pledging a goal AND checking in on the goal (you must do both).

Sweet, right? But wait, there’s MORE!

For those who pledge AND check-in all four weeks of the Bariatric Foodie Pledge, there is a special grand prize drawing. In the past I've given away some AMAZING stuff! This year it's going to be even bigger. Now...at this point you might be asking how I know if you pledged and checked in all four weeks. My answer would be to stay tuned for Part Five of this series where we'll talk about that!

So in summary. The Bariatric Foodie Pledge will start February 2nd. Each Sunday you'll pledge a goal to work on for a week. Then you'll work at your goal. On Saturday I'll ask you how it went. If you pledge a goal and check in, you'll be entered to be one of three weekly prize winners. If you pledge AND check-in all four weeks, you will be eligible for the grand prize drawing. 

Here's the schedule of Pledge Weeks for 2014:

• Week One: Begins February 2
• Week Two: Begins February 9
• Week Three: Begins February 16
• Week Four: Begins February 23
• Grand Prize Week: Begins March 2

Tomorrow I'll go over some of the most frequently asked questions about the Pledge. If you have others, feel free to leave them in the comments of any of these posts, on Facebook or Tweet them to @BariatricFoodie.

The Bariatric Foodie Season of Giving - Week 5!

Congratulations to the winners! You should have received an email from me notifying you of your win. If not, here's what I need you to do. E-mail me at bariatricfoodie@yahoo.com by 11:59 p.m. January 16 with your full name and address to claim your prize!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I hope you've enjoyed the "Bariatric Foodie Season of Giving." I've enjoyed giving away so much awesome stuff!

Winners of the Bariatric Foodie Season of Giving - Week Four!

Firstly thank you, thank you , THANK YOU for rocking this BariMelts giveaway.

Long-time Foodies get sick of this spiel but I do have to reinforce why your participation is important! Getting stuff to give away is not easy. Companies determine what and how much they’ll give away through a blog based on several factors. One of them is the readership size, as told by Google. But I can actually make a more powerful case by citing participation in past giveaways.

In fact, your awesome participation in the Recharge giveaway is part of what I cited to ask BariMelts to give three Foodies the chance to win their products. Because you participate, whether you won or not, you are contributing to our ability to get more and better stuff to give away. And who knows? Next time the winner may be YOU! So keep participating!

I would be remiss not to also THANK BariMelts for participating in the “Bariatric Foodie Season of Giving.” I promise once the product fully launches I will let you all know so you can check them out. But for now, the three Foodies who won the complete line of BariMelts products are:

• Diana Douglas
• Melody Yeary
• Monique Massi

I sent you each an email to let you know how to claim your prize, but just in case you didn’t get it, I need you to email me with your name, address and phone number (for delivery purposes only) to bariatricfoodie@yahoo.com no later than 11:59 p.m. (PST) Sunday, January 5! If I don’t hear from you by then I have to redraw. Don’t make me do that!!!

We have one more giveaway left in the Season of Giving and I’m going to post about it later this evening. Stay tuned, Foodies.

2014 is going to be a GREAT year for us!

BF Top 5: Mistakes You're Making on the Scale (that are driving you crazy!)

I won’t go into my personal history with the scale. Mostly because it’d be a whole blog post (or series of) by itself. What I will say is that this one inanimate object (it really is inanimate people!) seems to wield a lot of power over us – how we think, how we feel about ourselves and, sometimes, what we do or do not eat.

So I thought I’d go over a few “scale mistakes” if you will. Things people do that actually helpthe scale to drive them crazy. I purposely refrained from putting “weighing every day” on the list. I’ve heard from many of you that you feel you need to weigh every day for accountability and if you are using it to do that, I can’t really argue with that (although I personally don’t do it). But here are a few other scale mistakes I see people make all the time!

You weigh at different times of the day.

In a life existence where two pounds lost or gained can be the difference between elation and utter discontent, it confounds me that people weigh at various points of different days.

There are several reasons why our weight fluctuates throughout the day and they can basically be boiled down to this: you “take in” matter during the day. Matter has weight. That weight will show up on the scale.

If you drink 16 oz. of water right before stepping on the scale, you’re adding a full pound onto your body weight (provided you didn’t use the bathroom before weighing). Each meal you eat adds weight, not necessarily as weight gained but matter that is sitting in your digestive system. And, of course, poop has weight too.

Bottom line: Try to weigh around the same time every day if you MUST weigh every day. That will give you a more accurate idea of how you are progressing.

You weigh several times a day.

And for the life of me I can’t figure out why! Yes, you may see incremental changes but there is no good reason you need to weigh yourself multiple times a day. As I said in the above point, you are more likely to weigh more as the day progresses than less (there are, of course, exceptions to that rule), so unless you like feeling bad about yourself, pick a time, adhere to it and do it once!

Bottom line: Weighing several times a day can be symptomatic of a thinking process that isn’t entirely balanced and healthy. Only you know whether that’s the case for you. If it is, know this: unhealthy thinking (most times) breeds unhealthy behavior. When we work toward a healthy mindset, healthy habits and healthy results are more likely to follow.

You weigh after exercising.

My trainer was the first person to let me know what a bad idea that is (unless, in my opinion, you consistently do it at that time so you can see the overall change and not just the change from before you work out). Especially when strength training, you are tearing muscle and exerting yourself. The body uses many things, including water, to recover from those activities. I’ve had more people than I can count email me distraught because they “gained weight” from exercise.

A small uptick in weight after starting or bumping up an exercise regimen can be normal. NOTE: Excessive gain is NOT. Yes muscle is more dens than fat (it does not weigh more than fat but it is denser) but even that isn’t going to cause a significant weight gain. More than a few pounds that stick around more than a few days and I’d say you may need to look at what you’re doing and adjust (I am, of course, not a nutritionist or a fitness professional, however, so your first step might be to seek out one of the two.)

Bottom line: Exercise can cause weight fluctuations and we should not expect to see instantaneous results on the scale from exercising. So afterward is probably not the best time to weigh, especially if you are weighing several times a day!

You allow the scale to dictate your actions.

Sigh. I used to be guilty of this one myself. If my weight didn’t come in where I wanted it to be, I skipped a meal. Or I exercised long and hard without properly fueling my body (and more than once hurt myself!). I’ve heard of people doing the opposite: being distressed by what the scale says and going on to make unhealthy eating choices or throwing their hands up and saying, “why bother!” with regards to exercise.

Bottom line: Weight loss is a tricky process. It’s not ever something the human body wants to do nor is it what the human body is built to do. Thus, you are going to face challenges. There will be stalls. Long ones. There will be points where you have to push harder, longer and almost reach your breaking point before you see a downward trend on the scale. But take heart. Your body is changing. It’s even possible for your body to be shrinking even if the number on the scale isn’t! But being reactive isn’t going to help. In my nearly 6 years as a post-op I can say I have never, EVER seen that mentality end well.

You avoid the scale altogether.

Yep. I just extolled the possible dangers of weighing too much and here I am talking about weighing too infrequently. But that’s also dangerous. Many times we know when we’re not doing right. And sometimes we avoid the scale because it will confirm what we already know to be true. Maybe you’ve lost control. Maybe it’s been a stressful few weeks. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

Bottom line: Well guess what? An importantpart of living a healthier life is taking responsibility for your actions and deciding what to do next. So you ate two slices of cake over the weekend. So make a plan to work it off! But the only thing avoiding the scale does is fuels your perception of your weight. And that’s where the danger comes in. Having interacted with thousands of post-ops through our blog I can say that we nearly always perceive our weight as higher than it actually is. So if you are going off a higher perceived weight, you are more likely to be depressed about your weight, more likely to react in depression to that weight, more likely to stress about it (and produce cortisol which actually, physically does aid weight gain) and you’re more likely to fall back on unhealthy coping mechanisms.

Instead, get the facts. The data may be painful to look at but at least it’s objective and you can work from reality and NOT perception.

So there you have it. I invite debate about these points. There are probably even more but I highlighted the top five that I see.

The bottom line to this whole post is that, like our surgeries, the scale is a tool to help you get where you want to go. It, in and of itself, does not narrate your success story. Stop giving an inanimate object so much power in your lives!