You need simple measures to live by. — End the searching and scrolling. It’s just another form of consumption. One of the first things I did when I quit dieting was to unfollow and unsubscribe from all the apps, diets, coaches, and workout accounts I’d been subscribing to. I felt an immediate sense of lightness from that decision. …

This is what I know about making your life matter. — It’s still strange to me that I’m a person who’s had cancer. Like many people, my unspoken belief about life was that it would go on and on. Cancer happens to other people. It’s a singular shock when the news becomes your own. …

How do you have sugar without bingeing, deal-making, or battling cravings? Read on. — Use these strategies to safeguard your mental and physical health. Sugar consumption is slippery. That’s by design. The modern world is filled with sugar. It’s in nearly everything and offered everywhere you turn. It’s so ubiquitous that it seems to have altered our collective palates. You might now be accustomed to having sugar in your food without knowing it.

Here are mine. I promise they have little value. — It’s nearly impossible to talk about weight loss without showing before and after photos (look, it worked!). Except, here’s the thing, I think they’re kind of bullshit. I’ve felt pressure to display mine and resisted thus far. …

A healthy weight requires rethinking societal notions of fun. — People who want to lose weight spend their time anxiously searching for the next thing. That perfect diet, app, pill, supplement, or food plan will correct their (supposedly) faulty body and finally make weight loss happen. But the clues to chronic weight gain aren’t out there. They’re hiding in plain…

Food tracking is a mainstream weight loss idea that needs dismantling. My newest piece does just that. I hear over and over how frustrated people are with the process of food tracking. How laborious it is, how it doesn’t account for hunger, and how it turns eating (something that should…

If you hated it, dropped it, or the weight returned, it’s not you–the practice is the failure. — Food logging made me give up dieting for good. That practice (and still getting to my highest weight) caused me to give up dieting and apps (also a diet)–forever. I couldn’t take another minute of it. I love to eat and take great delight in food. It felt viscerally wrong to sit around logging individual figs and whatnot. Not…

It’s counterintuitive but true. — We’ve been told that nuts are calorie-dense and bad for weight loss. The first part is true, but the second isn’t. Let’s examine why. Nuts, specifically walnuts and almonds, are an important part of my long-term success in managing my weight. I also like hazelnuts but use them a bit less due to cost. I ate nuts while I was losing weight…

Wellness culture is out of its depth. — Fit people take medication and need talk therapy. That’s ok. I like January because everyone is focused on the things that shape my daily life. Eating healthy food and moving as much as possible. I don’t have to fend off trays of cookies or reasons to drink. It’s a brief period of time when everyone’s priorities line up with mine. …