An open letter to Healthy Wage

Dear Healthy Wage,

I am about to lose my bet. In April 2024, I bet that I would lose 25 lb within six months. I only lost 20 lb, so I purchased another six months. If I lost those final 5 lb in another six months, I would still make a profit, even with the additional spend of six more months. But it's now April 2025, and I still haven't lost that last 5 lb. I have 12 days left, so there is no way for me to safely lose 5 lb. Attempting to do so would put my health at risk, because the only way to lose that much weight that quickly is to starve and dehydrate myself. I'm not going to do that.

But, wait, let's talk about the first half of my wager. I lost twenty pounds in six months. That is HUGE! That is amazing! That is 20 more pounds than I was able to lose in over a year of half-heartedly "trying" to lose weight. That is 10% of my starting weight. How many people can say they've lost 10% of their body weight in 6 months? Even though it was "only" 80% of my Healthy Wage bet, I am immensely proud of myself for that weight loss. So are my husband, his mother, my parents, and everyone else who supported me through those six months.

In those six months, I exercised 4 days per week, even when I desperately wanted a rest day. I drank Zevia soda when I really wanted a beer, or a bowl of ice cream. I brought protein bars and homemade sandwiches to film sets when I knew there would be free pizza, chips, and other junk foods that easily feed a crowd. This was all not because of my motivation to make my money back in Healthy Wage, but because I was participating in a Weight Loss and Exercise study through University of Michigan's School of Kinesiology. "For science!" was my mantra every time I had to ignore a craving or jump on the bike for 45 minutes when I had a million other things to do.

The 20 pounds that I lost was the whole requirement for the research study. Everyone I had contact with for the study congratulated me on my hard work. Healthy Wage just said "it's time to weigh in!" and convinced me to spend more money in order to extend my bet.

Over the following six months, I got a bit more lax with my diet, but I ramped up my exercise habits. Instead of 45 minutes of Low Intensity Steady State cardio 4 times per week, I switched to 4-5 days of either High Intensity Interval Training or strength training. I was slightly disappointed to see that as hard as I was pushing myself, I was maintaining my weight rather than losing. I tightened up my diet, aiming to adhere to eating about 1300 calories per day. But most weekends, I had some social gathering or another that caused me to gain 1.5-2 pounds in a day. That weight dropped back off throughout the following week, but then another "cheat day" would happen and it was lather, rinse, repeat.

The research study included a six-month follow-up of all of my experimental trials. So I have some pretty concrete evidence that even though I stayed the same weight on the scale over six months, my health truly did improve in that time.

• Waist circumference 
• August 2024: 106.7 cm
• March 2025: 98 cm
• that's a pretty significant decrease!!
• % body fat
• August 2024: 48.3%
• March 2025: 49.2%
• okay, a slight increase, BUT I had gone on a cruise and got sick as soon as I got home right before this scan. So yeah, I gained some food-baby weight and couldn't work it off right away.
• Fat mass
• August 2024: 39.9 kg
• March 2025: 40.3 kg
• that's another very slight increase, but again, this last scan was right after vacation and illness. I'd be willing to bet that if this scan had happened the week before my cruise, it would have been lower!
• Lean Mass (muscles, bones, organs, blood, skin, hair- everything but my body fat)
• August 2024: 40.6 kg 
• March 2025: 41.5 kg
• that's a GOOD increase! Considering I didn't grow any extra bones or grow my hair by several feet, I think it's a safe bet that this increase came from building muscle.
• VO2 Max: the amount of oxygen my body uses during intense exercise 
• rating scale: Very Poor, Poor, Fair, Good, Excellent, Superior
• August 2024: 26.8 mL/kg per minute
• for every kilogram of my body weight, my body used 26.8 mL of oxygen per minute
• this is a "Poor" rating for my age and gender
• March 2025: 32.8 mL/kg per minute
• for every kilogram of my body weight, my body used 32.8 mL of oxygen per minute
• this is a "Good" rating for my age and gender! I improved by two health categories!!
• not measured statistically is my experience with the VO2 Max test. It's a SUPER intense 14 minutes of cardiovascular exercise, pushing myself to and past my physical limits. I had a MUCH easier time taking this test in March, even though I was a week past having the flu (which is a respiratory infection, remember!). I was able to breathe normally for the rest of the day in March, while in August I kept coughing and wheezing through the entire evening.

In short, I am measurably and demonstrably healthier now than I was six months ago. I have a higher cardiovascular endurance; I am stronger; I am thinner. I am not lighter because I have built lean, and dense, muscle.

Healthy Wage is about to tell me that I've failed. Because I bet I would lose 25 pounds and I "only" lost 20, I am going to lose every cent that I paid in to my bet. (You'd think I could still win 80% of my potential winnings, but that's another conversation.) According to Healthy Wage, I am not healthier now than I was six months ago because the number on the scale hasn't changed. But this research study has clearly shown that health metrics are about more than what's on the scale. Any doctor or scientist would look at my statistics and say, "this woman has improved her health."

I cried hard for a while today, because I felt like I had failed. Failed to lose 5 lb in 6 months. Failed to make good on my bet. Not only failed to make some extra cash, but succeeded in losing cash. Failed to lose 5 lb in 6 months after losing 20 lb in a different 6 months. Now, after reminding myself of my actual health metrics, I am proud. I am confident. 

I am angry at our culture's fixation on weight, without any consideration for other markers of health.

In my eyes, my efforts over the past six months have been a win.

Healthy Wage, if all you care about is the number on the scale, perhaps you should change your name to Weight Wage.

Variations on delicious no-bake granola bars!

 Okay, I'm obsessed with these no-bake granola bars from Wholesomeicious. They're hella quick and easy to make, delicious, filling, healthy, and customizable!

photo belongs to Wholesomelicious. My food photography skills are whack so if I shared my own,

they'd look totally unappetizing.

The first time I made them, I followed the recipe completely and I had no complaints. But, since I've been making them every single week since the summer, I've come up with plenty of variations and substitutions. My two staples that I change up pretty much every time are:

• I cut the honey in half to 1/4 cup, and add 1/4 cup coconut oil in its place. That way I am cutting calories and sweetener while adding healthy fatty acids, but still providing enough liquid to hold the bars together. (Since coconut oil is mostly solid at room temperature, I think they hold up better than with just honey!) 
• Side note: my Mom hates all things coconut and can usually tell when something's been cooked in coconut oil (even popcorn). I had her try one of these, completely forgetting about the presence of coconut oil, and she didn't seem to notice!
• I use 2 Tbsp flaxseed powder and 2 Tbsp chia seeds
• I used unsweetened shredded coconut instead of flakes because it's usually easier to find
• I make sure my nut butter does not have any added sugar - important since I'm trying to cut back on my sugar intake!
• I always cut them into 12 pcs in an 8" x 8" dish. I find this to be the perfect size in terms of tiding me over between meals. I originally did 8 pcs and that was a bit too filling; I think 16 pcs would be too much of a tease!

Some of the variations I've toyed around with include:

• adding 2 Tbsp or so of cocoa powder to the peanut butter/honey/coconut oil (it won't distribute very well if you add it to the dry ingredients)
• swapping out the almonds for cashews or pistachios (my faves - but if you like pecans, walnuts, or peanuts better, use 'em!)
• playing with the nut butters - I've used almond, peanut, and sunflower seed. All are good, but the sunflower seed butter definitely stands out as the most salty flavor. If you don't care about calories or sugar content, you could try Nutella, too!
• mixing up the dried fruit: I've used dried cranberries and raisins as well as cherries. I wouldn't be opposed to using chopped dried fig or even something more high-profile like apricot or something!
• cutting out the coconut flakes because sometimes I run out and forget to buy more - I haven't found that I needed to add any extra solids to make up for the loss.
• one time I forgot to add the quinoa and they were still very good, but there was less crunchiness to them.

Some Variant Recipes I've done:

• Green Tea: This one didn't work as well as I wanted it to. I used almond butter and added close to 1/4 cup of green tea powder, which turned it an AWFUL color, but I can pretty much only taste the almond butter - there's like no green tea flavor at all. I used cashews, raisins, and white chocolate chips in this one. Luckily the white chocolate flavor stands out!
• Butterscotch Delight: I bought some butterscotch infused peanut butter from the farmer's market in the fall and used butterscotch chips instead of chocolate. I think I used raisins for the fruit that time, and cashews for the nuts. It was SUPER yummy!
• Holiday Orange: This one was a result of me being bored and experimental. I think I had sunflower seed butter at the time, but it might have been peanut butter. I added about 1/2 tsp or so of orange extract as well as the vanilla, and a pinch of ground cloves in addition to the cinnamon. I swapped out the honey for maple syrup, which made them a bit more gooey and melty than usual. And I had raisins and cashews at the time, but if I'd planned ahead, I would have preferred dried cranberries and pecans.
• UPDATE 2/2/21 Mint Chocolate Chip: I used mostly peanut butter but had to top off with about 2-3 Tbsp almond butter; pistachios and raisins; mini semi-sweet chocolate chips AND white chocolate; and added 1/2 tsp pure peppermint extract. That was probably a bit too much peppermint. It's not bad, but I can't really taste anything else in the bars. Next time I'd cut it down to 1/4 tsp.

I've also thought about making a mint chocolate chip variety, using cocoa powder and mint extract and mini chocolate chips, but I'm not sure what kind of nut butter would be best with that. I'd probably use pistachios for the nuts though! Yeah, as above: 1/4 tsp of pure peppermint extract should be plenty. 

TMI side note because it's me: I poop a lot when I eat one of these every day. Also, uncooked quinoa comes out looking very much the same as it does on the way in. So do chia seeds. It's not a bad thing, and in fact my BMs have felt so much easier and healthier since I started eating these all the time!