Almost every question I get about food comes back to one word: weight. How do I lose it, what should I eat to lose it, is this food making me gain it. After fifteen years of teaching, weight is still the first — and often the only — marker people use to judge whether their diet is working.
Weight is a real marker. If you’re carrying excess weight, something in the system needs attention — obesity does hamper energy levels and bodily function. But it’s only one of four, and treating it as the only one is where most people go wrong.
The second marker is your bodily functions. Are you digesting well? Excreting well? Are your hormones, blood pressure, and blood sugar in check? Is your liver doing its job? You can be at an “ideal” weight and still have functions quietly misfiring — which is exactly why weight alone can’t tell the whole story.
The third marker is strength, and it splits into two parts. One is your energy for the day — can you get through your actual work, whatever it is, without running out of steam? A footballer and an accountant have very different energy demands, so this is measured against your own lifestyle, not anyone else’s. The other part is raw functional strength — can you lift a suitcase, move furniture, carry what needs carrying?
The fourth marker is simply how you feel. Energetic or lethargic? Do you want to sleep after every meal, or do you feel fuelled by it? Restless, irritable, foggy — or clear and steady through the day?
None of these four require a lab test. You can assess all of them just by paying honest attention to your own day.
Here’s why this matters: a diet can move your weight in the “right” direction while quietly failing the other three markers — leaving you lighter but foggy, weak, or irregular. A genuinely working diet should move all four in a good direction together, not just the one everyone’s watching.
So this week, instead of asking “is this working for my weight,” ask all four questions. You’ll often find the real problem isn’t where you were looking.
From the Wellness Wisdom lecture series at Mystic Yoga.
About the Author
Abhishek Maheshwari is a yoga teacher, author, and the Founder of Mystic Yoga. His work integrates Yoga, Meditation, Ayurvedic Nutrition, and Spiritual Philosophy to promote holistic health and well-being through classes, retreats, and corporate wellness programs.