Off Scale Wins!

This episode of the **Oh Health Yeah** podcast dives deep into why the number on the scale is often the least interesting thing about a health journey. The conversation focuses on **off-scale wins**, which are tangible ways to measure success that actually impact quality of life.
By reframing health as the ability to be **fully present in every moment**, this episode explores how to dictate success on your own terms. What We Cover in This Episode
 Strength & Capability: Why being able to pick up your kids, perform everyday functions, or work in the shop matters more than a specific number in the gym.
 The Power of Control: How mastering one "lever" of your health, like nutrition or exercise, can reduce anxiety and improve mental health.
 The Mastery Experience:Why achieving immediate, tangible results (like seeing the ball go through the hoop) helps you stay committed to the game.
 Sleep & Energy: The connection between sun exposure, restorative rest, and why sleep deprivation is a massive hurdle in modern culture.
 Resting Heart Rate: Understanding how stress, alcohol, and caffeine dictate how hard your heart has to work while you rest.
Confidence & Aesthetics: Why a "pep in your step" and a vibrant appearance are the ultimate indicators of a positive health trajectory.
Join the Conversation:
What is your favorite off-scale win? Is it a piece of clothing fitting better, or having the energy to get through the day without a crash? Let us know in the comments or leave a review!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Today, we're going to talk about wins. Specifically, non-scale wins. So many people in the health and wellness world are just individuals trying to take control of their health, dictate success based just off of the number on the scale. And what we're going to talk about today is ways that you can dictate success that aren't even associated with the number on the scale. We've talked to a lot of clients over the last eight years of business, and what we talk to them about is how your health is your ability to be fully present in any moment. And the ways that you dictate success with that are truly up to you. So today we're going to go through some bullet point lists that we think are ways that you can dictate success on your health and wellness journey that have nothing to do with your weights. Ready to do this, Zach? Yep. Okay. First one that I have on my list. This is something that we measure. Strength improvement. I think strength is a great way to dictate success when it comes to your health and wellness journey. Now, all of these are going to be dependent on what your goal is. Like if somebody's focused on weight loss, maybe strength isn't something that they're fixated on. But to me, strength is a way that you can dictate success when it comes to health and wellness because it encompasses a lot of your health. It encompasses, if your strength is increasing, it's encompassing that you're probably sleeping better, you're probably eating enough protein, you're probably rested, recovered. So the first one that I have for a non-scale win is strength improvements. And that could be in the form of things like grip strength that we assess, or it could be like in the gym. Are you feeling stronger? Are you feeling more capable? What do you think about that one? Strength improvements.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

I would just notice strength improvements in everyday functions like getting out of bed. Like, did it did it hurt less when you bent over? Um, stuff like that. I I would probably, if I was looking for things that felt like strength improvements, you know, like working on a car in the shop, like I can turn a 200-foot-pound bolt head or nut head easier than I could before. So it's like I think strength improvement goes hand in hand with mobility. Like mobility improvement, that's what I noticed. I think they're not the same, but one and the same, you know?

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Yeah. Being able to do the things you need to do in a more efficient way or you want to do, I guess. Like I even think of my kids, I guess that makes like you just that light bulb moment for me, but like being able to play with my kids, being able to pick up my kids, feeling feeling more capable of doing those things is a way to assess strength. So it doesn't just have to be a number in the gym, like you said, it could be just being able to do the things that you do within your day-to-day life.

SPEAKER_00 2:44

Mobility and stamina, that's part of it too. It's like, yeah, you can pick up your kid, but you want to be able to hold your kid while he's sick for two hours while he sleeps, because if you put him down, he'll start crying, right? I'm sure you've lived that. Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

So yeah, no, being capable. I like that a lot. The second one I have, you're gonna like this one: mental health improvements. I think those are huge non-scale wins. I think it's something that we talk to our clients a lot about, almost more than we talk, way more than we talk about the number on the scale. We talk about mental health improvements for sure. And like there's different ways to frame mental health improvements, but one of the ones that comes to my mind is confidence, presence, like those little things that have nothing to do with the number on the scale, but they play into every aspect of health. And I know mental health is something you talk about a lot with your clients. What kind of mental health wins do you see with clients?

SPEAKER_00 3:39

I think the ultimate word for someone like me, it don't I don't think it applies to every single person, but I do think it's control. There's so many things in our lives on a day-to-day basis that feel out of our control, and that is what causes so much panic, anxiety, fear, nervousness. And if you can control one thing, even if it doesn't feel like it's excuse me, even if it doesn't feel like it's the most important thing to take care of, so many things will follow. Like, for example, when my nutrition gets out of control, it's not immediate, but I start to feel a lot of other things are in my life, are out of control. And then when I take back the reins of my nutrition, having control over something so simple yet so complex. Like, have you ever heard the story from that uh naval admiral that talks about setting your day up by making your bed every day?

SPEAKER_01 4:51

Books right there.

SPEAKER_00 4:51

Ah, what book?

SPEAKER_01 4:54

Make your bed.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

Make your bed, okay. Yeah, so it's like kind of the same thing as like if you're in control of something as human beings, we are in constant need of control. Even if you're a you know, type A, type B person, it doesn't matter. We everyone wants some sense of control. And when we feel like our choices are being taken from us, that's when your mental health starts to really start, you know, deteriorate. So being in control of your nutrition and your exercise are two things that nobody can tell you you can't do. And I understand that there are physical disability limitations and financial limitations to that. But I think that that's as a coach for myself, that's where I thrive, is helping people hurdle those obstacles, right? The ones that I just listed. Like, don't get me wrong, I do understand that there is a fiscal barrier to eating healthy. I 100% will advocate for the fact that eating healthy is a there's a massive barrier to entry because of food. And that's why I'm someone that doesn't live and die by inflammatory oils or by not eating ultra-processed food because I do think that there's a way we talk about this all the time. I think majoring in the majors and minoring in the minor, minoring, whatever it is, right? Right. Just for example, how much do you think a gallon of canola oil is?

SPEAKER_01 6:32

Oh, price?

SPEAKER_00 6:33

Yeah, like nine bucks.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

Yeah, I'd say maybe ten bucks.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

Yeah, how much is a gallon of avocado oil? A gallon of it. A lot more. Probably 50. Yeah, that's a massive difference to a lot of people. And do I think that canola oil is the best thing in the world for you? Probably not, but the studies, in my opinion, the way I interpret them, show that it's a negligible difference, especially when you're talking about barrier. I think quantity is much more important than a singular ingredient that's processed. That's so I think that's where my mind goes, is just control, finding control, eating mindfully. And that's not to shame the people that do believe that inflammatory oils, you know, if you know, if you excuse me, oh my goodness, I'm just drinking Gatorade. If you have a certain health ailment or or you're noticing something and you cut out inflammatory oils and it makes a difference for you, do your thing. I'm never going to discourage somebody from finding something that works for them. I'm just talking about myself, and I feel like the demographic that I as a coach really appeal to, and that is a lot of the underserved.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

So well, coming back to the mental health side of things too, like you said, control. Like what things can people control that would move the needle the most for them is kind of where you're at. Because with what you just said, it's like, okay, do I know that inflammatory oils might do X, Y, or Z? Yes. But at the same time, if I'm trying to help this person take control of their health, and one of the first things that I talk to them about is inflammatory oils based off of where they're at in their life, that's gonna go in one ear and out the other.

SPEAKER_00 8:11

Yeah, it's just totally unattainable. It's not realistic.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

If anything, it could make it almost feel more out of control. And it's like, okay, well, now I know this little tidbit of information that does not help me whatsoever.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

Right. It's like hey, I came into you because I need help, and you just told me that everything I eat is bad for me. Yeah, you might need the water even more. Who does that help? So it's hard, and it does help some people. I'll I'll give it that. Uh for ex for just an example off the heels of that, it's like the the difference that someone, if someone's drinking regular soda to diet soda can make in their weight and their energy, and just from cutting out that much sugar is so big. So, so, so big.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Yeah. The mental health side of things is so interesting for us because we have to walk a fine line of our goal with every single client is empowering the client. What empowerment for you looks like is completely different than what empowerment for me looks like. So if we're trying to get a non-scale win of helping this client optimize their mental health, one of the best things that we can do, like you said, is help them to find control and control in one lever of life. Because oftentimes the biggest thing that drives us away from it is feeling out of control. So we aim to help clients find control and pull the lever that's most meaningful for them that's based around their goal to help them optimize mental health.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

It works as a business model, but more importantly, it works as a coach if we can get them to move the needle, like you said. Like sometimes this is where the scale does come in, or or other metrics like we're talking about. What am I trying to say? It's like move. Well Nick talked about this in one of his coffee talks, but I believe it was called like a mastery experience. You know what I'm talking about? But it's where it's where you when you accomplish something and you actually see something through and you see you physic it's t has tangible results.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

You see the ball go through the hoop.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Yeah, you see the ball go through the hoop. So like switch I that's why I I lean away from inflammatorials and towards like no sugar flour for breakfast. You physically feel immediate results from that. Like, yeah, it's hard, but at the end of the day, you're like, wow, I didn't snack in the mornings because I wasn't snacky. Like you actually have a tangible result that you can report about.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

Yeah, and you feel in control because you got to win. Yeah. Watch the ball go through the hoop. You feel in control, you feel capable, you feel empowered.

SPEAKER_00 10:56

Yeah, you you take someone someone to the basketball court that's never played basketball and they they miss their first shot, immediately discouraged. But if they sink that first shot, they're so much more likely to keep playing the game.

unknown 11:06

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

Yeah. Next non-scale win that I have on the list. This kind of ties in with mental health, but energy, energy improvements. And Zach kind of tied to that a little bit, but I love asking the client, like, how did you feel? How do you feel? And between last month and this month, how do you feel today? Because if their energy levels are getting better, oftentimes what's happening is they're feeling more in control of the trajectory of their life, they're making progress towards their goals. Maybe the little biomarkers that we only assess once a year, like vitamin D or different like vitamin numbers, are increasing or getting to where they want to be. But energy B energy can be another great way to dictate success with clients that's not a number, not a scale. It's like I'm feeling more energized. I'm able to go fly fishing with my dad more often. I'm able to play with my kids in the backyard. So that third non-scale win, energy improvements. Anything you got on that one?

SPEAKER_00 12:04

No, not really. I think I agree with you.

unknown 12:07

Cool.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

Fourth one I got. This is tied into energy too, but sleep. Sleep quality. Is your sleep quality increasing? Zach mentioned this on a previous episode where he was looking at his heart rate a little bit and seeing that sleep, I mean, as as different health metrics change, sleep can oftentimes get better and more meaningful and more optimized. I see this in my own life too. Like on days where I exercise, I oftentimes sleep a heck of a lot better than days that where I don't, or just days where I get outside. So sleep can be another way to see if the health changes that you're making in your life are helping you take steps towards the best version of yourself. Anything on sleep?

SPEAKER_00 12:51

Man, I sleep so much better when I get out in the sun. Oh, I might I'm so sorry to all the people that don't have a good climate right this moment in the middle of March or at the end of March, because my neck is actually peeling from a sunburn right now. And I've been sleeping like a baby after the sunburn.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

Oh my gosh. Do you think that's due to the sun, or do you think it's due to the like just that you burn?

SPEAKER_00 13:17

You burn easy. I think a lot of it has to do with the sun and getting outside and and expelling energy. I mean, I was like sweating, it was so hot. That's why I ordered that water bottle. Oh my god, I'm so excited for that water bottle. It's one of those uh life life straw go. So it it has a life straw inside the bottle. So when I'm on the river, I can I can just pack in an empty bottle that weighs like 200 grams and fill it up, and my dad and I can drink water. I'd be getting headaches because I never pack enough fluids when I'm fishing.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

Now you're gonna be drinking water. Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 13:49

Straight from the mountain.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

Yeah. I like I like thinking about sleep in different ways because one thing that's super beneficial with sleep is obviously it's restorative, it's beneficial for the body, it's beneficial for the brain. But the more that you can optimize it, I truly believe the more than you can, the more that you can optimize any aspect to your health. Like I remember when I first got into the health and wellness world, my big thing in my mind was like, okay, nutrition and activity. Like those are the two things that everybody needs to focus on. And the more that I get into it, the more that I realize how valuable sleep is. Because if you don't sleep well, oftentimes you make poor nutrition choices, you're not moving very much, you're not feeling very, very present in the moment. Anxiety can be up. So I feel like sleep is one of those things that as I've gotten further and further into health and wellness, I've realized how much it actually plays into it.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

It's kind of scary how much we are finding out and realizing about sleep as we keep venturing deeper into this health and wellness world. And then the people that we trust the most in our lives to heal us work on no sleep. Doctors, nurses, CNAs.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

That's so true.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

It's crazy that we push them for these 12-hour shifts. 12 hours is a long time. I know, it's insane, especially when we talk about like disruption of the circadian rhythm and how it's being considered a carcinogen now to work overnight shifts. It's like we put our lives in these people's hands that work their their their ass off. It's uh it feels like something needs to change there with how like don't get me wrong, our doctors need the training that they get, but do they need to be worked to the bone like they are? Like, is that conducive to ah we should do we should do a whole episode on sleep deprivation? Sleep deprivation and in healthcare.

SPEAKER_01 15:44

Well, I think it almost comes back to like our culture, honestly, man.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Hustle culture.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

We're such a money-driven, my work is my purpose-driven culture. There's nothing wrong with that. But at the same time, when it negatively impacts your health, I see so many people that we service on a monthly basis, and the majority of businesses or the majority of people we work with are through the business channel. So these are employees at different businesses. And oftentimes, I said this before, but a lot of people sacrifice their health chasing wealth. Like, okay, from the age of 18 to let's say I'm gonna retire at 60, I'm gonna work my ass off. I don't care what happens to my health, but I need to make enough money to get by, I need to make enough money to be able to retire, and then they get to retirement, and they've lost their health along the way, and they can't even enjoy retirement. Yeah, and they can't like yeah, they can't live, they can't do the things that they want to do. And I think it has a lot to do with our culture as a country. Like, this is just what we do. We work all day long. You go home for a little bit, eat some dinner, maybe give your kid a kiss, and try to go to sleep, or keep working, like continue to work for real. So these non-scale wins are cool ways to dictate success within your own life, but it's interesting as a culture how like some of the people that I used to follow on social media, it was the like, I don't sleep, all I do is work out and work. Is that a way to dictate success in life? I don't think so, especially not when it comes to health.

SPEAKER_00 17:16

No, I and I think the the the foolery that comes around with that, not that people like that are fools, I just mean that they're being fooled because they're gonna see results for a little bit. But the lack of sleep will catch up with you, the overtraining will catch up with you. Yeah, you're gonna get hit a plateau and nosedive.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 17:36

You know, you gotta you gotta give your body a rest. So and pay attention to your sleep. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

Next non-scale when I have confidence improvements. I see this more often than any other non-scale win with our clients. Like there's multiple times that I can remember off the top of my head where clients come in and they seem upset to be there. And some businesses will utilize incentives to send people in to see us. So individuals come in and they seem upset, they seem, they seem like their guard is up. And then as the months go by, not only does that guard come down, but you can see like the pep in their step has changed. Maybe the bags under their eyes have changed, maybe their skin color starts to change. But in my mind, a lot of that comes back to confidence. They feel empowered, they feel in control of the trajectory of their life. So this big non-scale win that I wanted to touch on is like, what are your confidence levels doing? Do you feel more confident when you do whatever it is you do? Because if you do, and even if the scale is not doing what you want it to do, if you're feeling more confident, if you're feeling more vibrant, that's a big win. And that's arguably, I think, one of the biggest wins. What do you think about that one?

SPEAKER_00 18:52

Confidence is key to everything. If you have higher confidence, you can accomplish anything. Yeah, I agree. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

I remember when Healthi has first started, we might have shared this on a previous podcast, but I was an intern of Dr. Nick Pertweez when Health is Wellness First Started. And I remember going on site to one of our businesses, and there was a gentleman that came in and he was very distraught about his health and wellness. And he had shared with us that he needed a knee replacement. He couldn't get his knee replacement done until he lost 150 pounds, and he was just pissed to be there. And so he continued to come back. And we worked with him along the way, along his journey with different actionable items that he could take on in his life. And over the course of X amount of time, he lost 150 pounds and ended up getting the knee replacement. And I remember him calling Nick and telling Nick, like, you changed my life. Like what you do is extremely important. And the reason that I bring that story up is because at the time, like I said, I was an intern. So I was in the airstream, and my job was to just wipe the machine off and sit there, basically. But I remember this gentleman coming back, and after each month, you would visibly see a difference. And it wasn't like, I'm not talking about like belly fat or weight. I'm talking about the smile on his face. I'm talking about his skin, like the color of his skin, like the things that you cannot measure by any body composition machine continue to change. And with that, his confidence level changed. And the reason that I say that is because so many people dictate success just based off the number. But if you chase health, overall health and well-being, the aesthetics and the numbers will follow. But it's a matter of reframing the way that we view it. So to me, the confidence side of things is one that I love to talk about. Anything else on confidence before I jump to the next one, Zach?

SPEAKER_00 20:47

No, sir.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

Cool. Last one I got is one you brought up on a previous episode. Resting heart rate, non-scale win. Do you want to talk about that one? Kind of the way that you view that or the way that you look at that one? The resting heart rate? Yeah. You want me to kind of intro it? Go for it. Okay, so resting heart rate, what that's looking at is you can look at your beats per minute, you can look at your resting heart rate when you sleep. But what it's showing us is kind of how hard is the heart work and to be able to do the things that you do, whether that's walking, whether that's sleeping, my resting heart rate, oftentimes when I am more in control of my health, my resting heart rate will drop. It'll get lower. So resting heart rate is one that is a number, but it's something that you can look at that's not a scale metric. And oftentimes, as people begin to take control of their health, just like with mine, your resting heart rate will come down. What that means in layman's terms, just to make it very, very like this isn't perfect, but your heart is now not having to work as hard to allow you to do the things that you do within a day in, day out basis. You want to talk about it a little bit more?

SPEAKER_00 21:47

I think it ties like it it has it's very heavily tied to your physical health, but I also think it's tied to your mental health. If you're constantly if your heart rate's constantly high, that typically means your cortisol is constantly high. That means your s that's your stress hormone. From a peeps at home. The stress hormone's really high. If your heart beats super high all the time, you're stressed out. Your body, not just in your mind, you're stressed out. Your body's stressed out. You're sweating. You're you're I mean, there's so many functions in your body that you're pushing to its max limit all the time. So they all go hand in hand. When you improve your physical health, your mental health will improve. That heart, that resting heart rate will come down. You're getting you're probably getting a little bit deeper sleep as well. Because your heart's not working so hard whilst you sleep.

SPEAKER_01 22:36

So yeah, you're so right. It's crazy because I wear a Fitbit all the time and my resting heart rate's tracked, and when I get stressed, it goes up. Like if I'm doing a presentation for a business, although I may not feel nervous during the presentation, I'll get done and I'll be like, whoa, if my resting heart rate spiked a little bit there. Yeah. Or on weeks where we're getting ready for big biometric events, yeah, my resting heart rate will go up. So just like you said, resting heart rate isn't something that's just based off of your athletic ability per se or the way that you breathe, but it's how in control of your health are you, including your stress levels, your anxiety.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

The caveat I will say is, in my opinion, not a cardiologist, not a cardio cardiac expert, but I feel like this is one of those metrics that it the lower the number, not necessarily I don't want to say the benchmark is like if you're at 60 beats per minute, you're really healthy. It matters where you start.

SPEAKER_01 23:29

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 23:29

So for some people, their resting heart rate might be 104 BPM and going down to 90 is a huge improvement. For some people, 90 might be the it's pushing their heart, and coming down to 75 is a really big improvement, you know? So I think it is a case-by-case basis of where you're at and where you're going. It's just like a lot of the things we talk about. We care about trajectory more than we care about the actual metric itself.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

And taking on like little changes in your life and seeing if they make a difference for you. Because if you don't know where you're at in the first place, you're never gonna know what those little habits do in your life. One thing that I find extremely interesting with resting heart rate is caffeine. Like when I drink coffee, if I drink too much coffee, my resting heart rate goes up. You know what else happens when I drink too much coffee? I get anxiety. Yeah, they're all tied together. My heart's beating like crazy and I'm getting anxious. But sometimes we don't realize the things that cause the resting heart rate to rise. The other one, too, is alcohol.

SPEAKER_00 24:30

Oh God, yes. If I drink it, I can't talk about that enough.

SPEAKER_01 24:34

That next day when I wake up, my resting heart and your body's trying to- For no reason, your body's trying to get that booze out of yourself.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

When I was the most dialed in I was at the tail end of my my weight loss journey, I remember like I would try drinking alcohol and I'd wake up the next like when I was at the peak of my fitness, my resting heart rate was like 49.50 BPM. And if I drink, my heart was like 105 all day the next day. I'm like, wow, it's crazy. I'm doing I'm literally doing nothing. My body is just working to get this out of me. Yeah, it's nuts, man. It is crazy what that does to you.

SPEAKER_01 25:13

Yeah, and then you think about metrics like blood pressure, yeah, and then you think about how those two are tied together oftentimes. Like if somebody is an alcoholic, oftentimes they have a high resting heart rate, high blood pressure. The other thing, too, with alcohol, and we've talked about this off camera. A lot of people think that okay, when I drink alcohol, I sleep better. It's a depressant. It's a depressant.

SPEAKER_00 25:32

It feels like you're sleeping better, but you're sleeping like poo-poo.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

Yeah, I mean your heart's beating, your heart's pushing to get those booze out. 100%.

SPEAKER_00 25:38

So the harder your heart has to work while you're sleeping, the less high qual the less quality of sleep you're getting.

SPEAKER_01 25:43

Exactly. Any other non-scale ones that you want to talk about before I close it out?

SPEAKER_00 25:49

Oh, I thought I was gonna I was gonna comment on something. What was it? Um I don't remember.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

Okay. Sweetness. What I'm gonna leave you guys with is kind of our definition of health. And Nick talks about this a lot, but healthy is we believe that the definition of health is your ability to be fully present in any moment. Throughout this episode of the podcast, we've talked about non-scale wins that we believe are good indicators when it comes to success. But know that the way that you dictate success is completely chosen by you and where you want to go with your health and wellness journey. My little actionable item for you all strive to do things that help you be present and allow the scale and the weight to be a side effect of you chasing presence and your definition of health. Thank you all so much for tuning in today. We appreciate you so dang much. If you'd like to leave us likes, reviews, comments, let us know what you want to hear from us. And thank you, thank you, thank you for listening.