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Today’s Health Upgrade

• During weight loss, don’t overlook this

• How dogs are like humans

• The mood-boosting method

• Are you influenced by the perception of others?

On Our Radar
The More Weight You Lose, the More Nutrition Matters 

Weight-loss surgery has long carried warnings about vitamin deficiencies. GLP-1s generally haven’t. 

But new data from more than 2 million adults suggests the method might matter less than how much you lose, which determines the gaps in your nutrition. 

Across surgery, GLP-1s, and other weight-loss medications, larger weight loss was linked to more cases of diagnosed vitamin deficiencies.

Researchers found that among people who lost more than 30% of their body weight, vitamin deficiencies were diagnosed in 31% of those who had surgery, 22% of those taking other medications, and 21% of GLP-1 users.

Among people whose weight remained stable, the rate was about 11 to 13%, regardless of how they tried to lose weight. And among GLP-1 users, anemia diagnoses roughly doubled as weight loss increased.

And we can’t just assume bariatric surgery is worse because those patients receive routine bloodwork after the procedure. People taking weight-loss medication usually don’t. Doctors may simply be finding more because they’re looking more often.

But the bigger point is that the more weight people lost, the more likely they were to be diagnosed with a deficiency.

When you eat much less, it becomes easier to fall short on protein, iron, B vitamins, and other nutrients.

If your weight is dropping quickly — whether from surgery, medication, or diet —  this can be very good for your overall health. And you want to make sure solving one problem doesn’t create others. 

This is where it helps to take bloodwork both before and after weight loss, or at least every 6 months.

Together With Sundays For Dogs
Want Your Dog to Live Longer? Start With Their Weight

Pet food companies sell longevity about as aggressively as they sell it to humans, and they offer a hundred different ways. From a nutrition standpoint, the strongest evidence may have more to do with the quantity and quality of the food, and less about anything else.

In a lifelong study, lean dogs lived about 2 years longer than their littermates.

Researchers paired 48 Labradors by litter, sex, and weight. Beginning at 8 weeks old, one dog in each pair received 25% less food than the other. The leaner dogs lived a median of 13 years, compared with 11 years for their littermates. They also developed age-related diseases later, particularly arthritis.

A much larger observational study found a similar outcome. Among more than 50,000 pet dogs across 12 breeds, overweight dogs had shorter lives in every breed studied. The gap ranged from about five months to 2.5 years. That’s an association, not proof, and much of the research in this area comes from scientists working for pet-food companies. Still, the consistency is hard to ignore.

Keeping a dog lean starts with how much the dog eats. But just like humans, many variables influence hunger, fullness, and caloric consumption.

In a trial of obese dogs following a weight-loss plan, those eating high-protein, high-fiber food lost more weight and body fat than dogs eating high-protein, medium-fiber food with the same calorie density.

Portion size may matter even more. Check the calories per cup because two foods can differ substantially, and measuring cups are surprisingly unreliable. In one study, owners’ portions ranged from 18% below the target to 80% above it. 

Treats and table scraps count toward the total. Veterinary nutrition guidelines recommend keeping extras to no more than 10% of daily calories. 

The hardest part may be seeing the problem. Roughly half of adult dogs in the U.S. are overweight, and about 8 in 10 owners of overweight dogs misjudge their dog’s size. Ask your vet for a body condition score and have them show you how to check the ribs and waist at home.

The goal for your pup is simple. The execution is where people slip. The scoop changes from bag to bag, the portion gets eyeballed, and the treats land on top, uncounted.

We looked for a food that makes it easier for your dog to stay healthy, tested a variety of brands with dog owners, and Sundays for Dogs won. 

When you sign up, Sundays uses your dog's details to calculate exactly how much to serve each day. You're pouring a number, not a hunch.

And because Sundays come in jerky-style pieces dogs think are treats, you can pull rewards straight out of the day's portion. Treats stop being extra calories.

The food itself is human-grade meat, fruits, and vegetables, vet-founded and gently air-dried in the U.S. No fillers, no meat meals, no synthetic additives. No fridge or thawing either. Scoop and serve. 

For older or less active dogs that need nutrition to support healthy joints, the Fish Recipe is 80% whole and minced fish, packed with omega-3s.

Pump Club readers get 50% off their first order with code PUMPCLUB.

Mental Health
The 8-Week Mood-Boosting Plan 

When a low mood has lingered for weeks, "get help" can feel like one more thing you don't know how to do. A useful first step may be working on other aspects of your health.

Researchers gave adults with moderate depressive symptoms an 8-week, self-guided program focused on movement, food, sleep, and stress. One group used an app, another got booklets, and a third group waited.

The scientists found that taking action to improve your physical health helps lead to better mental health. 

Each week, participants spent about an hour on a short lesson covering one area of self-improvement. Then they worked toward a weekly goal that built on the week before, plus a specific goal of their own. 

They tried small daily challenges, like a step goal, logged what they did, and answered a few questions about how the changes were going. A researcher checked in by phone at the start and sent two encouraging texts a week.

Both program groups improved more than the waitlist group. After two months, their scores on a standard depression questionnaire had dropped roughly 3 to 4 points more than the waitlist group. 

The study can't pin down which part was most effective because the program was tested as a package, so there's no way to know whether the movement, the goals, the tracking, or the combination made the difference. 

What we do know is that people in both program groups reported healthier habits than the waitlist, alongside their better mood. 

Most interesting was that participants didn’t need to be perfect to see real changes in their mood. 

App users finished only a little more than half the lessons on average, and just one completed all of them.

We can’t draw too many conclusions because it was a small study, the comparison group received no intervention, and participants were mostly women in their early 30s. And it doesn't tell us how the program compares with therapy or other professional care. 

Still, the results fit with a much larger analysis of 92 trials involving nearly 17,000 people. Self-guided mental health programs, most based on cognitive behavioral therapy, reduced depressive symptoms, and books and booklets held up about as well as apps. Other research has found that better sleep and regular movement can improve mood on their own.

It’s important to remember that learning and doing are not the same. 

Reading about healthier habits only goes so far. Some research suggests the benefits show up mainly when people actually change their habits.

Here's how to borrow the program's structure if you want to help shift your mood:

• Add one area at a time. Start with movement, where a daily walk counts. Then layer in food, sleep, and stress over the following weeks.

• Write down one small, specific goal. "Walk for 20 minutes after lunch four days this week" gives you something clear to do.

• Track it. Put a check mark in a notebook each day you follow through.

• Review it once a week. What worked? What got in the way? Adjust next week's goal to match.

• Tell someone what you're doing. Programs that began with a real conversation tended to work better, and even this self-guided program started with a phone call and included regular check-ins. That conversation could be with a friend, partner, doctor, or therapist.

• Stay with it for at least eight weeks, then keep going. Missed days are normal, so don't start over. Just pick back up. Benefits can fade over time when the habits don't stick.

This can be a manageable first step or part of professional treatment. If your mood isn't improving, is getting worse, or is interfering with work or relationships, talk with a doctor or mental health professional. 

Better Questions, Better Solutions
Are You Internally Driven Or Influenced By The Perception Of Others?

Fear of judgment has an easy way of disguising itself as practical thinking. 

Your brain tells you, “The timing is bad,” “The cost is too high,” or some other seemingly logical reason. And to be fair, sometimes those reasons are valid. 

Other times, though, the real reason you don’t act is the reaction you imagine someone else might have.

Old Question: What will other people think about me?
Better Question: What would I go after if I knew almost no one was paying attention or had any opinions about what I do?

The old question gives an imaginary audience control over the decision. It keeps an opinion out of the meeting and makes you hide parts of yourself anywhere they might draw attention.

The better question gives you enough room to consider what you want without first running it through everyone else’s approval.

The people you’re worried about usually pay less attention and judge less harshly than you imagine. And more importantly, they don’t know the right actions, behaviors, or risks for you.

Researchers tested this across four studies. Some participants failed a test in front of observers. Others imagined committing an embarrassing social blunder. Both groups expected harsher judgment than they received.

The mismatch comes down to focus. 

When you stumble, it takes over your field of view. Everyone else sees it alongside everything else happening around them. They notice that the test was hard or that anyone could have slipped. Or they don’t notice it at all or have no reaction. Because they have other stuff going on. And if they do notice, their attention quickly returns to their own lives.

The higher cost comes from all the decisions made to avoid a reaction that may never happen. Each time the imagined audience chooses for you, it becomes easier to hand over the next choice.

Living your life by others' alleged judgments keeps you in unnecessary, perpetual persecution. But you’re not living your life on trial. Your job is to live. 

Pick one thing you’ve been holding back because of how it might look. Write down the person whose reaction you’re dreading and the exact sentence you’re afraid they’ll think. Then estimate how many minutes of their week that thought would occupy.

Before next week arrives, do the smallest public version of the thing. Don’t wait. It can be something like sharing that one idea in a meeting you’ve been holding back. 

Then, pay attention to what happens. Odds are, barely anyone notices, and you walk out with evidence you can use next time.

Then, write down what happened. The next time this fear shows up, you’ll have evidence — and a reminder — that will help you take more bold, authentic actions without the internal judgment. 

The Positive Corner of The Internet
About Arnold’s Pump Club Editorial Standards

We do things a bit differently here, starting with transparency.

1. The Content: All APC emails are researched, written, and fact-checked by the APC editors (see bottom of the email), with written contributions from Arnold (noted with “Arnold’s Corner”). Links take you to original studies (not second-hand sources).

2. Does AI play a role? Not for the primary content, but it is used in two ways. The main items are original content written by the APC team. The summaries at the end are AI-generated based on the human-written content above. We also use an AI tool to edit and review our interpretations of the research, ensuring scientific accuracy. We don’t assume AI is right, but we use technology to hold ourselves accountable.

3. Yes, we have partners (all clearly noted by “Together With”). Why? Because it allows us to keep the APC emails free. We first test products, and then reach out to potential partners who offer ways to help you improve every day. The bar is set high, and to date, we have turned down millions in ad deals. (Example: we will not partner with any non-certified supplements or those without evidence in human trials). If we won’t buy the product, we won’t recommend it to you. And if there’s no evidence it works, then there’s no place for it here.

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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger​

Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell