Economist Writing Every Day

One of today’s best econbloggers, Matt Yglesias, just wrote “What I learned losing 70 pounds: Medical interventions work, among other things”

This is not about lemon juice or cutting out dessert. Matt wrote about getting surgery that he paid for out of pocket. No one wants to talk about medical stuff publicly. No one wants to admit that they have a hard time doing obvious correct things like eating less and exercising. Matt did this to help people. He’s inspired me to share something about health, too.

Around the time my second child was 6 months old, I decided it would be nice to get back into some kind of “shape.” So, it was time to head out the door and try to run around the block. Ouch. My knee was wrong.

To keep this short, so I’ll just say that I already knew what a doctor would tell me to do. I knew that I should do targeted exercises to strengthen the muscles around the knee. There are very boring ways to do that, such as counting reps by yourself in a quiet room.

Likewise, Matt Y knew that he could lose weight by simply eating less. It’s easier said than done. Matt took advantage of money and new technology to get results. In a less extreme way, so did I. Instead of doing “physical therapy,” I joined a friend’s Pilates studio. I paid someone to talk to me and count my reps and play music. I paid for accountability. It worked.

There is even better news. If you have Youtube access, you can get almost the full benefit of Pilates classes for free by following along with videos. Or, you can pay a little bit for even better videos with no ads. This is just one way that economic growth and technological innovation have made our lives much better.

A lot of our readers are men. You might think this only applies to women in yoga pants. Not so.

There is a certain stigma surrounding Pilates due to its vast popularity amongst women owing to its numerous health benefits and its versatility (suitable to all age groups and ability levels). However, Pilates was actually developed by a man named Joseph Pilates to help rehabilitate injured soldiers imprisoned during World War 1.

https://www.thephysiocompany.com/blog/2020/6/8/10-reasons-men-should-do-pilates-too

Soldiers! World Wars! Dude stuff!