You’ve got a weight-loss goal. You’ve got a plan for making that goal happen. And you’ve got a scale in the corner of your bathroom to keep tabs on your progress along the way. So you’re good to go, right? Not so fast: Just because you step on a scale periodically doesn’t necessarily mean you're using it in a productive way. You can't exactly hop on whenever the mood strikes and expect to gain meaningful information from it.

The only real way to know if running will help you lose weight is to try it, says Charlie Seltzer, MD, a weight loss physician and exercise physiologist based in Philadelphia, PA. “Some people can do mini-sprints for 10 minutes three times a week and get some weight loss. But you also see people who train for Ironman triathlons who don’t lose any weight, even though they’re running 50 miles a week.”

You likely know the bright yellow-orange spice from your fave Indian dishes (think: curry and chicken tikka masala) or picture-perfect golden milk lattes on Insta. But turmeric—which has been a staple of Southeast Asian cuisines and traditional Chinese and Ajurvedic medicine for centuries—also seems to be the latest star of the wellness world. Proponents preach that it can help with everything from pain relief and weight loss to immune health and mood.

Truth: We’re all guilty of sneaking a peek at our tracker a few too many times a day in hopes hitting those coveted 10,000 steps. But will those paces actually take down the number on the scale?