I am a person who has been able to lose 49 pounds, at last count. I didn’t used to be that person. The man I used to be ate his way to 325 pounds, with no end in sight. That man didn’t value being thin very highly, and didn’t value weight control hardly at all. Looking back, this is an important reason why my attempts at dieting failed. For that person, losing weight was a temporary condition dependent on willpower. I clearly don’t have the kind of willpower needed to diet. I have never successfully dieted before. As for dieting unsuccessfully, I am something of an expert.
Now, I am a different person. I have been remade, and weight control is near the top of my list of values. I have given up on low quality reasons for eating food, and am enjoying my life more than ever before.
My daily food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – 2 x BLT wraps (200)
- 400 calories
Lunch – 2 x bratwurst wraps (290)
- 580 calories
Dinner – Homemade vegetable curry and rice (450)
- 450 calories
Snacking – tea with half and half (80); pretzels (120); Nestle Li’l Drums chocolate ice cream cone (120)
- 320 calories
Total for the day: 1750 calories (limit 1800)
How the same food can be high and low quality
I have been hitting hard the theme of weight control and its two parts: (1) monitor your weight and (2) regulate your food intake. But if it were only so easy, everyone would be in control of their weight.
Above, I mentioned the idea that I was living a better life now, while controlling my weight; than before, when I was eating whatever I felt like. That’s partly because my food goals went from low quality to high quality. There’s more fulfillment and satisfaction from a high quality experience, at least if you are starting from a low enough place. My previous goal when eating was to eat until completely full, even stuffed full. I convinced myself over many years that being full was an important goal. I looked forward to it, planned for it. Losing weight was a real deprivation, since being full was my only souce of satisfaction.
After much consideration, I decided the goal was wrong. My eating goal now is to be hungry just in time for my next meal – seriously hungry. That means I can’t overeat at any meal, or else I have two problems. First problem, I won’t be truly hungry for my next meal. Second, the food just won’t taste as rewarding. Food tastes more appealing and is a more rewarding experience if you are hungry for it. That’s why I am enjoying life more now – I get more sensual satisfaction from eating than I did before, even though I am in calorie deficit!
The food I eat now is the same as when I was gaining weight, but I look at it differently now. Now, my goal is to be really hungry for it and I reward myself with that food – but not too much of it. That’s why I can eat two of the sausages above and still be appropriately hungry at dinner time. If I eat all five, I won’t be truly hungry later. An interesting effect of this change I have made to my thinking is that now being full feels a little distasteful now. That helps keep me on the weight control plan, and is a benefit I hadn’t planned on when I started this. Hooray!
-The Doctor