Welcome to my daily report! It’s a new day in my new life. And I have committed to keep a food journal for the rest of my new life. Hear me out. Everybody who stays thin has a system for keeping their weight under control. Not everybody keeps a food log, there are other systems people use. But I am keeping a food log. The logic is simple. I am trying to lose 120 pounds. I am not going to go to all that trouble and gain it all back again. I have transformed myself into a person who can control his weight. I keep the food log. And I will also weigh myself every week for the rest of my life. These parts are essential for weight control.
On the positive side, I will lose 120 pounds and be in control of my weight. Also on the positive side, I can eat from an unlimited menu of exciting and delicious food. I have lost 51 pounds so far eating like this.
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – 100 grams Ukrainian Paska bread and butter (450)
- 450 calories
Lunch – steak and cheese sandwich (500)
- 500 calories
Dinner – Moroccan lamb ragout and rice (350)
- 350 calories
Snacking – tea with half and half (80); chicken wraps (250); pretzels (100)
- 430 calories
Total for the day: 1730 calories (limit 1800)
Rediscovering my eating goal
Astute readers will notice that today was a Wednesday, but I didn’t get a gyro sandwich. The Doctor was too far away from the Big Greek Cafe for that today. So I got this cheesesteak from a lunch counter. It’s pretty good! I made sure I was hungry for it, so it was as good as possible.
Food just tastes better when you are hungry for it. That’s the knowledge that led me to my greatest insight – my food goal was all wrong for weight loss. I was eating with the goal of feeling full. But how can you lose weight if your enthusiastic goal is to be completely full? By dieting (eating less), you are working against yourself. You have to use a lot of willpower to keep from filling yourself at every moment. It feels wrong, not being full! So unsatisfying.
My new food goal is to be hungry in time for each meal. Success is to eat just enough so that I am hungry for the next meal. Today was a partial success. I woke up hungry, had my delicious home baked bread for breakfast, then didn’t eat again until 12.30 when I was hungry. But at 3PM, I got hungry and had some chicken. And then some more. With hummus. I stayed in my calorie limits today, but dinner felt unsatisfying, because I wasn’t hungry for it. I have to learn to treat hunger symptoms with something more filling, or at least something in a package of 100 calories or so, like beef jerky. It’s so easy to overdo it and then ruin my appetite.
I am accumulating so much self knowledge on this diet! By the time I am done losing this weight, I will be an expert on my own eating needs and behaviors. Keeping the weight off might be less of a challenge.
-The Doctor