If you watch people who are thin, you will learn from them how they do it. People who stay thin pay a lot of attention to their weight. (Some will tell you that they don’t pay attention, but I think they are a bit embarrassed about it. Who wants to admit they are obsessed with their weight?) Compared to those of us who have lost control of our weight, thin people pay a lot of attention. So, pay attention to your weight. It is the price of keeping thin. It’s like keeping your checkbook balanced. Ignore it for a while and you will get in trouble.
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – 100 grams Ukrainian Paska bread and butter (450); banana (100)
- 550 calories
Lunch – Moroccan lamb ragout with hard boiled egg and rice (450)
- 450 calories
Dinner – Homemade Sesame chicken (450); green beans with butter (50)
- 500 calories
Snacking – tea with half and half (80); 1.25 ounce of Sarris peanut butter meltaway egg (110)
- 190 calories
Total for the day: 1690 calories
Anticipation
I have often said my food goal is to be hungry and anticipate the delicious food I have planned for the next meal. That way I have an incentive to not eat between meals, and I find my body and mind are willing to eat less food at each meal. It works, but there is a price. Part of the price is that I find a lot of foods are not worth waiting for. My mind and body are fine with getting hungry and then getting something delicious as a reward. Nobody wants to get hungry and then be rewarded with salad (the ordinary kind), or some chips, or unappealing leftovers from last week. Food can be fuel, but I am getting some extra work out of it.
This week I have been concentrating on my food goal – I should be hungry for each meal! Really hungry. If you think about it, when most people say they are hungry they are saying they are not full. Have you ever said, “I could eat something.”? That’s proof that most of us have being full as our food goal. Consider – the only time most of us would refuse food is if we are already completely full. Our food goal has been met! Otherwise, we could eat, and we do. Result: calorie overload.
If hunger is the goal, that is all turned upside down. Such a hunger-focused person would refuse food unless they were empty and their stomach calling LOUDLY for food. You might even recognize hunger in yourself as something to avoid. But it works as a goal. You don’t want to be hungry and unsatisfied between meals. You want hunger at the right time. The side benefit is that your food tastes really wonderful and exciting when you embrace hunger for it! Make sure it is something worthwhile.
-The Doctor