It’s important to understand how people stay thin. You aren’t different from other people. If you do what the thin people do, you will stay thin, too. My experience is that people who stay thin are very interested, or somewhat obsessed about it. That’s not a bad thing. While I was gaining weight, I was definitely not obsessed with staying thin. I wasn’t thinking about it at all very much. Now I could fairly describe myself as very interested or even a bit obsessed about it. And I am losing weight. If I stopped being interested, stopped paying attention, I would go back to gaining weight. That’s true for everybody else, too. The naturally thin person, who can carelessly eat without gaining weight, is a myth.
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – 2 x BLT wraps (200); extra bacon slice (70)
- 470 calories
Lunch – “Ninja” Taiwanese style fried chicken (200); Duck Donut (250)
- 450 calories
Dinner – 2 x bratwurst wraps (300); Partial slice of Spanish tortilla (100); Bread (100)
- 800 calories
Snacking – pretzels (80)
- 80 calories
Total for the day: 1800 calories (limit 1800)
Quickie
I am very interested in eating food as a sensual, pleasurable experience. That’s why my BLT wraps are so good. But how does a lover of food stay thin? Julia Child had an answer. She was quoted as saying “a little of everything, but no seconds.” She had a system for regulating her food intake! There’s also a New England food saying, “if you get up from the table with an appetite, you shall never sit down without one.” Now I take that with a grain or spoon of salt, since New Englanders of that period were famously against using food as a sensual experience. But there’s no doubt that it places the focus on being hungry, where it should be. Julia Child’s advice suggests that you have to enjoy what you have because you don’t get any more. It’s the same – don’t get full.
Almost everyone wants to be full when they eat. But they are usually wrong. Don’t get full, that’s how you gain weight. There’s also a sensual reason for not getting full. If you are ravenously hungry when you sit down, your food will taste better. You will really be concentrating on it. And if you make the sacrifice – if you give up a future where you are comfortably full – you must reward yourself. You can reward yourself with a measured amount of really tasty food that you are looking forward to. In essence, you will eat your best food at the peak of your ability to enjoy it. And you are controlling your weight as you do it.
Isn’t that a wonderful way to live? It’s working for me. It could work for you.
-The Doctor