My transformation into a person who was capable of losing weight, and more deeply capable of controlling his body’s weight, included the adoption of two patterns of behavior that I intend to follow as long as I am alive. (1) Regulate your food intake. (2) Weigh yourself every week. To include these commandments or directives in my life, I had to become a new person who valued weight control. It had to become part of my vision of the good that I am pursuing in my life. I sacrificed my old self and in the process am becoming a new one. The old person couldn’t lose weight. He tried and tried. This new person that I am becoming sure can lose weight. In a way, I decided to accept certain limitations of my body which I think apply to almost everyone.
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – 2 x BLT wraps (200); half piece extra bacon (35)
- 435 calories
Lunch – 2 x meatball and hummus wraps (250)
- 500 calories
Dinner – 3 x pizza slices (100); chips (160); 2 x Jaffa cakes (50); 11 Kirkland chocolate almonds (160)
- 720 calories
Snacking – tea with half and half (120); pancake pieces (50)
- 170 calories
Total for the day: 1825 calories (limit 1800)
Changes to the body followed changes to the mind
I have written extensively about the mental changes needed to become a thin person, and stay that way. Regrettably, I have come to accept that everybody must practice some form of food control and weight control throughout their lives, or they will become more and more overweight. Everyone you see who is thin, makes an effort to be that way and stay that way. Speaking to such people, I have noticed they are obsessed with their weight. Speak to someone who is overweight, and you will find they pay much less attention to their weight and do not have the same priorities in their lives.
A simple experiment. Find a friend who has stayed thin and ask them some questions. You will find out that they know exactly how much they weigh from a recent weighing. They will know how many calories they can eat, or have some other system of measuring their food intake. Watch them around food and you will see they are very careful, and may use social cues to see how much to eat.
My conclusion is that if you don’t pay attention to your weight and your food intake, you will get more and more overweight throughout your life. Many people impressively are able to lower their weight through dieting. The Doctor salutes these people, who have more willpower than he does. The problem is that people reach their immediate weight goal, then stop dieting and go back to their old habits. Overweight becomes a problem again in a few months or years. It is better, then, to invent a new life for yourself and sacrifice the old one. In the new life, you will accept that your body has this limitation: it will gain weight unless you regulate your intake and monitor your weight all the time.
It is probably unwise to see that limit as a burden. Wrap it into your new life. Having to carefully choose what to eat and who to be, given that limit, opens up possibilities and allows you to set a positive path in your life. What is the good you are aiming for? How would being in control of your weight help you achieve it? That is what I am thinking about too.
-The Doctor