Rewards make my world go around. The diet advice is “Don’t Make Food a Reward.” Fiddlesticks. I have transformed how I think about food. With that change, it is actually helpful and constructive to my weight control strategy to use food as a reward. I can bribe myself to eat less. And then reward myself with really exciting food for eating less.
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – Pork carnitas on a half tortilla (200); one piece of cold Pizzeria Uno thin crust pizza (170)
- 370 calories
Lunch – 6 slices of pizza (100)
- 600 calories
Dinner – Grilled prime rib burger on a half wrap with tomatoes, pickles, and lettuce (405); Grilled Italian sausage link (220)
- 625 calories
Snacking – tea with half and half (80); pretzels (125)
- 205 calories
Total for the day: 1800 calories (limit 1800 + 500 bonus from swimming, total 2300)
The magic transformation is hunger, not fullness
At the center of my mental transformation is switching the goal of eating. Most of us eat to be full. We associate being full with comfort and satisfaction. That can be unhealthy and you can get into a place where you are eating and getting full, just for the comfort and satisfaction. That’s not a good place.
When your goal is to be full, you can also fall into a trap of overeating at every meal. If you do that, you will become overweight. For such a mental state, you can understand why the advice is “Don’t Use Food as a Reward.” You already are, in the sense that you are eating for emotional reasons to produce good feelings.
My goal is to be hungry. Not all the time! Nobody wants to live like that. But I want to be hungry when I take my first bite. And I want to feel satisfied after the meal and between meals. (If you pay attention, you will agree that the first serving, if at all adequate, is the most satisfying to a hungry person. Everything you eat after that is just you trying to be full.) So, focus on your hunger. Hunger is your friend. If you are hungry at mealtimes, you are doing it right.
At this time, I am pretty significantly in calorie deficit every day. To convince myself to do that, I put all my willpower into making myself happy about the food I am allowing myself. If has to be fantastic. Then my mind and body are willing to make the trade and eat less. That has made my taste more refined, and I am more aware of what I really want. So, I have improved my life this way – I am dedicated to making myself happy, I have refined my senses, and adopted a higher eating goal. It’s worked so far.
Tonight, I was peckish after 10PM. That’s unusual, and I had a few pretzels and some cherries. I was swimming today, maybe that had something to do with my attack of the munchies. One has to be careful how much to eat in this situation – I want to be hungry for breakfast, after all.
-The Doctor