The commitment I made to control my body’s weight has two parts. 1. I regulate my food intake, and 2. I weigh myself regularly. That’s a lot of regularity! Food intake is regulated first through keeping a food journal where I write down everything I eat. It is also controlled by learning how to eat less and enjoy it more. Some people are able to do this through willpower. I don’t have it, not for long. The reason I am able to keep doing this is because I changed myself, and how I see the world. I concsiously decided that being in control of my weight should be and was more important to me than almost anything else. I moved weight control from #96 on my list of values to #2 or #3. Almost nothing gets in the way of my weight control lifestyle. That was a choice. Thinking through that consequences and living them out make up this blog.
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – ham (90) cheese (100); and bread (160) toasted sandwich (with pickles and mustard).
- 350 calories
Lunch – 6x pizza slices (100); rice (160)
- 760 calories
Dinner – 2x bratwurst (280); wheat wrap piece (55)
- 615 calories
Snacking – tea with half and half (80)
- 80 calories
Total for the day: 1795 calories (limit 1800 + 500 bonus from swimming, total 2300)
Rainmaking
Tomorrow is a weighing day, and I don’t want to overeat. So, I made sure dinner was extra-satisfying – freshly grilled bratwurst wraps. Today was a good day for food and exercise. (I missed posting yesterday – it got late. I may go back and fill in the food journal entry, though.) Tomorrow I will weigh myself. Then it’s a new week! A new week where I can live out my new values and new weight control lifestyle. I have plans, but we shall see.
I was talking about this article Wednesday. It has some interesting ideas and is called “20 habits skinny people live by”. I am very interested in what separates thin people from overweight people. I am and have been an overweight person, and want to be able to be a thin one – as thin as I want, through weight control.
My current hypothesis is that weight is 90% behavior and how you see the world, and 10% genetics you are stuck with. I have noticed that thin people tend to be very conscious of their body’s weight, and how much they are eating and have eaten during any day. They keep track of both. But thin people see the world differently. My #1 rule is that thin people are devoted to and obsessed with staying thin. It is a conscious desire that they work hard on. I don’t believe any overweight person’s claim that some people are naturally thin. You’re fooling nobody but yourself. Thin people who stay thin throughout their lives know the reality – the price – of their choice.
The article has 20 rules, some of them summarized here in my words:
- Don’t eat late (after 8PM)
- Weigh yourself daily
- Eat a boring diet. Quote: “We’re not suggesting you choose one meal and eat it every day for the rest of your life…” but yes, that is what they are suggesting!
- Reward yourself every day
- Make it a hobby – read articles about weight loss and nutrition, find friends who will talk with you about it and who are interested.
- Don’t let yourself get hungry – eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and add snacks as required.
- Eliminate extra calories. (For example, eat the hamburger, not the bun and french fries. Drink water, not beer.)
- Find satisfying foods.
- Take enough sleep. (If your life is out of control, it is hard to get your weight under control. And sleepy people are stressed and make impulsive decisions. Sleepy people also tempted to eat more, at least, I am.)
That’s enough for tonight! I’m not sure where to begin. I am really excited because many of these first 9 ideas have also occurred to me and I have written about them on this blog! It’s excellent that I have been able to figure out the thin person’s mindset.
Rule #3 is really interesting. Remember my grandfather’s diet? He really did eat the same thing every day – the same breakfast every day, the same lunch, and the same dinner. It’s amazing that it is a conscious strategy of thin people. Maybe my grandfather wasn’t that unusual? There is also advice in the article to make sure you don’t get hungry without a meal planned. If I get hungry and have to browse around for something to eat, I have noticed I am much more likely to feel like I need to eat more. If I have lunch all planned, cooked, portioned, or otherwise ready, and am looking forward to it, then I stay under control when I get hungry for it.
Don’t these rules look like what I have been telling you?
-The Doctor
I find that being tired is a huge enemy!