Staying with a weight control lifestyle for the long term is a challenge to live up to – for me. There are people who have learned to do this much earlier in life. It so happens I have two challenges, and both are long term: (1) lose 120 pounds and find a weight I like, and (2) find a way to stay at that body weight. I have been doing #1 for a full year now. I am still not done. 246 pounds (my last recorded weight) is about 40 pounds away from my 120 pound weight loss goal. When I started, I weighed about 325 pounds. Luckily #2 has a lot in common with #1. I can still use most of the weight control strategy and mindset. Can I do that for a long time? 5 years? More?
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – banana (50); pretzels (160); hummus (70)
- 280 calories
Lunch – Mama Lucia’s stromboli (600)
- 600 calories
Dinner – 3oz rice (100); 8 ounces New Orleans red beans and andouille (250); guacamole and chips (100)
- 450 calories
Snacking – tea with half and half (80); milk (100); black bread (300); chocolate almonds (75);
- 555 calories
Total for the day: 1885 calories (limit 1800)
Adjusting the plan
My plan today was to have a small breakfast, a big restaurant lunch, and a medium dinner. It didn’t work out quite that way. For one thing, lunch and dinner were delayed past the usual times. I find when I am in a severe calorie deficit, mealtimes should be punctual. My body doesn’t react well to getting too hungry and there is an urge for food security if things are delayed. Food security, for me, means part of me is convinced it is starving and makes a serious effort to eat all the food I can find. It takes serious willpower to hold that back.
A snack is not an ideal solution, but a snack at the right time means at least I don’t go into food security mode. It’s not the best solution because it’s not a full meal and it’s not as satisfying (it’s not what I planned, or am looking forward to), and also I don’t get the rewarding feeling of having my meal with an empty stomach. I have really learned to associate that feeling – satisfying an empty stomach that is just getting really hungry – with reward, satisfaction, even joy and exhilaration. It’s much better than my old way. Then, I was eating because it was mealtime, and eating until I felt full every time. I’ve learned to see that as a poor goal and shallow.
Anyway, tomorrow is a new day when everything can go right. Enough went right today that I didn’t have any problems. That’s kind of a success. Tomorrow will be the last day of this week for my food journal andthe first full week of this year I have kept up the weight control lifestyle. After a few weeks of that, I will belive my head is in the right place at last.
-The Doctor
Congratulations — you’re making steady progress at getting back to the work of being a healthy, weight conscious person. The “vacation” was pretty long, but eventually reality strikes and you have gotten back to your full time food discipline. It’s a tribute to your ability to persevere. And I hope you feel as good as you look!