Pay attention. Pay attention if you want to be in control of your body’s weight. Fine, on one level you pay attention to how much you are eating. But that is not the point. Pay attention to yourself, find out about yourself and you will learn how to get the right behavior out of yourself. You must get your mind right.
Do you want to control your weight? Pay attention to why you are eating. If your weight is out of control, you will know from the following simple test. How much do you weigh? If your answer includes the word “about” or “um” and you don’t really know, then you are not paying attention.
Can you say what you had for dinner last Tuesday? What about lunch last Monday?
Why are you eating? What does it do for you? How does it make you feel?
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – bagel (330); cheese (70); salami (100);
- 500 calories
Lunch – ham (200); bread (140); pretzels (100); cheese (100);
- 540 calories
Dinner – chili (200); gobi aloo (125); gazpacho (30); Reese’s PBC (100);
- 455 calories
Snacking – cookies (120);
- 120 calories
Total for the day: 1615 calories (limit 1700)
When I was out of control
I remember those days. I ate whenever I wanted, however much, without thinking about consequences at all. Of course, I did get up to 325 pounds that way. Not all at once. It seemed to go in stages with long plateaus. I was only 230 pounds when I started graduate school, but near 300 pounds 10 years later. My primary interest in eating was to feel full, which I learned to associate with comfort. Soon I was in a trap – eating and feeling full became my quickest and easiest ways to find satisfaction and comfort.
I don’t look for the easy way in my life so much any more. It’s much more of a challenge, much more rewarding, to readjust my thinking and aim for higher goals. Satisfaction comes from other things in my life that I work hard for and accomplish. Eating food is not an accomplishment and I have gotten away from that thinking.
Now I pay attention to my physical needs and I have learned to use hunger as a good sign. Hunger means I haven’t been overeating and it means I will really enjoy what I eat next. The anticipation is dramatic and the food is much more satisfying then when I would eat it all. I pay attention to why I am eating. If I want to eat, I ask why. If it’s not mealtime I have to have a good reason, otherwise: is this hungry eating or emotional eating?
I don’t like to give in to emotional reasons for eating food any more. But it takes some paying attention. It’s much more important than paying attention to how much you eat. If you have your mind right and are eating only for physical reasons of hunger, you will stop eating and be satisfied more easily with less food. You won’t feel deprived and it will be easy to stop eating when you have had enough.
Paying attention is very close to getting your mind right. You have to pay attention to the right things.
-The Doctor