When you decide to take control of your body’s weight, you have a mental change to make – even more than the physical one. I call it “thinking like a thin person” and it is a little different than the usual diet advice. Normally you are told to ACT like a thin person. For example I often see the advice that you should take half of your lunch and put it away for dinner or another meal. That could be a sensible thing to do, but WHY are you doing that? I never see a thin person doing that, either. Usually they throw away what they don’t eat (say at a restaurant). Thin people also don’t usually order diet soda. Watch them and learn how to think about food and eating. WHAT to do will then come natural.
When I got on the scale this morning I was 217.4 and after I went for a walk and did a little yard work it was 216.4 So I will split the difference and say 217 even. Since starting my weight control lifestyle in January 2019 I have lost:
TrY EaTIng LeSS fOOD!!!!
Controlling your weight amounts to eating less food, yes. But that is the least important part and the least helpful way to look at the issue. But hey – did I say eating less food was the Least Important Part? Doctor, are you MAD??
Mad like a fox who has lost 108 pounds. (That was a mighty big fox.) The most important thing to change is your mind. Change your mind. There’s a saying: some people would rather die than think. Don’t be those people. Thinking as you have and living as you have has resulted in weight gain and overweight. You can’t do those things any more. The decision has to be made: I am going to control my body and its weight. That means I have to give up or sacrifice something. I will give up my old values, life, and habits that resulted in overweight. I need new values and a new way of thinking about food and eating.
Why is eating less food not a helpful way to look at controlling your weight? Isn’t that the reality?
We don’t live in reality and our brains aren’t about reality. You are an actor on the stage and the stage is the world and the play is your life. “Eat less food” is commonly used to mean “have some willpower,” like that is the difference between thin and overweight people. Do you think that is true? It isn’t. I don’t have any more willpower after 108 pounds lost than I did when I weighed 108 pounds more.
If you try to force yourself to eat less, you might succeed for a while. Maybe you have more willpower than you think you do. But the old you is still in there and has the same values, priorities, and habits. When you stop dieting (usually when you run out of willpower) then the old you will step right back in and you will gain all the weight again. Who wants that?
Change your mind instead. Then the new you can be a person who is in control of their weight and thinks like a thin person.
-The Doctor