The goal is to be in control of my body’s weight. So, every day, I write down exactly what I eat and how much. Writing it all down is important, but I refuse to do it using an app or smart watch. I use a spreadsheet I created myself. It suits me.
How do I manage to keep writing it all down? I didn’t write much down for the first 40-odd years of my life, after all. What changed?
I changed my mind. I realized that the mindset I was using to experience the world resulted in uncontrolled weight gain. I was eating for the wrong reasons. I associated being full with comfort and happiness. If I tried to diet, I was essentially withholding comfort and happiness from myself! Who would want that? I had to change my mind. Comfort and happiness could come from positive achievements, accomplishment, a difficult job well done.
Now, I treat food as a reward for achieving, not as a source of happiness.
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – Cauliflower and potato curry (75); 4x Jaffa cakes (50); Canadian bacon (40);
- 315 calories
Lunch – Pork tenderloin (130); sauerkraut (80); and whole wheat wrap (90)
- 300 calories
Dinner – pizza (800);
- 800 calories
Snacking – tea with half and half (80); M&Ms (70);
- 150 calories
Total for the day: 1565 calories (limit 1700)
It has been working
Controlling my body’s weight has been going reasonably well. It’s not 100% consistent, because I make mistakes, backslide, and fall back into my old habits from time to time. I can’t say I haven’t gained any weight during the last two years. But changing your mind is highly recommended.
If you don’t change your mind, but manage to lose some weight, you are in danger of gaining it back. Underneath, you are still the same person who became out of control and gained weigh you didn’t want. You can force yourself to behave – to follow a temporary diet. But you can only force yourself for so long. Your old self, your old thinking will re-emerge. I believe that is why so many people experience cycles of weight gain and loss.
Change your mind. Change your thinking. Change yourself – if you change what is important to you, change what you value, then when you live out your beliefs your behavior will change as well. If your new values are rewarding and useful then you will thrive.
Losing all your extra weight isn’t difficult in terms of willpower. I have lost a lot of weight – and kept it off pretty well, just by changing my mind. I changed what was important to me. Suddenly, I could understand why thin people acted the way they did. Their behavior was not a mystery any more, because now I understood their thinking. I understood their motivations. I changed myself into a person who weighs 216 pounds, last I checked. I changed myself into a person who can wear size 40 pants – down from size 52.
Don’t do as I say, or as I do. Change your thinking, then you will find a way to do it yourself. Then you can build the life you want to lead.
-The Doctor