Every day is a new day at the Doctor of Things. It’s a new day for things to go right, but it is also a new day for things to go wrong. If you want things to go right with your weight control lifestyle, you can make it easier on yourself. I like to make food ahead, and even plan out my meals for the week ahead of time. It’s what the weekend is for! It does take some time to do that. But in exchange, there is no having to roam around looking for things to eat at critical moments!
When you are in calorie deficit, the last thing you want is having to put off a meal just because you don’t know what to pick. Then there’s a lot of pressure to just start grazing on many things. It’s also hard to keep track if you are just grabbing and eating whatever comes to hand. Make it easy on yourself.
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – steel cut oats (230)
- 230 calories
Lunch – Big Greek Cafe Famous $5 Gyro Wednesdays!!!!! (600)
- 600 calories
Dinner – 3.5oz meatloaf (310); whole wheat wrap (110); potatoes and carrots (90); small peanut butter and jelly bread (90)
- 600 calories
Snacking – tea with half and half (80); kitkat (70); cookie (95); pretzels (150); chocolate almonds (150)
- 545 calories
Total for the day: 1975 calories (limit 1850)
They all work
My position is that losing weight is a mental rather than a physical challenge. That is, the method you choose for losing weight almost doesn’t matter to your body. People are losing weight by avoiding fat, avoiding meat, avoiding sugar, or limiting calories generally. My father has lost a good amount of weight by avoiding fat in his diet. I have lost 80+ pounds by restricting general calories (though I am definitely cutting carbohydrates more than anything else).
Look at the top diets listed in the US News and World Report:
- Weight Watchers
- Vegan
- Volumetrics
- Flexitarian
- Jenny Craig
- Ornish
- Engine 2
- Mayo Clinic
- Raw Food
- Dash
I don’t even know what most of those diets are. And most people in the US probably don’t either. You know what I don’t see on this list, though, are high fat diets like Keto, Atkins, and other low carbohydrate types. Apparently US News and World Report ranks the diets by how well they fit to a subjective standard of how nutritionally balanced and healthy they seem to their staff writer.
That’s nonsense, of course. Mark Twain said over 100 years ago that all diets are healthy. There is little evidence of any particular diet program increasing most people’s lifespan. But on Reddit and other weight forums I have noticed most people are losing weight quickest using variations on the Keto diet. I am biased towards effectiveness in losing weight, though.
My father is fond of saying that if there are multiple treatments for some condition, none of them work. But in this case, I think all of them work equally well as vehicles for a person who is disciplined and psychologically prepared to lose weight. These plans all give a framework to that discipline.
Pick any one! But prepare your thinking carefully.
-The Doctor
I’m happy to see that you’re back on track — both for your own health and because when you’re counting calories, you inspire me to do likewise….. AND IT AIN’T EASY! The hardest part for me is getting started so thank you for giving me AKITA as my dad used to call it.
For they all work – yes and maybe no. To your beginning of the year statement, it is not the journey of 60, 80 or 120 pounds. It is a lifelong effort at achieving and maintaining a healthy weight to maximize both your life span, and hopefully the quality of life you enjoy during that life span. Many of those diets likely do help reduce weight. But, most of them have not proven sustainable. Sure, you have some people that keep it going – but we are shooting at averages. We have times we will focus, and times we do not. Some diets are sustainable out of fear – DASH comes to mind. Some out of desperation. One that never seems to get a mention – and weirds me out – but I need to evaluate is vegetarian. At least partial. For many people who move in that direction it is sustainable. It helps control blood sugar. It is heart healthy. It is also possible, but difficult to be a fat vegetarian. Food for thought.