It won’t be a long report today.
The sequence for weight control is meal by meal. First, give yourself something to anticipate. Plan your meals out before you go to bed the night before. You must plan well so that each is worth waiting for.
Second, you must be hungry to enjoy your food properly. Not starving; but peckish. That means: don’t eat too much the day before. Pay attention to your body and eat just when you are getting hungry.
Third, you must prepare for your next meal. You can’t overeat at breakfast and truly enjoy lunch, and so on. Don’t spoil the anticipation and the feeling of hunger. It brings a sense of accomplishment to your mission: being in control of your body’s weight. Every meal is a reinforcement, a reward. Keep the rewards coming.
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – 8oz steel cut oats (215); low calorie syrup (25);
- 240 calories
Lunch – ham, pretzels, crackers, chocolate, candy (700);
- 700 calories
Dinner – Saturday Evening Supper with sausage (240); 4oz noodles (200); goat cheese (100); vegetables (25);
- 565 calories
Snacking – tea with half and half (80);
- 80 calories
Total for the day: 1590 calories (limit 1700, Fitbit calories burned = 3715)
Time for bed
You have to decide that weight control matters more to you than almost everything else. When it succeeds, you double and triple down on the winning strategy. Refine it and make it work for you. Reward yourself along the way.
I find the most troublesome reward is buying new clothes. Your old clothes don’t fit, but you’re not yet buying “thin” clothes. Going clothes shopping after you have lost 110 pounds is fun. Knowing that you still have to lose 30 pounds to be considered fit….is difficult. You can do it but it is an impatient place to be.
I have transformed the way I look at food and the way I look at the world. It is not all positive. But it is useful for accomplishing my goal: control my body’s weight.
Goodnight,
-The Doctor