Stay on a diet

20190603 Daily report

I have committed to two behaviors that will gain me control over my weight.  They will work throughout my lifetime, but I will have to keep doing them.  (1) Monitor your food intake and (2) weight yourself.  These are mechanistic – they work, but you have to have your head right, or else you will not keep doing them.  My flawed past understanding of this fact resulted in previous failed diets.  I wanted to lose weight but not have to change anything about myself.  It’s really the other way around.  Losing weight, especially the 120 pounds I am losing, takes a complete mental revolution.  The body follows the mind.  

Two levels of portion control for the Spanish tortilla

My food intake and calorie count

Breakfast – leftover 2 x chicken fajitas with creamy peppers and onions (170); pretzels and hummus (150)

  • 490 calories

Lunch – Half slice Costco pizza (380); chicken wrap with hummus, lettuce and tomato (200)

  • 580 calories 

Dinner – Spanish tortilla (500); mayonnaise (100); steamed vegetables (50)

  • 650 calories

Snacking – tea with half and half (80); ddd (00)

  • 80 calories

Total for the day: 1800 calories (limit 1800)

Building anticipation leads to fulfillment

I had never heard of Spanish Tortilla until a few years ago, but now it is one of my favorite meals.  My recipe is slightly different from what they make in Spain, but still fabulous.  It’s a mixture of eggs, potatoes, and onion cooked together in olive oil – no spices apart from salt and pepper, and no other ingredients.  It’s simple to prepare, but does require an oven so I don’t make it much during high summer.  But I made it today.  Because of all the olive oil (a half cup, or 1000 calories), the entire dish is 2000 calories.  I usually cut it into 12 wedges of about 165 calories each.  Mayonnaise is wonderful with it (100 calories for a tablespoon – I don’t eat light mayonnaise).  The recipe will be posted on another page soon.  

I made sure I was very hungry for this meal, since I like it so much.  I didn’t eat until nearly 6PM, which is late for my stomach’s clock.  It was totally worth the wait.  And now I have the leftovers in the refrigerator ready for breakfast the next few days.  It’s great, I get to enjoy it all over again, thanks the same insight – it will be at its best if I am truly hungry and famished when I sit down.  Looking forward to a meal you know you are going to enjoy, and then preparing by getting hungry (I try to avoid snacking or appetizers just for this reason), and then eating it and having it be every bit as good as you were hoping – wonderful.  Fulfilling and comforting.  It’s a nice way to live.

I am starting to think more about what will happen when I get to a weight I want to maintain.  How will I go from 1800 calories daily to 2800, and still maintain the sense of hunger and fulfillment I have now?  It’s a really intense experience to live this way, I feel like time is moving slowly this year since I am paying so much attention.  But I think part of the answer is going to be: liquid.  I have avoided having a glass of milk, or apple cider, or many other drinks, for months.  I just can’t afford them and still feel satisfied with the restricted calories I am eating. 

A hint of the rest of the answer might be found in reading Mark Twain.  He said that his favorite was to eat a meal and a half for day – a roll and coffee for breakfast, then nothing until dinner.  Looking through my weight control lens, this is a great strategy.  He admits his dinner was really big, and he found the food very enjoyable.  I think he was waiting until he was hungry, then matching that hunger to his dinner.  On the other hand, it sounds like he was eating until stuffed, which I am avoiding.  I will keep thinking about it.  I feel like the answer is in there.

-The Doctor

20190602 Daily report

The price of thinness is paying attention.  The thinner you are, the harder you must work to stay that way.  At least, in the abundance we live in now.  Not too long ago, getting enough to eat, at all, was an achievement!  The way I pay this price, while becoming thinner, is to write down everything I eat.  There are many thin people who don’t write this stuff down, but they have other ways of keeping track.  You will find most thin people who stay thin, count calories and know how much they are eating in a day.   Writing stuff down is a lot of effort, by comparison.  But writing it down is how I am doing it.  It works.  

Known as the Satuday Evening Supper. Yes, I know it's actually Sunday.

My food intake and calorie count

Breakfast – 2 x BLT wraps (200)

  • 400 calories

Lunch – 2 x Bratwurst wraps (300)

  • 600 calories 

Dinner – Saturday Evening Supper (600)

  • 600 calories

Snacking – tea with half and half (80)

  • 80 calories

Total for the day: 1680 calories (limit 1800)

Becoming a person in control of their weight

Part of the transformation I underwent was to add “being in control of my weight” to my list of values I live by.  Before January, 2019 that was very low on my list.  I also put “being thin” on my list of values, but note that being in control is on top.  Before my transformation, I wouldn’t sacrifice much to be thinner.  It wasn’t important to me.  When I decided it should be important, I felt like I had no way to get there.  I had tried forcing myself to eat less, and lose weight.  But I couldn’t keep it up.  Now I can.  

Getting my mind right, and getting the different parts of me lined up and willing to undertake this effort, was the most important transformation I have ever made.  It was certainly the most conscious.  Once I had my mind right, my body followed.  It is still following.  That is the way msot of us will work.  The mind leads, the body follows.  

After winning the mental battle, I came up with mechanisms to help me.  One is a method of portion control, using food I am very happy to eat.  On this weight loss program, I will not touch diet foods, or low fat foods, and so forth.  I will only eat foods I really want to eat.  Look at the meal pictured above.  It looks like some delicious  food generously and spontaneously served onto a plate – some of this, some of that, the whole called Saturday Evening Supper.  But appearances can be deceiving.  There is an orderliness to that plate.

The first hint of measurement is the sausage – clearly a single link, of mild Italian flavor.  It was 250 calories, in fact, based on the package label.  The pile of cheese?  One ounce of goat cheese, 70 calories.  The heap of noodles?  4 ounces (cooked), 200 calories.  The peppers and onions were cooked in olive oil and mixed with green peas.  There is one cup of this vegetable mix, which I estimate has about 80 calories.  The total, 600 calories, was my dinner.  I made sure I was hungry for it, so to maximize my enjoyment.  I ate 1680 calories today, and enjoyed dinner a lot.  Every meal today was worth waiting for AND getting hungry for.  I get to eat this, and I will lose weight too.  It’s a lovely system.  It nourishes me in several ways, and the different parts of my mind and body are working together – no willpower is required to lose weight.  In fact, eating like this is a source of satisfaction and happiness.  

I will post the recipe for this dinner soon.  Enjoy your diet!  And if you don’t, maybe you should.  

-The Doctor

20190601 Saturday weigh-in

Every week, I weigh myself.  Barring illness, I plan to do this for as long as I plan to stay in control of my weight (forever).  It’s part of the price I am going to pay to get thin and stay that way.  For a long time, I felt like I shouldn’t have to worry about maintaining my weight – like it should happen by itself.  Then I realized that everybody who stays thin keeps track of their weight, one way or another.  Most people weigh themselves, but others use different systems – like, the way their clothes fit.  I use a scale.  

The trend is down.

Since starting my diet in January, I have lost: 

Pounds!!
0

Forgiveness and progress

I wasn’t happy about this number (270) at first.  Until now, I was on a very consistent and successful trajectory, with an all-but unbroken record of successful weight loss for five months.  Then I lost it last week due to illness, and then indulging in eating a lot more than usual.  Part of me says I would be below 270 pounds right now, if I had stayed on my eating plan.  A better thought is, this weight is the lowest I have achieved so far, and it is an improvement from the last time I got on the scale.  Being angry with myself would be counterproductive.  Even worse would be punishing myself.  Forgiving myself and keeping my vision on the future is the only way to keep going.  I am happy that I weigh less than before!

The mental model I am using is that inside of me there are different levels of being, or aspects of my consciousness, each with different desires.  I need to come up with a way of living that is attractive to most of them, that allows me to lose weight, and then keep myself on it.  (I have tried to force myself to diet in the past and it has not worked.  The different parts of my mind rebel against that.)  Everybody seems to be on board with my current plan, though.  But sometimes I need to focus on the future more. 

Rewards help me focus.  My priority now is to come up with three rewards: getting under 270 pounds, getting under 265 (my halfway point of losing 120 pounds), and getting under 260 pounds.  I haven’t really done that and it has been a struggle this last several weeks to keep focused.  I will think about it.  

-The Doctor

20190531 Daily report

Welcome!  Every day, I keep a log of everything I eat.  This task is a trade-off.  I want to control my weight and become thin and stay that way.  The price is paying attention.  If I keep track of what I eat, I will gain knowledge about how I gain and lose weight.  I can use that knowledge to keep in control of my weight.  Thin people (those who stay thin) all do this in different ways.

Before January of this year, I weighed 325 pounds and the number was not getting any smaller by itself.  So, I remade myself into a person who cared a lot about being thin and staying thin.  Part of the system I developed was to reward myself for losing weight.  What kind of rewards?  This kind!  

Blueberry reward pie! It's for tomorrow.

My food intake and calorie count

Breakfast – Costco pizza half slice (350)

  • 350 calories

Lunch – Chicken fajita wrap with peppers and onions in cream sauce (170); 2 x fritatta wraps with Parmesan and bacon (650)

  • 820 calories 

Dinner – 3 slices of Red Baron pizza (190)

  • 570 calories

Snacking – tea with half and half (80); Nestle Li’l Drums vanilla cone (110)

  • 190 calories

Total for the day: 1930 calories (limit 1800 + 500 bonus from swimming, total 2300)

Reach and Reward

I have a few achievements coming up.  Tomorrow, I expect I will be under 270 pounds.  In a short time, I expect to be under 265 pounds, which means I will be half way through my weight loss phase.  It’s been an intense half year!  I have never paid so much attention to what I am eating and how I feel about it.  You may be thinking that rewarding myself using food is a bad idea.  I have read on weight loss forums that it is unhealthy to see food as a reward.  But to me, that makes as much sense as horse elbows.  I have already changed my whole relationship to food and eating.  Under my new food regime, food is a reward all the time.  Every meal is something to look forward to.  The reward of the next meal is what keeps me from over eating! 

Anyway, I have made a reward blueberry pie, using mostly my mother’s recipe.  How much does my reward cost?

  • crust 120 calories x 16 servings per package = 1920 calories
  • blueberries 6 cups = 510 calories 
  • sugar 1 cup = 773 calories

The total is 3203 calories.  Let’s call it 3200.  1/8 pie is 400 calories.  1/12 pie is 266 calories.  If I have 1/8 of the pie (after I get weighed tomorrow!), that is a perfectly reasonable breakfast of 400 calories.  I am going to grill tomorrow, so I have to stop with one piece so I can enjoy my freshly grilled lunch.  My reward fits into my weight loss regime and is still a reward I get to eat.  It will encourage me to get to the next milestone.  What will that reward be?  My rewards have all been food up till now.  I am thinking a restaurant may be involved this time.  

Rewards pull you forward, especially if you have transformed your eating goal.   Lead with your mind and your body will follow.  I am the proof.

-The Doctor

20190530 Daily report

Summer is coming!  Soon it will get too hot for me to use my oven much.  So it’s time to break out the Doctor’s summer menu!  That means….outdoor grilling, stovetop cooking, toaster oven, and stir frying outdoors.  And the slow cooker.  A vegetable may appear on the menu from time to time, if I can stand the excitement.  Bacon may go on vacation for a while.  Exhibit A, pictured below, is chicken fajitas with peppers and onions cooked in cream sauce.  I’ll explain the calorie strategy below.  

Chicken fajitas for dinner!

My food intake and calorie count

Breakfast – catered – potatoes and eggs (300)

  • 300 calories

Lunch – catered food – burrito bowl with beans, rice, chicken, and beef (500)

  • 500 calories 

Dinner – chicken fajitas with peppers and onions in cream sauce, with sour cream (500)

  • 500 calories

Snacking – tea with half and half (80); Kentucky Legend ham slices (200); Nestle Lil Drums chocolate ice cream cone (120)

  • 400 calories

Total for the day: 1700 calories (limit 1800)

Last day of catered food

Yesterday and today I was at a technical workshop and had catered food as part of the package.  It was very tasty catering.  But it was hard to have a strategy besides “don’t have seconds” because I couldn’t really measure or weigh anything.  The only other trick was “don’t have more than the thin people are having”.  

For dinner today, I made one of my favorite summer dishes, chicken fajitas with peppers and onions cooked in cream sauce.  I’ll include the recipe on a separate page later.  This is a fantastic dish and very quick to make.  Besides being really tasty, it can be very low calorie.  The peppers are seared under the broiler.  (The broiler is only on for a few minutes so it doesn’t heat the whole kitchen.)  The broiled peppers are then skinned and reheated in a skillet with seared onions, garlic, and spices, then half-and-half and lime juice are added and cooked until well thickened.  Separately, you can cook chicken breast strips in a fajita marinade, but today I took a shortcut and used Perdue precooked chicken strips with fajita flavoring already added.  

This dish lends itself well to calorie counting.  The entire package of chicken was 360 calories.  One pound of poblano peppers and onions together, with cooking oil, are about 200 calories, and the half-and-half is 160 calories.  The flour tortillas are 140 calories each (!), so I broke them in half and had three little burritos like the one pictured above.  This recipe makes a fair amount and I had this much of it:

  • 1.5 flour tortillas = 210 calories
  • 6 ounces Perdue precooked chicken strips = 150 calories
  • A third of the peppers and onions in cream sauce = 120 calories
  • A bit of crumbled Feta cheese on top = 20 calories.

If I had three whole flour tortillas, I would have added 210 calories to the total.  But all three meals I had today were great, and because of that my body is happy with eating less than 1800 calories. 

And since I am focused on making sure I am hungry for breakfast, I want to avoid eating any more tonight.  

-The Doctor

20190529 Daily report

If you watch carefully, thin people will show you how they stay thin.  Staying thin takes work, but some people don’t believe that.  In my series on how to start losing weight, I describe the problem: many of us are convinced that getting thin and staying thin just is natural for some people.  Some call it genetics, some call it metabolism, I call it a myth.  People who are thin and stay thin, care a lot about how they look.  They carefully monitor their shape or weight, and they have systems for staying thin, that involve regulating how much food they eat.  It’s not hard.  Being thin doesn’t make you better, or smarter, or more together.  It just makes you someone who cares about being thin, more than almost  anything else.  

Catered lunch today

My food intake and calorie count

Breakfast – Half slice Costco pizza (380)

  • 380 calories

Lunch – grilled chicken, beef, and vegetables, small amounts of rice salad and avocado salad (350); fruit parfait (60)

  • 410 calories 

Dinner – Vegetable curry and rice (400)

  • 400 calories

Snacking – tea with half and half (120); pretzels and hummus (200); Nestle Li’l Drums ice cream cone (120); eleven Costco chocolate almonds (160)

  • 600 calories

Total for the day: 1790 calories (limit 1800)

Secrets of the thin

The parfait listed for lunch was quite small, but was probably 100 calories total.  I didn’t eat the whole thing, based on advice from a thin person.  More on that in a moment.  I was at a technical training workshop today (and tomorrow), so I ate with strangers.  Most of them were quite thin.  Because there was no way to measure what I was eating, I took the above picture of my plate.  It’s not a lot of food, but it was quite good.  

I have observed before that thin people use social cues to help regulate their diets.  First, I noticed that nobody went back for seconds, though the food was excellent. I also noticed that most of the men took both desserts (churro and parfait); most of the women just took the parfait.  I took the parfait – you can just see it in the top right corner of my picture.  Anyway, when I sat down, one of the thin women mentioned the parfait was too sweet.  I agreed on tasting it.  Instead of whipped cream between the fruit layers, it was a pudding that tasted almost like cake icing, which rather overpowered the fruit (a layer of blueberries, pudding, then raspberries and more pudding).   

When I agreed with her, she showed me her half-full cup and said, “really, you could just skip everything below the fruit.”  I think she was being nice, but she was also showing off a bit.  Do you see?  She had a system for eating fewer calories!  Maybe you think that’s subtle, the difference between 50 and 100 calories.  But together with the facts that no thin people went for second helpings, that the women only took the one dessert, and then only ate half of it, that all added up.  Since I have taken up watching thin people eat, I am getting a real sense of the effort they put into staying thin.  None of them are naturally thin! 

Believing that people are naturally thin is a harmful belief.  It makes you feel like there is nothing you can do about it.  It’s a martyrdom.  You may be overweight, but only because you’re not one of those naturally thin people!  Ha.  If you only were willing to see the dedication thin people put into their task!  And it’s not magical, it’s just that being thin is more important to them than almost anything else.  What would you give up to be thin and stay that way?  

-The Doctor

20190528 Daily report

There is (1) successfully losing weight, and then there is (2) successfully controlling and maintaining your weight, once you have lost it.  These are very different ideas and call for different approaches.  Right now, I am busy with losing weight.   If you ask how to lose weight, I would say you have to learn to work with yourself and deal well and kindly with yourself.  Instead of forcing yourself to eat less (which hardly ever works), work with yourself to find a way to make it happen.  You will have to learn to trust yourself. 

The Doctor has learned that his body will willingly eat less, if loving care and attention is paid to the food that will get eaten.  No diet foods, no restrictions, but I must make sure I am happy to be eating my meals and looking forward to them.  

See how the croissant is browned and flaky. See the melted cheese!

My food intake and calorie count

Breakfast – Jimmy Dean egg, sausage and cheese croissantwich (400)

  • 400 calories

Lunch – 2 x Corned beef and cabbage wraps with potato and carrot (275)

  • 550 calories 

Dinner – Costco pizza (760)

  • 760 calories

Snacking – tea with half and half (80)

  • 80 calories

Total for the day: 1790 calories (limit 1800 + 500 bonus from swimming, total 2300)

Why is that so exciting?

Why do these foods keep me happy and satisfied, while in deficit approximately 1000 calories per day?  What is there to look forward to?  A frozen breakfast sandwich, is that really so appealing???

Some of the appeal is universal.  Some of it is my personal taste.  Some of it is the care and attention I put in to the preparation.  Some of it is based on the fact that, when I am hungry, these things look and taste great!  Let me explain:

The Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwich started out as a time saving device a few years ago, before I was dieting.  It was pretty good, though I usually ate two of them for breakfast at that time.  The McDonalds version is internationally popular (Sausage Egg McMuffin, anyone?), so it’s not just me who likes this combination for breakfast.  But when I approached this frozen sandwich as a meal suitable for losing weight, it needed help.  The company included only microwave instructions.  That was not exciting at all, and I almost gave up on it.  Then I discovered that if I wrapped the sandwich in foil and cooked it in my toaster oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes (yes, thirty minutes), it became really good.  The croissant got flaky, the sausage and cheese were in great balance with the egg, and Tobasco gives it some kick.  My toaster oven method of preparation saves that sandwich.  When you are ravenous, a well cooked sandwich hot from the oven is perfect.  The 30 minutes of preparation gives it an additional savor – you can’t wait for the timer to go off!  And they are under $1 each.  400 calories.  

OK, I’ve made myself hungry for breakfast now.  Or at least anticipate it strongly!  

As you can see from the calorie count and food choices today, my appetite has finally returned to normal.  I also swam today.  It’s safe to say I have recovered from the cold I’ve been having this weekend.  Onward! 

-The Doctor 

20190527 Daily report

I write down what I eat every day in my food journal.  Even when I am sick and letting myself run crazy through all the simple carbohydrates in my kitchen.  Doing this since January 2019 has helped me realize that food intake is something I will have to track for the rest of my life, every day, if I want to get control of my weight.  It’s especially true now, when I am letting myself stray off my normal meal plan (3 per day) and calorie count.  

My food intake and calorie count

Breakfast – 2 x bratwurst sausages, grilled (300)

  • 600 calories

Lunch – skipped

  • 0 calories 

Dinner – cereal (350); vegetable curry (200); pretzels and cheese (200); corned beef wrap (250)

  • 1000 calories

Snacking – tea with half and half (80); cookies (300); ice cream (250); Nestle Drumstick ice cream cone (280)

  • 910 calories

Total for the day: 2580 calories (limit 1800)

Calorie limits

Right now, while I am recovering from this cold, I am not sticking to my normal eating routine.  Eating whatever and whenever I want (while sick) feels like a return to my old habits, when I was gaining weight.  To gain weight, I calculate I had to be eating more than 2800 calories per day.  I’m not doing that, but it still feels like I am throwing away months of work.  It’s also not as satisfying, for two reasons.  The first is that feeling I mentioned, that this is out of control and will result in weight gain.  The second is it all feels very chaotic.  My meals are all over the place.

I didn’t get hungry for breakfast until 10.30AM, then I wasn’t hungry for lunch, then I ate dinner piece meal starting about 4PM and finishing around 6PM.  I ate a lot between those two hours, most of it high in carbohydrates.  It is a bit weird to realize that someday I will be trying to eat this many calories to maintain my goal weight.  (As I’ve said before, I don’t have a definitive goal weight yet, since I have little experience being thin.  I just picked a number that seemed reasonable.  And as a matter of fact, I am still not thin, since I have more than 60 pounds to lose until even that number, 205 pounds.)  But I am getting ahead of myself.  I only had to nap once today.  I hope that means my appetite will get back to normal.  Tomorrow I want to try to get back into my normal eating routine.  That was working for me.  I miss my challenge, of being sure I am really famished just in time for a meal, which I would satisfy with something really desirable.  

It will be interesting to see what this interlude does to my weight loss.  It will probably take a few days or a week to get my body back to losing weight.  We shall see.  

-The Doctor

20190526 Daily report

Every day, I keep track of my food intake.  Every week, I post my weight.  There are a few exceptions.  When I am sick, strange things happen to my appetite.  Then strange things happen to my weight.  This is one of those times.  For dinner, I had a nice vegetable curry, one of my favorite recipes.  The rest of the day was not so typical.  

Caption

My food intake and calorie count

Breakfast – dulce de leche torte (400); peanut butter and jelly (400); bratwurst sausage (300)

  • 1100 calories

Lunch – ramen soup (120); Italian sausage (200); pretzels and cheese (200)

  • 520 calories 

Dinner – vegetable curry and rice (400)

  • 400 calories

Snacking – ice cream (350); cookies (200)

  • 550 calories

Total for the day: 2570 calories (limit 1800)

Calorie and carbohydrate overload!

Recently, I have had a cold and have had strong cravings for carbohydrate rich foods.  After a short struggle last night, I decided to let go today and fulfill my desire for carbs.  I would continue to track everything but not live by my usual food goals and calorie limits. 

Something like this happened in February.  I didn’t track my food intake for three days and just wrote “carb feeding frenzy” with a guesstimate of 2000 calories per day.  When the cold ended a few days later, my regular appetite returned and I resumed tracking.  

This time, I am paying more attention to what I am eating, though not restricting myself.  It is strange.  Eating more calories and more carbs doesn’t feel satisfying.  At least, not as satisfying as my hunger-first method, that I have been living by for several months.  The feeling of being full is there, and that feels really strange.  I haven’t eaten enough to feel stuffed full since early April, when I went to the lunch buffet.  (And that buffet was carefully prepared for.  I was hungry for that buffet and I enjoyed….well, the first plate full.  After that, it wasn’t as exciting.)  Right now, and simultaneously, I want to eat more carbohydrate rich foods, but I am not enjoying the sensation of being full.  Mixed messages….

I don’t expect to make any progress on my weight loss at this rate!  But tomorrow is a new day.  Meantime I will try to figure out what to do about this craving while sick.  Have a good night!

-The Doctor

20190525 Daily report

Normally on Saturday The Doctor does a weigh-in.  It keeps the calorie counting honest.  For the last few days though, I have had a cold.  My appetite has been off, I have been hungry for carbohydrates, and my weight has never been right during periods of illness.  So today will be a normal day, where I log my food intake.  That will be a bit fun today, because the grill is open for the summer!  

Hamburger, bratwurst, Italian sausages, oh yeah.

My food intake and calorie count

Breakfast – Meatloaf wrap (250)

  • 250 calories

Lunch – Hamburger (300); bratwurst (300); Italian sausage (200)

  • 800 calories 

Dinner – Reuben wrap (250); 2 x Nestle Li’l Drums ice cream (110 and 120)

  • 480 calories

Snacking – tea with half and half (80); pretzels (100)

  • 180 calories

Total for the day: 1710 calories (limit 1800)

Getting better

Good health to you!  The Doctor is recovering.  Hopefully tomorrow will be totally normal.  I slept in this morning, and didn’t feel the strong need for simple carbohydrates today.    I won’t weigh myself today.  While I am sick, my weight has always been off.  One thing at a time.  Maybe next week I will reach a milestone – I may weigh less than 270 pounds!  My halfway point is coming up too, at 265 pounds.  Pessimistically, I will still be a very overweight guy at 265 pounds.  On the positive side, I have a mechanism to get down to a weight I like better.  

I found an interesting story on Reddit /loseit.  It is like the True Confessions of a woman who has lost 100 pounds with her experience on what works and what doesn’t.  “Xandie” had lost significant weight several times in the past and gained it all back.  She writes about previously using meal replacement shakes or keto diets to lose weight.  She actually did lose weight, but then gained it all back once she stopped drinking the meal replacements or quit the keto diet.  Readers of this blog will recognize her core ideas (The Doctor’s comments in parenthesis):

  • Weigh yourself every day (some say every week)
  • Log everything you eat
  • Build a new life you enjoy more than the old one
  • Plan your meals and have the foods you need at hand
  • Be kind to yourself and forgiving for mistakes (work with yourself and not against!) 
  • Find supportive friends
  • Learn from your mistakes and behaviors. 

This is wonderful and The Doctor is sure that Xandie will be able to keep the weight off this time.  There were no tricks or meal replacements or keto (all past ideas she tried), just food intake monitoring and periodic weighing.  She also did a lot of walking, but it’s not clear if that helps a lot with losing weight.  IT is especially interesting when she talks about her realization that she was trying to make a better life for herself and she should be enjoying it.  That kind of mental framing made a huge difference to me, and probably to Xandie.  

Keep in mind her best points.  Be good to yourself and get your own willing cooperation.  Give yourself a taste of the life you are building, which should be better than the life you are leaving behind.  Plan your meals using your self knowledge, and have the food ready for when you need it.  All that’s missing is the change in food goal that I have talked about the last week.  But that’s a step beyond, I’ve never seen anyone talk about that yet.  Keep it up!

-The Doctor

 

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