How to lose weight
I produce one of these from time to time……
1. Know why you want it
Remind yourself of the reasons. Vague stuff like “being healthier” doesn’t cut it. How important is weight loss to you?
Do you really aspire to be like people who are slim? Or do you secretly despise them, or suspect them of being vain or puritanical or boring? If so, that’s a barrier to losing weight.
Do you secretly like being physically big and imposing? Does it make you feel more real, more substantial? Safer? Is it a justification for avoiding your sexuality? Is the wish to lose weight a form of self-punishment?
You need to be sure that you actually want weight loss. This isn’t a point to tick off in a few seconds.
2. Accept that your life may have to change
Be realistic. Build a clear visualisation of what your life would be like if you lost weight.
If you were a drug addict, you couldn’t expect to give up the drugs, but still hang out with the same people, spend your time in the same ways, etc. That wouldn’t work. Your whole life would have to change. New places, new friends.
Lots of people seem to want a result where everything is exactly the same, except they’re slim. That may not work. If your social life, for example, involves spending quite a lot of time in the pub, or in front of the television, that might have to change.
I accept that there are those who exercise, and eat healthily, and basically live the right lifestyle, to whom this may not apply. But for many people, it’s important to consider how your life will be different.
3. Psychological factors
Again, this is one that people tend to brush aside a little too quickly. Often, people tend to eat to meet some psychological “hunger”, some comfort need, or according to a habit. It may be a form of rebellion. You need to understand the payoffs to you in how you eat. As one book says, “it’s about your parents”.
Abandon self-criticism completely. You eat according to your appetite, like everyone else. The question is why your appetite leads you to eat too much. Understand the reasons. But never ever berate yourself self-destructively with terms like “greedy” or “lack of willpower”. It’s not true and it doesn’t help.
4. Learn to distinguish hunger from appetite
Hunger is the need for food; appetite is the craving for food. Hunger is usually a diffuse sensation in the body, a bit like a pain. Appetite usually involves imagining a particular food. For example, a craving for chocolate. Appetite and hunger feel different and are in different places in the body. You can feel appetite even when full. Experiment with this. Become more aware of your sensations.
If you really are hungry, you should eat. But be aware that it can take a while for food to “take effect”, so eat just a moderate amount and then stop. Give yourself permission to come back for more later, say half an hour later, if it’s really necessary. Give the meal time to work.
5. Get enough sleep
Lack of sleep disrupts the body’s hormones, and tends to cause overeating.
This falls under the general heading of “be nice to yourself”. You need to do things that you physically enjoy other than eating. Being adequately slept is one of them. (Others might be having a bath, having a massage, dancing, singing, sex....)
If your reaction to this is “I don’t have enough time”, then you need to ask yourself how important weight loss is to you. You may have to cut down on TV, or video games, or web surfing... or overtime at work. You’ll need to decide how much those things make you happy. (There is a distinction between enjoyment and happiness.)
The science on how lack of sleep disrupts the appetite control hormones is conclusive. Many people secretly view sleeping as some form of weakness, or treat lack of sleep as yet another form of self-punishment.
You’ll feel better for adequate sleep, and be more awake and healthier. Also more resistant to disease.
6. Make food boring
Avoid having food as fun. Find other sources of entertainment.
If there are certain foods that, once you have some, you have to have too much, then avoid those completely. One of those for me is peanuts. Once I start, it’s hard to stop, so it’s better not to start.
Research shows that the wider choice of food you have, the more you tend to eat. Stay away from buffets. Try to design a day’s food that works for you, then eat that same day’s food every day. Make it dull. If you’re actually hungry, you can still enjoy the food, but do not eat the sort of stimulating things that you could “find space for” even when not really hungry.
7. Avoid alcohol
It’s empty calories; it stimulates hunger and appetite; it undermines willpower. It also disrupts sleep.
8. Cut back on carbs
I find carbs make me hungry. They stimulate my appetite. I know low-GI carbs are supposed to be better, and maybe they are, but even those, in large amounts, cause me problems. You may be the same.
I’m not advocating an Atkins-style ultra-low carb diet. What I am saying is, if you eat less carbs (say no more than 120 grams a day), you may find it easier to stick to a lower calorie diet – that the cravings are less. Just try it and see. If it doesn’t work for you, you can stop it.
We do need carbohydrate foods to get our vitamins, and fibre and micro nutrients. So cut out forms of carbs that are not good sources of any of those, such as bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, sweets, puddings, cake, pastry, sugar, beer, sugar drinks, breakfast cereals, cereal bars, and so on. Cut all of those out or radically down. (My own rule is to eat those only after intense exercise).
By all means eat fruit, veg, black rye bread, and beans, pulses and lentils. Berries are very good for you, as are green leafy vegetables, cauliflower and broccoli. Eat vegetable soup.
9. Eat some protein at every meal
It’s filling. Aim for at least 25g of protein at every meal. Do not eat a meal of just “salad” or fruit or soup and bread.
10. Walk
Intense exercise is good for you, but I find it tends to make me hungry. Swimming is the worst for this, and there are good scientific studies that show that although swimming is very good for your fitness, it’s not so good for weight loss. By all means do intense exercise if you want, but I recommend the best thing is to build some walking into your day.
