Need some weight loss help ? Well I hope I can pass on some pointers from my ongoing weight loss tips series that help get you get where you want to be. This weight loss blog is now 3 years old. It started January 1st 2009, and in the beginning, it was my own way of documenting my personal weight loss journey. Since that time, I have not only lost the weight I wanted to lose, but have remained in my ideal weight range for over 2 years, but it was not always this way….
Prior to becoming a Retired Dieter in 2009 I battled with the same issues as millions of other people trying to lose weight . I would start a diet, lose some weight, falter, and gain it back. I would say it took me 16 years of riding this diet roller coaster before I figured out diets as we know them simply don’t work. Do a search at Amazon.com for diet books, see how many show up promising the best way to lose weight , then ask yourself , why are there so many diet books, but the population continues to get fatter ?
Benjamin Franklin said that “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Yet every year, this is what we do with trying to lose weight. We pick yet another diet, stop all the things we like, then a few weeks later, it all comes crashing down. We get frustrated, we feel we have failed, and we gain back what we lost and more, only to then try another new diet later in the year, maybe to be in shape for the beach, the bikini diet anyone ? Then once that one fails we slip back to our old routines, waiting for the next new year resolution and the search for ” fast weight loss ” starts again.
We are only 6 days into the New Year, but as I write this, my blog traffic is at a record high. Last January was the same. Every new year we start with good intentions of losing weight, and in the vast majority of cases, the results don’t last. So if you really want to lose weight, and you want that weight loss to be permanent, then is it not time to break with usual diet routines that have failed you in the past ? Dare I say it, maybe it’s time to become a Retired Dieter too ? and learn what really matters when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off.
I have said on a number of occasions on this blog that weight loss is simple, its just not easy. Let me explain what I mean by that.
Weight Loss Is Simple = If you burn more calories than you take in, you will lose weight. A calorie deficit however you create it will bring about weight loss. It really is that simple.
Weight Loss Is Not Easy = Means you have to find a way of creating that deficit that works for you long term. On top of that, you have family gatherings, social events, fast food companies advertising to you all day long on tv and radio, all of which are combining to disrupt your weight loss efforts. There is no point making it even harder then, by choosing a diet plan that then tells you that you need to cut out foods , or food groups you like. We have been there and done that, and we know how it ends. So let’s change it.
I have come a long way in 3 years. I am no longer obese, and I am finally liberated from dieting and stressing about what I should or should not eat. I now think more than ever, I can help others do the same.
What interests me, is looking back over the last 3 years I know what I did worked, and how it worked ( the calorie deficit ) but what I am now trying to get a greater understanding of are the reasons behind why it worked. More than ever, the last 3 years have shown me that losing weight has more to do with the mental aspect than anything else. Let me elaborate on the mental side of things. Here are things that have changed for me that have more to do with the mentality of weight loss or weight control.
1. I no longer think that if I don’t eat at least 3 meals a day this will have some detrimental effect on my metabolism
2. I know that if I was busy and miss lunch, I can wait for dinner and save those calories, I no longer panic thinking ” I missed lunch I better eat something now ” - Again that is mental and it was how I would think in the past.
3. When you see positive results ( In my case losing 70lbs ) you have more mental strength to ignore the countless people who tell you that how you are trying to lose weight or control your weight is wrong. In my case, this mental strength is even stronger today, it is far easier to be strong in my belief on weight loss, when most people who start this debate with me, are in worse shape then I am, yet think they know better. Again when I started out 3 years ago, those early weeks, were tough, it’s why I now advise anyone starting out to keep the fact they are trying to lose weight private. Weight loss opinions from family and friends are one of the main obstacles you have to overcome when it comes to losing weight.
4. I no longer feel guilty about eating foods I enjoy. I don’t obsess over food anymore. Again, this is a mental change, but let me explain what I mean in more detail.
We can’t get away from the fact, that as humans, we like foods that contain fat sugar and salt. Our favourites most likely contain all 3, though you would probably not know it 
. I still hear many people say ” I should not be eating this ” or ” this is bad for me but I like it ” . You can read everywhere that Sugar is bad for you, Salt is bad for you, Fat is bad for you, but the simple fact is those 3 things in one form or another are in just about everything we eat, and you can’t get away from it. Want a low fat yogurt ? then the fat will have been replaced with sugar to make it taste good. Unless you are going to create every single thing you eat at home in a strict way, the chances of you avoiding the so called bad foods are just about zero.
Food companies spend billions on creating and marketing foods that contain all 3 , so from a mental stand point you have to learn how to manage it, saying you should not eat them isn’t the answer, it’s a fight you can’t win. Only by changing how you think about the foods you eat can you overcome this unhelpful mental issue of good and bad foods. As John Barban is fond of saying ” The Poison Is In the Dose ” . OK well it was actually Paracelsus who said “All things are poison, and nothing is without poison; only the dose permits something not to be poisonous.” But John used it in the diet context. My point is, that we can’t get away from eating these foods, but we can limit the dose. In my view, that is a far better mental attitude than trying to kid yourself you can give them up and “eat healthy”.
I am not a scientist, doctor or a psychologist, I have no deep understanding of biology but I am aware that how I look at food, and how I eat has changed. I still eat the same food, it is not like I stopped eating anything that I enjoyed in the past, but there is no question there has been a change. My own view is that Intermittent Fasting has to be a major reason for this. I don’t just mean from the point it helps me in restricting calories,although that is certainly a factor, but perhaps more in the possibility it helps reset chemical changes in the body or the brain. As I stated earlier,I am not qualified in any way to know if this is the case, but what I do know is the one constant tool in the last 3 years for controlling my weight has been Flexible Intermittent Fasting. This, at least to me means the theory is plausible. I think the science community call it a hypothesis ! So the idea that I.F. helps reduce the cravings for foods will be something I will be looking into more during the coming year. As I say, I know what I do works, I have now just reached a point where I would like to know in more details why it works.
So at the start of this new year, are you going to make a change ? From a personal point of view I am also making a few changes,and setting some new goals, but more about some of those in a post next week.
If you are new here, then feel free to go through the archives, you can see read from 3 years ago if you have the time. The other thing to do if you want weight loss help, is sign up in the top right hand corner for help and advice in losing weight from someone who has walked that road. If you want to learn more about fasting to lose weight, then check out my posts on eat stop eat . Let’s make this the year of change.
If you are still in doubt about what I write here, or think fasting for weight loss is some kind of fad , consider this… I am not doing this post after 1 week, 1 month or even after 1 year. I am posting this view based on 3 Years actual experience. That is 1 year of losing weight ( well it took 10 months as it turned out ) and 2 Years of maintaining a healthy weight range. You think maybe, just maybe I might be on to something ? If you think I am wrong, then Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers are waiting to take your money…. AGAIN.
If you liked this post, and feel it help or motivate others, then please re-tweet, and share on facebook etc.
I welcome comments and debate, but if you are just going to post a comment to get a link to a weight loss site for diet pills,colon cleanse or the usual same old crap, don’t bother, as it won’t get approved, I do check all links. so save your time and mine. If you run a genuine site and post a good comment, it will get approved.
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