| As someone who has lost a fair amount of weight recently (97 lbs in just under 10 months), I was prepared to argue against this article before even reading it. However, the method he recommended (mindful eating) is basically what I used to finally lose weight. I have been overweight/obese virtually all of my life (my baby fat was immediately replaced with fat fat). Over the years I have been under the care of two separate physicians for weight loss and taken 3 different types of prescription drugs for weight loss (Phentermine, Xenical, and Contrave). The most that I lost under those physicians and medication was about 30 lbs, which I promptly gained back PLUS an additional 30 lbs for my trouble. Once I took a more mindful/intuative eating approach, the weight came off easily. I follow 4 basic rules that I took from a book called "I Can Make You Thin" by Paul McKenna (the book also includes some hypnosis stuff, but I don't use that). 1) When I am hungry I eat.
2) I eat what I want.
3) I eat consciously.
4) When I am full I stop. Seems simple enough, but the devil is in the details. For example, regarding rule 1, I ONLY eat when I am hungry, not when I am bored or stressed. Learning when I was actually hungry and not just wanting to eat to change my emotions was HUGE. Regarding rule 3 (eating consciously), that means no more eating in front of the TV/Computer, or while reading a book, or even thinking a lot about other things. I focus on eating and JUST eating. I eat with as few distractions as possible. Regarding rule 4, knowing WHEN I was full was a HUGE issue for me. For most of my life, I ate until I was bloated or nauseous. Now as soon as I am satisfied or full I stop. Because of Rules, 1, 3, 4, the results of rules 2 (eat what I want) were interesting. I still eat what I want, but what I want changed. I have always loved pizza, but now I am also addicted to spinach, either raw or steamed. I can honestly say that I eat more spinach in a given month than I had TOTAL in the 10 year period between 2004-2014. It's nuts. I am absolutely astounded by how few vegetables that I used to eat before this eating plan. I don't get hungry and I don't have those cravings that everyone who has been on a diet knows so well. The key for me was that I wanted to find something that I KNEW that I could do for the rest of my life, not some diet that I would just stay on until I reached my goal weight, then revert to my old ways. |