If You'll Build The Right Habits: You'll Lose Weight

Hello weight losing fans...

Today I stepped up onto the Magical-Mystical-Digital-Scale weighing in at 179.6-pounds. Oh, oh, that's just under 180-pounds. No, I haven't been pigging out.

I did have a few too many teaspoons laden with peanut butter last night. I was hungry.

Before I came to post today, I was already sitting at 180-pounds. This is after having a four ounce piece of chicken, and one cup of corn kernels, along with a pot full of coffee.

This added about two pounds of fluid and food. So, I know I am OK.

How did you like my message yesterday? Oh, that was a real zinger. I did that on purpose.
Sometimes we need a little mental jolt to break the momentum of our complacent minds.

We all have a tendency to get into a groove so to speak. We develop patterns of behavior and thought that don't move us toward a better way of being. I am as guilty as anyone about that.

We Live In Denial
What are you talking about David? I have a family member who is large. When he removes his shirt the fat flaps around his stomach area. His stomach protrudes beyond his chest, and his hips have those round bulging "love handles" Yet, he is convinced that he is at his optimal weight.
As a result he continues to eat like tomorrow will never come.

He has already had a doctor tell him that his blood sugar spikes up too high. Well, He gave up his sugar soda. He gave up some sugars. Only, he is still much larger than he ought to be.

I told my family member, that he should start ingesting protein powder, along with more green vegetables. I didn't have the heart to tell him he ought to lose weight. There is no use. He thinks he is OK.

Now, he sees his wife should lose weight. He sees his wife ought to give up smoking. Only he can't see his own need to address the things that effect his health. That being he's got too much body fat.

Is this you? Do you think that somehow you are OK? I don't know. You have to decide.

If you aren't OK, then what do you want to do, stay the way that you are? That's OK with me.
I don't have to live inside your body. I don't have to face the grim reaper who will come to get you before your time ought to reasonably expire.

Worse than that I don't have to be you who will develop life long deceases related to obesity. I don't have to be you.

One of the reasons I keep coming back and writing this post is: maybe, maybe someone will read it and find he/she can get off those unwanted pounds.

I didn't join a weight watching club. I didn't pay for a gym membership. I did spend some money to buy TV dinner trays of food. I got them on sale. I got them on sale, and consumed those three times a day.

From that experience I learned how to become a calorie counter. This is what I am today. I am a calorie counter. I call myself a "food watcher," not a "weight watcher."

I look at the food I am about to ingest and begin to ask the critical question: Should I eat this? That's it. I have programmed myself to look at food as a fuel. I like to eat sweets. I like to have goodies. I like food that tastes good. Yet, I know, I can only eat so much, and then that's it.

Why, oh why should I do it any differently than I am now? It's the most simple way to watch what I eat. I know that I can't eat large portions of potatoes. If I do then I can't eat something else. I know If I eat that big muffin. Then that's my meal for a while.

I know my limits. I have plenty of experience with them.

One thing I do everday, that seems to bother so many people, is I weigh myself. Every morning when I wake up I step up onto the Magical-Mystical-Digital-Scale. I take a look see at how I am doing everyday.

I don't understand why this is so much trouble for people. I don't know why people take the numbers so personally. I look at the numbers as a tool to diagnose where I am.
I don't take it personally. Oh, some times I wince. That's rare.

I had a problem. I was over weight. Technically, I am still over weight. Many people say I look fine where I am. Only, I know differently. I have got some more poundage that has to go. How long will I take to lose it. I don't know.

I am not going to beat myself up to lose it. I won't let anyone bully me into losing it either. Here is why, no one lives in my skin. No one lives in this body.

No one lives in your body. That body that was loaned to you by God in heaven can't be experienced by anyone but you. So far as I know, no one has invented a machine that can read your thoughts. As far as I know, no one has invented a machine that can feel your pain. As far as I know, the experiences you experience are totally unique to you.

If this is all true, then how can anyone lose the weight for you? Oh, you can be given a program to follow. You can be given drugs that suppress your appetite. You can be given food that is expensive, and then be conned that it's magical.

I have been there. I know about what I am speaking. And, I have read many, many, weight loss books. I get tired of reading them. I get tired of the stuff that's out there.

Your key to losing weight is you, yep you, no one else. That is, unless you want to pay someone to lock you in a room and feed you under the door like animals in a zoo. That might work.

Forget the notion that you have a weight loss goal too. There is no goal. Here is why, because once you achieve that magical weight zone you want to be in, you'll still have to eat less than you did before.

Yep, as soon as you get to where you want to be, then you will forever have to monitor your weight. This weight losing thing is a life long program. It's naive to think you can return to your old way of being. That' what got you into trouble.

It's like the alcoholic, or the drug addict that finally gets cleaned up. They can't go back to the old ways. They can't have that drink of alcohol again. They can't have that pill, or joint again, besides it's being illegal.

You and I are food addicts. We ate food for a many reasons. We ate it because we were hungry. We ate food because we were neglected. We ate food because we felt lonely. We ate food because it tasted good. We ate, ate, ate, and ate. Then one day we realized we had a problem.

Like so many people we made a valiant effort to lose the weight. We did, and a few years later there it was again, only this time there seems to be more fat than ever before. I know, I have been there.

Don't think it's not frustrating. It is frustrating. I know that too.

I am offering free advise. I don't say it's easy to do, or follow. Old habits die hard. We are programmed from our birth to eat for many reasons besides eating to live.

We eat for birthday celebrations. We eat for the family reunion. We eat for the Thanksgiving day feast. We eat for the family picnic. We eat, we eat, everyday we eat, more and more.

What will you do? Are you in trouble? Are you seeing bulges you don't want to see? Is there a weight you wish you were? I still want to get down to 160-pounds.

Here is how you do it: "EAT LESS FOOD." That's it. Quit pounding down the candy. Quit pounding down the donuts. Quit eating those giant hamburgers everyday. Quit pounding down the chocolate shakes everyday. Quit eating like tomorrow may never come.

Oh, it's the same thing everyday with this blog. It's the same words everyday. How boring.

I don't care. Go jump in your car. Head down to Dunkin' Donuts. Buy that big muffin. Push that big muffin right up into your mouth. Now, do it tomorrow. Then do it the next day.
Tonight eat that bag of Doritos. (My friend did.) Then she said, oh I don't eat that much.
OK, you don't eat that much.

Then you can be like my brother-in-law who is laid up on his bed because he can't walk. Diabetes caused the nerves in his legs to die. Now, he is a cripple.
He ate at night these big bowls of cereal. He ate at night when he was hungry. He ate like there was nothing wrong. Now, he can't walk.

I don't care. You can go do the same thing. Don't say you weren't given fair warning.

And, I'm not telling you to dive off a bridge with this weight loss thing. You don't have to be that over dramatic.

I am telling you, if you will do those little things and build the habits up, you will lose weight. I promise you will.

Again, don't be deceived. It's not easy. If it was easy to do, then there wouldn't be so many over weight people out there. It can be done though.

Bye for now...

And that's the way it is...I'm David Dane