Just today, I’m not going to eat between meals and I’m not going to take seconds. And I’ll use the tools and guidance from The Hacker’s Diet to help me reach (and keep) my goal.
Even though I know that obesity is forever, I still sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that I’ve got it licked. That feeling of security allows me to do stuff I shouldn’t do — because I can handle it. Which starts me down a destructive path toward weight gain.
I think that since I can handle it, a few saltines won’t hurt. And because I’m in control, I can have a treat at the Border’s coffeeshop. Or that because I haven’t done it for months, I can stop at a bakery and get an apple fritter (luckily they were sold out.) Well, all these things happened in the same week — and they added up to proof that I wasn’t in control. That, in fact, I can barely stop myself from eating foolishly if that switch is shut off in my brain.
Well, the fact is there is no treat on earth worth me weighing 155 pounds again. My goal is to lose 30 pounds. I’m not interested in letting my weight drift up. Remember, I naturally eat like Bulky Blown-up Buster, constantly at the far right of the eating curve. And that’s not going to change just because I’m feeling optimistic after a successful couple of weeks controlling my diet — even if those weeks are almost a year. Since that’s my natural tendency, I’m never going to be safe.
For now, I’ve set my limit at 155 pounds but with every five pounds I lose this year, I’ll lower that limit by 5 pounds until I reach my goal. And that’s how The Eat Watch is supposed to work. Walker says:
Then they put the diet away and rely, once again, on their built-in feedback system to tell them how much to eat. But it’s still broken! Sure enough, their weight starts to creep upward and before long all the progress of the diet is erased. People with a tendency to gain weight need continual guidance about how much to eat. Withdrawing this guidance at the end of a diet, or couching the need for ongoing feedback in a manner that implies, “You’re a fatty, and to be slim you’ll have to spend the rest of your life on a diet” is as deplorable as lending a pair of glasses to a nearsighted person for six weeks, then removing them and saying, “OK. You’re on your own.”
(snip)
To control your weight you set limits to the fluctuation of the trend and plan specific actions whenever the trend line impinges on a limit. As when dieting you only consider the trend; daily weight is used solely to calculate it. The band is a 5 pound region centred around your goal weight; this encompasses the normal week to week variation. There’s no need to be obsessed with a perfectly constant trend line; a couple of pounds more or less aren’t really noticeable and in any case are swamped by day to day changes in weight. If your weight goal is 150 pounds, the band ranges from 147.5 to 152.5, shown as dashed lines on the chart. As long as the trend is within this range, there’s no reason to change what you’re eating. Eat whatever you like, consistent with the calorie burn rate you determined at the end of your diet (see page ).
Now, I’m still in the diet phase of my plan. But I always like to look ahead and dream of what my future might be like. And it’s nice to see that by following The Hacker’s Diet I’m not going to be left on my own like I was after Weight Watchers.
Avoiding the destructive path toward weight gain
Just today, I’m not going to eat between meals and I’m not going to take seconds. And I’ll use the tools and guidance from The Hacker’s Diet to help me reach (and keep) my goal.
Even though I know that obesity is forever, I still sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that I’ve got it licked. That feeling of security allows me to do stuff I shouldn’t do — because I can handle it. Which starts me down a destructive path toward weight gain.
I think that since I can handle it, a few saltines won’t hurt. And because I’m in control, I can have a treat at the Border’s coffeeshop. Or that because I haven’t done it for months, I can stop at a bakery and get an apple fritter (luckily they were sold out.) Well, all these things happened in the same week — and they added up to proof that I wasn’t in control. That, in fact, I can barely stop myself from eating foolishly if that switch is shut off in my brain.
Well, the fact is there is no treat on earth worth me weighing 155 pounds again. My goal is to lose 30 pounds. I’m not interested in letting my weight drift up. Remember, I naturally eat like Bulky Blown-up Buster, constantly at the far right of the eating curve. And that’s not going to change just because I’m feeling optimistic after a successful couple of weeks controlling my diet — even if those weeks are almost a year. Since that’s my natural tendency, I’m never going to be safe.
For now, I’ve set my limit at 155 pounds but with every five pounds I lose this year, I’ll lower that limit by 5 pounds until I reach my goal. And that’s how The Eat Watch is supposed to work. Walker says:
Now, I’m still in the diet phase of my plan. But I always like to look ahead and dream of what my future might be like. And it’s nice to see that by following The Hacker’s Diet I’m not going to be left on my own like I was after Weight Watchers.
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