Weight Control Cliches to Live By

Like most everyone else, I have to exercise regularly and eat properly to stay healthy, strong and within my normal weight range. This is something I have to work at every day. I am not naturally strong or slim. I also have a history of bulimia, an eating disorder that involves bingeing and vomiting. There are times when old attitudes and habits come back to haunt me. I have found that it helps to "talk" to myself when the goings gets tough. There are certain phrases I repeat to myself (almost like a mantra) to demolish those old thought patterns. I call them weight control cliches to live by.

I wish I could say I created these cliches but I didn’t. I have either borrowed them from weight loss experts or adapted them from existing cliches that originally had nothing to do with weight control. They may not all work for you. Take what you need and re-invent the rest to suit your needs.

Eat for health most of the time; eat for taste some of the time
In an ideal world, everything that tasted good would be healthy for us. But in the real world, there are many things that are absolutely delicious but are disastrous for our health if we eat them all the time. This is not to say, of course, that only unhealthy things taste good. There are also many things that are both healthy and delectable. The point here is that if you eat for health most of the time and eat for taste only some of the time, you can control your weight but still have your favorite goodies.

Out of sight, out of mind
This is one of the tricks that really work for me. I don’t keep sweets or junk food in my house. If I don’t see the stuff, I won’t be tempted. And even if I am tempted in, let’s say, the middle of the night, there is nothing in the house for me to munch on except healthy things like fruits. This doesn’t mean that I am depriving myself because if the craving is really strong, I can always buy my "stuff" (in a small package, of course) at one of those 24-hour convenience stores. However, this rarely happens because it is usually too late to send the driver and I am too lazy to go out myself.

A few years ago, I helped a good friend move into her apartment in the U.S. Since I wouldn’t let her bring home any junk food (both for her sake and mine), she started to lose weight while I lived with her. Believe me, we did have our "fun" moments but they were kept under control by not bringing the temptations home with us.

The Fifteen-Minute Rule
Dr. Stephen Gullo, psychologist and author of "Thin Tastes Better", says that cravings are like a wave. They rise up to a crest and then they eventually come crashing down. If you can ride out the "wave" without giving in to the craving, you will discover that, most of the time, you don’t want whatever you were craving for anymore. However, for this to work, you have to keep yourself distracted for fifteen to twenty minutes. Tell yourself that if you really want that chocolate bar or bag of potato chips, you can have it but only after fifteen minutes. Keep in mind that you are not depriving yourself. You are just giving yourself a chance to decide whether you really want that high-calorie snack (or second serving) or not. Giving in to impulses the minute you feel them is not a wise thing to do whether it concerns food or other things in life like wanting to smack the face of the person you are arguing with. Giving yourself time to calm down is always a good idea before making a decision.

Eat as if you were not exercising. Exercise as if you were overeating
The biggest mistake I see people make concerning exercise and weight loss is that they think they can eat as much as they want because they are "burning" the calories away with exercise. Unfortunately, studies show that people usually underestimate what they eat and overestimate how much they exercise. This means that your calories in/calories out equation will usually be off-balance. I have to keep reminding myself of this because I am also tempted many times to have that second serving of whatever because "anyway, I will burn it off tomorrow".

Skillpower is better than willpower
This is another gem from Stephen Gullo. To depend on willpower when it comes to food or exercise is very foolish because hunger is a primitive instinct and we have an inborn tendency toward sloth. It is much better to use your "skillpower" to prevent temptation from happening in the first place ("out of sight, out of mind") or to motivate you to do the right thing (exercise with a buddy). Plan your way to success. For example, bring healthy baon to work so you have the right stuff to snack on or prepare your workout clothes the night before so you have fewer excuses not to exercise the next day.

Food is not the enemy and exercise is not punishment
Long ago, when I struggled unsuccessfully with my weight, one of my problems was my attitude towards food and exercise. Food was the enemy that I had a love-hate relationship with every day and exercise was my punishment for overeating. What a miserable state I was in. It took me quite a while to realize that food and exercise are God-given gifts to nourish and strengthen my body. It was only when I began to enjoy my food within healthy limits and enjoy my exercise time as a way to relieve stress and anxiety that the weight finally came off – safely, slowly and permanently.

Tomorrow is another day
A reader told me about this one. She was actually on one of those fad diets that are not too healthy for you in the long term but also have a few good points. The good thing that she learned from this diet is that you don’t have to scarf down the entire pizza as if today was your last day on earth. There will always be another day for you to enjoy pizza. So eat moderately today because, like Scarlet O’Hara said in "Gone with the Wind, "Tomorrow is another day".

Eat slowly, eat less. Eat quickly, eat more
When I eat slowly, I eat less because I take the time to really savor my food. My taste buds are satisfied and my stomach tells me when I am full. When I eat quickly, I hardly taste my food and I can eat two servings, one right after the other, without even realizing that I am already full.

Feed your stomach "physical" food. Feed your heart "emotional" food
One thing I learned from my experience with bulimia is that we are not always stomach-hungry, many times we are heart-hungry. I used food to feed my heart when I was depressed, angry, hurt, sad or bored. What my heart really needed was time to pray, talk things over with a good friend, or curl up with a meaningful book. Over the years, I have learned to listen closely to my body and determine whether it is my stomach or my heart that needs "feeding".

Do not go hungry
I don’t know about you, but when I am hungry, I have absolutely no control. I will eat just about anything you put in front of me and in large quantities too. Therefore, I make it a point not to go hungry. This means I need a snack (like a fruit, whole wheat bread, or a glass of skim milk) at ten o’clock in the morning and four o’clock in the afternoon. That way, I am in control during lunch and dinner.

The devil is in the details
This works for me because it reminds me that the small things count. Like a few cookies everyday can add up to a pound or two by the end of year. It also reminds me to look at nutrition labels because there are many surprises hiding there. What you think is low-calorie or healthy is not always so. I am, by no means, an obsessive calorie watchdog and I don’t think anyone should be either. That is a prison cell I have been in and I have no desire to return there. But I have also gone the other extreme and have paid the price.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is
I know I advocate the "boring" advice to exercise regularly and eat sensibly but I am human too and also get tempted to fall for the latest weight loss gimmick. Who doesn’t want the easy way out? Hey, it would suit me just fine to lie down and let the fat ‘miraculously’ melt away from my body. I would love to eat whatever I wanted on an every day basis. However, I know from experience that human anatomy and physiology being what it is, this is not going to happen no matter how much I wish it did. Whenever you hear about the "ultimate" in fat loss, remember that "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is".

Continue reading here: Pros and Cons of Super Slow Training

Was this article helpful?

0 0