I do hope this post does not break any rules. In that case, I will delete :)
To be able to take this picture is fantastic for me.
In a little over half a year, I lost 30kg or 66.1387 pounds. Sadly, due to health issues, I have gained 15 kg again, and now I am working to lose it again (7 kg lost already so on my way)
When I first started the long-winded road towards my weight loss goal the first time, I scoured the internet and asked people I knew for advice. At the time, the information I got seemed reasonable. Cut this, eat more of that, never do this after that and so forth, but with little results.
After a sobering conversation with a surgeon and a television show, I changed my strategy.
The surgeon is a gastro internal specialist (basically everything that has to do with the stomach).
He told me that he did not perform more weight reduction surgeries because the success rate had been disastrous. While patients before and after the operation were given thorough preparation, where closely monitored and had gone thru all kind of evaluation – they still gained most of the weight that they had lost.
I have two friends that have gone thru different weight-loss operations, and both of them gained their former weight.
The surgeon told me that most patients vastly underestimated how hard to change their habits when there was no external control mechanism to keep them in check.
Then I saw an episode of the British tv-series “secret eaters” where they showed people that tried to lose weight but did not manage it. The common denominator was the fact that they snaked all the time.
This was the key for me – instead of trying all kind of techniques, I started looking at what kind of habits I had. I used MFP, but not to keep calories under control, but recording every single thing that I consumed – almost fanatically.
While doing this, I discovered that I drank eight cups of coffee, in itself not a bad thing. But with sugar and milk in it, it amounted to some calories. At work, there were always sweets all over the place, and without realising it, I was snacking away.
At home, while making food, I tended to take a nibble of what I was eating.
For a month, I noted everything down and discovered that I had eaten healthy, but the bad habits cancelled it out.
I also noticed that my friends did the same thing, not aware of the snaking and nibling that had turned in to habits.
Using the world of marketing psychology and consumer behaviour as a help, I started to see how to change my habits. Funny enough I did not cut away anything, I still eat chips, junk food and continued to drink beer. But I was conscious of how much I consumed, what I had eaten earlier, and what I wanted later that day.
It was not the easiest thing to do, but the results came fast.
Now I know this is not something that would work for everybody.
But many ask themselves why they do not lose weight when they eat healthily and work out. One thing to look at is the habits. Contrary to what one might believe, you are not necessarily conscious about the habits you have. For me, this was the key; maybe it is for you?
