HOW I LOST 110 POUNDS [Updated]

Many people have been asking me how I was able to lose 100 110 lbs this past year. I do think different methods work for different people. It depends upon the person and his or her lifestyle. Personally, I really wanted to look and feel better, so this is the regiment I developed for myself. This is what has worked for me.

When I fasted a few years ago I noticed much of my eating was based on habits and rituals, rather than appetite. I realized I was more addicted to routines of when and where to eat than anything else. It was more mental than physical. “It’s this time of day; time to eat this.” “Game’s on; time to eat this.” “I always like to eat this when I do this.” My eating was more about the comfort of familiar repetitions than shear hunger. I concluded that, to lose weight, I would have train or retrain my mind to lose weight and then keep it off. Therefore, I established 9 rules from various sources to follow religiously in order to train my mind to naturally follow particular routines.

1)            Get on the scale every morning. Let what you see determine how you’re going to eat that day.

2)            Drink 3 or more bottles or glasses of water a day.

3)            Don’t eat after 7:00pm.

4)            No snacking (my only exception is eating popcorn at the theatre).

5)            No sodas (again, my only an exception is the theatre).

6)            Eat very small portions.

7)            Eat slowly, chewing your food, so you fill up quicker.

8)            Eat foods that fill you up quicker, like blue cheese.

9)            Eat out of aesthetics, not appetite.

This last one is peculiar to me but fits my personality. In the movie Ratatouille, the food critic Aton Ego states, “I don't like food, I love it. If I don't love it, I. Don't. Swallow.” I made this my credo. I deliberately chose not to waste calories on poor and mediocre foods. I chose to save my appetite for the food that’s best. For years, I’ve made a practice of not watching films and TV shows that are bad or mediocre just to watch them. Instead, I diligently do my research into a show or film to see if it meets my standards. The same is true for books, music, and restaurants. Now I only watch, read, and eat what is great. I no longer eat because I am hungry; I eat because it appeals to my aesthetic values of proper gastronomy. This is about delayed gratification. This is about making a bargain with the future. This works for me.

In everything, this is about loving being thin more than liking food. There are definite physical and psychological benefits from being thinner. Once you experience the benefits, it’s easier to appreciate the sacrifice. Having lost 100 pounds, I now feel better and enjoy some increased physical benefits. For example, for many years I found that I was having difficulty putting my socks on. I was unbalanced and couldn’t reach my foot. At first, I thought it was just my age. However, one day, after having lost 50 pounds, I suddenly found myself standing on one leg, lifting my foot up, and easily slipping on my sock. I was quite surprised. The cause had been weight all the time.

So these are the rules that helped me lose weight. Again, it was about changing my mindset and, therefore, my routines. It was about situating myself to run along new grooves until they became commonplace practices that I didn’t have to even think about. In essence, it was conforming to new patterns and being transformed by the renewing of my mind (Romans 12:2).