Jenn

 A frequent question I am asked regarding weight loss and maintenance is about food.  Most people want to know the ‘what’ – what exact food did I /do I eat?

You would think I (and everyone) would be GOOD at eating – lord knows I did enough of it. But what I learned through the weight loss thing was that the excess weight wasn’t just literally what I was eating (although that obviously was, and is, a big factor), but also when and why.

The ‘why’ was actually pretty easy to figure out. I was using food for something it isn’t intended for; food had become entertainment and happiness, and that is NOT food’s function.  I realized I would be sitting at home or at work, my mind wandering to what I would eat next – food was a large part of what I thought about, and I disproportionately looked forward to eating. Food became the highlight(s) of my day.  For five or ten brief, shining minutes I ate something super tasty and went ‘ooooo that’s great!’. Then I went back to my boring job/tv show/other, and began thinking about what I’d eat next.

How did I stop doing that? For one thing, I made my life more fun. I scheduled interesting things for my evenings, or books I wanted to read, got hobbies, went to the gym, saw friends, discovered LOLcats… Food was no longer thehigh point(s)of my day; it wasn’t entertainment, it was fuel for the machine. And that’s what food is intended to be – fuel. The activities became the entertainment, not food.

I also put food and eating into perspective. How many of us remember what we had for lunch yesterday, or last Monday? I know I rarely recall, even if it was really good.  The only reminder I have of things I’ve eaten is my body.  So really, I don’t care anymore if I eat something for lunch I am pretty neutral on.  I may want to eat something crappy and uber-tasty and bad for me, and get all sulky and mopey for a few minutes if I don’t eat it and eat something healthy instead (yes I still get a little mopey over a boring lunch sometimes) but once I’m done eating, I forget what I ate and go on with my day anyway, and feel great because I didn’t eat crap. It’s a choice. I can be faux-happy for ten minutes eating crap, and feel horrendous and guilty for hours afterward and gain weight that will make me unhappy and unhealthy for a much longer time, or I can be semi-disappointed for ten minutes and then feel juuuuuuust great the rest of the day/week/month/year.  It’s giving up a Big Mac, not a million dollars for pete’s sake, I just needed to get some freaking perspective.

It’s about short term vs long-term thinking people. Think long term. Instant gratification was how I got to 220. I changed my thinking to long term, and made food relatively unimportant mentally and emotionally and very important physically.  It’s like saving for a house. If you spend all your money now, you get no house later. Don’t overspend your calories on a crap body now. Save some for an awesome body later.