“The latest trend in dieting is not dieting”…
…says the title of this Atlantic article. Aside from its Zen koan-like contradiction, the title is a little bit misleading—if, like me, you’re old enough to remember that “intuitive eating” as a diet strategy has been around for many decades. Somewhere (I know not where; perhaps in my ex-husband’s voluminous library of the old books I didn’t want?) there is an old diet book on the subject. To the best of my recollection it’s about three decades old—and that sort of time frame for the diet trend of intuitive eating is actually acknowledged in the article many paragraphs in.
So it may be the latest trend, but it’s an old trend in dieting:
Both Tribole and Bahr [advocates of intuitive eating as a non-diet diet] find that in the first week or two, new adherents of intuitive eating do sometimes binge on the things they had always tried to skip. But the two researchers say the vast majority of their clients quickly habituate to burgers or donuts and then crave the variety and nutrition represented by the “healthy” foods they once used as punishment.
“Vast majority”? I very much doubt it. I tried it long ago, and I never stopped wanting to binge on forbidden foods. The non-diet diet requires (or at least, required past tense; I haven’t read its new iterations) an enormous dedication to following rules, although the rules were different than the usual ones. I’m doing this from memory, but the eater had to decide whether he or she was hungry or just wanted to eat, what degree of hunger was present, and what his or her body wanted as opposed to his or her mind and/or emotions.
I never mastered it, and I didn’t know a single person who did. And sorry, even most dogs will overeat if the food is available, and I doubt they have a concept of “forbidden” for treats. Although who knows—maybe they pick up on our messages about what foods are especially yummy.
From the article:
The theory is that if you can have pizza whenever you want, it feels less essential to eat it until you’re uncomfortable when the opportunity presents itself, or to seek out the opportunity at all. Telling yourself you can’t have something, meanwhile, gives it undue power and allure.
Nope; didn’t work that way. Telling yourself you can have all the pizza you want is almost impossible to believe, because you know you can’t. You know that you can’t keep eating pizza indefinitely, although some people might like to, and not just because it’s forbidden. The intuitive diet requires that you disbelieve what you’ve believed for most of your life, and somehow trick yourself into thinking lots of pizza is just fine, and then realize it’s really not pizza that you want.
As it is, I happen to like healthful foods anyway, and eat them often. I don’t eat much junk. But I still crave it, and I still would like to lose ten pounds.
[NOTE: Puleeeze folks, let’s not get into the old Taubes low-carb solution. I’ve discussed many many times how that approach backfired on me. I’m in a hurry and don’t have the time to link to those posts, but a search on the blog for something like “carbohydrate” or “Atkins” or “Taubes” might get you there.]
There is a lot of BS in diet literature. The food pyramid probably did as much to increase obesity as anything. Carbs make you eat more. Atkins was right and is still hated. The “South Beach Diet” is Atkins under another name.
I have tended to gain weight as I get older. I did Jennie Craig for a year and lost a few pounds. Now I have gone back to my liverwurst sandwich diet. I love liverwurst sandwiches so, I eat shredded meat for breakfast and about midday, I have a liverwurst sandwich. I am not hungry until the next day. I lose a couple of pounds a week, even if we have steak a night or two a week.
This is total non-sense. The considerably overweight people I know personally, are eating whatever they please. And the result in many cases is not only aesthetically displeasing, their health and well-being is adversely affected. One is job-hunting right now and I don’t doubt for one moment that she would have landed a job already except for the extra 50+ pounds.
“As it is, I happen to like healthful foods anyway, and eat them often. I don’t eat much junk. But I still crave it, and I still would like to lose ten pounds.” Neo.
This describes me, exactly and after 1 year of trying to take off those ten pounds, only resulting in a back-and-forth of 4-6 lbs, I’m going to have to take it more seriously, as the arthritis in my feet is aggravated by the extra weight at this point.
Low carb, high fat is working for me, but I can see that it doesn’t suit everyone, so I won’t go farther with that. Two things that I have gleaned from that literature might help, though, in general. First: Eat when you are hungry, until you are full, and then stop. Don’t eat because it’s theoretically time to eat, or because you’re nervous or upset, or just because the food is sitting on the counter. The second point, a similar point, which comes from Dr. Jason Fung, is that back when Neo and I were young, there weren’t really a lot of obese people around in the USA. This may be in great part because we ate at mealtimes and didn’t do much snacking in between. The whole category of snack foods, and what to have for snacks between meals, is more recent, as is the rise in obesity.
This approach, combined with eliminating the large amounts of sugar people are consuming these days, would probably solve a lot of problems.
I am 5′ 10, 200 pounds.
A doctor told me I was obese.
I’ve seen obese.
I’d like to loose a few, but I’ll live with this if I have to.
I’d just like for my wife to serve me smaller portions since I was taught to clean my plate and I do.
I hear about Keto, Gluten-free, low carb, high carb, Palio, an wonder what the heck they all mean.
But I love this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ua-WVg1SsA&t=13s
Do you need a diet?
You can eat anything and lose weight if you eat less than your sustainment input.
Should you sustain yourself on donuts and coffee?
You can.
For a while.
Use two scales.
Eat good stuff with a modicum of delicious stuff and weigh it going in and yourself after it comes out.
Moderate based on how pissed off you feel and/or how the parts of your body rage at you.
At our age you know what’s good for you.
I call it a doit diet.
Trust me, it works. I care for people in end of life situations.
But check with your lawyer and doctor before starting because I’m neither.
My wife was fat as a kid, fat as a teenager and was mocked, fat as an adult when I married her. I just thought she’d always be fat.
About 15 years ago she decided to stop eating ice cream because of the discomfort it caused her.
A few pounds dropped off. I bought her a leather coat to celebrate.
We’ve had it taken in a few times, since.
Sheer will power, she’s gone from over 250 to 115.
I open a bag of chips, she’ll taste one and say thanks!
I never knew that petite woman lived inside her.
Good for your wife, Ed!
Sir Roderick Glossop: The Glossop method is based on the patient being given an excess of whatever it is he most desires — as it may be alcohol or the companionship of the opposite sex or, as in Lord Bittlesham’s case, food. The patient will eventually revolt at the sheer immoderation of it and voluntarily deny himself.
Bertie Wooster: Ah, sort of get it out of his system.
Sir Roderick Glossop: Precisely.
Bertie Wooster: Is it successful?
Sir Roderick Glossop: It’s theoretically impeccable, Bertie, and extremely popular.
Bertie Wooster: Yes, yes, I should think it would be.
–“Bridegroom Wanted”, “Jeeves & Wooster,” Season 4, Episode 3, based on the immortal works of P.G. Wodehouse
_______________________________________
I’m not sure this bit is from the master, himself, but it has the spirit.
they make oodles of $$ preying on our fears..great post!
I’m old enough to remember the Scarsdale Diet. I think it was basically the same as the South Beach Diet, and similar to Atkins. Scarsdale and most low carb diets work for me, and I see results quickly. But I inevitably start craving carbs and fall off the wagon. Quickly followed by self-loathing! I actually feel much better (physically) when I avoid processed carbs (white flour) and sugar. But it’s easier said than done.
I have not seriously tried lots of diets, but over the years I have tried to modify my diet to remove high carbs. My argument against diets is that they ignore what your body is telling you. Balance and moderation. I don’t binge on anything and occasionally treat myself.
About 15 years ago she decided to stop eating ice cream because of the discomfort it caused her.
My wife lives on ice cream. Of course, she doesn’t eat much else. Tonight we had steak. she won’t eat anything else for a week.
Huxley:
I don’t recall if Roderick Spode had anything to say about diets to Bertie.
We, me and the missus, eat what we desire, mostly vegetables, fruit, and salmon, with some red meat, poultry, and very few sweets. We also eat grains infrequently. Bacon is a Sunday treat. I weigh within 5 pounds of when I was 18. She remains petite. Our children and now grandchildren are slim and fit. Genetics is a big factor, we all have high metabolisms and are physically active. I am glad excessive weight has never been an issue in my daily life.
We ” eat what we desire,” — the trick is to not desire the things that are bad for you (whatever those happen to be).
A diet rich in vegetables and fruits is healthy.
I am 53 years old and 6’5″ and while I have always been on the larger side, I have been quite active. I started weight training 15 odd years ago. I hiked the Inca trail in 2006 and 2008 and climbed Kilimanjaro in 2010. In 2014, I took up cycling as well and completed the Whistler granfondo 12 months later. I cycle frequently. On Dec. 24, 2016, I weighed 305 lbs (I was so embarrassed – I was weighed at Hilo Airport in front of others). I had managed to eat myself fat by convincing myself that I was fine to eat whenever I was hungry. This approach was supported by the health/body building magazines that I read which advocated eating many “small” (I missed that part) meals throughout the day. I ate myself obese.
In March 2017, I clicked on an article about “intermittent fasting.” Though I had never heard of it before, I googled it and was happy to see lots of material on it. I started the standard 8/16 system and started eating at 10am and stopped at 6pm. During my eating time, I eat whatever I want, which is usually Greek yogurt, fruit sauce and granola for breakfast, meat and veggies for every other meal. I do not count calories though I am mindful of what I am taking in. I love sweets and baked goods and allow myself a chocolate or a small spoon of ice cream per day. I regularly bake raisin bread and cookies (I made peanut butter cookies today and apple pie cinnamon buns last weekend). I have had no problem whatsoever sticking with this diet method.
I have tried restrictive diets and low carb diets before. With restrictive diets, I was always hungry and I felt like I was torturing myself. I could not last long on low carb diets either since I absolutely love carbs and was not (and am not) willing to give them up. Since starting intermittent fasting, I have dropped approximately 65 pounds. It came of slowly and steadily. I am hoping to be down a further 20 pounds by the end of this summer.
I still lift weights but I hit the gym no more than 2 times per week. I love being out on the bike and can’t wait for the weather to warm (I live in Vancouver and it is 6C now). With my weight down, I can comfortably get into a tuck position on my bike which my fat belly kept me from before. I have 3 granfondos lined up for the summer and it should be great. I have no idea what I would have done had I not clicked on that silly article; however, it changed my life. True story.
While it does sound pretty easy to lampoon this one, all diets require being mindful of food choices. I think that’s really the point of a good dieting plan. The reason highly food-restrictive diets, including those with pre-made meals, don’t result in long term weight loss is they offer no support to retraining your eating habits. The best diets guide you into making healthy choices and changing your eating habits. People don’t realize their eating habits caused their weight gain because it happened slowly, and think that if they drop weight by a food restriction plan they will stay at a lower weight even if they go back to their old diet. It doesn’t work.
And yes, it was what you ate. You can’t exercise your way out of bad food choices.
I wish we had a like button, or upvotes.
Grimble +1
The search for the holy grail of a single diet that is effective for everyone continues unabated. Like the search for the Holy Grail this is a fool’s errand. But, it sells a lot of books and captures a lot of internet eyeballs, so I expect it will continue.
Here’s my recommendation for a single, all-purpose, diet for everyone: eat what you like and that makes you feel good and not bad.
Gotta figure out how to stretch that into book length.
16 hours fasting/8 hours eating combined with low carb (<30 grams/day) has me losing a pound or two per week.
I just turned 60 and I was 75lbs over optimal. Started low carb Jan 1 and it worked for a few of weeks then slowed down or stopped. Added the 16/8 fasting Feb 1 and the weight started coming off again. My layman's theory is that my stomach shrinks during that 8pm–noon fasting so when I'm in the eight-hour eating period I feel fuller faster and just don't eat as much.
The 16/8 fasting is the easy part. It's not difficult and actually feels satisfying. The low carb part is definitely the harder part, although carbs are addictive so the fewer carbs you eat the less you want.
I hit the weight machines twice/week and ride my bike 3x/week too. That exercise just keeps my body working; it doesn’t take off any pounds.
Everyone has to find what works for them. But it seems pretty universally accepted in nutrition science that added sugars and processed foods are not good for us and contribute to obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Avoiding those would be a good start for anyone. My two cents: Don’t read ingredient labels; instead eat food that doesn’t have an ingredient label.
I’m too old to care about aesthetics. I just would like to avoid the diabetes and be able to get out of my chair. Not sure I’ll succeed.
The low carb part is definitely the harder part, although carbs are addictive so the fewer carbs you eat the less you want.
Tentatively, I’ve found that to be the case (last six months). YMMV
Sarah Hoyt at Instapundit linked to your article. She said her “intuitive eating” led her to foods that were bland and sweet, and so she subsisted on marshmallows and angel food cake. Not a success, in her mind. 🙂
I’m old enough to remember the Scarsdale Diet.
That “Scarsdale Diet” is dangerous.
It got Tarnower killed.
Of course, his womanizing helped.
You can be skinny and just as unhealthy as as an obese person. I accidentally stumbled upon the way to maintain my weight. Never walk into any aisle in the grocery store. Shop only on the outside of the aisles, butcher, produce, bakery, dairy…make everything from scratch. My son had a food allergy and I had to make everything including mayo and ketchup from scratch until I found what was making a young boy act like a wired up crack addict. During that time i lost 20 lbs and they never came back, that was over 20 years ago. Then the dreaded middle age spread began, so I do the same making from scratch, but added a 20 min workout 4 times a week and 1 hr daily walking. Blood pressure is back to normal and the fat chunks on my back hips are gone. It’s more of a lifestyle change, that has worked better than any diet ever did.
When I was in my late 20s I ballooned up to 218. One look at my fat self in a picture taken at a party started my weight loss. I’ve kept my weight in the mid 170s ever since (50+ years). I think the trick is the same as a story told of G. Gordon Liddy of Watergate fame. At a party he was impressing a young lady by holding his hand over a burning candle until his flesh was smoking. “What’s the trick” she asked? “The trick is not minding it”, Liddy said. That really is for me, the key to dieting. Sure you’re hungry, sure you like to eat, but because you “don’t mind the hunger” you don’t eat and you will lose weight. I went on 1200 low carb calories a day combined with modest running and swimming. I went from 218 to 165. For my height 165 was a little too low so I stay at around 175 and feel great. Easy peazy.
Two perfectly good foods have undeservedly rotten reputations as “junk food.”
One: The all-American cheeseburger. 3-4 oz. (before cooking) of ground beef (which by the way is a complete protein); a small salad, if you have it with lettuce and tomato; perhaps an oz. or 2 of milk; and a couple small slices of bread.
Two: Pizza. Basically an open-faced baked cheese sandwich. If you have it as most do, with tomato sauce, that adds nothing “unhealthy.” If you have it with a meat or shrimp topping, you have an open-faced cheese sandwich with high-quality protein.
Big deal. They don’t deserve their horrible reputations.
By the way. Personally it seems to me that people’s metabolisms vary far too much for a one-size-fits-all approach to diet, let alone to dieting. Personally, the no-carb high-protein don’t-worry-about-the-fat-content worked fine for me in the days when I needed to lose weight. This, by the way, was before anybody even heard of Dr. Atkins. The doc whose book I read warned those who wanted to reduce to stay away from vegetables, which he said would slow weight loss. That might be in part because vegetables have a tendency to add some water-weight. Fruit, of course, is absolutely verboten in any form (because it’s inherently sugary).
Two things will put weight on me if I so much as think about them, never mind actually eating a bite: ice cream (luvvit!) and doughnuts (ditto). If I still had to worry about my weight I’d have to be very parsimonious with those.
My 2¢.
I don’t recall if Roderick Spode had anything to say about diets to Bertie.
om: R. Spode was the fascist leader of the fictional “Black Shorts.” R. Glossop was the doctor who specialized in nervous disorders. Also the father of Honoria Glossop, whom Bertie often had to dodge as a potential wife.
Turns out wiki has a frighteningly complete listing of the stories and television episodes. The Glossop Method is an embellishment added to a television script for “Bridegroom Wanted” based on two stories. It was in Season Four when the tv show had become looser in faithfulness to the original stories.
I concur with the intermittent fasting idea. 16:8 is easy for me.
With any eating routine, I find that having to count and measure food makes it impossible to sustain. Eliminating most sugar, eating whole grains instead of refined white (if eating grains), and refraining from snacking between the two or three meals a day is probably good advice, as is making most things from scratch with real whole food ingredients.
This intentional dieting thing sounds like it’s too complicated.
Julie near Chicago, I saw an online article somewhere in the last couple of days saying that pizza would be a much better breakfast choice than cereal and milk. I agree!
Just follow what professionals do: and profi are ballet dancers and jockeys. Their advice is very simple: eat everything you want,any time you want, but only a half of the amount you want.
Sergey, Neo can tell us if it’s true; but from what I’ve read, one of tricks ballerinas use to stay thin is to adopt bulemia.
There’s a wonderful old Blondie-and-Dagwood cartoon about that. I just tried to write it up, but I’ve lost track of the particulars. Basically, Dagwood says how wonderful — to lose weight you only need to push your chair back from the table after eating half the usual amount. So he does, and says, “That’s wonderful!” Sits down again and says, “Now I’ll have another helping of everything, please.”
LOL! Yeah, that’ll work!
.
Kate, thanks for telling me that. I’ve never heard anybody else say so, and it warms my little heart to know there are sensible people out there — at least you and the writer! — with the noive to say so!
Heh…I’ve been ranting about this piece of dietary advice for years. LOL
–Although the problem is the sugar, and the cereal if you think so. But milk is a complete protein and quite good for you. So have a glass of milk with that pizza!
Of course, his womanizing helped.
He was a childless bachelor somehow able to play the field into his 60s. He used Jean Harris for 14 years as a public companion while playing with other women. She put up with this. It was when he began attending social events with Lyn Tryforos on his arm and not her that she flipped. Not the most sympathetic homicide victim you could locate.
Julie, that what Maya Plisetskaya recommended, The trick is that if you practice such self-restraint several times a day, it becomes your second nature. Almost Pavlovian reflex.
Julie, if I can substitute a couple of slices of cheese instead of the milk, I’m in. Milk has protein; it also has lactose, which means I have to take a lactose pill, AND that lactose is actually a sugar. Thin crust pizza with extra cheese, wonderful!
And I agree with you, too, about the cheeseburger. When I’m traveling and my choices are limited, I will have a cheeseburger for lunch, bread and all.
Huxley:
Roderick mostly wanted to rip Bertie’s head off or stomp him into the lawn because of Roderick’s jealousies regarding Madeline Basset and Bertie. Roderick was also a designer of ladies lingerie. But that’s another set of stories ….
Discipline, people, discipline!
I have not been able to pig out since I became a type I diabetic. Decades ago.
It isn’t actually all that hard!
And it is the key to long-term freedom from kidney failure, blindness and other sordid events including death.
Discipline.
Cicero, your discipline has saved your life and its quality. Good work.
In my case, type II diabetes was looming. Like you, I don’t “pig out” on anything, but also like you, although probably not as strictly, I have to be careful about what I do eat, and when I eat it. I ate the low-fat high fiber diet the government recommended, and that’s how I got fat and near type II diabetes territory. For people like me, LCHF is a lifesaver, as your diet is for you. My A1C and sugar numbers are now normal.
cicero:
That’s the point—that for most people, it takes enormous discipline, and it doesn’t work to just eat whatever you really want to eat and to say that ultimately what you really want to eat will be stuff that’s good for you, minus some potent motivational driver like a diabetes diagnosis.
Something like a diabetes diagnosis is one of the most potent motivators for discipline in the world. However, as I’m sure you know, even that diagnosis isn’t enough motivation for some people to stop eating sugar, for example. That’s how strong the urge can be.
Some dancers are naturally thin and eat whatever they want. On the other hand, some must starve themselves all the time to remain thin. Eating half of what you want to eat means eating (for many people) about 1000 calories a day or less, and still exercising like a workhorse. You are constantly hungry. Some even become anorexic and some bulimic.
It’s rampant and a big problem. I hear it’s also very common in the world of jockeys and of lower-weight-class boxers.
I tried intermittent fasting. It did nothing to help me lose weight. Plus, if I fast, I sometimes will get a migraine.
Your experiences and mine, Neo, illustrate the point that bodies and metabolisms differ. What works well for many just isn’t suitable for others. There are large numbers of people in the USA who could rid themselves of obesity and type II diabetes with diet; there are others for whom that approach just doesn’t work. I recently read a book, recommended by a nurse friend, called “The Secret Life of Fat.” There are a lot of conditions which make the simple dietary changes I made not the solution.
I’d like to lose another fifteen to twenty pounds. (I’m taller than you.) I don’t think it’s going to happen, and I am unwilling to starve myself or make myself ill to do it. I’m accepting that I look and feel pretty good for my age, and getting as thin as I was at twenty just isn’t going to happen.
I’m really sure that pigging out on things I still crave until I’m sick of them won’t help anything!
Kate:
The other thing is that in my case I’m always trying to lose somewhere between ten and fifteen pounds. In other words, I’m relatively close to my target weight, and the closer you get the harder it is to lose weight. But I think I would look and feel better at that target weight. It just seems that it might require starvation to do it.
Neo, same here, about starvation.
The only other idea I have to offer is lifting weights (or doing body weight and resistance exercises). Muscle uses more energy than fat, and there are other benefits as well. I do a couple of Pilates mat classes weekly, and lift hand weights here at home. I think at least ten pounds of my heavier-than-young weight is muscle, and that’s a good thing.
Kate:
Cannot lift weights because of nerve injuries in both arms. I have tried many times and any sort of repetitive movement like that stirs up the nerve pain. Not all repetitive movements do; fortunately, I can type, for example. But I have to stand, and have the keyboard at any exact height, and deviation from that for more than a few minutes ends up backfiring on me. It’s very weird, actually, but if I keep to the rules that I’ve managed to create over the years, based on what works for me, I usually am pretty good (knock wood). I keep trying again (like with weights), but it doesn’t seem to be a good thing for me. I’ve been to trainers. The local Pilates people refused to take me on, after they heard my history.
Oh, I forgot about that nerve damage, Neo. You are right to be very careful. Sorry to hear Pilates people won’t take you. My instructor is a nurse and personal trainer as well as a Pilates instructor, and she has a congenital hip problem, so she is always willing and able to modify exercises for students with problems. You could skip the arm exercises, and I still can’t do pushups anyhow, and focus on the core. I have a friend with a history of back trouble, including surgery, and she, like you, knows exactly what she can do and what she can’t.
Self-moderation, personal responsibility, and self-awareness, go a long way to promoting health habits and consumption.
Neo,
My Pilates instructor is self-employed, works out of her house, and works with people with physical issues. I trust her more than most PTs I’ve been to. However, she focuses in modifications. In addition, she’s a certified yoga therapist and is qualified for doctor referrals and insurance coverage.
I get a Pilates magazine, and there are always stories in there citing people’s lives changing with Pilates in situations of medical problems.
So I think you might want to reach out to more people near you.
There are reasons why gluttony and sloth are enumerated among seven deadly sins in the Western tradition: we can not eradicate these traits but also can not afford to succumb to them, so the only rational choice is to continue to struggle with them all our lives. The best strategy doing it so far is what Dr. Jordan Peterson, a Canadian clinical psychologist and self-help guru recommends in his “12 Rules of Life”: begin with something small and easy, and gradually expand the territory of Order which you conquered from Chaos. There are few people who possess self-discipline and willpower to chose alternative strategy, Maya Plisetskaya was legendary in this respect, but everybody can follow a moderate way proposed by Jordan Peterson.
I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but prayer to overcome temptation works.
Sergey– “…gluttony and sloth are enumerated among seven deadly sins in the Western tradition: we can not eradicate these traits but also can not afford to succumb to them, so the only rational choice is to continue to struggle with them all our lives.” Ed– “…prayer to overcome temptation works.”
Just a couple weeks ago, while contemplating my sins at the beginning of Mass, I confessed gluttony. I’ve struggled for the last 2 years trying to take off this 10 lbs that has re-emerged following a 5 year phase of actually being a few pounds less than I wanted to be (a first time in my life occurence). Yes, gluttony. Eating a larger portion or seconds, when, in actuality I have met every nutritional need. Having dessert, not as a special occasion, but because I can and I want it. I know that as I age my metabolism is a feature in this weight gain, however, as I age I also need less food to sustain good health. Truly I am battling this because of first-world problems–lots of choices and opportunities to overindulge. It is a concerted effort to practice self-control and wisdom, things actually promised by God according to the bible.
Many years ago I picked up a book from a sale table “The 200 Calorie Solution” because I’d been on an 800 calorie diet (under medical supervision) and couldn’t see how _anybody_ could survive on 200 calories. Turned out that the solution was 1) keep track of everything you eat for about a week. Figure your actual calorie intake. 2) reduce your calorie intake by 100 calories per day, averaged. 3) increase your calorie output by 100 calories per day (book had extensive tables of various physical exercises with caloric requirements).
That’s it.
They predicted a weight loss of 10 pounds per year with this method. I didn’t have the patience to put this into effect…but it seems reasonable. As a result of this thread, I’ve been looking for the book online, but what I’ve found doesn’t appear to be the same book – close, but not the same. Not sure about that, though. Still, it seems reasonable – just tough because the truth is that we (I, at least) don’t really want to change our habits…we just want a temporary fix and start over with what got us overweight in the first place!
SueK:
Right off the bat I see some flaws with following that method. The first is that most people cannot track their calories with that sort of exactitude. The second is that many people eat episodically, and might on average eat a lot more one week than another (or be more active one week than another). The method you describe would only work for people with incredibly regular habits.
“prayer to overcome temptation works.” Of course, it does. Here and in many other situations. Any sincere, serious effort in self-control, self-restraint and self-criticism has potential to change a problematic behavior for the better, and a prayer certainly includes all the above.
“Right off the bat I see some flaws with following that method.”
Yup. As with many things…I really liked the idea – but putting it into practice???? That’s a different story!!!
With reference to intermittent fasting, which works well for many here, I want to add that this isn’t really “fasting” in the religious sense. I “fast” from about 7:30 p.m. until noon the next day, but I drink water in the evening, and water and coffee with heavy cream in the morning. If I am doing an all-day “fast,” I add a serving or two of warm bone broth to get me through until 5 p.m.