Lose Weight By Writing

Write it down and lose weight!

I can almost guarantee you will lose weight if you start writing down every bit of food you eat. Try it for a week, try it for a month. You will soon see a difference in the type and amount of food you're eating. The whole idea is to be totally, brutally honest. After all you'd only be cheating yourself if you weren't.

Listen for the foods that hum to you. Look at your list and recognise how many of those foods hummed to you and which ones beckoned. (Read the first post in this blog if you haven't yet) If you keep writing and listening your list will gradually change. Stop finishing your dinner just because it's 'there'. If your body is telling you enough, better in the trash than in your stomach. (and no starving children across the world will suffer because you didn't finish everything on the plate!) NEVER eat just to be polite. It's easy to say a gracious 'no thanks' when that second helping of dessert or cake is offered.

As easy as it sounds, writing down every morsel of food that passes your lips is sometimes quite difficult to do. You can't very well be scribbling notes over dinner with friends. But you can take mental notes and keep your list handy so that you can update it when convenient. If you leave it until the end of the day you'll find yourself forgetting things for sure.

Here's my list for week 3.

My food intake from Sunday 21 Jan to Saturday 28 Jan

2 black coffee
sml vanilla yogurt
2 nectarines
bowl muesli
Baileys/vodka over shaved ice
Bowl Spag Bol
pineapple juice

2 black coffee
2 pieces Bergen seed toast w vegemite
1 nectarine
1 fruits of forest muesli bar
1 miniz ice block
piece grilled fish on lettuce
1 potato with butter and coleslaw
pineapple juice

2 black coffee
bowl muesli
glass energy cocktail (banana/OJ/carrot)
4 cad roses chocolates
10 Allens naturals jubes
grilled fish w coleslaw
1 small potato
pineapple juice

2 black coffee
1 wholegrain toast w crab pate
glass energy cocktail (banana/guava juice/carrot/yogurt/nectarine)
6 cracker biscuits w seafood dip
laksa w noodles, prawns, chicken and chinese veg
4 fantales & 10 jaffas
pineapple juice

2 black coffee
1 english muffin w jam
glass juice (banana/guava juice/carrot/yogurt/nectarine)
1/2 TimeOut choc bar
2 italian fairy cakes
3 slices pizza
pineapple juice

2 black coffee
glass energy cocktail (banana/guava juice/carrot/yogurt/peach)
handful smarties
1 cadbury roses choc
grilled fish
Greek salad
1 nectarine
pineapple juice

Maintaining a Lifestyle

"Sharing a meal with friends causes people to eat 33 percent more than they would on their own". That doesn't mean you should eat your meals in solitude, simply to be aware of the extra food you're eating without thinking as you talk.

If you're around my height and bone structure (you can judge yours by the circumference of your wrist), before you think you'd starve to death on a menu like mine, consider what humans really do need to live and be healthy. I am not too thin and certainly healthier than most people I know so you could do worse than take a few tips from these lists! Diets can be effective to take weight off, but what then? It's only a change of lifestyle that will have long term effects. The whole problem of obesity is simply the fact that we eat too much, and too much bad food that is the cause of so many physical problems.

ALL my food from Sunday 14 Jan to Sat 20 Jan

2 x black coffee
1 croissant w jam
yogurt muesli bar
glass berocca b
prawn omelette with rice
slice fruit cake
pineapple juice

2 x black coffee
1 croissant w jam
1 banana
yogurt muesli bar
leftover prawn omelette
3 dark chocolates w soft centres
pineapple juice
2 Sao crackers w peanut butter

2 x black coffee
1 slice wholegrain toast w butter and vegemite
1 yogurt muesli bar
1 apple
4 pieces from block of chocolate
Thai chicken curry w rice
pineapple juice

2 x black coffee
1 slice wholegrain toast w marmalade
1 cherry ripe
1 apple
turkey slices w coleslaw
pineapple juice

2 x black coffee
1 slice wholegrain toast w vegemite
1 apple
glass berocca b
turkey slices with cranberry sauce
piece fruit cake (still eating Xmas leftovers)
pineapple juice

2 x coffee
Danish pastry w spinach & ricotta
1 forest fruits muesli bar
1 banana
cheese, lettuce & vegemite wholegrain sandwich
pineapple juice

2 x black coffee
bowl crunchy meusli
small vanilla yogurt
10 soft sweet jellies (Allens Naturals)
sml glass beer
2 BBQ marinated pork ribs
1 potato
Greek salad with pinenuts
pineapple juice

The Food We Eat In a Week!

This food list, every bit of food I ate for the last week, may seem like a small amount, but I assure you I am never hungry. And weeks vary, some weeks I eat lots of vegetables, sometimes more meat, occasionally dairy products like cheese or yogurt - never milk as I have a natural aversion to the taste probably the result of being a bronchial child not allowed milk as mucous-causing. Anyway it's never hurt me and I certainly don't seem to suffer calcium deficiency. My fingernails are as strong as hard plastic and my teeth are good! Most days I drink quite a lot of water. Sometimes I pig out on something that hums to me, could be anything from chocolate cake to pickled herrings.

With so much beautiful food around it's not surprising most people in western society overeat. It's very tempting. It's a national pastime to cook and share gourmet foods with friends. I don't see anything wrong with that except the amount we consume. Far more than we need to have a healthy body. If everyone cut down on their consumption even a bit, we wouldn't be facing the problems associated with obesity as our society gets fatter and fatter! The diet industry would go out of business if we all took responsibility for our own bodies and stopped blaming outside factors, genetics or anything else. It's simple - you really ARE what you eat!

I am 5' 4" (163cm) and have had a constant weight between 110 and 120lbs (50 - 54K) for the last 20 years. I have never dieted and do very gentle leg and arm weight exercise mostly to keep muscle toned. Face exercises too. They don't do much for weight but help keep toned. Weight-bearing exercises are recommended at any age, not only for toning muscles but supposedly improving memory and mental alertness. As a grandmother of teenage girls we share the same clothes size! (They're more likely to wear mine than I am to wear theirs!)

The list below is just one week of my food intake and in order to show a fuller variety of menus I am continuing my notes and will post each week in the hope of inspiring you to do the same. It's not meant as a diet, don't go hungry. It is a list of the food that hummed to me and satisfied my hunger. Everyone will be different. Just for a week, try writing down every morsel of food and drink you have. It hardly needs to be said you must be totally honest and not leave anything out, not even a peanut! A lot of eating we do almost automatically and keeping a list will make you stop and think. Maybe you don't really want that second piece of cake, it won't look good on the list!

Please come back to post your list and share your comments.

ALL food from Sunday 7 January 2007 to Saturday 13 Jan
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2 x black coffee
1 slice wholegrain toast & vegemite
2 passionfruit
Laksa - noodles, fish, prawns
pineapple juice

2 x black coffee
1 slice wholegrain toast & vegemite
1 apricot danish
small bowl meusli
2 enchiladas
mineral water
pineapple juice

2 x black coffee
1 passionfruit
small bowl meusli
2 yogurt meusli bars
large bowl salad
1 slice wholemeal bread w proscutto
1 piece fruit cake
pineapple juice

2 x black coffee
1 slice wholemeal toast w proscutto
1 banana
1 nectarine
glass berrocca B
1 baileys & vodka on ice
Thai chicken curry w rice
pineapple juice

3 x black coffee
2 nectarines
ham, cheese, salad on turkish bread
2 x macadamia cookies
few grapes & cherries
1 vodka and tonic
hamburger w salad on bun
pineapple juice

2 x black coffee
KFC zinger burger
sips of mountain view
1 butter cookie
8 oysters natural
grilled fish, salad, few chips
slice fruit cake
pineapple juice

2 x black coffee
1 croissant w jam
1 banana
1 nectarine
Udon noodles w asian veg & chicken
frozen berry cream dessert
pineapple juice

Food that Hums versus Beckons

I have followed the principle of eating food that "hums" to me, food that seems exactly right for me at the time. It's a matter of developing an awareness of what your body is saying and taking heed. If you start to feel full as you unthinkingly polish off all the food on a plate someone has served, STOP eating! Never keep eating when your body tells you enough. Where would you rather see those extra pounds, on your hips or in the trash!

Here is an insight into our food cravings and the difference between food that hums to you and food that beckons. Take note and you will gain control of your body and maintain the weight that is right for you.

Food is categorised into two kinds: ones which you want because of an inner craving, and ones you want because the stimulation comes from the outside. Much eating is a craving for sensation. It can also be a craving for a specific food. That can be tied into security feelings associated with food. It can also be tied to reward foods or comfort foods.

Specific foods which you crave "hum to you"; it's like something that's coming from within, a tune you can't get out of your head. And you can do a lot of eating around the food that's humming to you if you don't allow yourself to get it.

"Beckoning" foods don't come from the inside. You usually see them and then you want them. You're walking down the street and you see something in the bakery window. You can eat these foods and they will taste good, but they're not really satisfying a craving or a hunger. They're just there. Beckoning foods are foods you can overeat, especially if you are ignoring what you really want and going with what's beckoning rather than what's humming. You don't feel deprived if you pass them up. It may take an effort not to eat them when they're available but afterwards you don't think about it.

It's important to keep track of the difference. The humming food is what you'll really be pleasured on, satisfied, and you'll feel deprived if you don't have it. It's food that comes from an inner need. With food that "hums" you usually know you crave it without seeing it. The trick is to make distinctions, not to make prohibitions.

The minute you classify any food as forbidden, then you have deprivation and rebellion, "No-one is going to tell me what to do, not even myself!" The focus is not a negative one of cutting out something but a positive focus on "What do I really want?" Eventually you will get to a point where you're eating what you really want and need. And NOT eating what you don't want or need. Much of people's eating is a waste of sensation. Can you really taste much at a dinner party when you're busy talking?

One way to start is to eat only when and what you really want. Don't eat just because it's mealtime. Spend a moment before you eat tuning into how your body feels and if you're really hungry. If you only eat dinner to get to dessert, forget the dinner and go for the dessert! - From 'Getting Clear - body work for women' by Anne Kent Rush

Following this guide to listening for food that hums means I usually eat quite a lot less than most people and sometimes my diet must look erratic to others. However it evens out and must be healthy because as a 50 something female I am slim and fit, the same size I was in my 20s and haven't been near a doctor for at least 10 years. In case you think I follow some sort of healthfood diet, I don't! I eat chocolate and KFC or anything else that hums to me. To give you an example and hopefully some inspiration, I intend following this post up with an example of all the food I eat in a week. Meantime, start listening for that humming!