Fat Loss Diary — Day 8
If you’re wondering what happened to day 7, you’re very observant. I didn’t write anything on day 7. Day 7 was yesterday. I ate one bowl of granola in the morning, then didn’t even have a drink for around 10 hours before I ate my evening meal. That was some chicken, some lentils, a small naan bread, and two slices of toast. I also had an apple and cinamon cookie, which my wife cooked the day before. I did a few miles of walking yesterday, and whilst the IT systems at work were down, I resisted the temptaiton to go and consume calorific drinks in pleasant surroundings. It was a good day. It would have been a better day as far as fat loss goes if I hadn’t consumed a high calorie drink in bed whilst watching a netflix show with my wife.
My lack of discipline yesterday hasn’t lead me to ruin. When it comes to losing fat, I define ruin as being heavier than I was when I started. Eight days into my journey, I’m 1kg lighter than I was at the start. I’m travelling in the right direction, but I’m moving slowly. Previously I’ve asked how people who have to put up with weight loss in the magnitude of a pound or two a week stay motivated. Now I find myself having lost a couple of pounds in my first week. I’m still motivated as long as I tell myself I’m moving in the right direction. Then I comfort myself with recollections of concepts from books that talk about the power of compounding, and from observations of how great things are achieved with consistent work and good habits. I extrapolate from 1kg a week to 50kg a year and celebratory fireworks go off in my mind. I feel good for a moment. But it’s foolish.
Having a far off goal or a broad vision is great, but it has to be solid. It has to be rigid and it must be coupled to the realisation that every day I will move away from it, or towards it. Today is the only thing that matters. Maybe I could continue losing a kilogram a week. I’m sure I could, but unless I do the right things today, it’s never going to happen. Unless I am disciplined for the next 24 hours, I can forget it. If you mess up today, you’re kidding yourself. But you get another chance tomorrow. Don’t think about tomorrow today though, the deadline to do something good is 23:59:59!
Let’s talk about hunger. If you want to lose fat, you’re going to have to get used to hunger. Hunger is your body signalling that it will have to burn fat for fuel. That’s all it is. Make this a mantra: Hunger is my body burning fat. For the most part, people who don’t let themselves get hungery are fat. The next time you see somebody eating on the morning commute, take note of whether they’re overweight. You’re more likely to see somebody eating outside of usual meal times when they’re overweight, because overweight people eat more often. They don’t let themselves get hungry. Hunger is not something to be afraid of. Hunger is not something to be avaoided. If you want to lose weight, and especially if you need to lose weight, hunger should be your friend.
Let’s talk about calorie counting. My wife is a fan of calorie counting. It seems to be popular in Japan as well where the incidence of obesity is far lower than it is in the West. South Korea is slimmer still, and has the lowest rate of obesity in the developed world. The important part of the word ‘developed’ in this context is that generally, developed countries are those where everybody can get enough to eat. I don’t count calories, but I do like to know how many calories foods contain, to help me estimate things. Conting calories is too soft and too complex an approach for me. Calorie counting is like having guidelines. When it comes to losing weight, I like rules. Moderation and detail do not work so well for me. Rather than a calorie counting approach, I prefer an ‘eat hardly anything’ approach. If I have a certain diet that sees me losing weight for 2 weeks, then the weight loss stops, the cause is most likely to be a reduction in my maintenance calorie requirements. To continue losing weight, you must cut even more calories from your daily intake.
How would I cut calories further when I don’t count calories? I’d use a smaller plate and make sure it is never loaded. If I’m used to having two sandwiches, I’ll start eating one sandwich. That’s an example. I don’t exist on a diet of sandwiches and nothing else. Maybe I could cut calories by dropping from one meal and one meal replacement drink to only having one meal. These are suggestions. I am not a medical professional. But I know how to lose weight, and I understand the very simple mechanism behind doing so. Over complicating matters will not help you to lose weight.
I’ve been rambling for a little while now so I’ll stop. I’m currently 74kg. I started at 75kg. I’m losing fat, slowly. I’d like to speed things up.
A note on the image used for this article. I was pleased with myself when I wrote ‘Don’t think about tomorrow today though, the deadline to do something good is 23:59:59!’ I thought an image of a digital watch showing that time would be fantastic. But I don’t want to wait until midnight to take a photograph of my watch. I wondered if I could create the image using AI image creation tools, but I couldn’t. Then I carried on writing. After a few more sentnces I thought ‘I’m going on like some sort of professor of fat loss, lecturing a class of fat loss students.’ I typed in ‘lecture’ and the image that came up is the one I used.
Thank you for reading.
Go and be hungry.
