THE key to losing weight is STAYING conscious from the moment you're thinking about eating until the moment you've moved on to other tasks. During that time, KEEP thinking about how NOT eating is your reward: you'll look better, be healthier, have more energy, etc. Your motivator can even be something one wouldn't expect. For example, a time-conscious person might eat out less by reminding himself, "It will take less time for me to grab something at home."
Remember too that it takes 20 minutes for your brain to recognize you're no longer hungry. So eat little and move on to some other task, rather than eating until you no longer feel hungry, let alone feel full.
I suggest you tape a sign "STAY Conscious!" on your refrigerator and another one on your dashboard, to remind you when you're out. Read it aloud often to lock the concept into the forefront of your mind.
And if, despite staying conscious, you choose to eat something calorific, it's probably okay. You've made a conscious choice that, at that moment, the pleasure was worth the calories.
I'd love to know if this little post ends up helping you.
Fantastic blog post Marty. I enjoy how you can get to the point, quickly.
ReplyDeleteHi Marty, great post and great show today as well!
ReplyDeleteStaying conscious is critical.
When we think about buying a piece of cheesecake at the bakery when it is not the best for us to do so, it helps to recall that this cheesecake purchase is NOT composed of just one decision.
There are NUMEROUS points along the way from making the decision to purchase the cheesecake to actually finish eating it.
Each of these points is an opportunity to change your mind.
For example:
You can enter the bakery and then leave the bakery.
You can enter the bakery, look at the cheesecake and then buy a bagel instead.
You can enter the bakery and, when greeted by the clerk, say "I'm just looking", use the rest room and walk out.
You can enter the bakery, buy the cheesecake and throw it away.
You can enter the bakery, buy the cheesecake, eat half and give the other half to a homeless person.
THE POINT BEING THAT IF YOU REMAIN FULLY CONSCIOUS FOR THE ENTIRE PROCESS you have a MUCH better chance of having your results aligned with your goals.
For me personally, being fully conscious means that I am making about 25 individual decisions each minute.
STAYING FULLY CONSCIOUS. Right on Marty, this is essential!
Matt From Millbrae
The only way to "stay conscious" is to train your mind through meditation. It's impossible to stay conscious if your mind is like a kettle full of boiling water. What happens when you're in the grip of a strong craving for food? Unless you know how to be aware of your craving and impose a little self-discipline, you will succumb to your old habits.
ReplyDeleteGreg, I'm not convinced that meditation is "the only way" to stay conscious. Indeed, the pool of meditators I know are more scattered than the pool of non-meditators. I know there are co-varying factors, but certainly, it's dangerous to claim that meditation is the ONLY way to stay conscious. Beware of being a True Believing Zealot about anything.
ReplyDeleteIt's a bit of a leap to go from being a meditator to a "True Believing Zealot." I think you should re-examine this belief. Do you even know what meditation is? Have you ever tried it? How large is the "pool" of meditators that you know? Meditation can be anything from watching your own breathing for a few moments to spending months in a retreat. Do you really think that over the millenia millions of monks and priests have willingly abandoned a conventional lifestyle to go meditate in a monastery because they were all scattered in the head? It's an incredibly powerful and effective set of mental training techniques. It has nothing to do with transcending reality. Don't look down your nose at meditation. Many people do it wrong or are led astray by false ideas of what it actually entails.
ReplyDeleteGreg, it is being a "True Believing Zealot" to assert that the only way to stay conscious is to meditate.
ReplyDeleteWith regard to my own knowledge of it, 38 years ago, when I first came to California, I was proselytized to meditate (TM.) I did it for a few months and stopped when I saw no benefit. Since then, living in the Bay Area, I have seen countless meditators and non-meditators. And, as I wrote, while there, of course, are many co-varying factors, it seems to me that, on average, the meditators are flakier (seemingly less able to stay conscious) and less efficacious than the non-meditators. One observer's experience.
I do not meditate and I was able to kick a rather nasty caffeine habit, three double cappuchinos a day.
ReplyDeleteI did it basically by staying conscious, knowing there are SCORES of little decisions that go into buying a cup of coffee EACH ONE OF WHICH is a link in the decision chain that can be broken.
Going up to the counter, for example, and changing your mind and buying a bagel.
Going up to the counter, for example, and changing your mind and ordering a smaller size.
Going up to the counter, for example, buying the coffee and then throwing it out.
ONE OTHER THING THAT HELPED, other than being fully conscious was WEANING myself from it, like a mother weans a child from the tit, teasing, nursing, playing, back and forth rather than brute force punishment if I should deviate from the plan.
But Marty's two words here STAYING CONSCIOUS provides the key to quite a few of life's mysteries.
And you DON'T need to meditate to follow his sage advice.
I don't oppose mediation. Far from it.
But it ain't mandatory.
Matt from Millbrae