Part One: Groundwork

Chapter 1: The Truth About Weight Control

Extremism in pursuit of permanent lifestyle change is no vice.

Moderation in defense of failure to change is no virtue.

-Daniel S. Kirschenbaum, PhD, in The 9 Truths about Weight Loss

Losing weight is hard. Keeping it off is even more difficult. Anyone who tells you that it is as simple as eating X, Y, and Z is wrong. Eating is wrapped up in emotion, and it plays a big part in the social fabric of our lives. But it is ultimately something you can control if you decide to. Once you have decided-really decided-to take control, it gets easier.

Following is a quick list of statements that you should accept as truths to prepare you for successful weight loss. As you read through them, decide if you agree with them before moving to the next one. They are not in any particular order. Read the entire list and mark the top 10, the ones that speak to you the most right now. Those are the ones to start with. Write them down and put the list somewhere visible. Read the list every day. If you balk at any of the statements, take the time to work through them in your head, check facts, talk to others, and accept that these really are true statements.

1. I will succeed when I stop making excuses.

   Reasoning: Every time I have started a program and failed to meet my goal, it has been because something got in the way. I got off track due to a circumstance outside of my control, or I lost motivation. The only one who decides what I put into my mouth is me, regardless of circumstances. I can always say no to poor quality food, I can always eat less than I am offered, and I can always just be hungry for a few hours. Throwing in the towel because my life gets stressful or because eating well is inconvenient is an excuse. As long as I allow circumstances or other people to control what I eat, I will stay overweight. There is no perfect time to lose weight and it is never easy.

2. Getting back on track right away after a setback is critical to my success.

   Reasoning: No matter how well I plan, things will go wrong, and there will be events outside my control. My motivation will wane at times, and I will give in and overeat. The damage done by eating one particular thing or having a few bad hours is not such a big deal. It only becomes one when I look at it as a failure and I decide to give up and eat more. I can keep those bad patches very short and will learn how to do so. Every time I get back on my plan after a setback, I know I will feel empowered.

3. I must learn to happily consume fewer calories for the rest of my life in order to achieve lifetime weight control.

   Reasoning: I am not willing to suffer and feel deprived for the rest of my life, but I want to lose weight and keep it off. So I have to find a way to be happy and satisfied with a healthy diet that keeps me lean. This is a task I must accomplish on my own by controlling my thoughts and expectations-just like I have to do when I go through long training days and difficult races. I understand that this is a mental game and that I can prevail.

4. Every powerful food thought makes it easier for me to achieve my goal.

   Reasoning: I sometimes feel that I am at the mercy of food, that it calls to me, and that I am under a spell. But food is just food. It has particular smells, tastes, and textures my brain and body respond to, but I have ultimate control over the thoughts I associate with certain foods. I can learn to find less pleasure in certain foods, and I can learn to enjoy other, healthier foods. I need to pay attention to my food thoughts. If I train my food resistance muscles like I train by body, I will get better at it, and weight control will be easier.

5. If I not am vigilant about what I eat, I will gain weight no matter how much I train.

   Reasoning: When I started training for triathlons, I lost some weight, but then the weight loss stopped. I can only train a certain number of hours per day, and sometimes I feel like a slave to this sport! If I trained for huge races all the time, I could lose more weight, but I don't want to do that. I have other interests and obligations in life beyond training. I have come to realize that I have to be careful about what I eat all the time. If I take time off training, if I get injured, if I-heaven forbid-lose interest in racing, I still want to be lean, so I have to focus on the food-not on the training.

6. The only decision I have to make is to stay on my plan at this moment, no matter what.

   Reasoning: My decisions in this moment are the only way I can influence my weight in the future. Making deals with myself to stick to the plan later today will deprive me of my power in this instant. I do not have to carry the burden of what to do 5 minutes or 5 hours from now. All I have is right now.

7. It is important to rewire my thoughts, beliefs, and feelings about food so that weight management stops being a struggle.

   Reasoning: I have never really tried to direct that energy to changing my thinking about food. I always used up my energy thinking about what and how much to eat. The thinking part always seemed like a waste of valuable time.

   My thoughts about food and weight loss seem normal and, therefore, not something I will have to change. But I understand that if I want to eat differently for the rest of my life without feeling deprived, I will have to change the way I think about food. Otherwise, I will feel deprived all the time, and I don't want that.

   For a complete cognitive overhaul of your thinking, see The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person by Judith S. Beck [Oxmoor House, 2009].

8. Restaurants, fast food, and the food industry are interested in profit, not in my health. They create foods that are extremely tasty and addictive. I need to eat less of those foods.

   Reasoning: Restaurant foods, especially fast foods, are so appealing. I cannot imagine doing without them. I understand that I have stronger reactions to some foods than to others. It makes sense that I would want fatty, sugary, and salty foods because those are the kind of foods that kept my ancestors alive long enough to reproduce, but they are not ideal for long term health. "Listening to my body" is not as important as using my intellect to make good choices.

   For more about the food industry that fuels our food addictions, see Salt Sugar Fat: Explore the Dark Side of the All-American Meal, America's Food Addiction, and Why We Get Fat by Alexandra Kastor [A&S Publishing, 2013]; The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite by David A. Kessler [Rodale Books, 2010]; and articles by Dr. Joel Fuhrman at www.drfuhrman.com.

9. I am still on track as long as I continue with my plan, no matter what the scale says today.

   Reasoning: The changes that I am making in my mind are more important to my long-term success than the number on the scale today. Even if I hit a plateau or I retain water, which happens often after a big workout (due to inflammation), eating well is making currently invisible changes to my metabolism and my body composition. I want to develop habits that will eventually get to me to the weight that is healthy, attractive (I like looking lean), and sustainable. Those habits need to be r developed no matter what the scale shows on any given day.

10. The Social media, commercials and my friends and family are full of misinformation about healthy eating and weight loss. I must find my own reliable sources of information and depend upon those.

    Reasoning: The amount of available information about "healthy eating" and "weight loss" is staggering! It seems like there are new studies published every day saying this is good for you and that is bad, and then the next day those claims are contradicted. I don't really know what to believe.

    I understand that companies often fund their own research in order to support their claims about the healthiness of the food they are trying to sell. I am not equipped to analyze every bit of research that is reported in the media. I am not a nutritionist, and I can't possibly evaluate the validity of everything I read. But it makes sense that if I can find a reputable organization or person that does take the time to do this, I can rely on that source of information. If the source is not out to make a profit on their advice, it is even better.

    (Nutritionfacts.org is a non-profit organization created by Dr. Micheal Gregor. Dr. Gregor has devoted his career to evaluating nutrition research and summarizing it in a way that it is useful for public consumption. Start with nutritionfacts.org as a source of information for now and keep a critical eye out for valid nutrition information from other sources, such as DrMirkin.com, ForksoverKnives.com, and DrFurhman.com.)

11. Dieting is the same as lifelong weight control

    Reasoning: If I look at dieting as a temporary state, it is something I am either "on" or "off," and when I reach my goal weight, I will eventually be "finished" with it. This notion is precisely why I have never kept the weight off. Instead, I have to understand that my weight-loss program is really about eating to feed a smaller (leaner) version of myself. In time, my body will shrink into the amount I am feeding it. The way I eat to lose the weight is my new way of eating for life. I have to learn the skills and keep applying them for the rest of my life if I want to stay lean.

12. Eating a healthy diet is not as extreme as the medical interventions that will be required...