OzCableguy - Journey to fitness: The right formula

The last fortnight I've been putting into practice all the things I've been learning lately about weight loss from a "hormonal" perspective rather than the old "eat less and exercise more" angle. In summary it goes like this -

Get your head right. Write down all of the reasons you want to lose weight and keep it where you can see it.
Get 8 - 9 hours of sleep per night. If you can't manage this, get to the bottom of why & fix it (Sleep apnoea, stress related insomnia etc).
Identify & fix as many causes of chronic mental stress as possible, or at least offset them with positive forms of stress, both physical & mental. (A positive form of stress is one that has a beginning and an end. It triggers the flight or fight response and is then over. Interval training is a great form of positive physical stress).
Identify & fix any emotional traumas that might be causing you to "self-medicate" with food
Identify and fix any addictive practices or behaviours. (This is anything that causes you to tell fibs about what you're really up to or any substance such as nicotine or alcohol that you need on a regular basis. These things are likely to be causing constant levels of physical and/or mental stress that may be triggering a hormonal famine response in your body).
Identify addictive or reactive foods. These are usually foods you get strong cravings for and tend to eat to excess, or they trigger feelings of wanting to eat more even when full, or leave you feeling bloated and lethargic etc.
Eat whole, natural unprocessed foods. Go for:
lots of salad & veges, eggs, poultry & fish,
some dairy, starchy veges and lean red meat, but
avoid any foods that come in a sealed packet, takeaways, deep fried foods, white flour, and sugar. (no cakes, biscuits, lollies or chips).
Have a written meal plan and stick to it.
Don't over-exercise. Try for somewhere between 30 minutes 3 times per week and 30-60 minutes per day depending on your level of fitness. Any more than 60 minutes per day on a regular basis is bad.

The majority of "eat less and exercise more" diet plans rely on willpower, and while willpower is great for getting you started or overcoming an obstacle, it's no match for the long term daily bombardments of intense cravings that come when your body is starving or thinks it's in some kind of famine (which it will assume if you're not eating enough, not eating enough of the right foods, exercising too much, not sleeping enough or experiencing too much background stress).

This is why most people fail at dieting. The theory (of eating less and exercising more) is quite sound but the practice is next to impossible. What usually happens is you get hyped up on willpower and go hard for a week or two and lose an impressive amount of weight. Then the weight loss stops & the cravings start (as your metabolic rate crashes in an effort to stop you from starving). Willpower weakens so you start eating badly again. The kilos come back and usually bring a few friends with them so you end up worse than when you started and also feel like a weak-willed failure with no hope whatsoever.

You're also not likely to succeed if you think you "need" to lose weight or want to lose weight for reasons of vanity. Wanting to lose weight has to come from deep within and has to be a decision that will outlast willpower to see you through on a daily basis for however long it takes to achieve your goal and then keep you there for the rest of your life.

The only way to achieve success is to stop trying to be skinny and start trying to be healthy. Get healthy, and skinny will follow as a natural side effect.

I first started trying this stuff in the week before Easter and dropped 2 kgs over a few days but the biggest change was no cravings! I easily managed to keep my hunger and night time cravings under control and I can't say I've ever experienced that before so it's a major break-through. With a wet Easter spent indoors and a generous Easter Bunny I of course destroyed all that good work but that in itself was a lesson. I learned that I have a fairly severe reaction to wheat (gluten). Gluten products tend to trigger intense cravings in me and make me blow up like a balloon. They also cause me to lose all enthusiasm for anything physical and the feeling can last for 3 or 4 days. Chocolate, lollies and potato chips are my other weaknesses but these just tend to trigger binges with no lasting effects (until I eat them again).

I know now if I make the effort and eat healthy and get my sleep it's easy to stay on target but if I stray from the path it creates a snowball effect of crap and I fail. The "stop trying to be skinny" philosophy is a fairly recent discovery and may be just what I need to make it through the next rainy weekend excuse.

Yes, to lose weight you will need to use more energy than you take in. However, address being healthy first and those things will follow as natural side-effects without any willpower needed whatsoever.

These are my main current resources on this topic -