I hope you are not offended by the question:
How can I begin to get myself free of fat?
I am not saying you are fat. You may be quite slim.
I am simply recognizing that most of us will go through a time—some
of us a long time! –when we wish we could get ourselves free of fat.
All I am going to do is offer you a few ways you could start getting
free of fat, if you ever want or need to.
I went through a period of being fat in my late teens. I remember my
pain in full technicolor.
I know from my own experience that getting free of fat is a hard
freedom to achieve.
Just when you think you have the battle won, you are defeated again.
I went up and down in my weight like a yo-yo.
But achieving lasting freedom from fat is important–for our health,
our appearance, our self respect and our happiness.
I have achieved it, and I know you can, too.
It takes time and it takes sound guidance.
For now, I will just offer you some gentle ideas as a beginning.
Are you with me?
So let’s begin this adventure…
Let’s start with asking ourselves why
Everyone has a different idea about why we get fat.
I respect your point of view. You don’t have to agree with mine!
But to me, when we say “I am unhappy because I am fat!”
I think we have it backwards.
I think it is actually the other way around.
I think we are fat because we are unhappy.
I became extremely unhappy in the period of time before I got fat.
I did not become slim until after I had dealt with my unhappiness.
And I had to keep on building my happiness in order to stay slim.
As a little boost toward your happiness, here is letter you may want
to read in the morning as you start your day:
Dear me,
I am beautiful and brave inside, and no amount of fat will ever have
the power to hide the truth of who I am.
Right now, yes, it gets in the way, but it is just a temporary
annoyance.
I am stronger than the forces that caused me to gain these pounds.
I will ultimately find my way to build my happiness, and then to win
my lasting freedom from this unfortunate burden.
Dr. Hall is with me. She’s been there.
She says victory is sweet and that it will ultimately be mine.
She wishes me blessings and strength.
I will do this. I will take good care of me.
I will do it because I love myself, and I refuse to allow myself to suffer.
Three things we can do
I am willing to bet that you agree with me that being ravenously
hungry all the time is no way to live.
It is hell.
And in the long run, deprivation does not work.
Reducing our hunger, however, can be quite helpful.
So, how do we do that?
Here are three ideas.
Idea #1: We get our INNER tummies smaller.
By “inner tummy” I mean the place inside us where our food goes
when we eat it.
When our inner tummy gets smaller, it takes less food to feel full.
This means we eat smaller amounts.
And by eating smaller amounts often, we prevent hunger pangs.
So, how do we get our inner tummies smaller?
We adopt the practice of “Half now. Half later.”
So, let’s say we are going to have lunch.
We make ourselves a sandwich and we get some fruit, as usual.
But then we cut the sandwich and the fruit in half,
and stash half of it away.
We eat the first half now, and in about 2 hours we eat the rest.
This means we eat 6 times a day instead of 3, half a meal each time.
We also stop using the usual 11”dinner plates.
Now we only use the medium 8” size lunch plates for all our meals.
Please note:
We have not made any change here in the total amount we eat.
By taking these steps, we are simply pacing it.
We are shifting ourselves from a sudden eater into a gradual grazer.
We are going from chomp-it-all-down-NOW to save…some…for…later.
If we are eating out, when we order we simply ask our server to serve
us half now and package the rest to take home.
This change does not cause weight loss. It causes capacity loss.
The size of our inner tummy simply gets smaller.
Once we get it smaller, we take care not to stretch it with a big meal.
A big meal into a small tummy would be painful. Let’s be gentle.
Capacity loss will, over time, allow us to gradually reduce our total
food intake without feeling hungry. It is a very kind way to proceed.
Idea #2: We snack often, on the good stuff.
Even with 6 small meals we will still need snacks to prevent hunger.
So, we create a “yummy drawer” in our fridge.
We fill it with low calorie healthy foods we like (nothing we don’t!)
Blueberries, strawberries, peaches, oranges, low fat cheese sticks,
low cal yogurt cups, mini carrots with low cal yogurt dip ..
and we have fun finding new things for our drawer every week!
Our yummy drawer is where we can go any time and “have a little
something,” as Pooh bear used to say.
Yes, I know.
He got into the honey pot…and shall we say enlarged a tad…and then
got stuck in the door, and Rabbit and all her friends and relations had
to come and pull him out! None of us can say we were never warned.
But over time, we will begin to lose our taste for the more fattening
and unhealthy foods we used to crave, and we will start enjoying
more and more of the beautiful and tasty foods in our yummy drawer.
We will make this shift gently. It’s a natural progression our body
will love.
Idea #3: We make friends with milk.
Hopefully we are not lactose intolerant.
If we are, we find a milk substitute we enjoy.
If we simply don’t like milk:
For flavor, and if we need a little boost, we can add ½ to 1 teaspoon of
instant coffee (+ ½ to 1 teaspoon of sugar, if needed)
Or we can find some other flavor to add that will make milk a treat.
A glass of milk before breakfast will make breakfast hold us longer.
Another glass before lunch and dinner will reduce our need for food.
Also, anxiety is felt in the stomach, and feels just like hunger.
When we get anxious, we eat.
A glass of milk when we are anxious will soothe us.
Especially before bed!
Bringing milk into our life is like having a loving mama with us.
Milk is my best method of staying slim. I oughta do commercials!
In fact, I am a milkaholic. 5 gallons every two weeks. I need a cow.
So there you have it:
Three ways to begin getting yourself free of fat:
- Shrink your inner tummy by eating 6 small meals not 3 big ones.
- Create your “yummy drawer” and snack often on the good stuff.
- Make friends with milk.
I hope at least one of these ideas appeals to you.
And I hope you are laughing at me, with that cow.
Question:
What is the hardest thing for you in getting yourself free of fat?
What questions do you wish I would address? Write and tell me!
If you want me to write an e-book on this topic, let me know.
Dr. Hall