30 day trial: eating what & when & as much as I want

[UldisU]

Hi, everyone !

Impressed by another thread: "Eat Whatever You Want And Lose Weight" I decided to apply these principles on myself for at least 30 days and report results in this blog.

Principles are:
1. When you are hungry, eat.
2. Eat what you want (not what you think you “should”.)
3. Eat consciously and enjoy every mouthful.
4. When you are full stop.

Ironically, I had come to similar principles by myself long ago, but always think, that I cannot stick with #4 and sometimes (when stressed) with #3.

My mom told me in my childhood that "you must not leave anything on your plate !"
When stressed I've used to eat fast and without really feeling much taste of the food.

Etc, etc, etc, ...

I've tried different diets, fasting, limiting food intake, exercising and so on.
Everything failed and I think that's because you shouldn't fight against yourself. Especially nasty was diets (every one of them). Sooner or later when on diet I began to feel physically weak and depressed. I think that is because body need something that is lacking in particular diet.

The 4 principles on the contrary allow you to live in harmony with yourself.
Just #4 needs a little discipline, but I hope to gain strength from blog.

So today is day #1:
__________________

So far ate 3 times (its 9 p.m. now) and in summary consumed less food than my typical meal.
Today I ate all conserved food which I bought in supermarket, because I still cannot throw uneaten food out.
Enjoyed each spoonful.

Bye, till next time

[greatcaptain]

This is a really interesting idea. It will probably work well as long as you eat slowly enough to stop once you're full, or no longer hungry. Good luck sticking with it!

[Angela]

I tried the 90-day "I Can Make You Thin" plan of Paul McKenna Paul McKenna Official US Site, which is identical to your plan -- is that where you got it? Unfortunately it made no difference for me. I found that although I stuck to the plan, my old habits of reaching for sub-quality foods was stronger than my "mindful eating," so I didn't lose weight or feel better.

If I follow these rules but eat a diet that includes ice cream, alcohol, bread, cheeseburgers, and french fries, I'm just not going to feel the same or burn fat the way I have for the last few weeks having completely transformed the food choices I make. I'm eating wayyyy more food now and my metabolism is through the roof.

That said, I do absolutely love the "I Can Make You Thin" hypnosis CD.

Best wishes to you with your trial, and I hope it's more effective in feeling good than it was for me.

[UldisU]

I got this plan from another thread which got it from McKenna, IMHO.
But I also formulate this (in slightly different terms) by myself long ago, just didn't put to practice. Strange enough, I trust myself much less than advice from side.
And yes, I believe that everyone is different and what works for one may not work for another.

[UldisU]

everything went fine until Ligo party at work with beer and smoked chicken.
Beer and greed together urged me to eat more than I should, but I managed to stop before I overeat too much.
Lesson 1: beware of parties.
Next morning I step on scales, holy grail ! 2.5 kilos less than week before. I thought that scales are broken ...

[UldisU]

a) morning - 20:00
ate frequently small portions
b) 20:00 - 24:00
much alcohol, hard to control eating
----------------------------------
much harder to follow rules in weekends than in workdays
maybe I will make new rules for wekends e.g. how to eat at family dinner

[Ninja]

I think it can work: your body isn't stupid and knows what it needs. However, if you are already addicted to caffeine or sugar, or your body doesn't know the difference between hunger and thirst (especially obese people suffer from this problem), your body will only tell you what it craves, not what it truly needs. I think it would be better to do some detoxing first before trusting your body.

[UldisU]

many beers
moderately food

[UldisU]

many beers
moderateley eating (just tried not to overeat too much)

[UldisU]

all well
everything that I eat seems very tasty

[jpmcgrew]

Interesting. I've always said that eating what your body tells you to eat is the way to go!

[Halcyon]

Well I had come to a similar conclusion long ago. Also found out that I couldnt trust my body/mind at that time. Kinda like Angela's predicament.

Ninja has a good idea about detoxing first. As I see it, there are more variables than being able to eat what you want when you want and stop.

Food products just arent what they used to be but hooray for supplements that ensure we get our vital minerals.
Do a little research to whatever pertains to your eating habits. I say this because "High Fructose Corn Syrup" is found in just about everything it seems. I say this from experience checking labels of what I ate and also just for fun to see how BAD foods were... Sometimes I had to just eat the poison anyway but it was SOOO good for the time being.
Anyway, my point being that HFCS will mess with your body and turn the receptors off that your stomach uses to your brain that says "Im full". Hence why we can eat a whole bag or two of potato chips/crisps in a day. Or drink a whole 2 liter or two etc... We really shouldnt be able to do that but HFCS and im sure other things have to do with that.

So lets say you eat a burger but it has HFCS in it and your not so sure when your full. So when your finishing off the whole meal you may have only should have ate half of that meal.

On another note, check out Fullcrum's post.
Fullcrums post
References:

"The Abs Diet" book

Wikipedia info

another info page

[UldisU]

All goes well, but some aching in knees showed up.
Gained back 0.5 kilos till last week, but still 2 kilos less than when I begun.

[Cantando]

Originally Posted by UldisU

All goes well, but some aching in knees showed up.
Gained back 0.5 kilos till last week, but still 2 kilos less than when I begun.

Are you still doing it?

[ming]

This tip for keeping slim have worked well for centuries:
---------------------
Have a king's breakfast, a prince's lunch and a beggar's supper.
---------------------

[Halcyon]

lol Ming that saying is great! ....minor details but still great meaning.

[UldisU]

day 29 - 1.4 kg off from initial weight
day 36 - 2.0 kg off from initial weight
day 43 - 3.3 kg off from initial weight

Not very impressive but move in the right direction. I intend to continue this style of eating until I find something better, cause it is:
a) fun
b) easy
c) renders positive results

* I learned that in general I can trust my body (except for the beer )
* Satisfaction from food increased although I eat much less now.
* Sometimes I feel strong hunger - before I was able not eat for 2 days before I started to feel hungry
* Much harder to find something to eat in supermarket

[Dharma]

Originally Posted by UldisU

Principles are:
1. When you are hungry, eat.
2. Eat what you want (not what you think you “should”.)
3. Eat consciously and enjoy every mouthful.
4. When you are full stop.

This is a great practice. I eat what I want. It's tasty and convenient. A big trap to eating consciously is labeling your food. "Good food" and "bad food" don't exist, only the mind makes it so. Food is food and the body will reach for what it wants. One day a garden salad, the next it craves Easy-Mac and a beer. Part of eating consciously is being mindful of the labels/judgments you are giving the food. You need to give yourself some space when you realize "I just judged that as good/bad" and let the feeling (contraction) flow through the system. That contraction is usually so deep in the unconscious that people never feel it. Opening up your awareness is key, and noticing when you've lost the joy and ease of eating should be a signpost to choose differently in the moment. It might be different food, or to stop eating, to start eating, or to change how your are eating (vs what you are eating).

Originally Posted by UldisU

Not very impressive but move in the right direction. I intend to continue this style of eating until I find something better, cause it is:
a) fun
b) easy
c) renders positive results

* I learned that in general I can trust my body (except for the beer )
* Satisfaction from food increased although I eat much less now.
* Sometimes I feel strong hunger - before I was able not eat for 2 days before I started to feel hungry
* Much harder to find something to eat in supermarket

To eat consciously you have to let go of getting results. "So do not be concerned with the fruit of your action - just give attention to the action itself. The fruit will come of its own accord", said Eckhart Tolle in the Power of Now. Very good advice.

Your weight will do what it does. Another belief to tinker with is that food intake controls your weight. Really???? Play with that one and be humble when you're eating. If calories and weigh gain/loss are not related, then what else is at play here? Is the link between food and health, food and weight, only there because I believe it is?

Beer. I like beer. Alcohol and the effects are an underlying choice for unconsciousness. That's probably why you have trouble with eating when you're downing beers. Your awareness of your body and the moment fades with the alcohol. Have you tried non-alcohol beer? I recommend Clausthaler. Very good and tastes like beer. I'm not saying go totally to non-alcoholic beer, but if you're going to have a lot of them, NA might be the way to go.

[UldisU]

Thanks, Dharma, for your advice !

At the moment I am concerned with my excess weight (about 30 kilos).
I am measuring my weight once a week, to be sure that I am going right direction.

As I understand, you recommend that I do not measure my weight at all and even don't want to do that.

Classic theories state that one should:
1) set goal
2) take action
3) measure results
4) if you get further from goal then choose another action
5) if you get closer to goal then repeat action
6) go to 2)

This method is understandable to me.

Letting go of getting results seems like: don't care.
How can I know that my actions will take me to my goal eventually ?

[Monique7nuns]

This approach is pretty much what I've been doing for 6+ months and maintaining the same amount of weight. I still feel pretty lousy.. as in my attitude and the emotional eating issues still feel unresolved. I'm still pretty stressed out about food and eating in general. Due to my digestive disorder history (Crohns, IBS, Ulcertive Colitis = Candida Overgrowth) I am given a pretty rude awakening whenever something I eat and/or additional stress doesn't jive with my body.

Ultimately I think the point is to become more connected with the body and to be able to love and respect it (me) opposed to being at war with it. In other words, it could be a self love issue, but not in a egotistical way. And it is also entirely possible I'm afraid of the changes becoming healthy would present. Today the term for it is complacent stagnation.

I keep hoping one day I'll wake up with a fresh, healthy new perspective and it will carry me through a deep healing phase of mind-body-spirit.

I was able to loose 100 lbs, quit soda and prednisone (steroid). The final two seemed to transition as easy as simply changing my mind.

[Dharma]

Originally Posted by UldisU

At the moment I am concerned with my excess weight (about 30 kilos).
I am measuring my weight once a week, to be sure that I am going right direction.

As I understand, you recommend that I do not measure my weight at all and even don't want to do that.

Let me clear something up. There is nothing wrong with measuring your weight. And there is nothing wrong with eating a certain diet. Believing that the certain diet will make you lose weight or make you healthy, keeps you locked into those foods and monitoring calories... forever.

Consciousness has to be brought into the moment when you're eating or weighing yourself. The normal way we think about food is this.

food I eat = body mass & health

From the point of creator, and I say this because you are creating your whole experience here... this is what's really going on:

I am the creator of all my experience.
I am eating food now.
I am creating my body (weight) now.
I am creating a linkage between food and body mass now.

What was that last one? That last line never makes it into consciousness. We gloss over it. We assume the linkage between the food we eat and our weight is how life is. We never question it because "science" and our own habits say it's true. Well, it looks true because we've implemented the linkage. We're powerful creators. Linking mutually exclusive creations and then hiding the linkage from ourselves is easy. Linkage is humanity's heroin addiction. We do it everywhere.

How to unlink them? I hate to say it but it takes time. It's a pattern that needs constant care. When you eat and you feel that inner contraction, or guilt, or future thought about "this will add some pounds on me", remind yourself of the choices: "I'm choosing to eat, I'm choosing this body, and I'm pretending the two are linked together. And it's ok. (you're not wrong for doing that)".

The goal is to teach your consciousness it has more going on that it realizes, that you are the creator here, and to take that feeling of contraction/guilt/thoughts-of-future-weight-gain and bring the self back to a space of peace, joy, and lightness. That's the doorway that will let transformation and magic happen in your life. YOU MAY NOT GET THINNER. Don't have that as a goal. But you will begin to have the best life ever.

I know we're talking about food and weight here, but you can expand some of these ideas out to your whole life, choose differently when you feel dis-ease inside, let go of the future, and live in the present moment. Everything else starts taking care of itself.

Originally Posted by UldisU

Classic theories state that one should:
1) set goal
2) take action
3) measure results
4) if you get further from goal then choose another action
5) if you get closer to goal then repeat action
6) go to 2)

This method is understandable to me.

Letting go of getting results seems like: don't care.

Letting go of results is being in the moment. You will still take action, but you won't expect it to get you something in the future. Staying present and acknowledging the linkages you are using, will give you more room to move. ... and that let's the moment evolve.

Originally Posted by UldisU

How can I know that my actions will take me to my goal eventually ?

You don't know. You won't know. You do what you do and it's best to be present with your actions. The fruit will come of its own accord.
Until humanity ups it's level of consciousness, life is on a set of tracks and consciousness is moving us along those tracks. The ego part of consciousness that says "this isn't right" or "I will feel good about myself when xyz happens in the future" can't call the shots. There is no LOA or thoughts creating reality at this level of consciousness. To get to that level of consciousness where you can play with stuff, you need to practice being present and receive life as it is. No resistance. Find the ease in every moment.