Think Yourself Thin
Tell the Truth
Tell the real truth to yourself with compassion about what you eat, how much you eat, when you eat, and if you ate above a 5 or started eating above 0. We have clients who fudge when they record their hunger numbers. Now, just who are they cheating and why? Are they trying to look good to themselves?
We suggest that you use the form that follows to record your hunger numbers and food intake every day, for every meal, every snack, and every nibble. Record everything you put into your mouth except water. Be ruthlessly honest with yourself. That way, you get excellent results. You get the results you want.
Date:| Time | Beginning Hunger # | Item | Amount | Ending Hunger # | Time |
Percentage of day I was a thin person in mind and behavior =____%
So typical meals look this way:
Date: 02/02/05| Time | Beginning Hunger # | Item | Amount | Ending Hunger # | Time |
| 8:35 A.M. | 0 | salmon green apple | card deck size small | 5 | 9:05 A.M. |
| 6:15 P.M. | 0 | roast beef spinach salad brownie | card deck size bowl small | 5 | 7:00 P.M. |
Percentage of day I was a thin person in mind and behavior = 100 %
Notice that you don't need to weigh and measure your food. We aren't asking you to weigh and measure your body, and we certainly aren't going to ask you to weigh and measure your food. Just record what you ate. You know whether it's too much food.
Record your food intake and hunger numbers every day until you are comfortably at your ideal size. You can continue as long as you want. If your jeans ever get tight, record your food intake and hunger numbers until they fit comfortably. We have done this off and on for more than 20 years. You'll find it a great maintenance plan.
Ban Diet Paraphernalia
Thinspiration
Toss out anything in your refrigerator that you purchased with the hope that it would make you thinner. Get rid of low-fat salad dressings, low-fat ice cream and yogurt. Remember to get rid of fake butter and those “spreads” that are filled with transfatty acids that are designed to taste like the real thing. And what about that low-fat cheese? Now go to the grocery store and buy real foods just like naturally thin people eat.
People who have the mindset of being thin do not keep diet stuff around the house. Let's say that you didn't own a dog, never owned a dog, and didn't have any plans to have a dog. Yet you owned a dog dish, a leash, dog food, and purchased books on raising and breeding dogs. You would appear nuts.
Ditto believing you are thin. Thin people don't have kitchens stocked full of diet and low-cal foods. They don't have large clothes in their closets just in case they regain their weight. All the clothes in their closets fit. They get rid of clothes because they are worn out, soiled, or out of style, not because they don't fit. They don't own dozens of books on weight-loss plans. If they did, they would seem nutty.
Toss out your cache of diet paraphernalia. Give it away. Get it out of your sight. It will mess up your thin thinking to constantly see a food scale on the kitchen counter. Be consistent inside and out with being a thin person.
More on: Mom's Health and Fitness
Excerpted from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Healthy Weight Loss © 2005 by Lucy Beale and Sandy G. Couvillon. All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Used by arrangement with Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
To order this book visit the Idiot's Guide web site or call 1-800-253-6476.
10 Ways to Deal with Temper Tantrums
