I'd like to recommend David Kessler's book, too

[Tobin S.]

Catshrink posted about Kessler's book The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite, and it has given me valuable insight into why I've had such a hard time losing weight in the past- or losing it only to gain it back.

He explains how you have to adjust your thinking about food and learn how to respond appropriately when food that you love, but know that is bad for you, enters your mind. You have to learn how to recognize your reaction to a stimulus and control it before you start down the slippery slope of over-eating. It sounds kind of complex, but I think it's pretty simple in practice. The hardest part is to recognize that your brain has been "turned on" before you act on those impulses. I know a lot of people here have quit smoking. You can employ the same type of mental strategy to quit overeating that you have used to quit smoking, or gambling, or drinking- it's all connected.

And echoing what Catshrink said in her post, Kessler really gets into how the food industry gets you hooked on their products. Varying combinations of sugar, fat, and salt have proven to be a winner for them in getting repeat customers- or more bluntly, getting people addicted. When I looked at all of the stuff I used to eat when I was obese I can see clearly how the sugar, fat, and salt combo had me hooked. One of my favorite meals was 15 honey-garlic buffalo wings with ranch dressing and washed down with a quart of sweet tea. That's about 1500 calories of almost exclusively sugar, fat, and salt. That's just one meal of many that I loved that were similar in content. I also loved candy bars, donuts, chocolate milk, Hostess products, pizza, and chili dogs.

As Catshrink also said, Kessler's book is not a diet book. The book will give you the tools to recognize what you should not eat and avoid it, but he doesn't tell you what to eat. He also understands that perfection probably isn't possible when it comes to making this change in thinking, because as we all know here, we are addicted to food, but we still have to use it to survive. But it is possible to eat more healthily overall and get a handle on our weight and health. We are talking about making life changes here, it's not a short term deal.

There is a lot of science in the book that Kessler uses to back up what he has to say, but you don't need to be a scientist to understand the information. Just read it with an open mind.

[Catshrink]

1. I learned so much with that book!

I've never faced an addiction problem myself -- or rather, never thought I had. But yeah, layer on the sugar, fat, and salt and I'm there. It's all about awareness and recognizes how I can make better choices.

I hit 40 pounds lost yesterday morning. It's taken a little more than a year and there were 5 months in there where I held steady so, when I factor in the effort, it was 40 pounds in 8 months or 5 pounds a month average. If I had read Kessler's book earlier (which I couldn't have because it's a new release!) maybe I wouldn't have had that 5 month resting period, so to speak. But, I'm back on track now.

The last few chapters on how to actually make changes are thin but I think that's okay. The strength lies in the recognition and brain-cue-reward aspects that I don't think others have dealt with in as much depth. He does say to interrupt the stimulus-cue as soon as possible and not mull the choice whether to eat "it" or not to eat it. Be decisive and don't argue yummy vs. I shouldn't. Instead he says to say something like: If I eat that turtle brownie, I'll throw off my calorie count for today and weigh two pounds more tomorrow. Or, if I eat that bag of chips, I'll fall back into my "addiction" and be trapped again in the eating-stimulus-reward cycle I've worked so hard to break out of. That's it for me. I can justify eating anything -- I was good yesterday so I can have a bacon guacamole cheeseburger and fries today. No, I can't.

Now onto finishing Susan Roberts' "The Impulse Diet." It's similar and talks about the 5 impulses we humans have for food. Her initial two week plan pares down the choices -- I think it's to help retrain the brain away from the cue-stimulus-reward thing although she doesn't call it that.

These are two very helpful books to read in tandem. Question is, can I lose another 40 pounds? I started at 196 and am now at 156. I'm 5'4" and "ideally" should be at about 120. Oh, that's only 36 more. I'm more than half way there!

:woohoo:

PS -- and thank God for the Goodwill! I've been buying "transition clothese" there because my old ones are too big -- way too big! -- and I don't want to spend money at all right now and especially not on clothes that may not fit in another few months. I can handle $2 shorts and $4 slacks (sale day prices -- Arizona Goodwills have half price Saturdays every other week).

[Tobin S.]

2. Congrats!

And thanks for recommending that book. It has made me look at my old habits in a different way, and hopefully has better equipped me to handle the urges to eat stuff that I really don't want to eat when I'm in my normal state of consciousness and not lit up with a craving. The book goes hand in hand with what I'm already doing and has given me some positive reinforcement which is needed to keep doing the right thing.

[Catshrink]

5. Thanks

I agree -- looking at things differently has helped, as well as replacing the message/dialog I have with myself about things I really shouldn't eat. Instead of "no, you can't have that" it's "yeah, you've been conditioned to want that but you know better now. You could eat that cake/ice cream/pie, but that will make you want more and totally screw up how well you've been doing. So no, pass it by." It works now that I have something to hang my "no" on, if that makes sense.

And then damn. As "good" as I was yesterday, my weight is two pounds more than it was yesterday. Maybe I'm retaining water and I'm not worried about it. I shouldn't weigh myself everyday.

[Lex]

3. I just got my copy today and am reading it.

Very interesting.

I have been drastically cutting back on my caloric intake over the past several weeks, even before reading this book, suspecting I was way off on my daily caloric count. I've dropped 10 pounds since seriously scrutinizing my portions and eating behavior.

Also while eating less and allowing myself to feel hungry (hey, that's okay, really it is), I've been more aware than ever at the amount of food that is pushed at us though loud tv commercials, flashy packaging at the store, screaming print ads, etc.

Looking forward to what this author has to say.

[Catshrink]

4. It's amazing how the calories sneak up on us.

I realized in reading the book how I'd been duped by restaurant menus. I thought I was ordering healthy because it said "grilled chicken breast" not realizing the fat and sugar in all the other ingredients. It's dietary sabotage.

I rarely eat out anymore and if I do, I'm very careful. I'm getting so much better at saying no to the call of treats. But it's a hard road.

[LostinVA]

6. Excellent book!