Nearly Ten Pounds in Under Two Weeks.

I started dieting on Thursday night, January 5 at 6 pm.

At that point I weighed 164 pounds. It's just at the bottom of the 'overweight' designation for a man who's 5'7" (which I am).

As of today (1/17/06) I weigh 154.5. So I've lost 9.5 pounds--my fancy digital scale works in half pound increments--in less than two weeks.

Now this isn't all just drinking water and eating lots of fruits and vegetables.

I actually started by fasting. No, not the not-eating kind of fasting. The clear broth kind of fasting, except I didn't limit myself even that much. (I blogged about it. And also here.)

Why did I do that?

Well, partly I wanted to jump start the process. I notice lots of diet books have you start out on some absurd regimen to get you to loose five pounds right away so you'll be encouraged--some would say 'hooked' or even 'converted.'

But there's more to it than that. There's a logic in such diets. It's not about suddenly taking off ten pounds and then going back to eating Twinkees and Pork Rinds.

• It's about making friends with hunger. Yes, you can eat broth or fruit all day, and yes you will be hungry, but no you won't die.
• It's about starting from next to nothing and then adding foods in gradually, the good ones first, a few at a time.
• It's about building a new foundation for healthy eating.
• It's about re-training yourself, one obstacle at a time.
• It's about starting in your kitchen and working outward from there. (You can't just suddenly drop in at McDonalds while on a diet and expect to make good choices. Come to think of it, if you stop there in the first place, you've probably taken a wrong turn already.)

Making Friends with Hunger is actually an interesting process.

A few days ago I ate very little one day--about 1200 calories. The next day I 'pigged' out and eat 2000.

Looking back at my food diary (more on this later), I realized that on the 1200 calorie day I ran errands. I only had a nonfat latte while out. I wouldn't allow myself to stop and eat something unhealthy. And I forgot to bring along a piece of fruit or a protein bar (very processed, but useful for emergencies).

So instead of eating every two or three hours, I went about five hours with nothing but the latte.

Well, after initally feeling hungry, your body does a bit give up. You know you're still hungry, but you kind of settle into it.

(Also that low-calorie day I actually had rather a big, relatively fatty breakfast. So it could be that a certain amount of fat makes me feel full. I'll have to find out.)

Learning and Re-learning.

One of the most helpful ways you can think about the aspects of yourself you don't like and would like to change is: it's not the essence of who you are that's bad; it's the habits you have learned.

You learned to be this way. And if something can be learned, it can be unlearned or relearned.

You need to figure out how you learned the habit you don't like and then find models for better habits.

It's tempting to substitute new, weird rituals for your old, weird rituals: only eating yogurt and apples instead of eating everything under the sun from burgers to pizza to donuts.

But in this, as in so many things, moderation and variety should be your watchwords.

There are no 'magic' foods that 'cure' you.

It's not all about cucumber juice or leek soup or nonfat yogurt.

There is no magic hidden inside foods.

There are only the prosaic choices you make, the ways you choose to live.

So now, as pangs of hunger ache through me, and the apple I ate doesn't quell them, and I forgot to bring a protein bar, I'm going back to work so I can go home and have some lunch.

But waiting an hour won't kill me--if I eat in moderation afterwards.

And that is a comfort.

--E. R. O'Neill