Weight Control for Life!

May 8, 2020

By the time the average person with a weight problem is about 50 years of age, they’ve already lost at least 2,000-3,000 pounds!

The odds are you know people with weight issues (read as: PROBLEMS) who have tried starving it off, running it off, boiling it off, massaging it off, freezing it off and even cutting it off. How does that work for most? Can you say, “Yo-Yo!” For most, weight goes up and down like a heartbeat chart. Weight control for life are simply words that sound like a huckster’s fantasy.

Barry Eisen

Weight control for life!

Throw in a world wide pandemic, sheltering in place with loved ones seemingly forever and political tensions and you have quite a recipe for eating disaster.

The good news is that stresses can be better managed and eating behaviors can change. It is mostly nurture not nature.

How We Grow Rounder

20 year olds eat whatever they want and the body metabolism burns it off, exercise or no exercise. Still, gain 10 pounds by age 29.

30 year olds start raising families and begin pursuing the “meaning of life.” Priorities are jobs, businesses and eating on the run, whenever. Work and family start getting in the way of exercising regularly. Gain 10 more pounds by the age of 39.

40 year olds are in the thick of things and health habits become more compromised. Earlier priorities are replaced by focusing more on the kids, longer hours on the job/business. Patterns of eating and exercise become random. Much humor now about how the hair line, waistline and jaw lines are changing. Add 10 more pounds.

50 year olds get a dose of future reality dealing with their parent’s issues of medications, downsizing, long-term care, wills and assisted living options. Now motivated (scared), many start dieting like crazy and buy gym memberships and loads of infomercial “If I can do it, you can do it!” programs and contraptions. Most don’t open mail they start receiving from AARP. They gain more weight but the numbers on the scale are fuzzier and harder to read, so…Who knows? Who cares?

60 year olds. (Same as 50 year olds but they move slower). Most do open mail from AARP, the mortuary of choice or The Neptune Society.

70 year olds and above, look for the silver bullet (The Fountain of Youth) in medications, potions, lotions and organic foods. They start the quest for the Holy Grail of diets and begin a walking program to make up for years of bad eating choices and being too sedentary. 70+ year olds put more time into wishing they had made better eating and exercise choices years ago, before discomfort and immobility settled in and the Life Alert necklace becomes a part of each day’s jewelry selection. Every hiccup creates thoughts of heart attack, stroke, kidney, stomach and liver problems.

Want to write a different weight control for life script?

It’s never too late, but each day matters.

Here are 11 real solutions for weight control. Nothing outrageous or extreme. Small easy shifts to take off 2-3 pounds per week.

Weight control for life is 80% eating, 20% exercise and 100% Mindset. Here are 11 reasonable weight control behavior modifiers that can have huge positive effects. Don’t do them all. Read over the list and where you find 1, 2, or 3 ideas that you relate to, write them down and do them for a month. Let them become automatic and you’ll have control over your eating habits forever. Neuroplasticity is the concept that the brain is constantly changing. These ideas can help it and you change for the better, easier and faster.

Be present when eating. Relax with a deep breath to start. Pay attention to the food and food choices that you’re making, which means eat consciously.
Drink 8 ounces of water before eating. Having a more full feeling can influence your ordering or serving yourself.
Chew every mouthful 20-25 times. Slow down the process of eating, pay attention to what you’re eating and digest it better. It takes approximately 20 minutes for the brain to register that the stomach is full. Eating quickly sends no “I’m full” message to the brain until the dinner is over and you’re overstuffed and in agony.
Leave something over from every kind of food on your plate. It’s not your job to save the hungry in the world by eating everything in front of you, so instead, package it up and mail it to them or make a donation, but forget that growing up guilt trip mom laid on you.
Use smaller plates at home (for yourself). Consciously reaching for more helpings can cause you to rethink and, perhaps pass on that extra portion.
Only eat while seated. Rush, rush, eat, eat! Stop that by Paying Attention.
Use your non-dominant hand to fork or spoon feed yourself. Helps to slow down the fast eating process and pay attention.
Use the “Is it worth it?” test. If bread is placed on the table, take a small piece and ask yourself if it’s worth it. If it is…eat. If not…let it go. If the chocolate cake IS great, have a small piece. This doesn’t mean you’ve failed, it means you go back to the plan. Life is about making good choices. Decide. Let go of the guilt trip and weight control for life can be easy.
Keep your smartphones, pads, pods and games away from the dinner table. Engaging in conversation allows the exchange of ideas and diffuses tensions created by poor family communications. Family tensions can cause frustrations ending in anger taken out in poor aggressive eating choices and quantities consumed.
Do your food shopping after you’ve eaten, on a full stomach. Go shopping with a list of good choices and stick to it. If it’s not in your house it’s not in your mouth.
In your quiet time (read as: self hypnosis, meditation) visualize yourself as slim, trim, firm and healthy. See yourself radiating with energy and vitality. Strong and flexible. Doing things important to you with grace and ease. See yourself standing on a scale recording your optimal weight. Smiling. You become what you think about, so see yourself consistently filled with health and doing those things that will promote it and you will FEEL good. During your day, those positive prompts will cause you to make the better decision, creating those same positive feelings. Just the experience of mellowing out daily allows for stresses and tensions to fade away and not trigger eating frenzies. It almost always comes down to the issue of control. Don’t let the tail wag the dog…in other words Relax. The only resistance in your world is the resistance that YOU create.

Be consistent with these weight control for life actions and mindset exercises for 2-4 weeks, getting past the initial learning curve stutters, and recognize the ease with which you create better health and a more energetic engaging life.

I hope you benefit from these small shifts or share this with someone you care about. Please do pass this on. Thanks.

Stay safe, loving, kind, and choose to thrive.

Barry