I finally put my finger on something that's been going wrong with my maintenance lately.
When I was losing weight, I had developed this really fantastic long-term outlook. I was not in a hurry to get to my goal weight. I was trying to find the best way to live and to eat for the rest of my life. I did countless experiments, it seemed, testing behaviors one at a time and watching the numbers on the scale to see if the behavior was a successful one that promoted weight loss, or if it was not. For a couple weeks I would try, for example, having a cup of coffee after dinner to signal that I was done. Then I might try having a piece of dark chocolate. Which worked better? I felt that I had plenty of time — my whole life — to try these things out, to learn.
Why was I able to take such a long-term approach? Maybe because I never actually believed I would really reach goal.
Anyway, I realized just the other day that I have lost my long-term view. I have been reacting to the numbers on the scale each morning: panicked if more than 109.5, relieved if less than 108.0. It's as if I feel I can't afford to take a long-term approach. Something about trying to stay the same feels fundamentally different than trying to lose. I can't wait six weeks to see if this small change makes a difference! If I'm wrong, then… in six weeks I might gain six pounds!
Deep breath.
Now that I've realized what's going on, I can make a correction. What I did that was fundamentally right, while I was losing weight, was to focus on behavior. The algorithm is this:
- Plan my behavior.
- Stick to the plan.
- See what the numbers on the scale tell me.
- If the numbers do what I want, and I like the behavior, adopt the behavior permanently.
- If the numbers do what I don't want, change the plan.
The direction of change of the number on the scale was and is useful: it tells me whether my actual behavior is "working," and that in turn tells me whether it's a good plan. If I can't stick to the plan, that means it's not a good plan, because a good plan is a plan I can stick to.
I need to get back to that. Lately my behavior has been:
- Step on the scale.
- If weight < 109, don't worry too much about what I eat.
- If weight > 109 for a few days in a row, eat sparingly until I get a reading below 108.
This is not very sustainable. I feel like a toggle switch. It's time for me to make a list of candidate behaviors for maintenance, and begin working through them methodically. I know, I said I was going to do this at least twice before. I really mean it this time. I started the list in pencil yesterday, just off the top of my head in no particular order. Here is what I wrote (note that many of the behaviors are mutually contradictory):
- 8-1/2" plate
- Measure servings of 1/2 cup grain, 1 cup soups and stews, 1 oz bread
- No sweets
- Two-thumb-sized portions of sweet pastries
- Only really good sweets that I really want
- Keep almonds in the car
- One-egg breakfasts
- Two-egg breakfasts
- Tomato juice with breakfast
- No-toast, no-fruit breakfasts
- "Vegetables for two people, entree for half a person" restaurant strategy
- Eat sitting down, slowly, without distraction
- No bedtime snack 95% of the time
- Only one plateful at meals (no seconds)
- Wait 20 minutes before seconds
- Start the coffee when we sit down to dinner
- No alcohol
- Limit to one glass of alcohol 95% of the time
- Eat only on schedule (snacks at 10:30 and at 3:30)
- No tasting while cooking
- No tasting while cleaning up
- Make dinners that don't have any leftovers
- No casseroles bigger than 9×9 — freeze extra ingredients or make a second casserole and use later, freeze, or give it away
- Replace bread with Wasa crackers whenever feasible
- Default snack of cut fruit, tiny cubes of cheese, and nuts
- Any snack, but never more than one ounce
- Always eat with cutlery, even pizza, sandwiches, bananas, etc.
- One-half to three-quarters of the plate is always vegetables
Added later:
- Chew gum while cleaning up after meals to prevent mindless nibbling
- Don't snack if not hungry, even if the time for snack has arrived
- Choose a quite-small snack (e.g. four almonds) if not hungry when snack time arrives
- Buffet strategy: Half a plate of veg, and only one plateful total
- Hardly ever drink fruit juice or soda
- Weigh every day and watch for long-term, not short-term, change
- Reflect daily on my motivations for maintaining my weight
- Plan what I'm going to eat each day — qualitative only
- Plan what I'm going to eat each day — quantitative
- Plan what I'm going to eat and restrict calorie counts
- Measure added high-calorie condiments such as salad dressing, butter, jam
There are two habits that helped me lose weight that I would like to kick, if I can do it without gaining weight. One of them is to stop thinking, talking, and writing quite so much about the subject. I am afraid I am becoming quite a bore (a better-looking one, but that can only last so long.) The other is constant gum-chewing. It's a habit I always deplored in other people (especially people sitting behind me in class!) and now what do you know, I have become one of them.
At least I didn't take up smoking.
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