The Backstory: Read This First
I was born into a family of big eaters.
We always had good food available, thanks to a mother and grandmother who are both excellent cooks. My father favored fine restaurants, and always had room for dessert. My aunt, despite undergoing continuing chemotherapy (a regimen that causes most to lose their appetite), routinely eats meals that would have most NFL linebackers loosening their belts.
I was a chubby child, and although I grew out of that in my high school years, I reconvened with my overweight self in my late twenties, my love of beer no doubt contributing to my round abdomen. Two years ago I quit smoking, further exacerbating an already advancing weight problem. A leg injury and subsequent four-month immobility added further pounds.
I found myself at Christmas 2005 standing 5'9" and weighing 225 pounds. I was very dissatisfied with my body image. I became depressed, and started smoking again. I decided it was time to do something about my weight. I tried Atkins for two weeks, but the diet apparently just wasn't for me. I grew irritable and tired and the cravings for something, anything containing carbs overwhelmed me. I just never felt satisfied after eating. Something else would have to be my salvation.
I cut back on the beer. I started to eat less, and less often. I eliminated (for the most part) snacks, which was particularly difficult considering a wide range of tasty junk food was always available at work. My weight loss after a month or so was about 5 pounds.
My weight and life's issues (some of which were very major, life-changing occurences) deepened my depression and lack of self-worth. During a particularly dark period, I had had enough: I fasted. One Sunday afternoon I had a light meal, and food did not pass my lips until late Thursday night. Water and Diet Pepsi were my only intake (beer, of course, does not count).
I lost 11 pounds that week. I know: not healthy. Not a sustainable loss. But it really lightened my spirits to see the scale. Something had finally worked. I went back and forth, eating lightly, limiting my beer intake, and fasting for short periods. I continued to lose weight. Then, it seemed, I'd hit a wall. I simply could not get my weight below 190.
I am steady at that weight now, but less than happy with it. People say "my, you've lost weight", but I know that I'm not personally satisfied with my size. My father was heavy, my mother is somewhat overweight (although she manages it very well, and most people consider her thin), so I resigned myself to 190 as my "permanent" weight. But, of course, there are mirrors in this world. I see myself in them and I'm the "fat guy". I don't want to be that anymore.
I stumbled across the Shangri-La Diet. Somewhat jaded by my Atkins experience, I wasn't searching for a weight-loss plan. It was from a link on reddit.com that I discovered Dr. Roberts' book. I did a fair amount of research into the plan and its underlying theory, and it seems scientifically interesting. I won't bore you with all the details of the theory and plan itself, as there's been plenty written about it elsewhere. I will however enlighten you to the basics.
Seth Roberts is a Ph.D. and a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley. His theory is that one's weight is controlled by a "set point", like the setting on a thermostat, and that certain foods raise or lower your set point depending on flavor. Familiar flavors associated with rapid calorie uptake raise the set point, while unusual flavors or "flavorless" foods lower the set point. By consuming a certain amount of "flavorless" food each day, you break the taste/calorie association, lowering your set point and therefore your hunger level.
His idea is that our weight regulation mechanism was evolved during times when food was either plentiful or very scarce. By responding to familiar tastes, presumably only available when food was plentiful, the body causes itself to overeat, to store away fat for times of food scarcity. When unfamiliar flavors were consumed, the body took this to mean that food was scarce (or else it'd be eating the foods it preferred), and lowered hunger levels, allowing itself to burn the fat it had stored.
The upshot: a small amount of flavorless oil or sugar water (sweet is not a "taste" in the psychological sense, Dr. Roberts discovered) causes the body to assume these are "lean times" and lower hunger levels, burning stored fat instead. The set point is lowered, and thus the weight your body "wants" to be is lowered.
Dr. Roberts' conducted a successful experiment on himself using this theory. He lost weight, reached the weight he desired and has stayed near it for years. Self-experimentation isn't widely respected in the field of science, but it has a long and successful history.
I decided to give it a go. I ordered The Shangri-La Diet from Amazon.com on Wednesday May 3rd. It arrived Saturday May 6th. At 160-some pages, I read it over the weekend. I'll follow up with a brief review of the book, and begin the diet this week.
We always had good food available, thanks to a mother and grandmother who are both excellent cooks. My father favored fine restaurants, and always had room for dessert. My aunt, despite undergoing continuing chemotherapy (a regimen that causes most to lose their appetite), routinely eats meals that would have most NFL linebackers loosening their belts.
I was a chubby child, and although I grew out of that in my high school years, I reconvened with my overweight self in my late twenties, my love of beer no doubt contributing to my round abdomen. Two years ago I quit smoking, further exacerbating an already advancing weight problem. A leg injury and subsequent four-month immobility added further pounds.
I found myself at Christmas 2005 standing 5'9" and weighing 225 pounds. I was very dissatisfied with my body image. I became depressed, and started smoking again. I decided it was time to do something about my weight. I tried Atkins for two weeks, but the diet apparently just wasn't for me. I grew irritable and tired and the cravings for something, anything containing carbs overwhelmed me. I just never felt satisfied after eating. Something else would have to be my salvation.
I cut back on the beer. I started to eat less, and less often. I eliminated (for the most part) snacks, which was particularly difficult considering a wide range of tasty junk food was always available at work. My weight loss after a month or so was about 5 pounds.
My weight and life's issues (some of which were very major, life-changing occurences) deepened my depression and lack of self-worth. During a particularly dark period, I had had enough: I fasted. One Sunday afternoon I had a light meal, and food did not pass my lips until late Thursday night. Water and Diet Pepsi were my only intake (beer, of course, does not count).
I lost 11 pounds that week. I know: not healthy. Not a sustainable loss. But it really lightened my spirits to see the scale. Something had finally worked. I went back and forth, eating lightly, limiting my beer intake, and fasting for short periods. I continued to lose weight. Then, it seemed, I'd hit a wall. I simply could not get my weight below 190.
I am steady at that weight now, but less than happy with it. People say "my, you've lost weight", but I know that I'm not personally satisfied with my size. My father was heavy, my mother is somewhat overweight (although she manages it very well, and most people consider her thin), so I resigned myself to 190 as my "permanent" weight. But, of course, there are mirrors in this world. I see myself in them and I'm the "fat guy". I don't want to be that anymore.
I stumbled across the Shangri-La Diet. Somewhat jaded by my Atkins experience, I wasn't searching for a weight-loss plan. It was from a link on reddit.com that I discovered Dr. Roberts' book. I did a fair amount of research into the plan and its underlying theory, and it seems scientifically interesting. I won't bore you with all the details of the theory and plan itself, as there's been plenty written about it elsewhere. I will however enlighten you to the basics.
Seth Roberts is a Ph.D. and a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley. His theory is that one's weight is controlled by a "set point", like the setting on a thermostat, and that certain foods raise or lower your set point depending on flavor. Familiar flavors associated with rapid calorie uptake raise the set point, while unusual flavors or "flavorless" foods lower the set point. By consuming a certain amount of "flavorless" food each day, you break the taste/calorie association, lowering your set point and therefore your hunger level.
His idea is that our weight regulation mechanism was evolved during times when food was either plentiful or very scarce. By responding to familiar tastes, presumably only available when food was plentiful, the body causes itself to overeat, to store away fat for times of food scarcity. When unfamiliar flavors were consumed, the body took this to mean that food was scarce (or else it'd be eating the foods it preferred), and lowered hunger levels, allowing itself to burn the fat it had stored.
The upshot: a small amount of flavorless oil or sugar water (sweet is not a "taste" in the psychological sense, Dr. Roberts discovered) causes the body to assume these are "lean times" and lower hunger levels, burning stored fat instead. The set point is lowered, and thus the weight your body "wants" to be is lowered.
Dr. Roberts' conducted a successful experiment on himself using this theory. He lost weight, reached the weight he desired and has stayed near it for years. Self-experimentation isn't widely respected in the field of science, but it has a long and successful history.
I decided to give it a go. I ordered The Shangri-La Diet from Amazon.com on Wednesday May 3rd. It arrived Saturday May 6th. At 160-some pages, I read it over the weekend. I'll follow up with a brief review of the book, and begin the diet this week.
posted by The Fat Guy at 8:04 PM
1 Comments:
Best of luck. I ordered the book on 5/6, received and read yesterday and am starting today. Have snacked less than usual during am, but day is young. I'm 6'3", 240# and exercise more than most folks - also take in vastly more calories.
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