The first thing to do of course when this happens is to stop and think about it. You are hungry as hell… why?  You get plenty of nutrients, have a well balanced diet, but yet you suffer through moments of ravishing hunger. It’s not very comfortable. And anyone reading this blog knows that I am all about making losing weight as comfortable for yourself as possible. I don’t believe in suffering. Why should I put myself through that… yet, with all of my efforts to make losing weight as comfortable as possible for myself, sometimes it really sucks and I am really uncomfortable. Rare, but it happens. It happened last night. So what did I do?

I gave in to relieve the pain. lol. No I did not run up to the bagel shop and buy a dozen with cream cheese. No I did not run out and get fried Chinese take-out. And since my kitchen has been transformed into a health and wellness center, there’s really nothing here to seriously pig-out on.

My daily calorie limit is around 900 calories a day, roughly anywhere between 800-1000 calories a day. I’m certain that I must have had 1200 yesterday after giving in. But, the giving in totally relieved my suffering and didn’t cost me a lot in terms of calories. We are talking 2 small slices of whole wheat bread with a smidgen of butter and apricot preserves w/ a cup of milk. WOW was that satisfying. I felt better afterwards and certainly did not feel crazy like after eating a whole box of pastries from the Afghani bakery down the street. lol.

This is what I love about being on a very low calorie diet, suffering is minimized, all around. The problem with so much of weight-loss philosophy is that it seems to be based in some sort of “punishment.” The fat person needs to be “punished” for being fat. Just like the smoker needs to be “punished” for smoking. It’s sick! Who has the right to judge anyone like that? Yet, it’s a common thread in our society when it comes to fatties and smokers. “Only punishment will help you get healthy.”  BULL HOCKEY STIX.

I’m smoke-free for almost 6 months now… and I did not do it by punishing myself. I did it with electronic cigs. What I needed to stop smoking was to set myself up for success, not failure. The e-cig did that for me.

Same thing with my weight loss, and I fully expect to be a size 10 or 12 by the time spring rolls around, people. That’s a big improvement from the size 20-22 I was packing before I started my weight loss program. I applied the same logic from quitting smoking to my diet regime:  I always set myself up for success, not failure.

Success works like this:  On this very low calorie diet, it’s certainly not every day or even every other day that I have an extreme hunger attack.. This week it was one day out of 6. It’s been one day out of 14 before. The thing I like about my diet plan is that now that I have transformed my kitchen, if I do have a hunger attack, I’m only going to go about 300 calories over my 900.  Before the kitchen transformation, I HAD to sit here and SUFFER THROUGH HELL just to stick to my diet.. and frankly, I’m no longer willing to play the “pain to gain” game. I don’t want pain! Pain sets you up for failure!

1200 calories yesterday was not a failure. I feel better today and a bit less hungry. My 900 will be easy and pain-free today.

And how is your day going? 

Check out this article that was on CNN this week:

Extreme Diets: Life on 800 calories a day

“Extreme Diets.”  LOL.  800 calories is not extreme for sedentary people that are obese. This is why almost every obese person that walks through the doors of these popular “Diet Centers” comes out with a thin wallet and an obese body. Every “diet program” out there serves those who are obese too many calories. This is another set up for failure. Weoght Watchers for example (And I’ve actually tried and failed Weight Watchers several times) will start someone at my size on 1500 calories a day. This just extends the misery! They start you high and you gradually decrease calories as your body decreases in weight. I’ve found out that this is completely backwards for the person with obesity. You increase calories little by little as weight drops and exercise increases.

800 calories a day, consumed in the form of highly concentrated nutrients and whole foods is NOT a starvation diet.  It’s not a “lose weight fast” diet either. The problem is that you do have a lot of people out there that are nutritionally ignorant and/or have a McDonalds problem and try to stick to a very low caltorie diet, and select all the wrong stuff to eat, feel sick, tired, etc. At 250lbs I had no problem at all from day one starting out at 800 calories a day in the form of highly nutritious foods, feeling less tired, less hungry and less sick that I did gorging myself at the trough.

You see, the more these “Diet Centers” and plans that recommend these higher calorie diets and people will spend years with them shelling out money to keep trying to lose weight.  You’ve got their proponents publishing and saying things to scare people away from the very low calorie diet, and it’s just not based in scientific data. Very low calorie diets that are highly nourishing have set me up for the success that keeps me going every day! And at the end of the month, I save on food costs too. But if you’re someone who prefers a more guided weight loss journey, check out the diet reviews at NextAdvisor.com to see if they might work for you