Get Hooked on Normal Eating!

The Enjoyable Diet™ 
Normal Eating System

No matter how much you eat, you eventually stop. If you want to stop gaining weight, you will have to train yourself to stop eating sooner. You will have to break the habit of overeating (eating more calories than you need, to weigh what you want to weigh.)

That's all overeating is -- a habit, just like which sleeve or shoe you put on first. But you can break this habit on your own. 

The Normal Eating System described below ("How to Stop Overeating / Stabilize Your Weight") is based on the Habit Principle: Changing a habit takes 21 days. This system takes the habit you already have (overeating) and makes it work for you. You don't need drugs, supplements or special foods, and you may eat whatever you like.

When you follow the directions, you will stop
overeating and therefore stop gaining weight.
When you have done this, you will be ready for
permanent (maintenance-free) weight loss.

With your doctor's approval, you can safely use the Normal Eating System indefinitely -- but to stop overeating, you will only need it for 21 days. 

Here's a thought: If you use The NES for at least 21 days before the next big holiday, you won't gain weight while you celebrate.

Caution: Do not begin this program if you are currently dieting. There should be at least two weeks between the end of your current diet and the start of The Normal Eating System.

How to Stop Overeating / Stabilize Your Weight (5 Steps)

If you are serious about being successful, you must use The Normal Eating System exclusively -- not partly The NES, partly your system, because that simply will not fly. 

Before you start using the system, make sure you will not have any new things going on in your life for at least 21 days. Don't start a new exercise program or any other new program. Wait until Day 22 for that. And don't start during travel; wait until you're back home.

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Step #1. Decide how many meals and snacks you'll have daily. Never deliberately skip any of them. And never stockpile food for a massive munch-in at the end of the day or week.

Step #2. Always eat at the same times every day, with no more than an hour's leeway. Every time you eat, you teach your body when to be hungry, so decide when you want to be hungry. For example, if you always lunch at noon -- even if you don't always feel hungry just then -- by Day 22, you will always be hungry for lunch at noon. If you don't want to be hungry at 3 a.m., don't eat at 3 a.m.

Never let more than six waking hours pass without eating or drinking something. At the end of Day 4, your meal and snack times should be carved in stone.

Step #3. Don't change what you eat, unless you want to eliminate a certain type of food from your life forever. You are not trying to wipe out your food preferences; you just want to stop overeating.

Step #4. Every other day, eat exactly half of whatever you usually eat. If you usually have a sandwich and a bowl of soup for lunch, eat half a sandwich and half a bowl of soup. Do the same for all your meals. For snacks, eat half of what you usually have. It's like jogging: workout day = half amount; resting day = full amount.

Start with a half-amount day; alternate it with a full-amount day.
Do this for 21 consecutive days. Not 19 days, not 20 -- 21.
Mark the days on your calendar, because if you drop the ball
at any time, you must start counting all over again. Period.

No one even has to know you're doing this. If someone says "Let's lunch" on a half-amount day, ask for a rain-check for "Tomorrow, or 3 days or a week from today". Arrange your start so that any major special occasions will fall on a full-amount day. If minor occasions will fall on a half-amount day, honour them the day before.

Step #5. On Day 22, drop the half-amount day. From then on, every day is a full-amount day. Mission accomplished; you are now 'hooked' on normal eating. You will notice many positive changes in your hunger habits, in how you feel about food, and -- best of all -- in how you feel about yourself. Write down these changes.

You're welcome.

If you decide you want to use this system to lose weight, keep it going while you're waiting for your calorie allowances ("How to Order", sidebar).

 

Then, Lower Your Set Point to Your Desired Weight

If you followed the directions above, you are ready to lower your set point with The Enjoyable Diet™. (Your set point is the weight your body wants to maintain after you finish a diet.)

Following this diet is like painting by number. You just keep on using The NES, except that you alternate the two calorie allowances I give you (low and high). Additional help is under "About the Diet" on the sidebar.

When you reach your desired weight, you simply drop the low-calorie day. You won't need a maintenance program because you will be habituated to eating the amount for your desired weight. You will maintain your desired weight automatically. This guarantee is in effect provided that you do not tamper with the system at any time, in any way. For smooth, maintenance-free weight loss, you must use this system exclusively.

You see, The Enjoyable Diet™ is based on habit. Every eating habit you build in the first 21 days is reinforced in the rest of the diet. So if you tamper with the system -- arbitrarily changing the calorie allowances or the diet-day/eating day schedule; having irregular snack/meal times; skipping snacks/meals; stockpiling calories until the end of the day or week -- tampering is the habit you will build and reinforce. And you will eventually regain whatever weight you lost, and then some. Count on it.

You know, I tried twice to start a blog. But there isn't much to say after two posts, simply because on The Enjoyable Diet™, motivation is a non-issue. The planning at the outset takes the place of motivation; it's one foot in front of the other and painting by number. Weight loss is automatic from day one (see "About the Diet", Part 1b), and habit formation during the 21 days makes motivation unnecessary after that time.

Every weight-related blog I read says pretty much the same thing; namely, how hard it is to lose weight using will-power and motivation. (Someone once said that it isn't will-power we need, it's won't-power. Actually, you don't need either one.) When you fool the body into believing that everything is just fine, thank you, it doesn't fight you. What is there to fight? It's impossible to build up the daily-diet backlog of hunger that makes you constantly fall off the wagon, both while you diet and afterwards. In fact, because of this backlog, you can never finish a daily diet. Your body's programming will keep your mind forever glued on food.

If what you're doing now isn't working, you will have
to do something different, because if you always do what
you've always done, you can only get what you've always got.

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"I wanted to tell you that I've never before lost weight and then was able to go on vacation, go through a wedding and Thanksgiving, and not put pounds on that stayed on. Yes, my weight went up a few pounds after Thanksgiving but I was able to drop it within a few days. (Your advice about not following the urge to go right back on a "diet" was very valuable.) 

"I've pretty much stayed at 140-142 and am loving the way I feel. So many people have commented on how I look -- amazing what a difference 22 pounds can make.  This is also the first time I've lost weight when I've literally had to change the size I'm wearing, as if my entire body's composition has changed.

"Thank you so much." --- Scottie T., New York, NY