Refried Ass

Someone asked how I control eating. Here is my response:

Anyway, yeah, food is hard for me too and is the biggest problem with a lot of people. Food addiction is a brutal addiction, and if you compared it to cigarrettes, you'll find that it's both more subtle and more difficult to quit. I have improved enourmously in the last year in this area, and here is how I did it.

1. I got a REALISTIC idea of how many calories I was eating, and how many I should be eating. There were days when I could easily put away 10,000 calories. A guy my size (6'6" 360 lbs when I started) should probably eat between 2600 and 3600 calories a day, depending on activity level - so I was overdoing it by a huge margin. So how do you get a realistic idea of what you're eating? Buy a small scale for $10 and weigh your food. You'll be surprised how small a 210-calorie serving of macaroni is. You'll be even more surprised to see how few peanuts it takes to get 100 calories - and how quickly those peanuts add up. The worst, however, is potato/corn chips. Processed foods in general are very dense in calories and not very filling.

2. Watch the movie "Supersize Me" and read the book "Fast Food Nation" in the same month. I did this last year and haven't eaten at a fast food place since. Going back to point 1, I studder to think of how many calories I've not eaten just by skipping that damned dollar menu.

3. Once you've gotten an idea of what kind of calories certain foods contain, start planning your meals - write them down every day and stick to your plan. This prevents snacking.

4. Here's a special one by me: Binge once every other week or so. Eat two steaks and a shitload of white rice like I did last weekend. Take care of those cravings all at once. Feel like shit afterwards. Notice how much slower you are at exercise the next day. I feel that the benefits outweigh the extra calories here. Yes, I am eating 4000 calories in one meal. But I am also showing myself that eating like that makes me feel horrible. I am taking care of those cravings and then some. What you'll find is that your binge meals will get more and more reasonable as time goes on.

5. Skip the soda, skip the diet soda, skip the processed juices. I drink two things: seltzer and water. I have found that even with caffeine-free diet soda, I still crave it until I stop. There are probably some addictive ingredients in there, and it draws me to 7-11. Sure, there are no calories in the thing, but I walk past a million calories worth of seemingly innocent snack foods on the way to the fountain, and yes, I have found myself cheating. Once I made a point of switching to seltzer, I go in for seltzer much less often.