WIY,
A few thoughts I have that I work on in my own life, and hopefully may be helpful to you:
1.) Don’t diet – the popular conception of dieting in the U.S. is taking a hatchet to our intake and suffering until some goal is reached. Like in “Garfield” comics where the cat eats everything in sight, and then for one week, Jon feeds him nothing but a carrot for supper. That’s a recipe for failure, since the underlying habits are not being changed, and the diet is unsustainable for the long term. As soon as the diet is over, the bad stuff comes right back. Realistic lifestyle changes, not dieting, is needed.
2.) Fill your space with good choices – all of us tend to take the path of least resistance and eat what is easily available to us. So remove junk food from your pantry and replace it with healthy, ready-to-eat foods such as carrot sticks, apples, grapes, celery, yogurt, whole grain crackers, bananas, etc. You can’t cheat with something that’s not there, and healthy snacks can satisfy hunger without guilt.
3.) Don’t get over-hungry – When we get really hungry, we tend to make poorer food choices. Plan ahead, have a healthy snack, and keep yourself from getting to the point of “I need a bite NOW!” before you even start making supper.
4.) If you drink soda – stop. Sodas add toxic amounts of sugar to our diets. It’s like a blitz on the pancreas. Water has no calories and is what our bodies are really after anyway when thirsty. If you did nothing but remove soda from your diet, then you have accomplished a big step. Diet sodas may not have sugar, but the artificial junk isn’t good for you either.
5.) This is my biggest challenge personally – control portion sizes and eat slowly. I am a fast eater by nature, and can finish off a third helping by the time my wife is done with her first. Fast eating results in overeating – the stomach can’t even register fullness before too much has gone down the hatch. Focus on chewing thoroughly and enjoying the food. It may help to decide in advance what and how much you plan to eat, and to arrange it on your plate so that you know when you are finished. Then get up from the table. Many times I continue eating without even thinking about what I’m doing!
6.) When you do eat something “bad”, don’t feel guilty. Nobody becomes obese from one piece of cake. If we tell ourselves that we can never eat this or that, then internal resentment and a sense that this is all too hard starts to build up. Instead of eliminating the desserts we love completely, set a realistic limit. That way, instead of thinking “Poor me, I can’t eat this”, we think “ok, I can eat this now instead of the brownie later…is it worth it?” Decide, enjoy (or enjoy something else later), and move on.
7.) Exercise is key to health. This is a big challenge for me because I have a sedentary office job. Take walks, sit on the floor, stretch your muscles, start small and slowly build up. The times I was most successful exercising have been when I was able to make it a part of the daily routine. I would walk to the next nearest subway stop – adding just 15 minutes to my commute, but 15 minutes of exercise. Park farther away, take a walk when coming or going, it doesn’t have to be an interruption.
Have a great Shabbos!