Ten Thin Commandments

This isn't WLS-specific (so obviously follow your doctor's rules first)...but more so staying healthy and losing weight-specific. I found it interesting.

1. Strategy is Stronger than Willpower.
   
   The winners at weight control do not have more willpower than those who fail - they have more strategies. These are the strategies that I have learned from the winners

    

2. Think Historically, Not Calorically.

   If you just think calorically, you will probably fail. It's not just how many calories in a cookie or a candy, but how many or how much of this food do you typically eat. Always ask yourself, not just about the calories, but what is my history with this food? and you will not find yourself among the millions of dieters who gain back the same weight again and again with the same foods.

    

3. The problem may be in the food, not in you.

   Certain foods affect the neurochemistry of the brain and actually trigger cravings and appetite especially in those who are genetically sensitive to such foods. Knowing this scientific fact helps you to understand. It may not be your lack of willpower or character, but your hypersensitivity to the taste or texture of a certain food which is actually creating losses of control and excess eating. Remember the potato chip commercial - "we bet you can't have just one"?

    

4. Structure Gives Control.

   The structure of 3 meals and 2 to 3 snacks a day promotes metabolic efficiency and helps with cravings and going longer than 3-4 hours without a healthy snack or meal promotes cravings, hunger and failure.

    

5. Separate Mood from Food.

   Sometimes eating is not about food. You can lose all the weight in the world but, if the next time you get upset you turn to food, your success at weight control will be temporary.

    

6. Take control of your favorite foods.

   To succeed at a diet does not mean you have to give up your favorite foods but, if you have a long history of overeating them, you need new strategies to take control of them rather than letting them continue to control you.

    

7. The slips should teach you, not defeat you.

   Thin is a life-management skill. It is not about being "good" or "bad" It is about learning what works. Part of any learning process involves making mistakes. This Commandment teaches you how to learn from those mistakes and never again to make the greatest mistake of all - saying "I blew it" and giving up.

    

8. Stop feeling deprived.

   Dieting has always been associated with deprivation. This commandment teaches you how to overcome that feeling and to fully appreciate that in the end it is not about deprivation but about liberation.

   The greatest deprivation of all is to spend a lifetime of being heavy when you could have easily succeeded with strategies that could have worked for you

    

9. Treat your calories like dollars.

   This commandment deals with the truth that our bodies have a budget like our checkbook. It teaches us the insider tips and foods that allow you to stretch your calorie budget so you can eat more and weigh less.

    

10. Losing weight is half the job.

    Keeping it off is the other half. If you're 30 or 40 or 50 or 60 and lose weight today how do you keep this weight off for the decades to come? This concerns maintenance and the strategies that work best to keep it off for a lifetime without cravings or deprivation. It's about living in the world of food as a thin person.

Elena,

This is actually very informative... and makes a lot of sense... thanks for posting it.

Elena, This is interesting material.......Thanks for sharing........For me having alot of protein right away in the morning has helped me....... Kelly

Sounds very relavent to WLS to me.  It's a good article, cause it deals a lot with those old habits that we sometimes struggle to shake.  And those old triggers and old cravings.  thanks for posting it!

Thanks Elena....good info. I bookmarked it for future reference. Hugs, connie d