> The hard part for me is mindset and willpower. Our minds have their own prerogatives.
Exactly right. Losing weight by counting calories is an almost entirely mental activity, not physical. We have a physiology that wants food and abhors not eating enough.
> I wonder then what did you tell yourself?
Like the author, I discovered counting calories a couple of years ago, after trying and failing to lose weight through exercise for 20 years.
I do have some mental tricks that worked for me.
Number one: the reason I got overweight is because I’m mis-calibrated. When I feel full, it’s because I already ate too much. What I need to do is re-calibrate to understand what “enough” is. By assigning a negative judgement to feeling full, and seeking the feeling of enough, it helps remove the idea that I just need willpower to overcome any hunger. A little bit of hunger (but not a lot) is a good thing, so I want to stay there.
Number two: I set my calorie budget to my future weight, not my current weight with minus a thousand. This is a “set it and forget it” plan. I want to calibrate my normal eating for the rest of my life, not diet for a month or two and then regress. I also don’t want to make adjustments when I’m done, I want to act like I’m already done. If I want to be 180lbs, and I should be eating 2k calories when I’m 180lbs, then I just start doing that and my weight will trend toward 180lbs. This takes longer than having a larger deficit, but mentally I don’t need to care how long it takes. I spent decades overweight despite trying, a couple extra months losing weight more slowly is nothing, it’s way ahead of where I was before.
Third, I also save some budget in my day for a treat at the end of the day. It leaves me just a tiny bit hungrier, but then when I get my treat it feels like I’m splurging.
Fourth, I still exercise. To lose weight fast I don’t count my exercise as calories burned. In maintenance mode, I use my exercise as a way to earn more calories. Now I’m actually going to the gym not to lose weight, but so I can eat more!
I had days where I went over, but I didn’t really have “bad” days or bad moods, it was never severe. It was more like go to a party when I’m not counting, and whoops, I’m 400 calories over my budget.
The hardest part about counting calories is the first few days. That’s when hunger is worst. After the first week, my body adjusts and my appetite goes down.