Basic Pursuits

Writing on Dumb Little Man, Craig Harper strikes some chords about weight loss. Some of them are pleasant and inspiring. Others are in-your-face blunt. All are true.

Among my favorites:

• The fat person with all the knowledge, education and resources... and a crap attitude, will stay fat.
• The fat person with limited knowledge, resources and genetic potential.. and a great attitude, will produce much better results every time.

A recent article from the New York Times cites studies showing that people who are well fed have a better chance at exercising self control than those whose blood sugar is depleted. Furthermore, restoring blood sugar levels seems to replenish self control.

In the process of switching from a high calorie, crappy diet to a low calorie, healthful diet, your best friend may be high quality protein. Why? Because eating lots of protein makes you less hungry.

I've noticed in my own experience and I've observed the high quantity of protein in diet foods like Jenny Craig. Then there's the Atkins diet that I've observed so many lose weight on.

Sometimes I'm guilty of what I call "military eating." Eat as much as you can as fast as you can because you don't know when you will be able to eat again.

There's absolutely no need for that in my life. I've got plenty of food and I can eat it when I need it. But that doesn't stop me on occasions from eating like it's the last meal I'll get for a week.

The Yoga Sutras tell us that our most reliable knowledge comes from direct comprehension. Even then, we often tend to see what we want to see and miss seeing what is actually there. That being said, I want to share three things about eating that I believe to be true based on my own observation. I know of no scientific studies that corroborate my observations, yet I still believe them and operationally they work for me.

Craig Harper at Buzzle.com exposes the real weight-loss secret in an aptly entitled article, Weight Loss Bullshit. Here is a sample.

Q. What really determines weight loss (or gain)?
A. Attitude, thinking, self-control, mind-set and ultimately, decisions.

We know what to do.
But we don't do what we know.
We've never been more educated.
Yet we've never been fatter.
We've never had more resources.
And we've never made more excuses (heard them all).
We've never had more reasons to lose weight.
And we've never wasted more time.