More Means Less

Strange thing.  I lose more weight when I eat more, rather than less.  And, of course, I don't mean more ice cream, more sweets, or more helpings. But I do mean more:

• more often (every two to three hours, five times a day, 300 calories or so each time)
• more vegetables
• more fruits
• more protein (for me this has to be balanced with some carbohydrates or I get kind of "nutso")
• more exercise (two times daily)
• more water (one gallon daily, eight of these red glasses)

Lately, I hadn't been losing much, maybe a pound every week.  Still losing, but not enough.  I noticed that on the days I'd be too busy or not really hungry, I'd go too long without eating. Then I'd make bad choices and overeat or feel out-of-whack.  There seems to be an art, a trial-and-error to finding the balance point within my system, what works for me.

It's true - diets don't work.  You work.  And work hard.  It's a long, hard, day-in-day-out job, full of lots of little choices and lots of physical and mental and emotional effort to learn your body's point of balance and learn to not be overweight.  It's how I've lived for a long time, the overweight part, and it is a skill to learn to not be overweight any more.  The payoff for all the work?  Better health, energy, strength, and the confidence of knowing I can accomplish a tough, challenging task.
Brian Tracy, author of excellent motivational books like Eat That Frog! and Goals! says that,

"Persistence is self-discipline in action."

Once I realized that eating more would help me lose more, it gave me the motivation to continue attacking this weight goal loss head-on again and know that the seemingly little choices I make all day long will have the long term effects I want. Persistence.
More means more lost, traveling lighter.
*note: some people do very well on a high protein, low carb; I'm not demeaning that - the skill is finding what works to establish balance and health in your body system.