With the caveat that I have some pretty extensive metabolic issues which required years of diagnosis and medical management before starting, by eating fewer calories than I use.
I had to start by picking the easiest possible spot I could make a sustained change. I agreed to myself that I would make ONE change, not try to change multiple things. Willpower is a finite resource. I don’t have much. I have 3 DC. I have a full time job, and hobbies I love (which do include a fairly intense sport 2x per week at minimum), and limited energy. I was not going to add in additional exercise due to time and energy, and even if I did AND I managed to sustain it, that wasn’t going to have the biggest impact on the whole equation. So adding additional exercise was out. I take it if I can get it, if I have the time and energy to do an extra day of riding, or go swimming with the DC, but it’s not required. Too much effort.
What was left then was looking at how many calories I consume in a day vs how many I burn. This is the piece that is most under my control, so it was the logical place to start addressing the issue.
The nutritional composition in my regular diet wasn’t bad to begin with. I love to cook, and I cook from scratch most days. I’m also cooking for my family, so changing what I prepared depended on whether four other people would like it too. I was looking to make the easiest possible sustainable change FIRST, so changing what I prepared or ate with my family wasn’t going to be it.
I did stop “habit” eating and started waiting until I have physical signs of hunger to eat. Getting familiar with physical vs. mental appetite was key. That’s not to say that if everyone is sitting down to eat that I don’t join them, or that if something terrific is on offer I don’t have a bite or two…but if I’m not hungry then it is just a bite or two, and even then only if it’s something I’m going to genuinely enjoy. Really paying attention to actual physical hunger vs. “Oh, it’s lunch, better grab something because it’s time.” and breaking out of those patterns was key.
I got comfortable with saying, “no thank you”, at leaving food unfinished both at home and when out for a meal, and at throwing food away. I eat when I’m hungry, not because it’s a certain time of day or because everyone else is eating. These were hard habits to break, they’re instilled from childhood and it’s why I allow my DC to leave food unfinished or even sometimes untouched if they’re not hungry.
I did measure portions and log calories for about a year. It was just an added level of awareness to help me track those “I’ll just have a bite or two.” situations. I don’t do that regularly any more.
I found pretty quickly that my body is very good at telling me what it needs and when, and as a result of listening to it, I was consuming fewer calories than I burned, and the weight came off. Since I didn’t change what I ate, only when and how much, I didn’t feel deprived so it wasn’t a struggle to maintain. As long as I continue to listen, the weight stays off.
I realise most of this won’t be a revelation to anyone who has a completely normal way of eating and thinking about food, but it’s how the weight came off and stayed off for me.