Six Superpowers for Weight Management

You can maintain, and the longer you do, the easier it gets. Today we were out for breakfast and the waitress brought us an enormous one! A huge omelet, a ridiculous pile of home fries, and a big ol’ bagel with cream cheese. There was a time, about four years ago, when I could have done some real damage to a meal like that. Not anymore! I enjoyed every bite of about one-third of my omelet and carefully spread some cream cheese on half a bagel and ate it. I wasn’t dieting. I wasn’t restricting. I was eating exactly what I wanted.

How does this happen? Three years ago, I would have had to use my superpowers to manage a meal like that. My superpowers are a list of strategies that I use as needed to maintain my 50-pound weight loss. For example, I may have brought the menu up online in advance and decided exactly what to order.  In fact, three years ago I would have looked at that menu and opted not to go to a Jewish deli for breakfast—too much temptation. Now, I can order what I want and eat a sensible amount, something I had never been able to do before.

“My superpowers are a list of strategies that I use as needed to maintain my 50-pound weight loss”

Maintenance is hard. Don’t ever let anyone tell you it is not! But it gets easier. Your body and mind acclimate to less food and more nutritious food. You begin to crave fruits and vegetables and find it easier and easier to pass up junk and sweets. However, this takes years, not weeks or months. In the meantime, you may need to call on your superpowers to maintain your hard-earned weight loss.

“So,” you might say, “that’s all well and good. What do I do while my appetite is still changing?” Here are six of my superpowers—the things that have helped me maintain over the past few years:

1. I plan my eating in advance. At home, it’s easy. If I am going out, I plan when, where and what I will eat. Eating at someone else’s house may require me to pay special attention to portion sizes.
   
   
2. I focus on fruits and vegetables. You can’t go wrong with a salad. I have come to love the crunch and the freshness of produce.
   
   
3. I never let myself get so hungry that I lose control. I’m careful to eat three meals a day and to have a snack if I’m really starving.
   
   
4. I am sure to have nutritious choices in my house and at my fingertips. The grocery store is one of my favorite places—and that’s good, considering how much produce I eat in a week.
   
   
5. I don’t let anyone guilt me into eating something I did not plan to eat. Friends and family are happier when we eat what they do, especially when we’re talking dessert. You might be able to train your friends to serve berries or poached pears. I haven’t had much luck with mine, though.
   
   
6. I focus on the now. I enjoy what I am eating, knowing that eating less and eating better becomes a habit.