Some Of Us Need To Be Re-wired

This article presents a sobering view that many of us might just be hard-wired to overeat.

They talk about developing drugs or "behavior interventions" to modify this. I do wonder if the SLD could in fact be one of those "behavior interventions" that they are talking about.

I think that the AS brought on by the SLD while not permanently re-wiring us certainly has the same net effect.

Link: Some People May Be Hard-Wired to Overeat

(Photo: poolie)

Eating Only When You're Hungry

CNN has this article which addresses one of the fundamental keys for success on the SLD: only eating when you are actually hungry.

It talks about the need to control serving sizes, since we have a tendency to finish whatever is on our plate, whether we're still hungry or not.

Many of use eat until we're "stuffed", not stopping when we are simply "full."

This is important to keep in mind when on the SLD. Before you take each bite, think about whether or not you are truly still hungry.

Link: Eating With Your Stomach, Not Your Eyes

(Photo: jspatchwork)

A Tribute to the Single Pizza Slice...In Haiku Form

I eat just one slice
I used to eat multiple
Now one is enough

My usual "pizza meal" used to be at least two slices, sometimes three or even four.
Since the SLD I can actually walk into a pizzeria and walk out after only eating a single slice.

At least when it comes to pizza, I'm cutting my consumption at least in half! It's one of the interesting facts about pizza- it has a universally accepted standard portion size and that you can easily measure your consumption by counting slices.

(Photo: The Pizza Review)

Skipping Lunch

I've been skipping lunch this week.

That was not my plan when Monday rolled around, but that's what happened.

Three reasons for this:

1. I've been really busy at work this week.
2. The cafeteria in my office building has sub-par food.
3. I've not been all that hungry.

I'll repeat the last one (and make it a bit bigger) in case you missed it:
I've not been all that hungry

I don't recommend skipping meals and I don't plan I doing this very often, but as I've said before I think that it's crucial for success on the SLD that you only eat when you are truly hungry and at least this week that's not been the case for me. I'm not about to force myself to eat a meal when I'm not hungry, that's how I became overweight in the first place.

Link: Knowing When to Put the Fork Down
Link: Three Squares?

(Photo: Danielle Walquist)

Feed a Cold...

When you come down with a cold or a case of the flu (and the associated nasal congestion), have you ever lost your appetite as well?

Most of us probably attribute that loss-of-appetite to simply "feeling sick."

Perhaps it can more easily be explained by the fact that since your sense of smell is diminished by the nasal congestion, your ability to taste is pretty much shot as well. Since your taste is gone...well you've just adopted the SLD without even knowing it!

Do you know anybody afflicted with anosmia (no sense of smell)?
If so, are they thin?
(Photo: JasonRogers)

Combining the Shangri-La Diet with Another Program

A problem with many conventional weight-loss programs such as Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, etc. is that since they are based on reducing your calorie intake via portion control you quite likely will be hungry many times while you are on the plan. This can cause you to "cheat" and diminish the benefits of the program.

As Seth Roberts mentions in the book, you can use the SLD as a tool to help mitigate your hunger while on one of these other programs, thus decreasing your appetite and increasing your chances of success.

However, I think you do need to be careful about accounting for the caloric content of the oil.
For example 1tbs of ELOO contains 120 calories and 14 grams of fat. Using the Weight Watchers points formula, this would equate to 3.5 points per tablespoon, or in my case 14 points per day since I'm consuming 4 tbs. daily.

I would suspect that if you don't account for at least some of the points in the oil, and consume your full daily point allottment, you will actually end up overeating and not seeing much weight-loss.

(Photo: malias)

Total Daily Calorie Intake

The SLD can help you lose weight, but it's not a magic pill.
I think that it's important that before eating something (particularly a "bad" food, we all know what they are) you need to ask yourself a few questions:

• Why am I eating this?
• Do I really want this?
• Am I really hungry?

These questions are very important because when you embark on the SLD program -- unlike most other weight-loss programs which are actual "diets" -- you are in this case not explicitly managing a reduction in your calorie intake. You are actually adding calories to your diet with the intention that the resulting AS will in fact result in a net reduction of calories.

This net reduction will not occur by magic. If you are eating because it's "time to eat" or because you have nothing better to do, then you are not leveraging the AS. Remember: you need to reduce your total calorie intake by at least enough to offset the additional calories you are consuming. In order to achieve the weight loss you are seeking, you of course would need to offset more than the additional calories which have been added -- perhaps considerably more if you want to achieve significant weight loss.

On Snacks

Bottom line: I haven't been having any.

For nearly two weeks, I've eaten three meals daily....and that's pretty much been it.

This has not been difficult. In fact it's something I've barely noticed due to my decreased appetite.

I've been on many weight loss programs over the years, including a very successful experience with Weight Watchers about six years ago.
This is the first time that I've been able to eliminate between-meal snacks.

I suspect that this will become a key factor in any success that I have with this "diet."

On Appetite Suppression

I've been doing some thinking as to how the AS manifests itself.
So far what I've experienced seems to come in at least two forms:

• The type of classical loss of appetite that one experiences when one is upset or nervous. Of course the good part is that the AS is occurring without the accompanying emotional distress.
• The other type is similar to (but still somewhat distinct from) a "motion-sickness" type of loss-of-appetite.

The unique part is that the AS is occurring by itself as a "stand-alone" sensation. This is a fairly new experience and I'm assuming it will take some time to get acclimated to this. Prior to the SLD the only ways I could lose my appetite would be either through eating food (too much of course, that's the whole problem!), some emotional distress, or getting car sick!

I believe I'm also experiencing some de-sensitivity to foods. I can look at someone else eating and not necessary feel like *I* need to eat as well.