Reducing weight without starving

Before we talk about how to reduce your weight, there's another, and far more important, question you need to answer. Why are you overweight? As far as I know, diet planners or weight loss clinics will not ask you this question - That's because it might mean that you end up deciding not to lose weight. Confused?

It's simple enough - Cause and symptom. You get a headache or fever because there's something wrong inside, and the body triggers the fever to get rid of the illness. If you're given medicine to get rid of the fever, but not the underlying problem, how does that help you? In fact, it might end up hurting you. Similarly, you're fat because.....? Could be many reasons - genes, stress, insecurity complex, a desk job, no job, television/internet/fast food addiction, unhealthy lifestyle or just plain laziness. Whatever the reason, obesity is generally un-natural and unhealthy, and as such, should be considered a symptom. Find the cause. If you still feel you need to lose weight, continue reading.

Disclaimer: Before you try out any suggestions outlined here, consult your favorite physician, shrink or witchdoctor to make sure you're not doing anything stupid. The views expressed in this article are just that - Views. This is not a science. More of a holistic approach to balancing body and mind.

Assuming you read the introduction, let's get on with a solution to reducing your fat, without in any way aggravating any problems hidden by the fat. Important notice - Don't punish yourself. Eat when you feel hungry, sleep when you feel tired, exercise only when you don't feel tired. So how exactly are you supposed to lose weight? What happens is - Hunger, sleep, exercise - these are all related to the state of your mind. You got nothing to do? Let's watch some television. Maybe get a drink. And a small snack. One more. Just one more. Ok, last one. Finished the snack? Nothing to do? Maybe a short nap. Eat your food and go to sleep - You wake up and you feel like a bloated baby python who just accidently swallowed his own mama. No way you're going to do any exercise in that condition.

The trick here would be simply to keep yourself busy. Your body is not asking for the extra food. It's just a replacement for something you like to do. Meaning that all you need to do is find something which keeps your mind occupied enough that you won't think about food or sleep until you are actually hungry or tired.

If you stay at home, work out a schedule to fill in your free time. Go out, meet some friends, do some gardening, find a job - Anything that you 'like' to do, because if you choose something you hate, you're likely to count the minutes and keep thinking about stuff you like - Such as food and television.

Even if you have a job, many people make the mistake of scheduling their day, and work, around their meals. For instance, I'll do this and this before lunch, and I'll do that after lunch, etc.  Pulling through the day until lunch time is a big mistake. What you need to do, again, is find a job which you like so much that you focus on working, and eat only when you feel hungry, whether it's at noon or 3 p.m.  Another related issue is that if you focus on the lunch, rather than the work, you ending up eating, and enjoying, the meal much more than what is necessary to fulfill your hunger. This leads, again, to the baby python, where you are able to do very little after lunch. Translation - Work hard, eat only when hungry and just enough to keep you going, but not enough to make you drowsy. This is possible only if you love your job enough that you unknowingly eat less, so as to be able to do the job. If this sounds a bit vague, let me give you an example. Let's say you have an important interview  at 4 p.m. Goes without saying that you would feel hungry before then. What would you do? Stuff your face at 12.00 and fall asleep? Stuff your face at 2 or 3 p.m. and walk into the interview half-asleep? Or drink diet coke and prepare for the interview?

I'm not saying you need to go around finding interviews every day. Just that if there's something worth doing, which you really want to do, you will take a pass on your customary heavy meal. So it's just a question of finding that something which you really want to do....I can't tell you what to do. That you need to decide, based on your preferences and talents.

I have made it pretty clear that reducing weight artificially, by medication or starving diets,  is a strict no-no. So, the only way to reduce your weight would be to do what I described above. Keeping yourself busy has multiple advantages - It exercises both your body and mind, reduces your yearning for food, and will lead to automatically to a healthier lifestyle, where you sleep better at night and work more efficiently throughout the day.

I don't claim this will be easy, or fast. this is not a get thin in 21 days course or a cosmetic nip and tuck. Conditioning your mind to forget about food, while keeping your body satisfied, is a hard struggle. To put it in a nutshell, you start from living to eat and you're supposed to end up at eating to live.

Relapse: If it's hard, there's a good chance of failure - In this case, a relapse. You might start off with enthusiasm, but stress or an argument might lead you to chuck the whole thing and go back into your shell. The important thing to remember about relapses it pick yourself up and walk on. Just because you broke your promise does not mean that you can't try again. You have to try. If you go on an eating binge, forget what happened, and continue working on the schedule.

Obesity Support Groups: There are plenty of other fish in this pond, and they are all going through the same thing as you. If you think you can't do this on your own, reach out to others. There are nationwide and city-to-city chapters of obesity support groups, who will offer you help and moral support. There are also a huge number of online blogs and forums where you can interact with other's who are also trying to lose weight. You can get inspiration from their accounts, and you can provide help to others.

Lastly, if, for whatever reason, you cannot, or will not, lose weight - It's not the end of the world. Yes, you don't look attractive, you don't feel good about yourself, your clothes are more like tents, it may affect your lifespan, you can't participate in sports, it affects your career and productivity, you're the butt of all the jokes, you feel guilty at every meal and generally speaking, your being fat is always a worry at the back of your mind. But...It's not the end of the world. No way.... What? You ready to lose weight? Cool.