We who are working at weight loss can learn a lot from the the reality TV stars of "My 600-lb Life." I will be forever grateful to these folks for having the courage to share their painful stories. They've taught me so much, even the dysfunctional behavior. I'm thinking today of the man who cheated on Dr Now's gastric bypass diet because he thought he was malnourished. He sure got a LOT of shaming from TLC watchers for that. Personally, it just broke my heart. Especially as, I believe, he was one who passed away before he could outrun obesity.
But does he have a valid point? Are some diets so restrictive that you don't get enough to eat? Yes, indeed. Part of how I lost 100 pounds was to try different plans. And some were starvation diets, plain and simple. Now that doesn't mean the gastric bypass diet used by "My 600-lb Life" Dr. Now is. But it probably feels like it. Especially when you have hundreds of pounds of extra body to feed.
But also, you can't eat the way you always have if you want to lose weight. This poor guy hadn't yet realized what the success stories of "My 600-lb Life" had, that with weight loss, you begin to feel satisfied with less. There are two takeaways here. First, follow a healthy diet that ensures you're getting all the nutrients you need. My Fitness Pal is a great place to start. Avoid any weight loss program that has you eating a bunch of weird foods or restricting entire food groups.
Next, give your stomach time to shrink. When I first began dieting, I was hungrier. And hunger is really uncomfortable, not gonna lie. More on that later. But as the pounds fell off so did the hunger pangs. The pictures above are me in the same shirt before and after weight loss. To paraphrase the Al-Anon slogan, a good diet works if you work it! Best wishes to all
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