Mentally Thin

Weight loss is a mind game

Eight days ago I decided to start losing weight. I’ve lost 10lbs so far. More than a pound a day. That’s almost halfway to my target of 22lbs, which I thought would take at least two months to reach. The results have really surprised me, and so has the ease with which I’m doing this.

The biggest change there’s been is a mental one. I don’t really think about food anymore. Hunger doesn’t bother me at all. And I know the difference between boredom and hunger.

Fatman mentality

It's true that if you change your thoughts you can change your life. Most people never realise how their thoughts are affecting them because the consequences don't immediately follow the thoughts. But there’s no doubt about it; your external reality, and your physical reality, are heavily influenced by your thoughts.

I’ve had a fat man mentality since my teens. I was always active, so I thought I could get away with eating anything. I read fitness magazines that filled my mind with conflicting nonsense. I read bodybuilding magazines that were even worse. Magazines are often just catalogues for protein powders and supplements, dressed up as educational resources and news. The magazines, the books, the YouTube videos and so much that I consumed, filled my head with false beliefs. Those false beliefs frustrated my efforts to lose weight for decades.

But all that has changed now. I’ve been able to lose those false beliefs and replace them. My new beliefs are helping me to lose weight more easily and faster than I thought was possible.

False beliefs

I used to believe I could eat as much as I wanted as long as I was building muscle, because eventually, all that muscle needs calories to maintain itself.

I believed that losing weight quickly would mean I’d lose all of my strength, and damage my health.

I believed that weight loss would lead to ‘starvation mode’ and that would mean any calories I then consumed would rapidly be stored as fat to protect me from future ‘starvation.’

I believed it is healthier to eat small portions throughout the day or graze, as doing so will keep your metabolism ‘switched on’ and turn your body into a fat-burning machine!

I believed that regular aerobics, walking, and exercise would burn off the calories and give me the definition and flat stomach I’ve missed since my teens.

I used to believe the only way to get in shape and stay in shape is to practise lifelong discipline, not to snack between meals, avoid sugary snacks and treats, regularly exercise, have a regular routine, and get enough sleep.

I even believed for a while that the best way to lose fat is to avoid carbohydrates.

I believed that as I get older, losing weight becomes harder and harder.

And I believed that certain ‘superfoods’ would help me lose weight.

It turns out that none of those beliefs were helping me. Part of the reason is that they overcomplicated matters and part of the reason is that they all conflicted in some way or another with what actually works, quickly and reliably.

Over the last few weeks, every one of those beliefs has been eliminated and replaced with new ones. It’s no coincidence that I’ve also lost so much weight, so rapidly, at the same time.

Thin beliefs

Now I’m going to say a few things that you’re not going to believe. I didn't believe them myself for a long time, and I had all sorts of ‘well-informed’ counterarguments. I’m a smart guy, and smart people often have a hard time accepting the simplicity of some things. That should be classed as a form of stupidity.

So here we go. Here are the new beliefs that make up my new mentally thin outlook…

Losing weight is very simple and very easy.

I can lose a lot of weight without losing any strength.

I can lose a lot of weight and not look puny or weak.

I can go for hours without food and it doesn’t bother me one bit.

Anybody can lose weight easily.

I don't need any exercise to lose weight.

How I replaced my Fatman mentality with my new thin beliefs.

Creating new beliefs is not just a matter of changing your mind, that doesn’t work for me. I need data and evidence. I need experience. I need examples. I need information from trusted sources. Despite the fact that none of my previous beliefs had ever succeeded in helping me to quickly and easily lose weight, I wasn’t willing to let them go. Not all at once anyway.

A few things happened that got me to where I am now.

My sister who is in her mid-forties still has the body she had when she was 20, despite having had two children. She does a lot of exercise. That destroyed my conviction that losing weight becomes harder and harder as we get older.

My sister who is in her mid-fifties has lost about 30kg in a year. She doesn’t exercise. I let go of the belief that exercise is necessary to lose weight.

I read a book by a medical doctor and Professor stating that the human body can survive for weeks without food. I’d also thought about the fact that people go on hunger strikes and it doesn’t kill them. The idea of a starvation mode meaning you’ll instantly get fat as soon as you eat again is ridiculous. (There is such a thing as starvation mode, characterised by symptoms such as lethargy and hair loss, but it is not going to occur after just a few days of restricted eating).

I went to the gym after having lost 10lbs, and consumed less than 1000 calories for the whole day. I was stronger on most of the exercises than I had been before I started dieting.

I realized that grazing every day and eating superfoods, or any food at all for that matter isn’t a necessity for survival. By the second day of my diet, which involved cutting over a thousand calories a day from my intake, I was no longer hungry. By the fourth day, I wasn’t even bothered about eating anymore, and set a daily alarm to remind me to have my meal.

I found a diet that’s extremely simple to follow, nutritionally complete, and doesn’t require any expensive supplements. In fact, it’s cut my food bill to less than £20 a week.

I’ve noticed that the thought of food doesn’t even enter my mind until about 11 am, even though I wake up at 7 am and cook or prepare breakfasts for three people.

My weight has decreased faster than I thought possible. That’s very encouraging.

I’m not starving. I feel great.

All of my previous Fatman beliefs have been erased.

A New Me

Doing things without believing in them is never going to last. My new beliefs are going to keep me thin for the rest of my life. I know they are. If I do get fat again, I know I can easily get back down to my desired weight.

I now understand the basic, fundamental factor that makes us gain fat, and lose fat. And thanks to my new mentally thin outlook, I will use it to my advantage for the rest of my life. It’s as simple as learning to tie your shoelaces. You start out as a toddler, thinking it’s really difficult and complicated, that’s your belief. Then you learn to tie laces. For the rest of your life, you believe that tying shoelaces is simple, and you never worry about it again. You just know that you can do it.

You can read about how I’ve lost all this weight in my articles, Rapid Weight Loss, and I’ve lost 9lbs in 4 days.

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