Weak Willed but Willing to try again.

Yet another attempt at loosing weight abandoned.  In the intervening few months I have tried both Weight Watchers and calorie counting.  I have successfully lost weight on both and put it back on.  They all work.  Isn’t that just amazing!  Put less into your mouth and loose weight! Rocket science?  Arrg!  I get so hungry and I can’t stop thinking about food.  There is too much temptation about. 

One of the biggest down sides I have found to strict adherence to  the Chew-Chew diet is fitting it in around my kids and husband.  They all like to be fed at regular times, three times a day at least.  It is quite difficult to wait until  “A good and true hunger” has arrived when the food’s hot on the table and likely to go to waste if it’s not eaten now.  If I follow Fletcher suggestion then it may be another six hours before I serve a meal again and the hunger has become unbearable.  I found I couldn’t do that on a daily basis.  Besides, I think it’s so important for the family to eat together. 

What have I taken from Fletcherism?

1. Hunger is good, but too hungry is bad.
2. Small portions are the key to weight loss without counting units.  Chewing each mouthful 32  times works and stopping as soon as the feeling of hunger fades stops you over eating but don’t put too much on your plate or cook too much in the first place.  You can always have a small snack later if you find you’re hungry again.
3. Enjoy life and don’t obsess.

Have I given up on the Chew-Chew Diet?

Simple Answer – No.  But I have to modify it to suit me and my lifestyle.

 

Endless Chomps

My husband must think I have stopped talking to him at the supper table.  It takes so long to finish each mouthful according to Fletcher’s rules that meals have become totally unsociable

 

PMS – a primeval beast.

Food and Hormones

Food and Mood

Mood and Hormones

PMS exhibits over 150 symptoms.  I am not going to list them all here, just Google PMS symptoms if you need them listing.  For me it’s the severe depression and breast tenderness are the most difficult to cope with and last for the 10 days to two weeks before my period.

Pre-Menstrual Syndrome is worse in women who are overweight.  Women with a BMI of 30 or over are three times more likely to suffer severe PMT.

There is a significant increase in the levels of suicide and petty crimes committed by women suffering from PMS.  I haven’t done either by the way but I can understand the temptation.

I get angry. Really angry.  Since I was a teenager I have learned that exhibiting too much emotion is not acceptable and I have learned to channel it inwards- very self destructive.  My anger feels like the withdrawal symptoms I suffered when I gave up smoking.  I suffer from cravings which leads to binging on food, usually carbohydrates.  Vicious circle.  Nasty. 

I am not as bad as I used to be.  Exercise helps, even if it’s just a good walk in the fresh air, but something more vigorous is better.  I swim between 1500m and 2000m five days per week when I am not bleeding and if I have time I try to go to a class like body pump or Body Balance at least three times per week.  I am often self-conscious about being by far the fattest woman there, but I don’t look in the mirrors and I try not to compare myself to other people.  Focusing on achieving the best results is the best distraction.

Last week was bad.  I forgot to chew-chew.  Something deep and primeval took over.  I needed that comforting full feeling.  I didn’t wait until I was hungry, I just ate.

Today is a new day.  I have about three weeks until this beast takes me over again.  Maybe if I have lost another seven or eight pounds then it will not be as strong.

 

KEEP ON CHEWING or WHEN TO SWALLOW OR SPIT.

 Fletcher puts a great deal of emphasis on eating being a time when both the food and the company should be enjoyed. I totally agree! However, sometimes I just can’t wait until I’ve chewed my food 32 times to swallow and then say something, the moment would be completely lost!  I  just have to swallow and speak. I timed myself chewing 32 times, if the action is performed at a rate that allows me to enjoy the food and not behave like a  cartoon character demolishing corn-on-the-cob, each mouthful takes about 20 seconds to eat.  I’m sure that there are quite a few of my past audiences who think that I should keep on chewing indefinitely and would be quite happy with the solo sound of their own voices at the table. To those I offer my sincerest apologies and suggest that they find somewhere else to sit.

Many years ago, I went out with an entrepreneur who did a lot of business related entertaining. To be honest he was one of those who enjoyed the sound of his own opinions, and our relationship didn’t last very long, but he was also very successful at what he did and a lot of his advice was worth taking.   He told me that when he was conducting business over a meal he always choose dishes from the menu that didn’t require a lot of chewing – omelets, fish, soup; and avoided the food that was either complicated to eat or couldn’t be swallowed quickly and easily -  steak, oysters, chops.  This enabled him to control the conversation by responding quickly and moving it on when he felt that he had made his point and considered the subject concluded.  It is a strategy that works well, but can also take much of the pleasure of eating good food. 

 

The reason the Chew-Chew diet works is simple. You eat less than your body needs to fuel itself and you therefore burn stored fat.  If food that can be chewed and swallowed quickly is regularly chosen, then a higher number of calories will be eaten and you will miss out on some of the tastes and textures afforded by a variety of different dishes.  One of my main reasons for embarking on the Chew-Chew diet was because I enjoy food and constantly measuring how much I ate and counting units: a) took the pleasure out of it ; and b) is too time consuming.  Eating too quickly does not allow enough time for the message that you have had enough and that your stomach is full to get to your brain.  My Grandmother always used to say that you should stop eating while you are still a little bit hungry.  I am beginning to appreciate this bit of wisdom much more now.  Whether you look at it as being just a little bit hungry still or the feeling of hunger beginning to subside, it is the same thing.  

 

It takes 20 minutes for your brain to register that your stomach is full, so by gobbling pappy food, you are not going to get that message before you have consumed too many calories.

 

I do not eat with other people all the time but when I do, I am now trying to take much smaller mouthfuls which can be thoroughly chewed more quickly and I can join in the conversation more easily. I am aware that I take a lot longer to finish my food, but I generally stop when I have had enough which is usually about the same time as those who don’t chew-chew.  I am often asked if there was a problem with the food, but an explanation that I have had enough is usually sufficient for most polite people.  Fortunately I live with a man who never seems to put on weight and will happily take responsibility for any tasty morsels left on my plate, so any childish guilt about leaving anything on my plate is quickly resolved if the food was good.

Just as an after thought,  the Edwardian followers in the of the Chew-Chew diet at the begining of the 20th century kept a bowl on the table into which they would spit any unliquified and therefore unswallowed food after 32 chews.  It’s a solution but I don’t think I would be invited to eat with many of my friends again if I did that today!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Family’s Reaction to My Slower Eating

This is the hardest bit, keeping up the not eating ’til I’m hungry when every one else is at home.  Eating slowly had certainly reduced the amounts I eat, but trying to cook meals around two hungry teenagers and a husband who never seems to put on weight whilst not eating when I haven’t worked up a true appetite is not easy. My family keeps asking if I’m not feeling well or whether I’ve lost my appetite because something’s wrong.  I reassure everyone that I’m fine but I don’t want to admit that I am trying to loose weight – again. 

I have been on so many diets over the years, some more successful than others, but one thing I have consistently found is that anyone who is thinner than you is an expert on weight loss.  I get really annoyed with the Thinner-Friend who believes that it is their duty to take responsibility for your diet. I get really pissed off with the Thinner-Friend who looks at the plate of food your eating and says ‘You’ll never loose weight if you eat that.’  I’ve never actually thrown a plate of food at someone, but I have been known to throw food out of the window when the the dictator has offered to eat it for me! If you successfully loose weight then Thinner-Friend goes around telling everybody how much you’ve lost and extolling their own part in your success, but if you fail then Thinner-Friend will say ’She would look and feel so much happier if she lost weight!’  Thinner-Friend, let me tell you, I am not unhappy.  I want to loose weight because I want to be healthier.  I get unhappy when I am dictated to and patronised.  Any unhappiness I have is not a result of being fat, although being fat may be a symptom of my feelings, but it is symptom and not the cause. 

My family are not stupid.  They know I am trying to lose weight, but if I don’t tell them, then they can’t ask me or nag me.  I’ve noticed my 13 year old daughter has started to follow my example by eating more slowly and is therefore eating smaller portions, but if she’s eating smaller portions, then she’s not skipping meals in an attempt to loose weight.  There is already enough pressure on young women to be thinner than is healthy.  My daughter isn’t fat, she’s beautiful with nice rounded curves in all the right places She attracts far more male attentions than is good for her to handle but still she already she hates her legs so much that she insists hiding them in shapeless tracksuit bottoms.  I worry that my skipping meals and not eating with the family will set a bad example that she will try and follow.  I think that along with properly balanced meals, the Chew-Chew Diet will be the answer that sets a good example of sensible eating and weight loss.

 

End of Week 1 – Down 4lbs in Total

One Week in and 4lbs down.  I was 7lbs down four days into my first week but a holiday weekend caused me a few problems which I shall address.  It would have been nice to have kept off the 7lbs, but I am realistic enough and experienced in enough in the world of diets to understand that the first week always results in a massive loss which I believe results from using up glycogen reserves in the liver.  A healthy maximum weight loss is 2lbs per week, a steady rate that will establish itself after three or four weeks of consistent dieting.

WEIGHT LOSS FACT

• An moderately active woman 5’6” (66 inches) tall height and weighing 9 stone (126lbs) needs to consume just under 1940 kCals.
• 3500 Kcal are required to create 1lb of fat.
• If this woman ate nothing at all for one week the maximum weight she would loose is just under 4lbs.

 

What Does It Feel Like To Be Properly Hungry?

My answer to this question? I don’t know.  When did I last let myself get properly hungry?  I have been hungry, all the calorie counting and fad diets that I have tried to endure have resulted in bingeing and starving when they have gone wrong, but I have been too busy with the psychological side of berating myself or planning the next meal to take too much notice of the way I physically felt when I was hungry.  My book on Fletcherism suggests missing a meal or two in order to fully understand the symptoms of hunger and therefore the indication that the appetite has begun to be satisfied. So that’s what I’ve been doing for the past few days by skipping breakfast.

I was surprised how hungry I felt first thing in the morning.  I really sick feeling gripped me, but I found that because I didn’t need to focus on what else I was going to eat that day and I didn’t need to write anything down, that sicky feeling soon passed once I got on with the rest of my life and I quickly forgot about needing food.  I have found that I am not really hungry until about 3pm, when a light meal has sufficed to take the edge of the appetite.  I have usually found I am quite hungry again towards 7pm when I usually sit down with my family and eat supper, but again, by concentrating on enjoying the good food  and how I am feeling physically, I am eating far less than before and not really needing anything else.

In conclusion I have generally found that the initial urge of a slightly sicky feeling that for me indicates hunger usually passes when I distract myself and stop thinking about food, but if it doesn’t then that is when I am properly hungry. 

 

What I Thought the Chew-Chew Diet Was

My copy of Fletcherism What It Is or How I became Young At Sixty  (1913) by Horace Fletcher arrived today.  Like many other people I had believed that Fletcherism which became known as “The Chew-Chew Diet” involved eating what I wanted three times a day and chewing each mouthful thirty-two times. This myth has not been dispelled by the recent series from Channel 4, The Diets That Time Forgot.   Wrong. The principles of the Chew-Chew Diet are about taking responsibility for what you put in your mouth and therefore taking responsibility for your own health.

Fletcherism or The Chew-Chew Diet is not about excessive mastication.

“The very essence of the method of performing the personal responsibility is avoiding excess of anything; excessive or laboured chewing among the rest.  There is little if any harm in keeping food in the mouth as long as possible, and I believe that it is impossible to have too much saliva mixed with it when it is swallowed, because when it is properly tasted and insalivated it is almost impossible to hold it back from the food gate in the back of the mouth.  There is always suction there ready to draw welcome nourishment in when it is ready.”  p52-53

Some of Fletcher’s ideas strike me as a little bizarre, for example his obsession with ‘digestive-ash’ as he calls faeces and his advocating of a very low protein intake.  Whilst many of us in the western world of the 21st century consume far too much protein,  the recommended level being about 15% of our daily calorific intake being made up of protein (for the average woman on 2000 kCals per day this is about 300 kCals or 75g of protein), Fletcher’s suggestion of 5-7g (20-28 kCals) strikes me as dangerously low.

However, Fletcher emphasises that this is of less importance than that food should be enjoyed and should the follower of Fletcherism wish to choose meat to eat, then the taste and flavour of the meat should be enjoyed and savoured, provided that the principles and rules of Fletcherism are followed.

So having read the book, I take what I understand to be the Rules and Principles of Fletcherism and I begin my journey Losing Weight the Chew-Chew Way.

 

Chew-Chew Day – I am Very Very Fat.

Ok so here it goes. Why have I started this Web-Log.

I am very very fat and being very very fat makes me feel useless and ugly which makes me unhappy and unhealthy.  This is not good for the people I love and who love me.

I know it’s becoming a bit of a poor-me-wailing-breast-beating-cliche but I also believe that most of the rest of the world sees obese people as stupid, lazy, weak willed and as socially inferior.  The only bit of that I agree with is the bit about a weak will. Sadly, some people do not restrict making their nasty comments to me, but take perverse pleasure in telling my children what they think of fat people, especially their mum.  I am sad that my children are made to feel unhappy about something that is not their fault and I can change.  That makes me feel ashamed.  

So why haven’t I got on with it and lost the excess blubber? 

I’ve already admitted I’m weak willed.  I can’t stick to a restrictive diet. I hate dieting.  I am no good at it.  I like food.  However, life is never simple and the reasons I have failed in the past are complex.  I’m not a psychologist and I am aware I have bored my friends silly with my excuses so I’m not going to make any.  However, I am prepared to admit becoming obsessed with counting things and keeping a forrest full of records about what I have counted. As soon as I start counting things I spend my whole day thinking about what I can and can’t eat and when I’m not thinking about it I’m trying to calculate how many : calories, grammes of carbs/fat/saturated fats/weightwatcher copyright points/ green and red units/blah blah blah I have consumed or will consume or would like to consume and can’t. BORING!

I have not always been fat.  I started putting on serious weight about 10 years ago.  Before that, for most of my adult life I was at the heavier side of a normal weight range for my height with a BMI of between 24 and 25.  That’s not supermodel thin, and like most women I wanted to look like the girls in magazine pictures, but it’s healthy. The only time in my life I have really successfully lost weight was when I ate what I wanted but managed to moderate the quantity.  How did I do that?   I used to decide that I had eaten enough for that day and eat no more.  If I started to think about food I simply used to tell myself that I wasn’t going to eat anything and to think about something else.  That was it.  I didn’t get hungry, I didn’t crave food that I couldn’t have, I didn’t make myself unhappy by depriving myself of pleasure and punishing myself with huge plate of food that bored me or I didn’t like.  I dropped my excess post pregnancy weight in weeks and weighed in at my healthiest weight ever.  I was happy with my body, I felt liked and respected and my self-esteem was at its best.  As a result, the people around me especially my children were happy. 

I’m not going to go into what went wrong, it just did.  My children are older now and I believe in sitting down for good home cooked meals with them in the evening.  It’s an important oasis of calm and collectiveness in our busy lives. That makes it difficult for me to decide that I have eaten enough for one day and not think about food again.  As the chief cook and bottle-washer in our home, I have to cook.  I rarely use ready meals, although I have to concede that they have improved beyond recognition in the past few years and I have started to buy a select few when I know that time is going to be tight, but that’s another subject.

I like the Idea of the Chew-Chew diet.  It’s not an idea new to me.  I remember my Grandad, a doctor born in1902 and therefore a true Edwardian, telling me about it.  As far as I am aware he never carried an excess pound in his life.  When I saw the Channel Four program called  Diets That Time Forgot that used the principles that Horace Fletcher advocated, it brought back so many memories that I was truly inspired. 

I have managed to find a copy of Horace Fletcher’s book Fletcherism What It Is on the Internet, so I have ordered it, but for the time being I am going to chew thirty-two times and eat three sensible meals each day.