What if it was simple?​​ Lessons learned dieting

I’m on a special diet called the Slow Carb diet, which is championed by Tim Ferriss. The rules: no sugars, no wheat or wheat by-products, no dairy, no beer. That is, unless it’s Saturday of course, in which case everything is allowed.

I’ve lost weight about 3 kg (6.67 lbs) in 9 days. It’s that simple. You eat lentils, peas, veggies, eggs, tofu,… and you lose weight.

Now, losing weight is a prime example of the what-if-it-was-simple type of a problem. It isn’t that the matter is complicated, it just requires 3 things:

1. belief that something will change

2. finding a method

3. dedication

With dieting and other things, many people fail at the outset. They fail because they believe they will. If you believe you’ll fail, why even try?

If you have hope that something will change for better, now you need to find a good strategy. For dieting, I chose the Slow Carb diet. It offers simple rules and a cheat day as an outlet for human craving. For other things, find methods that have worked for other people. If a strategy has been successful for others, chances are it will work for you.

And lastly, it takes some willpower. I see bread and sweet, delicious candy around, and I should eat beans instead? Yeah, hell yeah, go cool beans! I’ve found that after about 3 days, I begin to see the food that once seemed normal to me as woefully unhealthy. Through dedication I rewired my brain and now I don’t have to exert nearly as much willpower.

So, it’s not complicated.

Believe you will succeed, find a method, use willpower until you don’t need to. Repeat.