What I want to discover in the fat mindset is how the patterns of overweight people differ so markedly from those of their thinner counterparts. In fact, it is what prompted me to research and produce this book. Time and time again, I saw overweight people publicly displaying exactly how they got overweight in the first place. It was like clockwork, seeing overweight people making the same identical mistakes for all to see. Unfortunately, the mistakes they sometimes made were so slippery that even they themselves had no idea what they were doing wrong.
A daily habit is something so ingrained in our daily routine that sometimes it goes unnoticed to the point of becoming a habit. In the field of food, these everyday clothes can be a nightmare or a benefit for our waist. Think about what you ate yesterday and consider all the ingredients in your food that SHOULD have in them. Whether it’s butter on your toast, cheese on your eggs, or cream in your coffee, these “must have” daily eating habits make up a significant portion of the gross calories consumed each day. Significant to the point, that some of these food additions can add on unwanted pounds in a pinch.
Here are some examples of “little” everyday additions to our food that can sometimes unknowingly destroy a healthy meal.
cream in your coffee
Butter on your toast
mayonnaise on the sandwich
A can of soda with lunch
sugar in your cereal
Cheese added to a meal
Two cocktails after work.
These examples do not mean that such items should be avoided entirely, but they should be noted. I’ll say this again to emphasize the importance of this point: You need to be fully aware of every addition you make to your food to cut out unnecessary fat and calories in otherwise unhealthy foods. This aspect of The Fat Mentality will affect almost every dieter at one time or another, and it’s crucial to breaking the cycle.
So here’s the rub: These unseen and unseen additions add up in exponential proportions and will eventually add to the unwanted pounds around your stomach.
Do the math, it’s as simple as two multiplication problems. Here they are: Multiply the number of calories in your favorite (and usually unnecessary) food and multiply that number by 365 (days in a year). This number is the amount of calories added to your total intake per year. Now take this number (which is usually very large) and divide it by 3,500 (which is the total number of calories that make up one pound of fat). This number is the total weight, in pounds, that will be added to your waistline if you consume these items in excess of the number of calories you already burn. Again, here is an example of how we can do the math.
Let’s say, for the sake of conversation, that I wanted to add a slice of American cheddar cheese to my diet every day for a year. The slice of cheese is around 70 calories, so let’s do the math.
(70 calories in cheese x 365 days in a year) = 25,550 (total calories consumed in a year)
22,550 divided by 3,500 (calories in a pound of fat) = 7.3 (total pounds of fat needed to burn per year on top of what is already consumed daily).
These figures are amazing! Almost 7½ pounds of fat for a piece of cheese a day? Try this equation with your three favorite foods and you’ll be amazed at what you put into your body on a daily basis. Are two cans of Coke a day really worth THAT much weight gain? Do the math yourself and you’ll be surprised how much you can afford to lose.
I hate writing tips on how to count calories (since it’s been done many times before), but the illustrative purposes of this example are invaluable. Insisting on the caloric content of each food you eat can become arduous and tedious. Realistically, any calorie counting plan will fail in the long run. Steer clear of overusing this method, but be aware of how your food packs in fat.
As a second and more contentious point about The Fat Mindset, I want to see how stubbornness in this area can lead to your downfall. Too often I see an attitude of stubbornness in the mindset of so many overweight people, to the point where I know for a fact that they will never lose weight. I hate to sound gloomy, but a stubborn person often can’t imagine leaving oil, sugar, and cheese out of the foods that are so dear to them. It’s as if they are so stalwart in their pursuit of weight gain and unhealthy living that nothing will stop them. It’s like a chain smoker addicted to his beloved and deadly cigarettes… but without the addiction. Food is NOT addictive, and those unable to change are simply falling victim to stubborn rationality. This is the fat mindset at its finest once again…never give in or break a routine that will eventually prove harmful in the end. Don’t be one of these people. Make small changes to your daily diet and enjoy a path to a healthy lifestyle. It’s so simple.
