The Appetite Manifesto

I believe

We gained weight in the first place because we ignored our natural hunger and fullness signals and we can lose it by re-learning to use those signals to guide when and how much to eat. I know that losing weight takes focus and effort, so I believe that you should only go through that hard work once, and that the weight loss you achieve should be easy to sustain permanently.

My manifesto for easy-to-sustain, permanent weight loss.

• to achieve permanent weight change you need to change your eating habits permanently
• weight loss can, and should be gently achieved. Brutal eating or exercise regimes should be outlawed
• changing eating habits means taking one step at a time, starting from how you eat now. It does NOT mean overhauling how you eat overnight (as most diets have you do)
• meal and snack times have to fit around your lifestyle
• everything you eat should be real food, nothing that’s been doctored to be artificially lower in calories
• what you eat should be the foods you already love, perhaps with some new discoveries.
• when you know what foods are good for you, it’s not nutritional advice you need; it’s psychological advice about how to eat what, and how much, your body actually needs
• mild gentle hunger every day is your greatest ally when it comes to losing weight
• weight loss can, and should, be joyful and increase your self-confidence and self-esteem