How to Gain Weight Without Really Trying
And then, what to do about it.
Summary
I never really thought much about my weight until I started struggling with it. In my youth, I was one of those lucky ones that could somehow eat as much as a horse but still stay lean. I remember bragging about it to anyone who would listen. Then in my forties, the game started changing. For the first time in decades, the waistline on my blue jeans started creeping up. At first, I remember thinking I must have mistakenly put them in the dryer, and they shrunk. But a trend began to appear: what had been a respectable set of abs was slowly transforming into a belly.
In retrospect there were plenty of road signs, things like “Slow Down”, “Hazard Ahead”, and “Use Caution”. I blew through them all — quite confident in my body’s ability to magically melt away the pounds. I’ve since woken up to the fact that those days are over, and I need a new strategy for success.
How to put on the pounds
There are probably many sure-fire ways to pack on the pounds, but here are some that worked well for me:
Turn fifty
It was like someone threw a light switch. If I was beginning to wobble on my weight throughout my forties, I fell down and hit the mat during my fifties. Something in my metabolism downshifted when I turned fifty and it’s been slowing down ever since. I found it hard, if not impossible, to change my eating habits and portion sizes in response. Lifelong bad eating habits had firmly entrenched themselves as I stubbornly moved into a state of denial.
Take up bread-making
Of all the stupid things I’ve done in life, taking up artisan bread-making definitely hits the top ten. I don’t remember what put that hobby in my head, but at some point I found myself surfing the internet for sourdough starters. I usually throw myself into hobbies head-first and this was no exception. I found myself doting over the starter in my fridge and purchasing all the latest books and gadgets for baking bread. Two years and ten pounds later I said goodbye to one of my favorite new hobbies.
Drink before dinner
Much to my dismay, wine is not a superfood and is nowhere near calorie-free. One of my favorite parts of the day is around 5PM, when I’ll put on some Jazz (Pandora — if you’re not a fan you should be!) and pop open a bottle of something delicious from our wine cellar. Unfortunately, on top of other adverse health consequences, alcohol seems to directly affect my decision-making ability regarding portion sizes: the more I drink, the more I feel I need to eat!
The slippery slope of buying new clothes
Buying new clothes is like getting a license to gain weight. Getting bigger clothes felt really good like I had room to grow. A better discipline would have been to stick with the old sizes and force myself to face the reality that I needed to change my eating habits. The covid lockdown certainly did not help; I found myself wearing loungewear with elastic waistbands more & more which only encouraged me to lose perspective on my weight and waistline.
What I’ve noticed is that I’ve never gone backward in sizes, only increased. I used to tell myself that an increase in size was only temporary — nowadays I take that much more seriously, knowing there’s little chance of going back.
Eat like a King…Prince…Pauper
I’ve decided recently to try and turn this train around, and what follows are some things that have been working for me. I’m down about five pounds in the last month, and hope that this is the beginning of a much bigger and longer trend!
Breakfast should be by far the biggest meal of the day. Go for it, splurge! You have all day to burn off the calories! I think fruit & whole grains are the best option here. I often have a superfood smoothie for breakfast which checks all the boxes and sets me up for a win for the day.
So, if you eat breakfast like a King, you should eat lunch like a Prince. The overall theme here is to reduce portion sizes as the day progresses since you have less time awake to burn off the calories. A lot of times I’ll have raw vegetables, like broccoli and cauliflower, with a dip. Fish, like salmon or trout, is something I also crave during the day.
That leaves dinner, which as you’ve guessed by now is the Pauper of the group. When I start losing serious weight it’s always because I’ve chosen to fast through dinner. Intermittent fasting is popular because it works to limit the hours in the day you’re eating. It’s amazing how many pounds I can drop simply by skipping this meal! If you think about it, you’re heading to bed — so why pack on the calories right before that?
Portion control
The other thing that works well for me is to limit the portion size on my plate up front, not relying on my (very poor) impulse control to stop eating at the right amount later. This is so much easier at a restaurant where the ordering process forces me to consider just how much I really need to eat. Then, when the selections have arrived, they’ve already been conveniently portioned for me. If they are exuberant in their offering, I challenge myself to bring half of it home for a delicious treat some other day!
Eating at home doesn’t have to be different. I try to imagine each plate I’m making as being a selection in one of the restaurants I frequent. How would they plate it, and how large of a portion would they serve?
Slow down, be present, savor
One of the things working in my favor is that I’ve always been a slow eater. I think this is pretty important in terms of limiting inbound calories. The slower I eat, the more likely I am to start feeling full before I’ve had too much. Eating with chopsticks can help here too.
Mindful eating is a thing, and I think it’s real & works! Being present and grateful for each meal can go a long way toward reducing intake. I probably misbehave the most when eating distracted, like watching TV.
Slowing down and really savoring each bit of food, really marveling at the experience, can really help limit consumption. There are so many smells, flavors, and mouthfeel experiences involved in a meal — I try not to let them pass me by!
Be specific in your goals, write them down, and share them!
I’ve found pursuing vague goals, like “I want to lose weight”, are useless. It’s far more effective for me to target something specific, and attainable, like “I want to lose 5 pounds in 1 month and keep it off the rest of the year”.
Then, I need to write it down and share it with someone I love who cares about my health (in my case, my wife). I find this part of it critical: writing down goals and then committing to them in front of someone you care about (and who can hold you accountable!) seems to make all the difference.
Conclusion
It’s been a wild ride with my weight once I turned fifty, and now that I’m heading into my sixties, I’ve really rolled up my sleeves to work on this more seriously. My ideas above are things that have worked for me so far — if you have others please share them in the comments, thanks!
- Beware the slippery slope of buying new clothes
- Eat like a King…Prince…Pauper
- Portion control
- Slow down, be present, savor
- Be specific in your goals, write them down, and share them!
