Breakfast isn't the problemHabits

unbry

Breakfast isn't the problem

A short book about starting a new diet every few weeks and blaming yourself when it ends

27 chapters11,654 wordsAbout 53 minFirst edition

What's inside

·Before you startThis is a short book and you can read it in two or three sittings. It's about one habit, and the habit isn't eating. It's starting. Every few weeks you…2 min
1Monday, againIt's Sunday night. You've had a weekend that went the way weekends go, and now you're sitting on the sofa with your phone, and you've downloaded the app…2 min
2Why the fresh start feels rightBefore I take the fresh start apart, I want to say what it does for you, because it isn't nothing and you're not a fool for reaching for it. It works at…2 min
3"I just need more discipline"Here's the belief the cycle runs on. The diets ended because you didn't hold. Other people hold. You have a biscuit on Thursday and it's over, and what…2 min
4"Planning it makes me stronger"The Sunday night is the part of the cycle you'd defend most. The planning, the shopping, the clear fridge. It feels like getting ready, and getting ready…2 min
5"This time it's the right diet"Every fresh start comes with a story about the last one. The shakes were unrealistic. The fasting didn't suit you. The points were fiddly and the app was…2 min
6"It worked, I lost a stone"Here's the objection from your own experience, and I want to take it seriously, because it's true. You've lost weight on diets. A stone, once. Two…2 min
7"I need to lose it fast for the wedding"Some fresh starts have a date on them. The wedding in six weeks. The holiday. The reunion. The diet isn't a way of life, you'd say, it's a sprint to an…2 min
8"Once I've lost it, I'll keep it off"The fresh start assumes that the hard part is losing, and that keeping it off is a matter of not being silly afterwards. Eat sensibly, stay careful, and…2 min
9"The hunger is just in my head"Every diet tells you, in one way or another, that the hunger isn't real. It's habit, or boredom, or emotional, or your body lying to you. Drink some…2 min
10"If I don't diet I'll just keep gaining"This is the fear that keeps the cycle going, and it deserves a straight answer. If the diets go, what's left? Nothing between you and the biscuits. The…2 min
11"One slip and the day's ruined"Now the Thursday biscuit, because this is where the diet actually ends, and it isn't where you think. The biscuit isn't the end. It's a biscuit. Eighty or…2 min
12"I know what to eat, I just don't do it"A lot of readers will say they don't need to be told what to eat. They know. Vegetables, protein, not too much, not too many biscuits. The problem is…2 min
13"I can't trust myself without rules"Under the last chapter there's a fear, and it's worth its own space. Without rules, you'd eat everything. The rules are the only thing standing between…2 min
14"Everyone's on one in January"Some of the fresh starts aren't yours. The office starts one after Christmas and the kitchen fills with people comparing apps. Your sister rings with the…2 min
15"I'm just greedy"After the write-off comes the blame, and the blame has a vocabulary. Greedy. Weak. No willpower. Hopeless. You've said these to yourself on more Fridays…2 min
16"The weight is the problem"Some readers will feel that this book has been avoiding the point. The reason for the diets is the weight. Whatever the cycle costs, the weight costs…2 min
17What the cycle costs youI've argued mechanism. This chapter is the bill, and most of it doesn't show up on the scales. The blame. A dozen Fridays a year of calling yourself…2 min
18What it does to your eatingThere's a cost that lands on the eating itself, and it explains why the cycle feels harder each time round. A person who's never dieted eats by appetite.…2 min
19The ordinary weekThe next three chapters are the method, and the method is small, because most of the work has been done by stopping the fresh start. This chapter is what…2 min
20The next meal is ordinaryThis is the chapter that breaks the cycle, because it takes away the write-off, and without the write-off there's nothing to blame and no fresh start to…2 min
21Measuring the cycle, not the weightThe scales have been the measure of the cycle, and they're the wrong instrument, because they measure the thing the cycle can't deliver and they ignore…2 min
22The decisionYou've got the argument and the method. What's left is to decide, and I'd like the decision to be one sentence. I don't start diets. I eat three ordinary…2 min
23Weight loss, medical diets, eating disorders, teenagers and partnersThe rule holds for everyone it's written for. A few readers need a paragraph. Wanting to lose weight. Chapter 16 said it and I'll repeat the route. Half a…2 min
24When you've started another oneIt'll happen. A bad fortnight, a photo, a remark, a January, and you'll find yourself on day three of a plan with an app on your phone, and you'll…2 min
25TuesdayIt's a Tuesday, some months on. There was no Sunday night. There hasn't been one for a while, and you noticed that a few weeks ago and then stopped…2 min
·NotesThis book gives general information about an everyday habit. It isn't medical or dietary advice, and it's no substitute for a GP, a dietitian or an eating…4 min