Guilt vs Biology

I often defend the value of emotions and spirituality in the face of humanistic and scientific ideals. This does not mean I don't like academics and technology. Nothing could be further from the truth. The first step when determining what is good is to determine what is real. Science (in cooperation with spirituality) really assists in this regard.

In fact, there are situations where our emotions are ineffective ways to alter our behavior, and a little bit of knowledge is actually all we need.

This story is about trying to loose fifteen pounds. I should get something straight. I've never had a serious weight problem. I'm active, and I usually eat pretty healthfully. In fact, there was a time of my life where I couldn't have gained weight. But as I got older, I started putting on a little fat on. Wasn't a huge deal, just five pounds at a time.

During this process, I tried to loose the weight. I did what I think most people do. I got fed up with the situation, I set a pound goal, then used diet and exercise kinda randomly to achieve that end. Oh, and my motivation? Guilt.

The guilt diet never worked for me. Maybe I'm no good at making myself feel guilty (though, I'm Catholic... how bad can I be?). What ever the reason, it just never worked.

Then, out of the blue, I went on the most effective not a diet ever. I had become interested in the biology behind exercise, metabolism, and eating. In pursuit of this end I created a spreadsheet (at the time I was also learning about Excel). The sheet worked like this. For every thing I ate I'd enter its caloric value. Excel would add that up for each day. I'd enter my current weight, which would be used to figure my daily caloric burn just for being alive. Then I would enter the amount of calories that any exercise I had done that day had burned. Subtract.

At the end of the day I'd have a total, positive if I'd eaten more than I'd used, negative if I'd eaten less. Then, day to day, it would keep a running total, the net gain or loss over the whole process.

I had no particular goal in mind. I never guilted myself. Instead, I started looking at my eating and exercise as it actually was. I'd eye that soda and think, "Worth a twenty minute walk?" And sometimes I'd go for it. Sometimes I wouldn't.

Just being actually aware made such a difference. Knowing I'd be entering it later made me conscious of how much I was eating, and what I was eating. Seeing all of my food and movement laid out in complete honest also gave me a sense of what I was actually doing.

At no point did I have to resort to guilt, bribery, deal making, willpower, or self denial. The biological truth, typed out in front of me, was all the motivation I needed. Without ever setting a goal, I achieved more than all those failed guilt diets in the past. I lost fifteen pounds, and have more or less kept the weight off to this day.

This is not a weight loss section. Rather, this anecdote is a testament to the fact that our emotions alone are not always the most effective tool for achieving our goals. Use the knowledge at your disposal. Be strategic. Throwing pity parties and going for the guilt trips is not the only way to change your behavior.

Sometimes knowing what actually is is all the motivation we need.