Gay Boy Thailand

Keep stuffing yourself

I have lost eight pounds since I came back from Farangland in June, and I haven’t gone on a diet or started jogging or any of that.

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Pete said…
Glad to hear that I didn’t know you are on idet

Silom Farang said…
You mean to say “I never noticed you needed to diet”? :p

Anonymous said…
congratulations. that’s a great accomplishment. how did you do it?

Silom Farang said…
Thanks. Actually I don’t diet in the sense that I don’t count calories and I don’t go hungry. I eat what I want and I don’t skip chocolate or ice cream or anything.

No, this started when I read in the New York Times science section about the connection between sleep and weight. If you don’t sleep enough it stresses the brain and you get hungrier and gain weight. In particular sleep deprivation will give you that craving for food in the afternoon, I read, a craving for chocolate or fatty foods or whatever.

When I read this I was spending a long time in bed every night already, and felt guilty and had to get up. The problem is that for health reasons I don’t sleep well at night. I wake up early and can’t get back to sleep. I have rheumatic pain in the joints and cold sweats in the early morning, often lasting several hours. This ruins the night and gives me dark rings around my eyes.

What I decided to try was to recover this lost sleep by adding more sleep and staying longer in bed. I get up after 4-5 hours of sleep when I wake up anyway, and use the Internet. After a couple of hours of Internet play I can get back to bed for another 4-5 hours. If need be I take a nap in the afternoon too.

My body has always told me it needs more sleep but I have ignored that, thinking that 8 hours SHOULD be enough. My protestant ethic says that to sleep any longer is bad. Doctors said the same; get up, struggle through the day and you will sleep better the next night, they said. But it didn’t work and I felt miserable.

Now I sleep and rest if I am tired. This cured the cravings. I used to get this desperate hunger for chocolate or ice cream in the afternoon, and after a regular meal I had sugar cravings, and in the evening I was hungry again. I don’t have that anymore. I still have a sweet tooth but instead of several chocolate bars a day one is enough and it is not like I MUST have it, running down to the 7-Eleven to buy three Mars bars like I used to do.

The effect is a small miracle. I eat what I want (Double Whoppers at Burger King included). I am not very hungry, I don’t excercise, and still I lose weight. It feels like the body is back in balance. I hope this will last.

I don’t know if this will work for others or not. But if your problem is sleep deprivation and stress you might give it a try. Calm down and sleep more. Good luck.

Time: seven months
Loss: 15 pounds
Number of people who have noticed: one

A blog is supposed to be private, right? Just how private do you want it? Want to see my diet chart?

The chart starts in July 2005 and ends now. Notice the disciplined progress the first few months…. I am afraid I could not keep that up. The dip near the end is the rotten egg episode in Pattaya. The last gain is Christmas meals back home in Farangland.

Where the numbers are? Numbers? You think I will announce my weight on the Internet? Maybe I will tell you one day when I have lost my belly.