There is a mindset that I've been trying to codify. It's an idea that has kind of existed in the back of my mind for a while now and I think it has helped me as far as not veering too far off course.

Here's the thing, I think when trying to lose weight, one has to come up with a new way to view hunger and temptation. Giving into these is what's going to keep you fat, but I don't think they can be avoided either. Sure, there are diets that say you don't have to ever be hungry, but that's only because they let you eat as much lettuce and wild rice as you want. So what you lose in hunger you end up gaining in temptation because eating a lot of some low calorie options isn't mentally satisfying, even if you do manage to satisfy your gut. So how do we look at hunger and temptation in a way that is beneficial?

Oscar Wilde once wrote a letter while he was in prison that was published after he died under the title De Profundis [From the Depths].  Here's a paragraph I always liked from it. If you're the type of person who has no interest in reading a paragraph from Oscar Wilde, at least read the bold sentence.

Reason does not help me. It tells me that the laws under which I am convicted are wrong and unjust laws, and the system under which I have suffered a wrong and unjust system. But, somehow, I have got to make both of these things just and right to me. And exactly as in Art one is only concerned with what a particular thing is at a particular moment to oneself, so it is also in the ethical evolution of one's character. I have got to make everything that has happened to me good for me. The plank bed, the loathsome food, the hard ropes shredded into oakum till one's finger-tips grow dull with pain, the menial offices with which each day begins and finishes, the harsh orders that routine seems to necessitate, the dreadful dress that makes sorrow grotesque to look at, the silence, the solitude, the shame - each and all of these things I have to transform into a spiritual experience. There is not a single degradation of the body which I must not try and make into a spiritualising of the soul.

So, in the interest of making everything that happens to me good for me, here is how I think of hunger and temptation when I'm faced with one or the other. Instead of viewing  them as some indication of my own weakness or lack of commitment, I instead think of them as byproducts of my success. The only reason you're feeling hunger or craving a cheesesteak is because you are on the right path. I don't mean that you should starve yourself, but any normal person can exist on three reasonably-sized meals a day. So if you get super hungry between lunch and dinner, that's okay. If you are craving a half-gallon of chocolate ice-cream, that's okay too. The only reason you're craving it is because you're successfully avoiding it. You know who doesn't crave chocolate ice-cream? The person who just consumed a container of chocolate ice cream.

I adopted this way of thinking months ago and have found it very helpful. I still get hungry, but now I welcome it. In fact, if I don't get a little hungry I kind of miss it. It's not that it's a pleasant sensation really, but it's an unpleasant sensation that I know signifies progress. It's like using Listerine. After 10 seconds your mouth starts to burn a little, but you hold it in as best you can because you interpret that discomfort as germs being killed (whether that's true or not). Between-meal hunger, or temptation to eat the whole pizza rather than two slices is a little bit of Listerine on your gut. Feel the burn.