The rural diet

datum9

I found this one diet works for sure.. it worked for me better than any other diet - about 10 years ago.
I lived in a rural area, 15-20 miles away from any stores/shopping, even a gas station was far and not very convenient. I lost almost 100 lbs in about 1.5 years due to the fact that it was not convenient to buy junk food every day, like pizza and other high-calorie stuff.

Want a fast food item from McDonalds? Well, too much trouble to jump in the car, drive there for half an hour, then back.. get dressed, waste gas and what if it's winter and the roads are bad because they don't plow them like in the cities. Or maybe it's just late anyway, 10PM on Sunday and everything is closed.

Want a Starbucks coffee? Same thing. The list just goes on and on. I was out of work at the time, wanted to save money on gas so went out shopping only about twice per month and would never buy any bad food. Mostly milk and cereal and oatmeal and apples and stuff like that. Stuff that could be cooked quickly but could be stored for weeks and was low-calorie.

I lost weight due to being lazy to constantly go out and eat, fast food became a major inconvenience, just wasn't there when I wanted it and gradually I stopped wanting it, accepted that I could not have it. The whole point of fast food is "fast".

I found a job, moved back to the city, was again surrounded by junk food, a dozen places all within 30 seconds, with the commute saturated with various places to eat, then there was that high-stressful job - and my emotional eating as a response to misc problems (problems I did not have on the "farm") and of course peer pressure at the job, where they buy pizza for lunch and you have to eat. Gained 50 lbs instantly but after a few years found time to go to the gym and maintain a decent weight. Still, it was a real struggle and a bigger struggle than I had living rurally.
Weight loss just came naturally, staying on the "farm". I don't even recall myself struggling, annoyed at times, but you just come to accept things.

I would give the rural diet another try if I could, I know it's not practical at all for most people, myself included but it does work. I found out I eat less if the food is not convenient or fast or just not available.
But if you are desperate, and nothing else worked, maybe moving to some place in some podunk wasteland not saturated with fast food is the answer.