It’s possible to forge a fresh way of being in the world at any point. Regardless of your age, becoming someone new requires persistence.

The trick may be in living and thinking and feeling as if you were already the person you want to be.

If you’re retired like me and still figuring out your next life, it may take a little more persistence.

If I am a writer and an example of what’s possible when we cross into this middlescence (our second adolescence) what does that mean?

If you’re a new entrepreneur, artist or chef, how would your days be different at this stage?

Is the thought “It’s possible” followed by “yes, but” in your mind? Yes, but I’ve never never been a writer. Yes, but I’ve never been at a weight appropriate for my height. Yes, but I’m not a person who exercises regularly.

Doing something you’ve never done before can be scary.

Doing something you’ve never done before, even if it’s something you really want, can be scary.

And if you’re retired, you’re also thinking that because you’ve already worked and put in your time, it’s okay, you’re allowed to sit back and rest.

Is that what you really want for the next 10 or 30 years? You have nothing left you want to do or try?

Or are you letting the inertia of comfort stop you?

It’s possible to lose weight after 65, lose a fair amount of weight even. The way to get there is by trying new techniques and learning what works for you. At 70 or 60 or 55, we have a long-standing relationship with our body and food. Unpacking that relationship and uncovering the thoughts leading to unconscious eating takes persistence and time.

I wasn’t paying attention during the first 50 years when I put on weight. I know we don’t gain significant pounds overnight. If you lose all the pounds you want to lose, you’re a different person on the outside. If you haven’t figured out how the new person handles thoughts, feelings and food differently before you get there, the weight is likely to come back.

Wrestling with my thoughts and automatic behaviors with food is one thing that’s needed to get me to where I want to be.

Thoughts I’ve noticed lately revolve around it being okay to have bigger helpings because I’ve lost some weight.

I’m not really aware of the thoughts at the moment. I’m just assuming that’s what they are when I do a review of the direction the scale is going and the food I’ve been eating.

One part of me wants to maintain the status quo — that’s the part controlled by my lizard/primitive brain. The other part, my thinking brain truly wants a leaner body going into the next 30 years.

I love my body for all it does every day, and I think I look good in the mirror. I also know carrying less weight on my body would help me maintain my mobility and independence as I get older.

We all know science shows our bodies decline overtime and I can accept that. I’m not okay with enabling a faster decline than necessary.

Eating when I’m bored.

Throughout my life, my habit brain has learned to use food for entertainment, comfort, and pleasure besides being fuel for my body.

Whenever I’ve achieved a small amount of weight loss success, say 10% of my body weight over six months, I’d be excited and part of me would think the journey was over.

It wasn’t ever a conscious decision. Upon reflection I realize deep inside my brain, I told myself I’d succeeded and somehow without even noticing I let food take back a bigger role in my life. I didn’t notice until I had to pull the big clothes back out of the closet.

Unconsciously, I just thought I could stop dieting. It never occurred to me I had to rewire my brain around food. I needed to create a whole new relationship with food. I didn’t have the willpower, nor do most of us, to battle with my food or my desire for food every day for the rest of my life, especially since I’ve used food for more than simply fueling my body.

I’m learning to live as though I’ve already achieved a lean weight — a weight appropriate for my height. I realize it doesn’t serve me to use food for entertainment or comfort. It doesn’t serve me to rely on denying myself foods I enjoy either.

To achieve a healthy weight for my body and maintain it forever, I’m taking a fresh approach. I plan my food ahead of time, either in the morning or the night before. I’m allowed to have whatever I want as long as I plan it.

If you think about that, you realize there are a couple of thought patterns you may encounter. There’s the thought, “I don’t know what I’m going to want to eat tomorrow.” Truth is for me and for most of us, we know the foods we love to eat and if there are no restrictions other than it be on your plan, plan your favorites every day to start.

The challenge is in trusting yourself to plan sensible meals that you will enjoy and honoring your commitment to yourself to stick to the plan.

If you sit and reflect on those ideas for a few minutes, your primitive brain is likely to bring up many thoughts about why it won’t work. If you’re up for the challenge, write those thoughts down. Interrogate them to see if they feel true.

If you’ve come up with many detailed ‘what if’s,’ use your analytical brain to come up with ways to address those situations. Write what comes to mind and use your analytical brain to figure out what you’ll do.

Following through on the commitments I make to myself is an enormous challenge for me.

The other part of the process is to review how you did with yesterday’s plan before you write today’s. This is not an opportunity to disrespect yourself. This is your opportunity to celebrate yourself for meeting your commitment. Go to the mirror and give yourself a high-5!

This is an opportunity to consider what you were thinking, possibly unconsciously, if you didn’t stick to the plan. What were you thinking, or what might you have been thinking when saying yes to that free donut?

If you’ve battled with your weight all your life, realize there are hundreds of automatic habits we’ve learned about food from our families and our culture. Often those unconscious thoughts no longer serve us or were never true.

I’ve been working on this experiment for the last year and I’ve lost fifteen pounds. I intend to continue with the process and focus on living, actually eating, as if I’d already achieved the goal.