Step 1.  Say Goodbye to Dieting

Forget all about dieting! In fact, you should remove the words diet and dieting from your mind, altogether. Why? Because they are getting in the way. They are preventing you from tackling your weight problem. Every time you hear these words you switch off and reach for the cookies. Result? Your weight problem gets worse.

Step 2.  Say Hello to Healthy Eating

Healthy eating is a much nicer phrase than dieting. Start using it today.

Step 3.  Put Away Your Scales

Weighing scales don't make you lose weight. They just terrorize you. Put them away now! (Actually, don't put them away until you finish reading this page, because you'll need them to complete Step 5.)

Step 4. Stop Worrying About Your Weight

Here's why:

• Worrying about your weight makes you fatter
  Why? Because worry makes you miserable.
  Result? You eat cookies and get fatter.
• Worrying about your weight problem makes you less able to solve it
  Why? Because worry makes you feel more of a failure. Result? You are beaten before you start.
• Worrying is a waste of your valuable time
  Do something you enjoy, instead.

Step 5.  Take Your Clothes Off and Look in the Mirror

Ideally, do it tomorrow morning, before breakfast.
At the same time, please do the following:

• Weigh yourself
• Measure your bust, waist, hips and thighs.

Step 6. Start Looking Ahead

Don't worry about how you look next week, or next month.
Take a longer term view - say, 6 months.

• Decide what weight you would like to be in 6 months.
• Decide on a good incentive to help motivate yourself.

Step 7. For the Next 7 Days Keep a Food Journal

(a) Write down every single thing you eat. (b) Write down when you ate it.

Don't waste time cheating. The purpose of this diary is to enable you to see what you actually eat, as opposed to what you think you eat! Also, it will help you to see when you eat.

SUMMARY
So far, you have done a number of important things:

• You have stopped thinking about dieting and worrying about your weight.
• You have decided how much weight you want to lose and why.
• You have taken a good honest look at yourself and your eating habits.

Step 8. Create a Healthy Eating Plan for Yourself

Keep it simple, as follows:

• Eat regular amounts of these foods
  Fruit, vegetables (fresh/frozen/canned), whole grains such as: whole wheat bread, potatoes, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, oats, whole grain cereal.
  Guide: Eat a minimum of 5 helpings of fruit and vegetables, per day.
  Guide: Eat 3-5 helpings of whole wheat or whole grain foods, per day.
  Guide: Avoid white-flour foods whenever possible. Always prefer whole grains.
• Eat regular amounts of these foods
  Skimmed milk, fat-free yogurt, lower-fat cheese.
  Guide: Eat a minimum of 3 helpings of lower-fat dairy foods (milk, yogurt) per day.
  Guide: Limit yourself to a maximum of 1 matchbox size piece of cheese, per day.
• Eat these protein foods
  Eggs (or egg-whites), fish, lean red meat, skinless turkey and chicken, soybeans.
  Guide: If you have high cholesterol levels, eat no more than 4 eggs a week.
  Guide: Red meat, limit yourself to 1 x 3oz portion (size of deck of cards) a day, 3 days/week.
  Guide: Include vegetarian protein from soy foods, peanuts, lentils.
• Eat these foods sparingly
  Oil, butter, soft margarine/spread, mayonnaise, cream, refined sugar.
  Guide: Aim to eat 30 percent of calories from quality oils or fats.
  Guide: Unprocessed vegetable oils (extra virgin olive oil, canola oil), fish oils from oily fish like mackerel, salmon, herring or tuna are best. Avoid margarines containing trans-fats (hydrogenated fat).
• Drinks
  Water, fruit juices, tea or coffee (but easy on Espressos!)
• Enjoy the occasional
  Pastry, cookie, candy bar/chocolate, bag of popcorn/tortilla chips/crisps
  Guide: 'Occasional' means (say) once a week. These foods contain trans-fats and lots of calories!

Note:
If you know very little about diet nutrition, take action to find out more. Surveys show that the more we know about healthy eating and diet nutrition, the easier it is to lose weight.

Step 9. Fill Your Refrigerator With Healthy Food

We eat whatever sits in our refrigerator. So empty out the junk food and fill up on foods from Step 8.

Step 10. Learn How to Cheat

Do you hate fruit and vegetables? If so, that's tough. You MUST make friends with fruit and vegetables. Eat at least 5 helpings per day, although more is better. There are no substitutions. However, you can cheat. Here's how:

• Make home made soup. Ideally, add spices, a little lean meat and lots of vegetables.
  You won't taste the vegetables.
• Make fresh orange juice
  Many people won't eat 3 whole oranges every day. But they will drink the juice!
• Make blended fruit drinks (smoothies)
  Guide: Use 1 cup of fresh fruit + 1 cup fruit juice. For extra creaminess add a little fat-free fruit yogurt.

Step 11. Trim That Fat

Get into the habit of trimming all the fat off meat. All means all. This alone will dave you thousands of calories AND help you to live longer.

Step 12. Learn How to Snack Healthily

Fruit, chopped veggies, cereal, nuts, dried fruit and fat-free yogurt are excellent choices, so are thick sandwiches (lots of thick chewy bread, small amount of margarine/spread, lots of low fat filling.)

Step 13.  Be Choosy Where You Dine Out

Frequent dining out (main meal) is one of the biggest reasons why America is so fat. So be choosy!

• Don't enter a fast food restaurant unless it's a SPECIAL treat.
• Never dine out on the spur of the moment.
• Limit yourself to one dining out experience, per fortnight.

Step 14. Don't Go Hungry

Don't forget about food and allow yourself to go hungry. For any healthy eater, hunger is a crime. In fact, going hungry is the dumbest thing you can do. Never go hungry!

Step 15. Be More Active

Ideally, set aside 20 minutes a day to exercise (or 2 x 10 minutes) and gradually build up to 30 minutes a day. Yes, you may hate it to begin with but, believe me, exercise grows on you! Besides, it's worth remembering that exercise leaves you with MORE energy, not less. See also Exercise for idiots.

Step 16. Follow This Diet Plan for 3 Months

By then you should have lost an easy 15-30 pounds.

The best thing is: Your eating habits will have improved tremendously. Which means you stand an excellent chance of keeping off the weight and getting your weight problem under control for good!

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