Title – YOU on a DIET: The Owner’s Manual for Waist Management
Author – Michael F Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet C. Oz, M.D
Format – Hardcover, 370 pages
Publish Date – 2006
Publisher – Free Press, Simon & Schuster, Inc
ISBN – 0743292542 and 9780743292542

From the authors behind YOU: The Owner’s Manual, comes another book in this interesting series. Backed by scientific research and plenty of common sense, this book is designed to present readers with a quick and dirty, no nonsense, no uncertain terms look at weight loss, or as the authors describe it, “waist management”. This book involves applying the signature wit and wisdom behind the YOU books to diet, weight loss, food metabolism and nutrition. There is a lot of information packed into this book, including lots of fun factoids, myth busters and quizzes, but you will also find bite sized portions of instruction including diet plans, exercise plans, recipes, and a rebooting program over the span of two weeks that will allow you to get a better grasp on your health and fitness without actually having to “diet”.

According to the authors, if you follow the YOU diet outlined in the book, as well as the YOU activity plan, you can expect to:

- Challenge your longstanding beliefs about dieting,
- Learn how to rule the elegant systems that are behind the control of your body and body fat,
- Overcome constant hunger,
- Never have to yo-yo diet ever again,
- Feel better, live healthier and look better in the process!

If you are looking for a quick, informative and no nonsense type of diet, then this is a book that is well worth picking up. It does not mince words, or try to overwhelm you with dietary information that won’t ever make sense. The truth is, this book is as simple as it can get when it comes to “waist management”, giving you the information you need to know and leaving out the bull. This book is full of fun facts, informative quizzes, myth busters, and all kinds of unique and descriptive graphics. Imagine black and white imagery detailing in cartoon-style exactly what is going on in your body during metabolic processes, digestion, even when tasting food! This book is chock full of interesting imagery, simple to understand instruction, and the perfect diet and exercise program that will get you feeling fantastic and making healthy changes in your life in no time at all.

This book speaks to anyone who has yo-yo dieted forever and never found satisfactory results, because rather than offer you a temporary diet to shed pounds at lightning speeds, this book is all about adopting and adapting healthy, positive changes in your life based on how your body wants to eat and exercise, rather than forcing your body to do things it wasn’t meant to do. Are you ready for some healthy, no nonsense waist management? Then this is the book for you.

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• Carnival of Weight Loss #1 – Let’s Make a Commitment Edition The holidays are coming…. The goose is getting fat… Please takes some pounds of my fat. This holiday season we are going to lose weight not gain. I am excited and proud to announce the first ever Carnival of Weight Loss… Next week’s Halloween edition will be hosted here, but……
• Roundup: Candy and Cavities Did you have a spooky Halloween? I know I did. I hope you’ve sorted your candy and tossed the cavity inducing ones away. More importantly I hoped you checked the candy for the biggest health reason: safety. With stories in years past about candy scares it’s important to check the……
• Are Carbs Really That Bad? Out of every food on earth, in the past few years, there has been no other food as demonized as the ones that contain carbs. There are so many fad diets that focus on completely removing carbs from your life – but is this a smart solution? The simple answer……
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• The Dangers of Weight Loss Shortcuts The problem with weight loss shortcuts is that they attempt to go against the real science behind weight loss, health and nutrition. There is only one real way to diet, and that is to burn more calories than you take in. A single pound of weight is equivalent to 3,500……

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Title – YOU on a DIET: The Owner’s Manual for Waist Management
Author – Michael F Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet C. Oz, M.D
Format – Hardcover, 370 pages
Publish Date – 2006
Publisher – Free Press, Simon & Schuster, Inc
ISBN – 0743292542 and 9780743292542

From the authors behind YOU: The Owner’s Manual, comes another book in this interesting series. Backed by scientific research and plenty of common sense, this book is designed to present readers with a quick and dirty, no nonsense, no uncertain terms look at weight loss, or as the authors describe it, “waist management”. This book involves applying the signature wit and wisdom behind the YOU books to diet, weight loss, food metabolism and nutrition. There is a lot of information packed into this book, including lots of fun factoids, myth busters and quizzes, but you will also find bite sized portions of instruction including diet plans, exercise plans, recipes, and a rebooting program over the span of two weeks that will allow you to get a better grasp on your health and fitness without actually having to “diet”.

According to the authors, if you follow the YOU diet outlined in the book, as well as the YOU activity plan, you can expect to:

- Challenge your longstanding beliefs about dieting,
- Learn how to rule the elegant systems that are behind the control of your body and body fat,
- Overcome constant hunger,
- Never have to yo-yo diet ever again,
- Feel better, live healthier and look better in the process!

If you are looking for a quick, informative and no nonsense type of diet, then this is a book that is well worth picking up. It does not mince words, or try to overwhelm you with dietary information that won’t ever make sense. The truth is, this book is as simple as it can get when it comes to “waist management”, giving you the information you need to know and leaving out the bull. This book is full of fun facts, informative quizzes, myth busters, and all kinds of unique and descriptive graphics. Imagine black and white imagery detailing in cartoon-style exactly what is going on in your body during metabolic processes, digestion, even when tasting food! This book is chock full of interesting imagery, simple to understand instruction, and the perfect diet and exercise program that will get you feeling fantastic and making healthy changes in your life in no time at all.

This book speaks to anyone who has yo-yo dieted forever and never found satisfactory results, because rather than offer you a temporary diet to shed pounds at lightning speeds, this book is all about adopting and adapting healthy, positive changes in your life based on how your body wants to eat and exercise, rather than forcing your body to do things it wasn’t meant to do. Are you ready for some healthy, no nonsense waist management? Then this is the book for you.

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• Carnival of Weight Loss #1 – Let’s Make a Commitment Edition The holidays are coming…. The goose is getting fat… Please takes some pounds of my fat. This holiday season we are going to lose weight not gain. I am excited and proud to announce the first ever Carnival of Weight Loss… Next week’s Halloween edition will be hosted here, but……
• Roundup: Candy and Cavities Did you have a spooky Halloween? I know I did. I hope you’ve sorted your candy and tossed the cavity inducing ones away. More importantly I hoped you checked the candy for the biggest health reason: safety. With stories in years past about candy scares it’s important to check the……
• Are Carbs Really That Bad? Out of every food on earth, in the past few years, there has been no other food as demonized as the ones that contain carbs. There are so many fad diets that focus on completely removing carbs from your life – but is this a smart solution? The simple answer……
• Roundup for the Week Thank you Weight Master for including Weight Ladder in the weight management and fitness forum. Best posts from the Fitness Health Network blogs for the week: Most of us have been there; down to those last few pounds to reach our goal weight. Sometimes when we’re there it’s frustrating because we……
• The Dangers of Weight Loss Shortcuts The problem with weight loss shortcuts is that they attempt to go against the real science behind weight loss, health and nutrition. There is only one real way to diet, and that is to burn more calories than you take in. A single pound of weight is equivalent to 3,500……

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For weekend reading from the Fitness Health Network this week checkout these posts:

• How do you know if you’re properly hydrated? Journal of Healthy Living posts for Proper Hydration: Clear Urine Is Best.
• Fat Man Unleashed asks Why Are We Fatter Than the Animals at the Zoo?
• A Little Help – Best Way To Cook Chicken by NCN asks for a recipe for a healthy and delicious way to cook chicken. Got one? Send it in!
• Lazy Man and Health blogs Are You Eating Enough of These 9 Diet Foods?
• The Myth of Moderate Exercise by Get Fit Slowly exposes fact from fiction.

If you’re not finished yet, check out these readings from those that linked or commented to me in the last week:

• Over at Quick to Fit Weight training is good for your health! And better still you can do it even if you don’t want to bulk up.
• You know what I always like to read? MizFitOnline’s Guest Chef Time: Thinking Thin style. I always need recipes.
• Healthy Habits write Super Carbs!!! – Obesity Research Update #5.
• Coffee? Coffee! Check out Spunkysuzi’s new find.
• A run with a podcast over at Andrew is getting fit, is an excellent idea. Instead of music, listen to your favorite podcasts!
• If you need a motive to stay fit, or even if you don’t, try something like Run Bulldog Run is doing and run for money. Help out local students go to college. See Memorial Scholarship 5k for more.
• Runner Girl’s “Detox” Update is a personal look at diet detox. Is a Diet Detox Right For You?
• Are you looking for smoothie recipes? Read Fantastic Fast Food Recipes: The Smooth Fad of Smoothies at Healthy New Age Blog for some delicious sounding recipes.
• Be Naturally Fit asks have you ever had to Pay for Slip ups?

Originally posted 2008-08-03 05:06:41. Republished by Old Post Promoter

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• Sunday Roundup – Corn Syrup and Happy Cows Welcome to this week’s edition of the Sunday Roundup – Corn Syrup and Happy Cows. In addition to the weekend reading material listed below don’t miss the PETA and breast milk blog post from Get Fit Slowly.  That post plus one from Fast Food Confessional comprise the title of this……
• How to Stay Healthy When You Are Dieting So many of us get caught up in the push to lose weight that we let our health slide. There are a few ways that you can make sure that you are staying healthy when you’re loosing weight, and they’re not hard to do at all. You will need to……
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I am quite pleased with my 3.3 pounds lost for the last week. However, over vacation and the following week I managed to put on 0.6 pounds to go with the 2.4 pounds from the previous week and all and all I had a month of August with 0.3 pounds lost. I am not sweating it… As the doctor said you went on vacation and ONLY gained 0.6 pounds. I did a full body analysis at the last weight in and I actually gained muscle and lost weight over the previous scan so I think I must be doing something right.

Here is a graph of my weight loss (if you are reading this in the future this graph will have updated for future weigh ins as well)… Clicking the image will open to a larger image.

So what is the plan?

While I am still not able to exercise as I would like (the ankle just won’t heal as fast as I would like it to), I need to focus on staying fit while injured and snacking without ruining my diet.

There it is…. short and sweet.

The following is a guest post from ToughMoneyLove.com. You can subscribe to his RSS feed here.

I am 57 years old. I am 6 feet tall. In high school and college, my weight fluctuated between 165 and 170 pounds. I am careful with my money.

But……

On January 16, 2008 I weighed 218 pounds. I work in an office (I am a patent attorney) and was spending on average $7.50 per day eating lunch out. I owned three pair of pants that I could barely squeeze into. Hundreds of dollars of pants and suits hung in my closet – neglected – because they no longer fit. I couldn’t stand to look at all of my belly fat in the mirror any more. I kept reading that abdominal fat is a strong marker for bad health in the second half of your life.

I had enough. I decided on that day that the weight had to go. I set a goal of weighing 175 pounds on May 31, 2008, the unofficial beginning of summer. Being a technology guy, I also decided that I needed a highly structured, mathematically sound plan for getting there.

My 1500 Calorie Eating Plan

I did some research and learned that for an average person, a 3500 calorie consumption deficit will result in a loss of one pound of body weight. I found a free website, Fitday, that allowed me to enter in my weight loss goal. It then calculated and tracked how much weight per week I had to lose to reach that goal. I determined that I could reach my goal by a combination of a reasonable amount of exercise and eating no more than 1500 calories per day.

Fitday had other important helpful features. After entering in my personal data and activities, Fitday calculated my daily baseline caloric expenditures. It added extra calories burned each day based on the specific exercise (walking, weight-lifting) and other activities (yard word, household maintenance, etc.) that I selected from pull down lists. As I weighed myself each morning and entered that weight into Fitday, it re-updated what I needed to do to reach my goal.

Fitday has an extensive built in database of food items with nutrition data. You can also enter and save custom food items if you can’t find them in the database. All of this data is saved online so that you can access it from any internet-connected computer. That is important. Between January 16 and May 31, not a single morsel of food passed my lips without being entered in Fitday. No cheating. None. That required easy access to my data which Fitday provided.

What and How I Ate

My basic rule was this: I ate until Fitday said I had eaten 1500 calories that day. Then I stopped. During the 136 days, I went over 1500 calories approximately 6 times but my worst day was only 1780 calories. Did I eat out? Yes – I even traveled to my nephew’s wedding out of town – but I managed to eat to my calorie goal. On the few days I went over, I either did extra cardio that day or cut back on the eating the next day.

It is not easy for a 6 foot baby boomer to limit himself to 1500 calories and not feel like he is starving. What I did to handle that was to eat something every 2-3 hours during the day with each little meal in the 150-300 calorie range. The work part of the day was critical because believe me it is hard to concentrate on the job if you are starving.

My typical workday eating went like this:

• Breakfast: – fat free cottage cheese with fruit or 1 cup Kashi GoLean Crunch cereal or 6 oz. cup fat free fruit yogurt.
• Morning snack: – 1 ounce raw almonds (very healthy for guys my age and an awesome appetite killer).
• Lunch: – 19 oz. can of Healthy Request Chunky Soup (gotta be chunky or you will not feel full) or 1 can tuna plus a few multigrain, high fiber crackers.
• Afternoon snack: – Balance Gold protein bar (the caramel nut blast is great) or Trail Mix fruit and nut bar
• Dinner: – Grilled chicken breast/grilled fish plus a salad with low fat dressing or a steamed vegetable High fiber bread (one serving)
• Evening snack: – Red grapes or raw cut carrots/broccoli and a low fat dip or a handful of Kashi GoLean Crunch
• Bedtime Dessert: – Fruit popsicle

This routine kept me satisfied and within my 1500 calorie goal. I was surprised about not being hungry but it worked.

My Exercise Plan

I did cardio almost everyday. Usually this was 30 minutes on a treadmill, 4 MPH at varying elevations of 4 to 8 degrees. (Education bonus benefit: I usually did this first thing in the morning while watching the History Channel. I learned a lot.)

I also did circuit training (upper body, lower body, core) three days per week at the local public recreation center, 30 minutes each day with stretching after.

That’s it.

My Money Savings

My work lunch routine cost me about $2.00/day compared to the $7.50 I was spending each day eating out. I ate lunch out a few days (but I didn’t eat much). Over the 136 days of my plan, I saved $5.50 per day over 96 workdays, for a total of $528.00. Not bad. I am still eating soup and tuna for lunch each day. I enjoy visualizing five dollar bills in my head when I do that.

The Results

I actually hit my 175 pound goal on May 13. I decided to keep going because there was still some loose stuff around my midsection that I did not like. I went down to 166 pounds. The loose stuff was still there so I figured that is extra skin that is not going away. (No lipo for me!) I went off the diet. Now I watch what I eat. I probably average 2500 calories per day. I still weigh myself everyday. My weight fluctuates between 166 and 169. That’s where I intend to keep it.

Other benefits: I am sleeping much better. My nasal allergies seemed to have disappeared. (Can’t figure that one out but I am not complaining.) My energy levels in the evening and weekends are way up. Unfortunately, I still don’t have a lot of clothes that fit me because my waist is now a 32. All of my old clothes were 34. I’m not complaining about that either.

My wife compliments me. (’Nuf said about that.)

My 40 year high school reunion is next summer. I have challenged some of my high school buddies to match me. I hope they do.

If you want to contact me about what I did, or learn some hard truth about money and personal finance, you can find me at ToughMoneyLove.com. You can also subscribe to my RSS feed here.

Recommended by Lazy Man: Zecco.com - Join now and trade stocks for free (no commissions).

Here is a graph of my weight loss (if you are reading this in the future this graph will have updated for future weigh ins as well)… Clicking the image will open to a larger image.

So what is the plan?

I will be out of town during my next weigh in and so this plan will be in effect for two weeks prior to the next results.

I will swim a significant amount in the next week and the week after my rehab is allowed to begin in earnest. The doctor increased my dosage of phentermine to help with the portion control in the evening meal. I am going to redouble my efforts to watch my portion sizes. I will be weighing my food again using a food scale to remind myself of the correct portions for the diet. I will continue taking my blood pressure medication and I will try to avoid excessive salt.

My goal for the next two weeks is a total of 10 pounds.

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I get to start rehab next week (3 days a week) starting Monday. I am very much looking forward to working out again…

Here is a graph of my weight loss (if you are reading this in the future this graph will have updated for future weigh ins as well)… Clicking the image will open to a larger image.

I am within 5 pounds of crossing the hypothetical midway point in my journey. I have made it this far in the journey by taking one day at a time. Celebrating my accomplishment without getting complacent. 66 pounds is an enormous amount of weight to have lost and yet I have a long journey ahead. I hope you are enjoying the ride.

Until next week… Enjoy the articles and keep the comments coming…

Today, I did the end of week two exhaustion test. I was hoping to pull off a 42. I figured that would put well on track to hit 100 at the end of week 6 (I’m figuring some diminishing returns will happen). I thought about taking a day of rest, but a friend mentioned that he discussed it with Steve and it would be okay to do the exhaustion test today. I was happy with that, because I wanted to stay on the same schedule, M, W, F. If I waited until Sunday to do the exhaustion test, I wouldn’t be very good at Monday’s next work out.

Perhaps due to some lingering tiredness, I was able to do only 34 pushups. I say only, but that’s a solid gain compared to the 20 initial ones I did.

Here are some links that I liked this week from the Fitness Health Network:

Looking For A Little Healthy Inspiration – NCN had a bad week and it looks like he broke one of his 99 Changes – Giving Up Sodas. It touched me that he drew strength from the rest of us.

Cut One Soda A Week – Jim suggests that you cut a soda a week. It amazes me how many people still drink full calorie soda. It makes sense if you are worried about the artificial sweeteners, but if not, at least switch to diet.

5 Tips to Prevent Elbow Injuries – Jim, meet WeightLadder… You’ve got problems, he’s got answers.

When I am dieting, I focus on the limiting the unnecessary calories that cross my lips. Sometimes I wonder what is and what isn’t healthy. For example, is a piece of whole grand bread healthy? Well some experts would agree that it is, but advocates of the recent low carb trend would say it’s not. How is one to know what is healthy and what isn’t? When in doubt, I go for the low-carb approach.

Of course, I try not to think of dieting in the traditional sense. Simply losing weight fast does little for the body. Instead, I try to learn how to properly eat which leads to a healthier lifestyle, such as choosing to eat healthy snacks.

I realize that I could seriously cut down on their workouts if I could watch those extra calories. I know there are times that I eat way more than I need to. That would allow me to be even more Lazy. I can’t be that Lazy though. Exercise is an extremely important aspect of being healthy. It makes me feel great to get a work out in. I sleep better and look better when I regularly exercise.

In the end, I believe that diet beats exercise. It feels easier for me to eat 200 fewer calories a day than to work off another 200 calories. I just to maintain the mental fortitude to reduce those calories. It sounds like an easy thing to do.

Photo Credit: fantasyhealthball

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Baked goods can be a part of a diet meal plan-if the person baking them takes care to make a few simple substitutions to lower the fat content and to boost the nutritional value. And, fortunately, these substitutions aren’t difficult to make. Here are three tips bakers can try to lower the calories and carbohydrates and increase the nutrition in baked goods.

Lower the amount of sugar in the recipe

Many baked good recipes, such as those for cookies and cakes, can be made with less sugar and still taste just as good. In fact, most of the time people won’t even notice that the sugar content has been lowered. Lowering the sugar will lower the calories and carbohydrates in the baked good.

So, start with the amount of sugar called for in the recipe, and lower it by ¼. For example, if the recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar, try using ¾ cup of sugar instead. If people still enjoy the taste, make the recipe the next time with 1/3 less of the amount of sugar called for in the original recipe (in this example, you would use 2/3 cup). The third time you make the recipe, you can try using half of the amount of sugar (for this example, the amount would be ½ cup).

Another idea is to substitute the sugar with Splenda, which now has a version of it’s popular sugar substitute for baking.

Substitute the fat in the recipe

Instead of using the butter, margarine, or oil called for in the recipe, try using pureed fruit. You can use applesauce or baby food prunes or any other type of pureed fruit. Experiment with substituting for all of the fat in the recipe-you may only want to substitute for half of the fat, depending upon the recipe.

This substitution decreases the fat content in the recipe and boosts the nutritional value.

Switch out some of the flour

For recipes that call for all-purpose flour, try substituting half of the all-purpose flour for whole wheat flour. This will add whole grains to the baked good, increasing the nutrition. You can substitute more than half, but some people dislike the taste and consistency.

Try all of these with your baked goods and you’ll find that some small changes can go a long way.

Photo Credit: randomrobert

Here is a graph of my weight loss (if you are reading this in the future this graph will have updated for future weigh ins as well)… Clicking the image will open to a larger image.

What happened? Oh boy is this a long story (to be told over multiple blog posts)… I played full court basketball for the first time this week. Great! What a workout! My week was going great full court on Saturday, more basketball on Monday, and playing volleyball on Tuesday when it happened…

My teammate passed the ball to the setter and I was backing up to position for the approach for the spike… When I changed directions (not even a very athletic move) there was loud pop and I thought who just throw a rock at the ground at my foot. I stopped playing and spent the rest of the week figuring out what had just happened… But this being the post about my weigh in I will stop there…

And I ate a little too much the night before the weigh-in and I did not exercise for the remainder of the week after the incident at volleyball…

I am sticking to the diet, but I am reducing my expectations (4.8 pound goal for next week aka end at the same goal weight as last week) given that I will not be able to work out at the same intensity…

So with less chance to work out my new plan is to continue to stick to the diet and to look for opportunities to work out… Given that I am currently non weight bearing and on crutches I am hoping that crutches alone will be good exercise….

Having over-achieved my goal of 6.5 pounds (the previous goal was set to 6.5 to make up for missing a 5 pound weekly goal several weeks ago.)  I am setting a more modest goal this week of 5.4 pounds.  Why 5.4?    My weight at this weight was 344.4, so if I succeed I will weigh an even 339.  Here’s to a great week in the past and a great week upcoming.

Here is a graph of my weight loss (if you are reading this in the future this graph will have updated for future weigh ins as well)… Clicking the image will open to a larger image.

I didn’t get a chance to work out as much as I would have liked because of work consideration… I didn’t swim, play volleyball, or golf this week.  I did play basketball twice and go on several walks…  I am going to try and get to the gym for volleyball or basketball 5 times this week, I plan on playing (walking carrying my golf bag) at least 1 round of golf, and I would like to swim more than a few laps.

I plan to continue trying to eat less fat free cheese and more lean protein.  I have been getting my dairy with a double tall non-fat no-foam latte from Starbucks.

I have not tried to stop my intake of caffeine, but my consumption of caffeine is drastically curtailed from where it was.  (I need that morning java and coffee with skim milk just isn’t the same.)

Good luck to all that are working on losing the weight…

Pretty much every diet fails at some point or other. Yes, it’s true – diets are doomed. No matter how well-designed the diet is, almost every person on the diet will end up cheating at some point.

Perhaps that sounds harsh. Maybe it seems as if it couldn’t possibly be true. But pretty much every diet designed is lacking in something. Some diets cut out carbohydrates. Some other diets restrict people from eating red meat or refined sugar. Still other diets name specific foods to avoid, such as potatoes, white bread, or cheese.

Some diets are restrictive in an opposite way in that they name specific foods that the dieters must eat. For instance, some may insist that dieters eat salads at every meal or drink grapefruit juice or eat beans instead of meat four days each week.

Because diets are so demanding and limiting, it is to be expected that dieters will rebel at some point. People who go on a diet for only a week or two are not necessarily going to cheat. However, anyone who tries to follow the same diet for a month or more is almost guaranteed to end up falling off of the diet wagon.

Now, this doesn’t mean that these diets are terrible and should be avoided. All it means is that dieters need to learn how to deal with random lapses in judgment. They need to know how to handle it when they cheat on a diet.

Many dieters feel as if they have failed if they cheat even just once. Stepping away from their diet meal plan makes a lot of dieters breakdown, causing them to just throw the entire diet away. Other dieters may not react so strongly, but they still may think of a one-time cheat as a catastrophe and decide to wait until the following week to resume their diet. Neither of these is the right approach.

Instead, dieters need to know that cheating is inevitable—this is something that should be said at the very beginning so that they will be prepared when it does happen. And, dieters should be told that the best way to deal with cheating is to just pause, forgive themselves, and immediately resume their diet plan with the next scheduled snack or meal.

By learning to deal with the inevitable cheating in this manner, dieters will be ready to handle their problems when the come up—without throwing away their diets.

First of all, try having an appetizer before lunch and dinner each day. I’m not suggesting mozzarella sticks, make it sensible like soup for example. Soup is very filling because it has high water content. Just make sure that the soup that you select is a broth-based soup, not a cream-based soup. Cream-based soups have more fat and calories than broth soups do. Choose soups that contains vegetables to improve the nutritional value.

Next, make certain that you don’t ever get too hungry throughout the day. Most people tend to get hungry about every three hours or so. Therefore, it is a good idea to schedule your meals and snacks to be about three hours apart. This will help you from overeating during any one given snack or meal.
It is also important to drink plenty of fluids throughout the day. Drinking water to lose weight is great – you might want to drink more. You might also drink iced or hot tea or other low-calorie beverages at times.

It may sound counter-intuitive, but it is also essential to indulge yourself at times. Denying yourself occasional treats will only cause you to become bitter about losing weight. If you try to go without indulging in your favorite treats for too long, chances are you may end up really deviating from any kind of sensible meal plan, binging on anything and everything. So, it is smart to have a plan for occasional treats. You could allow yourself to have a slice of cake or ice cream cone two or three times per week – however most of the time I’d stick with one of these five healthy snacks.

Finally, plan meals around a vegetable or two—not around a meat or protein. If you choose your vegetable(s) first, you will be certain to have one at every meal. Meals are much more filling (and nutritious) if they include vegetables.

Try all of these tips to begin dropping some weight without having to stick to a strict diet plan.

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