Who do you believe

What we hear today about diet and nutrition is confusing. So-called "experts" offer contradicting, sometimes questionable advice about food and nutrition to promote their agendas. Some formally overweight or obese individuals try to monetize their  tips or advice by selling products or services that offer the highest commission.

The majority of us struggle to accept the fact that a diet composed of real foods is the healthiest. For a diet to be truly healthful, it must contain a large amount of vegetables. When you eat lots of vegetables, especially green vegetables, you meet your body's need for fiber and micronutrients without having to consume too many calories.

Gaining knowledge is important step toward effective weight loss. But knowledge is not enough. You need a conscious effort to change what you eat. Incorporating information about a simple and effective strategy into your life you will help you achieve weight loss and have a positive effect on your health.

What you choose to eat will determine how successful you will be.

Eating healthy while away from home

Eating healthy while away from home can be hard. 

I am in Norfolk, Virginia for a week attending job related training. I like it so far. People in my class are authentic leaders. They are committed to improving everyone around them, just as much as they are committed to improving themselves. They are authentic, they project enthusiasm, and most importantly, they care. 

In the morning my only option is eggs, sausage, toast, and some blueberries in the hotel restaurant. Monday lunch was pizza, but today I found a more healthy option. See the picture above. Chicken breast, green beans, mixed vegetables, and spinach on the side. I had water as it contains no sugar or calories. 

Dinners should be less challenging, as I will not be limited to the area where the training is. 

Figuring out how to eat right while away from your routine can be hard, but it is not impossible.

Found healthy and delicious food yesterday

Eating out, especially when not planned in advance, can create a challenge for those of us who eat healthy.  

I try to eat healthy foods when eating out, or at least not to deviate significantly from the Eat Like Me approach. And, when possible, I also use week-ends to add variety to the foods that I regularly eat.

Yesterday, I had lunch at the restaurant that advertises home-style cooking and genuine, Southern hospitality. The restaurant was relatively new to me.

The waitress opened her eyes a bit wider when I finished ordering. She did not offer any comments, she just went over what I ordered to “make sure that I got it right”. 

I was glad that it was possible to customize what was on their menu, and I ended up having lunch that was consistent with my eating style.

See for yourself.  Grilled chicken tenderloins, brussels sprouts and kale salad, steamed broccoli, cole slaw and turnip greens.

I found healthy food and had delicious lunch yesterday.

Eat Better at Work

Your workplace nutrition habits have a major impact on your weight loss.

Since our food choices are strongly determined by what is readily available, following your healthy weight loss eating plan while at work may be hard.

Almost every day we are confronted with unhealthy food choices like bagels, donuts and sometimes even a birthday cake.

Trying to eat healthier throughout your work day can be very difficult, especially when your only choices are fast food or vending machines.

When food choices are limited, the best way to eat healthy at work is to prepare meals in your home to take to the workplace. I don't cook, so it was a bit challenging for me at the beginning. I realized that the best option for me will be to bring salads to work. I also learned that the salads I bring to work must include protein, so I add chicken breast or turkey breast. It worked and continues to work for me for lunch at work. 

Eating healthy food at work isn't just about lunch; you also need healthy snacks throughout the day. The best snacks are fresh fruits and veggies. Simply wash and bring them to your work place. I bring apples to work and eat them every day.

I am posting above what I typically eat for lunch at work. Romaine lettuce, baby spinach, turkey breast, plum tomatoes, nuts, and no dressing. I drink hot black tea with no sugar, honey or milk in tea. It takes me two minutes to prepare the salad before leaving for work.

The Right Approach to Weight Loss

Yes, you can! You can lose weight and focus on what matters and living your life.

While weight loss is not the key to your happiness and the answer to many life’s problems, it will definitely help with living a meaningful life, a life worth living as you define it.

I want to introduce you to a different way of thinking about your weight and what you eat. It is about eating real foods and not food products. It is about eating without painfully counting calories and measuring food portions. 

It is about knowing that losing weight can be done without feeling hungry. Hunger is the biggest pothole on the road of successful weight loss, and any approach that results in hunger will never be successful. 

The right approach to weight loss is not about using external measures such as exercise to control weight.

If you have struggled with weight issues or you have grown frustrated with your inability to control weight gain, you can take a look at what worked for me.

I share my real food strategy, the “non-diet” approach, as some call it, and what has worked for me on this blog and on the ilostweightyoucantoo.com website.

Made healthy choice when eating out today

Dining out can always be a challenge for me, because meals at restaurants are not healthy.

When ordering food at a restaurant I force myself to think whether I decide to stick to my eating plan or I choose to sabotage it.

Most of the time, but not always, I try to eat as close to Eat Like Me eating plan when I eat at the restaurant.

Today I found it was possible even at Chinese food restaurant.

From All-You-Can-Eat buffet I selected baked salmon, grilled chicken breast and lots of greens beans. 

Another success factor that worked for me this time. Making healthy choices when eating out is possible.

Gained weight

Yep. That's true. 

I didn't want to be hypocritical and stopped posting for a while. 

Now it's time to go back to making better food choices at every meal. While most of the days, I eat a combination of lean protein, fruits and vegetables, whole grains and healthy fats most of the time.

Unfortunately in my weak movements, I eat processed foods and it kills my efforts. I feel terrible about being out of control, but I do it anyway. I think it is my arrogance - I know how to lose weight so I can allow myself a little - that allows me to make pure food choices more often than I used to.

Smart food buying habits

We have the power of choice to decide which foods to buy at the grocery store. The key to success is planning ahead. 

Planning ahead can improve your food choices. Healthy decisions start at home. 

Start by streamlining your food shopping to one or two days each week. Fewer trips to supermarket mean fewer opportunities to buy the wrong types of food.

I do it once a week on weekend when I am not hungry or rushed for time. I plan what food I need to buy and stick to my shopping list. By taking the hurry and unpredictability out of food shopping I buy and stock up foods that are building block for healthy meals. 

Healthy choices can make a healthy you.

Eating healthy when away from home is possible

While eating healthy when away from home could be difficult, it doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

Two days ago I was hungry after a few hours of driving and almost went to fast food restaurant near the hotel.

Found motivation to go to the supermarket, bought vegetables and turkey breast and came back to the hotel.

Felt good. I needed positive experience, because it doesn’t always end up that way for me when I travel. I found it that it was possible. When I was weak and contemplating eating at the fast food restaurant I asked myself what was more important to me.  

Eating healthy does not mean eating foods that you do not like

For me eating healthy means eating natural, unprocessed foods. Eating real foods, not food products.

Many people mistakenly think that foods that are healthy must necessarily be unsatisfying or taste bad. Of course, that isn’t so. 

To lose weight and keep it off, it is important to change your perception that healthy foods will not satisfy you as much as your favorite dishes.

Eating healthy does not mean eating foods that you do not like. It is about getting away from fake foods and embracing real ones. 

It means giving your body what it needs to thrive. 

Eliminating or at least limiting processed foods is an important element of healthy eating.

Eating healthy will also ensure that you stay healthy while using weight.

Made Better Choice Today

Real example of making better choice while eating out. Two photos are from the same place. 

I am posting them to show what worked for me at lunch time today. See the difference? 

The person I had lunch with made the choice in the upper photo and drank soda. 

I made the choice in the lower photo and drank water. We both were happy with our choices.

Remembering why we want to lose weight or maintain it, if you are already there, helps when ordering in restaurants. 

Planning what to eat and where makes it easier for me.

Guest Post: Life Style Changes to Feel Good for Life

Failure is everywhere. People are sick and in pain. This is not necessary. Let's learn how to be successful in our health. People have lost 50, 75, 100 pounds with minimal effort. They feel so good, they would never go back to old habits.

Myths: 

If I stop eating, I'll lose weight.

I have to be hungry to lose weight.

I'll never be able to have a piece of cheesecake (substitute your favorite) again.

I'll feel deprived.

I'll have to exercise 2 hours every day.

Diabetes runs in the family.

Foods are either Carbohydrates, Proteins, or Fats. Meals should have 50% Protein, 25% good carbs, and 25% fats. Monosaturated are the best.

Carbohydates:  Which are good, which are not? Rule of thumb. Don't eat the white stuff.  Also known as processed. Eat fruits and vegetables for your carbs. Avoid white flour, white sugar, white potatoes, white rice, white pasta, and white bread. Substitute whole grains, sweet potatoes, brown rice, couscous, quinoa, pasta made of spinach, bell peppers, whole wheat. Bread made of whole grains. No enriched white flour.

Why?

The white stuff is highly processed. This means it gets into your blood stream as sugar way too fast. Your blood sugar spikes. Your pancreas has to quickly release insulin to get your blood sugar back down. It goes too far down. Now you are famished!!  Quick, eat something with sugar or highly processed to get your blood sugar back up. This roller coaster is bad for your whole body- every cell. Insulin is our fat storage hormone. Spike blood sugar, release insulin, hold onto fat like a sponge holds water. This happens when we eat high Glycemic foods.

Eat Protein, good fats, and unprocessed carbohydrates.

Your blood sugar stays within a nice normal even range. Your pancreas now releases Glucagon. Glucagon   is our Fat Releasing Hormone. Your blood sugar stays in the good range. No hunger, no shakiness, no foggy thinking, and Release Fat!! This happens when we eat low Glycemic foods.

Jump Start with low Glycemic foods for five days. Sugar cravings will go away. Drink 1/2 your weight in ounces of water. Flavor the water with fruits and herbs so it's not boring. Walk 30 minutes 3 times a week. Eat low Glycemic foods every 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Nibble a little dark chocolate as a reward.

Focus on what you want, not what you don't want.

Our brains will believe whatever we tell it over and over. Say everything in the positive.

Picture yourself as your new You. Tell yourself how good you look, and how great you feel. 

     

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Guest post provided by Janice Moranz, MD.  Janice runs Albuquerque Health and Fitness MeetUp Group. The group has over 400 members. You can contact Janice at janicemoranz@comcast.net

http://www.meetup.com/Albuquerque-Health-Fitness/

Nation of Fat People?

Almost everyone seems to be on some kind of diet these days. 

Most of us want to live healthier lives, lose a little bit (or a lot) of weight, and generally feel better about the food we put into our bodies. 

After decades of portion control and counting calories we still consume lots of empty calories and are becoming a nation of fat people. 

If we don’t seriously and effectively confront it, we may become a nation of inert, unhealthy, unproductive fat people by the middle of the 21st century.

One does not need a degree in science to understand why it happens. Diet fatigue and diet failure happen for a reason. If you restrict how much we can eat you are likely to end up with the following pattern. You take a break, and start again later, take another break, start again later and so on. 

Even if lose weight, you will regain your weight or more, when you jump right back to eating “normal” (pre-diet) size meals.

Exercise is excellent for health but not that important for weight loss

While the exercise myth for weight loss still appears in high-profile initiatives like the first lady's Let's Move! Campaign, more and more individuals learn and experience that the role of exercise in weight loss has been wildly overstated. 

Message that exercise is not important in helping people lose weight is getting more support in research and in media. 

I always pointed out that exercise was good for your health. At the same time I also dared to say that exercise wasn't necessarily helping us lose weight. My simple truth that that you don’t have to exercise to lose weight was not getting me many new online friends. 

This statement was considered too controversial on some weight loss forums. It even got me banned from a website that declares that it “helps facilitate honest conversation about weight loss”. 

Can you lose weight without exercising? Of course you can. Physical activity is a minor component to the economy of weight loss. The critical component is what you eat.

We always have a choice

I did not post for a few months. It was not because I stopped caring about weight loss and healthy eating. I moved South West from jungle of tall buildings in Manhattan to a beautiful state of New Mexico.  

I want to thank all of you who contacted me to ask for help with weight loss. I want to thank you for trust and for sharing with me your challenges and successes. I know that losing weight is difficult. As soon as we stop doing what works for us, we start regaining weight.

To everybody who lost weight by using my method, I hope you remain strong and continue to live your new live style. I am proud of all of you made an effort. I am glad that I could help a little. I want to thank you for allowing me to show you that weight loss is possible without feeling hungry, without exercise, and most important without paying for any products or services.

I know that it is not popular message, because there is a huge weigh loss industry that profits from misery of people who are overweight or obese. The industry that pays bloggers and others to maintain opinion that weight loss is difficult and that one must buy products or pay for services to lose weight.

Keep doing what you are doing if it works for you. Situations and circumstances are different for all of us, but we all have something in common. Something powerful that nobody can take away from us.

We all have and always will have a choice. Choice of what we eat.  And that is the most important factor for those who have struggled or continue to struggle with weight issues.

Weight loss blog credibility

I read healthy eating and weight loss blogs every day. While some of the posts are based on personal experience or on new research, I see many that appear to be designed to generate buzz, sell products, and keep consumers “tuned in.”

Bloggers who accept ads participate in marketing. Many of those who successfully lost weight and initially started blogging to share what worked for them, choose to monetize their blogs by advertising weight loss products and services.

Most likely the ads are for the products that pay best publishing rates, not necessarily the ones that had been used by the blog owners.

How important is it for you that the person who renders weight-loss advice to you is struggling with or used to struggle with weigh issue himself?

Do you consider this factor when you assess his credibility and value of the advice received?

Food labels are confusing for a lot of people

Food manufactures and the food marketing industry are in business of enticing you into buying their products. 

They will use jargon to make you think their products are good for you. For example, a food might be fat-free, but the rest of the product might consist of ingredients that are bad for you. 

Look at the back of the product. The front contains the marketing; the back (the label) contains the facts. Food labels are confusing for a lot of people. I know that labels can be tricky, but the label is where you will learn which products are good for you and which contain ingredients you should avoid. You should be concerned with saturated and trans fats, syrups and added sugar.

Reading the labels arms you with information to make smart choices about what you eat. 

Announcing your weight loss goals

Research confirms that most people who decide to make a lifestyle change will tell at least a few others about their intentions. Others, will have more success with keeping their intentions to lose weight to themselves.

The first group believes that telling others about their weight loss efforts will keep them accountable. The second group might be concerned that co-workers, friends, and even family member may sabotage their efforts at times, even unintentionally.

Studies confirmed that if you announce your goals to others, you are less likely to make them happen because you lose motivation. Really? Yes, really. This is thought to happen because announcing goals satisfies a person’s self-identity just enough to prevent them performing the hard work to achieve those goals.

I think it is a personal preference and everyone must do what works best for them.

What do you think? Is sharing your weight loss goals with a loved one more likely to keep you accountable, or are you afraid they might sabotage your efforts?

Do you tell anyone at all, or just let them figure it out for themselves?

Weigh yourself on a digital scale daily

Your scale can be a top tool in losing weight. Use the number on the scale as a guide to decide whether you should keep doing what you are doing or make some changes.

Weighing yourself more often could mean losing more pounds. According to the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics people who step on the scale daily lose about three times as much weight as those who do so less often.

When I saw the numbers on the scale going down every single day, I got excited and wanted to stick with my method. Fast results kept me motivated. The more weight I lost, the more I realized how doable and relatively easy it was, and the more I wanted to share it with others.

Invest in a digital scale, weigh yourself on a scale daily and track the results.  It’s usually best to weigh yourself the first thing in the morning, after getting out of bed. Weighing yourself every day keeps the focus on how quickly you are losing weight.

Elements of well-being

The 5 elements of well-being are:

• Positive Emotion - the pleasant life.
• Engagement - flow.
• Meaning - found in serving something bigger than self.
• Positive Relationships - other people are the best antidote of the downs of life and the single most reliable up.
• Accomplishment - subjective achievement.

Personal well-being is not the same for everyone. What are your 5 elements of well-being? 

Power of planning

Planning is what makes eating real, healthy food possible. Take 15 minutes to plan for a successful healthy week ahead. Use this time to plan what and where you will eat next week.

Also, plan your grocery trip by making your grocery list. Make a list every time you go to the grocery store. Never go grocery shopping on an empty stomach. If you do you will be more likely to make impulse purchases.

Always keep a stash of healthy food at home and healthy snacks at work. It will make it easier to make healthy choices, and it will prevent you from going too long without eating.

Thinking ahead, planning what and where you will eat as meals, and grocery shopping based on the Eat like Me approach are the keys to healthy eating and losing weight. 

Gained weight on vacation

I just spent two glorious weeks on vacation in Florida. I relaxed, I read, I ran, and I cherished and enjoyed every moment spent with my wife. I also violated my eating right  life style rules by buying and consuming food that is not healthy.

Everyone has that one food that sends them off track, that they just can’t eat in moderation. For me, there are a few. Ice cream is one of them. I knew I couldn’t eat ice cream in moderation, yet I still bough and eat it. Lots of ice cream. I think it was because I knew it would be temporary. In NYC I don’t buy ice cream.

I also learned that one meal doesn’t have to ruin your whole day. If you stray away from your plan at one meal, you can still get back on track with the next one.

Now I am back home and I am transitioning back to reality. When I stepped on the scale at home my honest accountability partner showed that I gained eight pounds.

I am resuming healthy eating most of the time. The Eat Like Me eating approach that helped me lose weight in the past. Posted picture represents my healthy choice in a mall-like environment this afternoon. Will keep my efforts to stay in healthy habit mode (until next vacation, he he).

Vacation is a time to relax and enjoy life

Vacation offers free-time to spend with family and loved ones, and gives us an opportunity to engage in enjoyable activities. Vacation provides an unparalleled bonding experience.   

Sharing new and exciting experiences with my family connects me in a way that few other events allow.  The activities and the meals are moments that I will always cherish. 

I realized that since day one of my vacation, I do not comply with some of the healthy lifestyle rules I encourage others to follow.  While in some situations I have limited choices or no healthy alternatives at all, there are also situations that I do have a choice but I choose poorly.

For the last several days I don’t use all tools and routines that had led me to weight loss, and later to effective maintenance of healthy weight. I don’t do much of the planning of where (what) I will eat. I also skip some of the healthy routines that work so well for me when I am home or at work.

My justification is that a few days of less than full compliance with healthy eating is not going to be a big deal. Plus, I am on vacation and vacation is a time to relax and enjoy life. Pretty hypocritical, isn’t it?

It will all end and go back to norm after the second week is over, but it struck me how easy it is for me just to ignore my unhealthy imperfections.

Breakfast challenge while on vacation

I am posting this from vacations in Florida. Life is beautiful here. People are great. Weather is as expected, either very hot or rain with lightings.

The hotel I am in offers me a big challenge in the morning. Breakfast that is served downstairs has no healthy options. It is a bit starnge, because now even fast food restaurants have healthy options on their menu.

On the positive note, I met a person who lost 120 pounds. One hundred and twenty!!!

Better sleep means better health

Eating right and getting enough sleep are well-known behaviors for good health.

Sleep is essential to good health, and a lack of it can lead to heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, weight gain, and diabetes. There is no known substitute for sleep.

Quality sleep promotes physical, mental and emotional health. It also boosts alertness, performance and memory. Most adults need at least seven hours of nightly sleep for optimal health and productivity. Some people need more sleep to feel well-rested.

Sleep experts say there is ample evidence that shows that when people get the sleep they need, they will not only feel better, but will also increase their odds of living healthier, more productive lives.

Sleep deprivation can be dangerous. People who do not get adequate sleep experience impairment of concentration, judgment, and learning ability. If you cut sleep back to five or six hours a night for several days in a row, the accumulated sleep deficit will magnify these negative effects.

Do you get enough sleep?

What is processed food

While some type of food treatment is important for food safety and food storage, important nutrients and vitamins are lost in each processing step.

When nutritionists refer to processed foods, they're typically referring to products that are heavily modified and contain a long list of ingredients, including many snack foods, sweets, frozen prepared foods, sugary drinks, and packaged meats.

These foods have minimal nutritional value. On average, processing usually removes 50 – 80% of nutrients from a food. Avoiding processed foods will improve how you look and feel and lead to lasting weight loss. Even better - you may reduce or completely eliminate symptoms associated with common health disorders.

Guest Post: The Dos and Don’ts of Clean Eating

Clean eating is a catchy, popular phrase that can basically mean eating healthy. Although the exact meaning of clean eating can vary, in general it refers to eating whole, unprocessed foods. It limits consumption of fast food or packaged, processed foods that many Americans have grown to rely on.

The idea of eating clean is not new, but the term clean eating is. Whether you call it clean eating or not, eating more unprocessed foods like fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds and lean proteins is beneficial for overall health. Here are some practical dos and don’ts tips for clean eating that can be a guideline for you to follow.

Cut out processed food

Cutting out processed food is the main focus of the clean eating movement. Processed food is a catch all term for any food that comes in a bag, box, can or other packaging that can sit on a shelf for a good amount of time without spoiling. Processed food is notorious for being high in sugar, unhealthy fats, sodium, preservatives and low in nutrients like vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber.

By cutting out processed food, your food should be “cleaner” because it doesn’t have added artificial ingredients and is true to its purest form from nature. A word of caution: cutting out processed food can be hard! This is especially hard if you are used to eating packaged food and not used to cooking. However, the health benefits are well worth it.

Bump up fruits and vegetables

Besides cutting out processed food, which is a great first step, make sure to eat a high amount of fruits and vegetables for clean eating. Some people suggest clean eating also entails eating organic fruits and vegetables when possible to lower pesticide residue.

Focus on eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables when they are in season. This can be done easily by shopping at farmer’s markets or purchasing a community supported agriculture (CSA) share from a local farm.

Fruits and vegetables have many important nutrients, plus they are high in fiber which can increase satiety. Don’t cut out processed food without bumping up your fruit and vegetable intake; these two steps should go hand in hand.

Stay away from hard to pronounce ingredients

Staying away from hard to pronounce food ingredients can be much easier when you cut down on processed foods. Most hard to pronounce words in ingredient labels are preservatives meant to prolong the shelf life of food products. Clean eating focuses on eliminating these preservatives and other chemicals in the food system.

Know where your food comes from

Eating local is sometimes associated with clean eating because eating local also focuses on minimizing processed food. Knowing where your food comes from means trying to eat locally grown fruits and vegetables or locally raised proteins when possible. If you have the choice of buying locally grown blueberries or blueberries from South America, choose local if you can.

Eating foods from a local food system can increase nutrient density of food, as local foods are usually not harvested before they are ripe which can increase vitamin and mineral content.

Be balanced

Something to avoid with clean eating is to get over obsessed about eating perfect food. Food is meant to be enjoyed and nourishing for the body and mind, but it should not be exhausting or obsessive. Also, keep in mind whatever diet you follow, balance and moderation are important concepts. Keep meals balanced with healthy carbohydrate, protein and fat sources.

The term orthorexia is defined as having an unhealthy obsession with eating pure (or clean). Clean eating should be a healthy lifestyle, not a rigid eating pattern. If you need to eat something out of a package while trying to eat clean it is not the end of the world. As with anything, keep healthy choices the majority and easiest choice but learn to deal with situations where you may not be able to eat exactly how you want to or are used to.

Learn what you can adapt from clean eating principles and know where you may need to adjust these guidelines, depending on your circumstances. Eat balanced meals that include the major food categories unless you have food illnesses or intolerances.

Conclusion

Clean eating is a popular term for healthy eating with a focus on fresh, natural food. Clean eating limits intake of processed food and fast food, which can be difficult with the usual busy American lifestyle. Clean eating focuses on eating a high number of fresh fruits and vegetables, and some would say this also includes eating organic foods when possible. 

Eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables is also recommended.

Other additions to clean eating can be trying to eat as local as possible and knowing where your food comes from. An important consideration for ay diet or health trend is to remember food should be enjoyed and is meant to nourish the body, not be an obsession with strict eating rules.

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Guest post provided by Holly Klamer. Holly is a registered dietitian with a MS degree in nutrition and exercise science. She teaches nutrition at 2 colleges in Denver and has her own nutrition consulting business, Step Ahead Nutrition. You can connect with Holly on her Google+ page. 

Healthy food option at the mall food court

Eating away from home is challenging when you try to eat clean.

While food courts are loaded  with places serving fast food, there also places for healthier options. Not all the food in the food court is as bad as we often think it is.

To survive the mall food court I check out all the food offerings and choose the healthiest options.

I am happy to share that I avoided high-calorie, unhealthy food court temptations and found two healthy options for eating at the mall I go to frequently. This food is consistent with the Eat Like Me approach and expands the variety of food I eat. On the left are delicious veggie fries. Spinach salad with grilled chicken on the right. Will take a picture of the second option soon.

We don't eat enough fruits and vegetables

Fruits and vegetables have been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, and some cancers. 

They are also a key part of weight management, and hold many key nutrients that keep the human body running efficiently. 

Only 13 percent of Americans are eating the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables. What's your excuse?

I eat lots of fruits and veggies every day. Together with lean protein (chicken breast, fish or turkey white meat) they are part of all of my meals. I select fresh low-sugar fruits and fresh non-starchy vegetables. 

Eating large amount of the right food is my key to success. Vegetables and fruits provide me with fiber, which in combination with lean proteins practically assures that I don’t feel any hunger. 

Certain fruits like pineapple, watermelon and bananas are high in sugar, and they don't promote weight loss. I don’ t eat starchy vegetables - potatoes and corn, either.

Misconceptions about weight loss

Widely popular assumption that in order to lose weight you must eat less and exercise more has been the foundation of many weight-loss programs. Unfortunately, it also reinforces the incorrect opinion that that weight loss has to be a struggle and a painful experience. 

The first part, portion control, is not the most effective way to lose weight. Reducing your portions to the point that you feel hungry at the end of a meal will not work. It is hard to force yourself to eat less. It is hard to stop eating when you are still hungry. It goes against human nature. In my opinion hunger is the most significant problem with weight loss and a diet that results in hunger will never be successful. Unless you are super-human, and hunger does not bother you. For the rest of us, when we are hungry, the feeling of an empty stomach is very difficult, if not impossible, to tolerate.

The second part, exercise more to lose weight, is simply not realistic. Some find it hard to accept but exercise isn't necessarily helping us lose weight. Even if you exercised every day, in order to achieve any noticeable weight reduction, you would have to do it for hours each day. Exercise is great for our physical health and state of mind, and for preventing weight gain in the first place, but it has a disappointingly small effect on weight loss. 

Developing routines

Battling excess weight is one of the most frustrating, challenging and emotionally draining experience. Many people struggle with a never ending battle to lose weight and get healthy. If you make appropriate changes for a period of time you will lose weight, but when you go back to your previous eating you will gain all the weight back.

You have to realize that losing weight involves a major lifestyle change. If no changes are made to your lifestyle, the moment you stop eating healthy (your diet), you are likely to return to your previous eating, which leads to the Yo-Yo phenomenon. When you go back to your previous eating you will gain all the weight back.

Since you will be making some huge changes to your diet, you need to condition your brain so that eventually, making better food choices will be automatic. To change your lifestyle you must take psychological and behavioral actions. Your attitude and perspective are essential. Your thoughts will guide you to success or to failure. If you are in the wrong state of mind, you will not follow the eating approach.

Do whatever it takes to make eating healthy a positive experience. An early win helps enormously for anyone trying to achieve a difficult task.  The new behavior starts to feel normal. It will take less discipline to repeat the action.  Developing routines and making it your lifestyle is the key. Once you have created new routines and stick with them, those routines will eventually turn into habits and become your new lifestyle. When your decisions, food choices, and lifestyle become an energizing routine you will be setting yourself up for weight loss success.

Losing weight and sustaining that healthy lifestyle is a process and journey. It is never over.

It is not that easy

Well, weight loss is not easy. 

First it took me a while to start doing something about my surprising weight gain. I kept delaying action time, because I “knew” that I would be easy. I lost 91 pounds before, so I thought I would lose the recently gained 20 pounds as soon as I start my efforts. 

And, as expected, when I stopped allowing myself to relax healthy eating on week-ends and was strong while watching TV in the evenings (no unhealthy snacks), the weight started to come down. I got to 180 pounds relatively quickly. Losing 10 pounds felt good. It confirmed that when I made efforts I lost weight. 

Something else also happened. Since I was successful again, I did not keep going to get to my healthy weight of 170 pounds.  I relaxed my eating and I stayed at the 180-182 level. My arrogant thinking that “I can lose weight easily any time I want” prevailed and I am remaining at the 180 pounds point. 

I am weak.