Real 4 Week Diet: Getting started

Do you feel like saying that when you hear all these weight-loss claims which are patently ridiculous? Have you tried all the diet and exercise plans and they either didn't work or you gained the weight back? Have you ended up feeling guilty when you couldn't stick to an obviously unrealistic or overly complicated eating plan? Well, you are not alone! We've all done that and now is the time to say to the authors of those ridiculous diet and exercise plans: Get Real!

National Statistics show that one in four Americans are obese and 65 percent of us are officially overweight. They also show that 95 percent of us who lose weight gain it back. Why do we do this? If we lose it to begin with why can't we just keep doing it and lose what we want and keep it off?

There are probably many reasons, but I suspect that most people lose the weight using unrealistic diet and exercise plans which cannot be sustained over the long run.

How long can you live on two shakes a day or only eating one type of food? How long can you deprive yourself of foods you like to eat?

The simple truth is that "dieting" as we know it doesn't work. Changing our food and exercise lifestyles works, but making such changes seems like a Herculean task. Besides we think that such changes mean we can never eat the foods we like ever again or that we will not be able to skip even one day of jogging or aerobics. We worry that we will become obsessed with diet and exercise to such a point that we lose sight of the fun things in life.

I know, because I've been there. I struggled a little with my weight most of my adult life, but about five years ago for a variety of reasons I started adding on weight. My dress sizes went from a 12-14 to a 16-18 and my weight from 170 to 226. No problem I thought. I'll do what I did in college. I'll just drop down to one meal a day and lose the weight. Well, at 45 my energy level at one meal a day was less than at 20, and I started to suffer exhaustion more easily. So, I started the diet-go-round -- and gave up because each required major changes in my basic lifestyle and/or they required me to deprive myself permanently of foods I enjoy.

So, I gave up on dieting and ballooned up again. But at 226 I decided I needed to do something that would actually work. I got away from the diet plans and started checking into research about weight loss and discovered it was much simpler than the diet plans made it out to be.

• You eat fewer calories than you burn.
• You maintain a balanced diet.
• You make small changes and then add to them.
• You understand your own eating patterns
• You accommodate your own lifestyle
• You don't deprive yourself; you control yourself
• You eat and you exercise..
• You need to approach weight loss physically, emotionally and spiritually to succeed.

In 11 months I have lost 34 pounds, 8 inches around my waist and one dress size without feeling deprived at all. I lost the weight and still had pizza (the real kind from a pizzeria), hamburgers, pasta, even strawberry pie.

I won't be featured on an infomercial any time soon. My weight loss has been gradual and consistent averaging less than a pound a week. Sustainable and healthy weight loss takes time, but by making small sustainable changes in lifestyle over a period of time the weight will come off and stay off.

One thing I want to emphasize: This is not a diet plan. If you are looking for a list of foods you can and cannot eat, you won't find it here. This is an approach to losing weight. In fact, any diet plan which emphasizes eating a balanced diet such as Weight Watchers or the Great North American Diet or Richard Simmons Food Mover plans among others will be enhanced by the ideas on these pages. Personally, I use the e-tools at Weight Watchers to help me control my diet. I have, however, modified their exercise component to accommodate my more vigorous workout regimen. The idea is that you have to tailor your weight loss program to your own lifestyle. You'll learn more about that here.

Obviously, before beginning any weight loss effort you should consult with your physician. I am hoping that the hints and tips found here can accommodate any of your personal health needs in the process. My doctor was invaluable in giving me hints about how to manage my asthma and still do a vigorous aerobic work out.