Thinking About Losing Weight?

For too many years, I yo-yoed diets. Like many of you, I'd lose 50 or 60 pounds and then put it right back on.

Why?

We are the descendants of countless generations of famine survivors. Our bodies are not against us; they are simply programmed to protect us from upcoming famines. When we lose weight, our bodies are not trying to sabotage us. They are desperately trying to put the weight back on, lowering our metabolic rate—the calories we expend without any effort—and increasing our hunger to accomplish this.

The Basic Facts

When we consume more calories than we expend, our bodies store excess energy as fat. When we consume fewer calories than we expend, our bodies use stored fat as energy.

It's truly that straightforward. To shed those extra pounds, one needs to consume fewer calories or burn more. All diets are built on this fundamental principle.

Never Going Back

Losing weight is tough; the trick, though, is how to keep it off.

I used to think that I could lose weight and then go back to eating as I did before once I reached my goal. But it was the way I was eating that put on all that weight!

Losing weight and keeping it off is a life-long project. One cannot return to eating as before if one expects to remain at one's new weight.

This doesn't mean you can't drink beer or eat pizza; you only have to track what you consume and then make corresponding changes in other meals to compensate.

Losing weight and keeping it off requires a lifestyle change: a new way of living and eating.