You CAN Lose Weight Without Being on a Diet!

I have never been skinny. Well, maybe back when I was in second grade (I think). My whole family is big-boned, plump, heavyset, chubby, husky, stout, pudgy, chunky-heck, we are all just plain fat. So it came as no real surprise when my recent blood tests revealed that I had high cholesterol.

Now, to give me a little credit, I had already been trying to lose weight before I had the blood tests done-and, I was having some success at it, I might add. So while the elevated cholesterol reading increased my desire (and the necessity) to lose weight, it was not the sole motivation for me. I had already decided that I wanted to try to get in better shape so that perhaps I could do more activities with my kids.

Of course, I have tried to diet at various times all throughout my life. I've tried a cottage cheese/salad diet that a previous doctor recommended-that lasted a few months. I did best to stick to a Slimfast plan for several months one time years ago. I have also attempted counting calories (that didn't work because I cheated on my math). After I had my second son I took a stab at staying on a modified diabetic-type diet. That didn't last very long, either. I could go on and on listing the various plans I have tried over the years.

What am I doing now that is different? Here's my secret-I'm not on a diet. Yes, that's right-I'm losing weight, but I am not on a diet. How can that possibly work? Well, I took a look back at what I had already tried and realized that every plan had one thing in common-every diet was too restrictive, too regimented. I decided what I needed to do was to change the way I thought about eating. I needed to change how I made my meals, how I made decisions about what to eat. By changing my attitude toward food instead of trying to stick to a diet, that is how I have lost weight.

If you are thinking that it sounds rather difficult to change how you think about food, you would be wrong. Making a few simple changes in how I decided which foods to eat is all I had to do. Here are the changes that I have made:

Plan meals by thinking of the vegetables first. Most people think about what meat they are going to have for a meal. They take out a package of chicken, or pork chops, or some ground beef-and then they try to figure out what to make using that meat. What I do now is to think about the vegetables I want with my meal first. I may decide that I want corn-on-the-cob and sliced fresh tomatoes, for example. After I have the veggies chosen, then I move on the plan the rest of the meal.

After choosing the vegetables for a meal, think about fruit. Take my example from above-the corn-on-the-cob and sliced tomatoes. After deciding that those are the vegetables that I would like to eat, I then think about what fruit(s) would complement those to make a nice meal. I think perhaps a strawberry/blueberry parfait would be nice with this meal, for example (I make that tasty dessert by simply layering the berries in a tall parfait glass, alternating them with fat-free or lite whipped cream).

Round out the meal with meat and/or whole grains. Notice that I said "meat and/or whole grains" here-it isn't necessary to have both of these at every meal. Continuing with this meal example, I would likely choose to add a marinated grilled skinless boneless chicken breast (I love using my George Foreman grill for these) or perhaps a couple of bran muffins (homemade, made with flaxseed, steel cut oats, and walnuts).

By planning my major meals in this way, I have found that my vegetable and fruit consumption has greatly increased-some days I actually end up having more than the minimum suggested daily requirement, whereas before I struggled to get two or three in each day.

A couple of more small changes I have made involve certain foods that I buy. I haven't changed everything that I purchase, though obviously I have been buying a lot less junk food. Here are the items I have changed:

Every grain is a whole grain. The breakfast cereal that I buy, the bread that I purchase from the bakery, even the boxes of crackers and pasta that I get are all made from whole grains. If it isn't made from whole grains, I don't purchase it.

Most dairy products are lite or low-fat; some are fat-free. I purchase lite or low-fat cheese, cream cheese, and sour cream-I just do not happen to like the fat-free versions of these products. I buy fat-free whipped cream, milk, and yogurt. I experiment to see which products still taste good fat-free, and if they aren't up to par, I move up to the low-fat version.

And that is pretty much it, as far as what I have changed about how I eat. I do still have days where I want something sweet-and some of these days, fruit just doesn't cut it. When that happens, I try to eat a few Hershey's Kisses or a couple Hershey Sticks-a little bit of chocolate usually eases the craving.

Losing weight is, of course, a process-and it is one that I will likely be working on for quite some time. But I am confident that making these simple food changes will make all the difference, and they are ones that I can stick with, unlike any diet. These ideas could help you or someone you know lose weight and get healthy, too-give them a try!