The Rules

Number 1: Eat three meals and one or two healthy snacks every day.

Number 2: Meals each consist of 4 servings. One serving is about the size of your fist. One serving is grain. One serving is protein. One serving is vegetable. The last serving is either fruit or vegetable. (If you're still hungry after eating that plateful, go ahead and get a little bit more food... just try to keep it in the fruit or vegetable categories.)

Number 3: In between each bite, put down your fork (or food) and take a sip of water.

Number 4: Eat no more than 2 desserts per week. (Personally, if I'm going to eat desserts that way, I want to make sure that each one is the best dessert I've ever eaten!)

Number 5: Don't eat after 8 pm.


Tips and Tricks:
-If you get hungry when it's not mealtime or snacktime, drink a big glass of water and get your hands and mind busy doing something else. It helps if this is something that is incompatible with eating. Taking a walk, taking a shower, or going for a drive (away from fast food places) are good examples.

-Keep only healthy foods in the house. Get rid of the candy stash, the bag of Doritos, and the chocolate chips. If it's there, you'll eat it.

-Eat in the same place each time, and make eating an event. Don't eat while watching tv or reading a book.

The End.

I like it. It's simple, easy to remember, and remarkably easy to follow. I followed this diet 6 years ago and lost 20 pounds. I didn't get quite as far as I wanted to, but that was partly because my lifestyle changed dramatically and I never took the time to work these habits into it. Plus, I was getting a lot more exercise and didn't need to be quite as strict about eating habits.

Anyway, I've started in on it again. I started on Monday, and already I feel better. We'll see what the scale shows this week, but so far I'm hopeful.

Incidentally, I recently went to a gym where I was counseled on how to count calories and they got me set up with this online program to do so. The girl there told me that the fastest way to lose weight was to count calories, and that I should aim for losing one pound per week. Trying to go for more means exercising a ton.

Last time I did this diet, I lost an average of 2 pounds per week, and I wasn't doing much--if any-- exercising. And let's face it. This takes way less time, effort, energy, and anxiety than counting calories.

If you don't believe me, try it for one day, and see how you feel afterwards.