Don't do it! Diets BAD!

Don't do it! You made that resolution to get healthy and lose weight. Good plan! Kudos for that. But wait! Don't pick up the Weight Watchers, SlimFast, Jenny Craig, Cambridge Diet or whatever packaged product and line that company's pockets with your hard earned cash. Don't spend days eating weird cabbage stew, eliminating carbs, counting fat grams or stuffing down grapefruits by the dozen. If you've dieted before and you are starting another diet today, you know the truth. Admit it to yourself. Diets don't work.

Not in the long term anyway. You may lose some weight over a few weeks, or a year if you're on a roll, but the truth is that most people gain some the weight back and then some in 1-5 years. You may stick with it for a while, months even. You lose some weight, but at the same time, you think about food more and more. You want it every second. It's like you have a little food thought balloon following you around all day, flashing images of treats you're denying your poor starving self. Eventually, you snap. You may start innocently enough, maybe a tiny sample of a forbidden favorite. Just a taste, you tell yourself. Next thing you know, the whole package - Oreos, double stuff, 2 lb size… or Peanut Butter M&Ms (drool)… or Fig Newton's. Maybe a juicy burger if you're into that - it's all gone. Inside you. Now you're stuffed, feeling guilty and miserable. You know that soon those treats will set up permanent camp padding your hips, thighs, belly -- wherever you need it least. Worst of all, you still want more.

So don't start.

"But what should I do!?" you wail. You're champing at the bit. You want to get started NOW.

OK, OK. One step at a time. You need an attitude adjustment is all. Change your attitude about food and think thin. If you fail, you get a big F. F in attitude = Fattitude. Get it? FAT-titude. (I know, I know. )

It's really not so hard. If I can go from slightly plump to plain old regular, you can too. Breaking old habits is tough, but creating new one's is easy. (Too easy sometimes.) You just need to go step by step. Here's your first habit. Step 1. Detach from food. This is your assignment: Every time, every meal from now on. (OK, most of the time is good too) leave something on your plate. No clean plate club for you. Eat all the sandwich, except for 1 bite. Leave 1 cookie in the 2 lb pack of Oreo's you're about to scarf down. Eat the cake, but not the frosting, or vice versa. Just leave something there.

And if you like to read and research, I highly recommend a book called "Diet's Don't Work" by Bob Schwartz. Make sure it's the one by Bob Schwartz, not the lady with the long hair. Her book may be good. I don't know. Never read it. Bob Schwartz's book is. It's probably at your local library. Go get it.