How Did you lose all that weight?

A good friend came in today and asked me how I have lost the 57.5 lbs ( yay!) that I have shed over the last year. Well.....I have blogged on this before, but here it is again, in a nutshell.

1. Stop eating sugar. Period. White, brown, no matter- just stop it.
2. No white flour. Ok, that one is harder, but eliminate as much as possible.
3. No potatoes. I have had a small french fry ONE TIME in the last year. Amazing. You can have a sweet potatoe- it really isn't a potato anyway.
4. No white rice. Brown rice is ok in small quantities.
5. Lots of Fibrous veggies. Corn is NOT a fibrous veggie. Spinach, broccoli, turnip greens - YES!
6. Eat lean meats - mostly chicken and fish. Turkey is ok. Limit Bacon and sausage, but the good news is that you can have it. Steak is good, but just a little.
7. IF you need bread, get the double fiber kind. Use "Carb monitor" tortillas. Same for pasta - I can tolerate the "Dreamfield's Pasta" pretty well.
8. Eat smaller amounts. You do not HAVE to feel BUSTING FULL every time you eat. One egg and a piece of double fiber toast is enough for breakfast. You can eat again in a few hours.
9. Drink a lot of water.
10. Carry a little snack in your purse or backpack. It may keep you from going through the drive through and really doing a bad thing.

Common sense is really all it takes. It sure took me a LONG time to figure it out, so don't feel bad. Just eat the right things, in smaller quantities and increase your activity level and you will begin to lose. Also, you just have to accept the fact that life won't be the same again and that "diet" food does not taste the same ( read this as "as good as") as "bad for you" foods. Some things we just have to do. You honestly won't miss the white foods and sweet stuff so much as time goes on.

If you are having a powerful craving for something sweet, make yourself my sugar-free pumpkin pie and put a BUNCH of whipper cream on it. It helps. Good luck, Bev!