4

TAKE IT OFF. TAKE IT ALL OFF


 

Within ONE WEEK of making these changes, you will

image Lose at least 2 pounds.

image Have a sense of how easy it is to incorporate weight-management diet tricks into your lifestyle.

In SIX MONTHS, you will

image Have lost up to 50 pounds.

image Feel more confident.

image Need to purchase new, smaller-sized clothes.

image Have lowered your risk for all age-related diseases, from heart disease to sexual dysfunction.

In 20 YEARS, you will

image Have maintained the weight loss.

image Enjoy a vibrant life and an active sex life.

image Have increased your chances of outliving and outremembering your overweight friends.


 

Sexy comes in all shapes and sizes. Tanya felt sexiest, most confident, vibrant and sultry when she was skinny. Lana felt her best when she was a bit curvy and plump. Jim feels best when he works out at the gym every day and likes his lovers with abs of steel, but Tom prefers a soft tummy and ample hips, and his wife likes her man with a little extra padding around the middle. Whatever size and shape make you feel most comfortable and at ease in your own skin, that’s the figure for you.

 

But let’s get real here. Almost 7 out of 10 of us are too heavy; 1 in 3 is downright obese. If a shape isn’t good for your mood, mind, heart or health, then it won’t be sexy, either. Period. Your sexy self is your healthy self.

The goal is to get honest—brutally honest—about what you look like. That means accepting the imperfections that make you unique, but also identifying what needs changing and how fast.

Stop It. You’re Killin’ Me

Fat isn’t sexy if it’s killing you. Being overweight increases your chances of developing breast cancer, prostate cancer, endometrial cancer, lung cancer and just about every other cancer. It radically ups your risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, asthma, sleep apnea, arthritis, gallbladder disease, menstrual problems and gout. Fat deposited around the middle is especially harmful, since it is biologically active, secreting inflammatory chemicals, dumping fat fragments into the blood and altering insulin levels, all of which make you sick and shorten your life.

There’s a catch-22 issue to mood and figure, too. Being overweight increases the risk of depression, sleep disorders and fatigue, which causes overeating and more weight gain, which further depresses your mood. Studies show that anger and hostility escalate as a person’s waistline expands, while self-esteem plummets. All that cranky is just one more reason why overweight people are much less likely to date than their fitter, leaner friends.

Weight gain hijacks life. Lugging around an extra 20, 40 or 200 pounds is exhausting, which leaves less energy to fully engage in living. The constant internal dialogue surrounding weight crowds out positive thoughts of planning the next adventure, remodel, class or shopping spree. It taints everything by painting it with a cloud of anxiety. How many minutes, hours, days, years, decades have people wasted thinking about their weight!? All that talk and no action makes Jane a very dull girl! Besides, would you want your tombstone to read: Dedicated my life to worrying about body fat?

Weight wreaks havoc with a person’s sex life. Excess body fat acts as an endocrine gland pumping out the hormone estrogen, which increases breast cancer risk and lowers sex drive. In men, excess fat boosts the secretion of an enzyme called aromatase that converts testosterone into estradiol, a form of estrogen. This increases prostate cancer risk and lowers testosterone levels, leaving a man feeling tired, flabby and less interested in sex. It also reduces sperm count, gives him “man boobs,” and leads to erectile dysfunction (ED). In fact, overweight men have up to a 90% greater risk for ED than do lean or fit men. Even the medications to treat obesity-related diseases, such as beta blockers or diabetes meds, increase weight gain in men and women and ED in men.

Every single one of these physical, emotional and sexual problems vanishes with weight loss.

What is Your Happy Weight?

Seven out of 10 people reading this sentence are overweight. Are you one of them? Do you know if you are?

Americans are in serious denial about their expanding waistlines. Being fat has become normal, so many people don’t even realize they are overweight. In a Harris survey, people gave their heights and weights, which then were calculated to obtain body mass index (BMI) scores. A third of those in the overweight category thought they were normal size, while 70% of those classified as obese thought they were simply overweight. Interestingly, about half of obese people didn’t think they were eating the wrong foods and only 27% of morbidly obese people said they ate more than they should. Are you kidding me?!!

Your happy weight should be your healthy weight, which is:

OVERWEIGHT/OBESE CUTOFF POINTS

Body mass index, or BMI, is a measure of weight in relation to height. To calculate your BMI, multiply your weight in pounds and divide that by the square of your height in inches.

image

Fruit From the Garden of Good and Evil

Body shape tells a lot about a person’s health. Apple-shaped people carry most of their weight in the chest and abdomen, while pear-shaped people store fat below the belt and remain relatively slender in their upper bodies. A man with a waist of 40 inches and a woman with a waist of 35 inches or greater is likely to be an Apple.

Apples are more likely to develop heart disease, diabetes, depression, dementia, high blood pressure, erectile dysfunction, low sex drive and gallbladder disease; their diseases progress faster and more seriously; and they are more apt to die prematurely from disease than are Pears, even when the two have similar body weights and body fat percentages. In addition, blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels are high in Apples, while good cholesterol—HDL cholesterol—is low. Apples are 15 times more likely to develop endometrial cancer and are at higher risk for breast cancer than are pear-shaped women. The health risks apply to both slim and plump Apples.

The type of abdominal fat associated with health risks is called visceral fat, the firm fat that surrounds internal organs. Subcutaneous fat that lies close to the skin is not the culprit. So a firm, big belly is more indicative of health problems, while an inch of pinchable fat around the middle might force you to loosen your belt, but it probably won’t hurt your health.

Why should middle fat affect health differently than hip fat? Fat above the waist is more saturated (firmer) than fat below the waist. It also is more metabolically active. It releases its fat into the blood, and interferes with blood sugar and fat regulation. Upper body fat also increases estrogen and lowers testosterone levels, which elevate the risk for cancer and lowers sex drive.

The good news is that visceral fat is the easiest to lose. Drop 10% of your body weight and you reduce abdominal fat by up to 30%. You’ll also feel sexier and reduce your risk for most diseases. Teresa, an investment banker in Denver, had failed at a dozen different diets. “I had this all-or-nothing attitude about my weight. When I couldn’t get to my ideal, I threw in the towel. I finally decided to give myself a little wiggle room and settle on a weight that was easier to maintain. I found I was not only happier, but hotter. Well, at least that’s what my husband says!”

Don’t get me wrong—obesity is still a health risk, regardless of body shape. It’s just that the health danger escalates when that fat is packed around the middle.

Diets are for Super Dummies

The #1 stupidest weight-loss habit (other than taking up smoking…but that is over-the-top stupid) is to jump on a fad diet bandwagon. Diets don’t work. In case you didn’t hear me, let me say it again: FAD DIETS DEFINITELY DO NOT—UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE—WORK.

I’ve been in the nutrition field for almost 30 years. I’ve seen hundreds of diets come and go. A few get recycled every decade or so. Never has one of them worked. The more they promise and the faster the weight loss, the more of a joke they are. Americans are fatter today than they were in the 1970s. That’s because DIETS DON’T WORK!!!

You want to lose the weight, and for good. Yo-yo dieting leads to a metabolic slowdown. Repeated bouts of weight loss and gain increase abdominal fat, even when body weight remains the same. Fat is less metabolically active than muscle, so metabolism slows and it becomes increasingly more difficult to lose the unwanted pounds. Take Lily, for an example, who dropped from 145 pounds to 125 pounds and lost 15 pounds of fat and 5 pounds of muscle. When she regained the weight, she gained 18 pounds of fat and only 2 pounds of muscle. She was fatter as a result of dieting and gained more fat above the waist, even though her weight remained constant.

To maintain a desirable figure takes a lifelong plan, not a “get in, drop a few pounds, and get out” diet. The fact that overweight people average more than four dieting attempts every year attests to the fact that many people choose the quick fix, not the solution. To feel comfortable in your skin and attain and maintain the best sexy shape for you means making changes that last a lifetime.

Take it off for Good

“The big difference between those who keep the weight off and those who don’t is that successes stop drawing a line between dieting and their normal lives.”

Like the multitudes of weight-loss successes, you can lose weight for good. The National Weight Control Registry (NWCR)—an ongoing project conducted by Brown University and the University of Colorado—is brimming with success stories from people who have maintained a 60-pounds-or-more weight loss for at least five years. The registry and lots of other studies show that successful dieters are no different than you and me. Like most dieters, they spent years at the win-lose weight game before they finally were successful. Many were overweight as children, have one or more overweight parents or have gained weight gradually over time or after pregnancy. Why do they succeed when the rest fail? The answer is simple: They prepare themselves for the after-the-diet phase, while the diet duds don’t.

Following the S-Ex-Y Diet guidelines is the best way to lose weight, and eases the transition to permanent weight loss. But, first, it takes commitment. You have to really want to change. Not because your 20-year high school reunion is coming up or your lover says you should, but because you really want to be confident, sexy, in charge or your body and your life. You really want to be vibrant.

The big difference between those who keep the weight off and those who don’t is that successes stop drawing a line between dieting and their normal lives. They are committed to revising their lives for good, adopting weight-loss strategies based on the S-Ex-Y Diet that become permanent habits.

The 12 Super-Sexy, Foolproof Tricks
for Permanent Weight Loss

When it comes to dieting, food isn’t the issue—it’s only the symptom of a deeper need. Food stops serving the role of nurturer, companion or entertainment when people learn to nurture themselves and set realistic limits. As a result, their lives work better and they no longer need to overeat. It is not just a matter of eating less. If you’re serious about reaching and sustaining a realistic weight, then Commitment becomes your middle name.

Donna, a legal secretary in Chicago, had a history of repeated failed dieting attempts. What made the difference the last time was her commitment to change, including decisions to permanently change the way she ate and thought, how much she moved and how well she organized her life, problem-solved and strategized. “I had to take a hard look at the role food played in my life. When I did that, I found I was using food to calm myself down and soothe my anger. I chose to use exercise to do that instead and I’ve lost 35 pounds and have kept it off for the past seven years!”

The tried-and-true, foolproof skills to lose weight and keep it off can be summarized in the 12-Step S-Ex-Y Weight Loss Plan that follows.

Foolproof Trick #1: Be a Planner

There’s a saying that “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” Nowhere does that apply more than with permanent weight loss. Amber, a stay-at-home mom in New Orleans, has maintained a 25-pound weight loss for six years. She started her plan by setting realistic expectations and limits on herself. “I asked myself, ‘Is this reasonable for me at this time in my life?’ When the answer to that question was a firm ‘yes,’ then I started to change my eating and exercise habits.”

Like Amber, you’ll need to plan your meals, your daily exercise and how you will handle personal high-risk situations from stress, parties and travel to eating in restaurants and boredom. Anticipate problems and go into battle well-armed with a plan. Even have a plan for when you slip up. Leave little to chance. Watch your weight, self-monitor your eating and exercise habits, and have backup plans for how you’ll handle problem situations. “What really helped me was putting aside the idea of dramatic weight loss. Instead, I set a goal to lose about 2 pounds a week, which gave me some wiggle room,” says Amber.

Foolproof Trick #2: Stay Alert

Monitor your progress. All those I know who lost weight for good have kept a food journal in which they recorded what, how much, when and where they ate, as well as hunger level and mood before and after the meal. This fosters self-awareness, keeps you focused on your goals, provides invaluable feedback and is a critical step in designing strategies.

Pay attention to your needs. Check your feelings frequently throughout the day by asking yourself, “How do I feel?” and “What do I need?” Keep close track of your daily exercise and weight. Jot down how much time is spent sitting or lying down to help motivate yourself to exercise. Place a mirror in the dining room. People eat less when they can see themselves eating!

Be honest, specific and complete in your record keeping. (Diet successes are consistently more accurate about portion size than are diet failures.) Record information at mealtime, since memory is highly inaccurate. Return to record keeping at the first sign of weight gain.

WHAT'S A KISS WORTH?

Sex burns calories. The longer and wilder the romp, the more calories burned.

ACTION

CALORIES

Masturbation

100–150

Tickling

17

Swooning

6

Kissing (1 hour)

120–325

Unclasping bra with hands

8

one-handed

18

with mouth

87

Foreplay

30–400

Intercourse

50–100 *

Orgasm

60–100

Foolproof Trick #3:
Shake It Baby, Shake It

The most important predictor of whether or not you will succeed at permanent weight loss is how much you exercise. While some studies recommend burning at least 1,500 calories a week exercising, the NWCR found that successful losers burn almost twice that, or about 2,800 calories, which is the equivalent of walking 4 miles or taking 10,000 steps every day. Granted, they probably didn’t start out at that level of exercise, but they gradually increased their activity so that by the time they were seasoned maintainers, they were very active.

While most maintainers buy a pedometer and walk for exercise or combine activities, such as aerobics or swimming, how you burn the calories doesn’t seem to matter. Even taking the stairs or using a push lawn mower counts toward your daily quota.

Foolproof Trick #4: Follow the S-Ex-Y Diet Guidelines

image You will be most successful at weight loss if you follow the S-Ex-Y Diet guidelines, which means lots of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts and other authentic food. Also watch calories and fat intake. Once you’ve lost the weight, you can be just a little freer with your choices.

How free can you be? First, lose the weight with a calorie quota of about 10 calories for every pound of desired body weight. If you want to weigh 135 pounds, that would mean 1,350 calories for basic living. Add an additional 5 calories/pound on the days you exercise for at least 45 minutes (for a total of 2,025 calories). Once you’ve lost the weight, add 100 calories each week to your daily weight-loss plan until your weight stabilizes.

SPICE UP YOUR LOVE LIFE

Some yummy spices and herbs also could help with weight loss, reduce hunger, improve mood or boost brainpower.

  • Red pepper: In one study, women who added 2 teaspoons of dried red pepper to their daily diet consumed fewer calories during meals, which helped them drop pounds.
  • Capsaicin: The heat in chili peppers releases feel-good brain chemicals called endorphins, and burns up to 50 calories a day, the equivalent of a half-pound loss each month.
  • Rosemary: The antioxidants in this herb protect delicate tissues throughout the body, from brain to sex organs.
  • Turmeric: This spice reduces inflammation, helps muscles repair themselves, protects the brain from aging, breaks up abnormal proteins that cause plaque associated with Alzheimer’s and improves heart health.
  • Saffron: A dose twice a day might be as good as Prozac in lowering depression rates. Add to rice while cooking.
  • Cinnamon: Speeds the rate at which the brain processes visual cues, helps regulate blood sugar and helps you stay focused.
  • Garlic: Helps brain cells fend off cancer.

Foolproof Trick #5: Sip Sparingly

It is easy to drink away your waistline. Liquid calories don’t fill us up, so they are calories added to a day’s worth of eating, rather than substitutes for other calories. The typical American averages 54 gallons of soft drinks a year. That’s 86,400 empty calories, or the equivalent of 25 pounds of body fat. The link between soda and weight gain is so strong that literally every ounce consumed in a week ups your risk for being overweight.

With alcohol, the calories add up even faster. Sip a Long Island iced tea and you’ve downed the calorie equivalent of a platter of French fried onion rings. Have two apple martinis and a glass of wine at Happy Hour and you gulped the calories in two Quarter Pounders! And, watch out for serving size. A pint-sized margarita is four servings and close to 800 calories. Besides, alcohol dissolves your resolve; one glass of wine and you’re likely to throw the diet out the window and order the Buffalo wings.

Foolproof Trick #6: Be Serving Savvy

image Almost everyone seriously underestimates what they eat, guessing they eat about 800 calories less than they actually do each day. (Over the course of a month, that is the fat equivalent of almost 7 pounds.) The heavier people are, the more they fudge the numbers. We overestimate our daily exercise and fruits/vegetables intake (no, the three blueberries in a muffin is NOT a serving!), but seriously underestimate how much refined grains and meat we eat. That’s why S-Ex-Y Diet Guideline #5—Remember that size matters—is critical if you want to lose the extra pounds forever.

Some dishonesty is intentional, but much of it is just a simple matter of not knowing portions. For a week, get out the food scale, the measuring cups and spoons, and do your homework. A serving of

  • Meat/chicken/fish is 3 ounces, or the size of a deck of cards.
  • Cooked whole grains (rice, oatmeal, pasta) is ½ cup, or the size of a small fist.
  • Fruit or vegetables is 1 cup raw, ½ cup cooked or canned, 6 ounces juice.
  • Nuts is 1 ounce or 2 tablespoons nut butter, or the size of a 9-volt battery.
  • Milk or yogurt is 1 cup, or the size of a baseball.
  • Oil/butter is 1 teaspoon, or the size of a postage stamp.

Foolproof Trick #7: Seek Possibilities, Not Problems

People who succeed at weight loss are confronted with the same high-risk situations as their diet-challenged cohorts. The difference is that diet failures fall victim to the situation, while diet successes control these situations by creative problem solving. For example, the #1 predictor of relapse is emotional issues, such as stress. Sara, an assistant professor at a major university in the Midwest was a stress eater. She solved her problem and lost 15 pounds by mapping out her trouble-prone situations and coming up with effective solutions. “Now I plan my life, rather than letting it happen to me. I call ahead to ask if a restaurant serves low-fat foods, I bring fruit platters to parties and I pack my own lunches so I’m not tempted by the doughnuts at work.”

From your diet records, you’ll identify high-risk situations. Write them down and develop plans for handling these situations. Revise those plans as needed.

SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY

Are you eating because you are truly hungry or is food a replacement for something else? The more “yes” answers you give to the following questions, the more likely it is that you are bedfellows with food, and that’s the wrong lover!

1. Do you eat with a frenzy when under stress?

2. Do you constantly think about food and/or dieting?

3. Do you eat when you’re bored, tired, lonely, depressed, anxious, scared or excited?

4. Do you eat to relax, as a reward or treat, or to calm down?

5. Does extra body weight give you a sense of self-protection?

6. Do you try to ignore hunger, but then feel deprived?

7. Are you driven by a desire to be “fit” or “thin” and believe that thinness is synonymous with success, beauty or personal power?

8. Do you overeat in secret or when you are alone?

9. Do you feel that physical hunger is more an enemy than a friend?

10. Do you eat unconsciously, that is, in front of the TV, while reading a book or magazine, or when preparing dinner?

Foolproof Trick #8: Get Selfish

Toss the “Good Girl”/“Nice Guy” syndrome. When you put others’ needs before your own—like cooking what they prefer or trading exercise time to complete a project at work—you shove weight-management efforts to the back burner.

Instead, develop a healthy self-centeredness. Learn to identify how you feel and what you need, and you no longer will turn to food to feel emotionally satisfied. Call a friend if you are lonely, cry if you’re sad, but eat only when you are physically hungry. This means taking care of, even pampering, yourself every day, including making daily exercise a #1 priority.

Foolproof Trick #9: Think Positive

What’s on your mind is just as important as what’s on your plate. Listen to your self-talk—those thoughts that repeat over and over again like a mantra. Allow only positive self-talk that will encourage and support your efforts. Replace negative internal messages (“I can’t do this,” “I’m no good”) with positive supportive ones (“I’m making progress” or “I can do anything I set my mind to do!”). Have a firm conviction that you will succeed. Think of yourself as a person who takes control and is successful. That will improve your sex quotient, while boosting your weight-loss efforts.

Foolproof Trick #10: Put Together a Team

It’s tough to stay on the diet track when everyone is eating chips and dip. You must convert sabotage into support to sustain your efforts through the tough times and to provide valuable feedback. Wherever possible, surround yourself with supportive family members and friends, or regularly attend a support group. Include loved ones in your new eating and exercise plans. Seek out successful role models, emulate them and ask them how they made healthy choices, started and stayed with exercise or boosted their self-esteem. Encouraging support takes two skills: asking for it and modeling it. Use assertive (not aggressive or passive) communication skills to ask specifically for the support you need from friends and family.

Foolproof Trick #11: Cut Yourself Some Slack

Give yourself permission to be imperfect. That means possibly settling for a heavier weight than you would like, but one that allows you a life, not a starvation routine. Keep in mind that slips are normal and expected. The trick is not to let one day of missed exercise or an ice cream splurge undo your efforts. If you find yourself off track, pick up the pieces and start over again at the next meal or the next day.

Develop an early-warning plan to prevent slips from progressing to relapse. Reinstate record keeping, cut portions or exercise 10 extra minutes a day when your weight moves out of a 3-to 5-pound buffer zone. Remember: There are no mistakes, only feedback.

Foolproof Trick #12: Give Yourself Presents

“Reach your goal by rewarding yourself every step of the way.”

What will keep you motivated to stick with both a weight-loss plan and a weight-management life? What will sustain your determination? What are the benefits to finally saying “So long” to the diet roller coaster? Rewards and reinforcements, that’s what. Jim, a bank teller in Columbia, South Carolina, found that when he rewarded himself, he was much more motivated to stay on track. “I created an ongoing list of nonfood bonuses for meeting my exercise and weight-loss goals. I was amazed how important those rewards became,” he says. Those rewards might be clothing, a movie, quarters in a jar for every day you exercise (use the money to buy yourself new exercise equipment), a manicure or planting flowers.

In short, use the “if…then” rule. If you reach your goal, then, and only then, do you get the bonus. Reach your goal by rewarding yourself every step of the way.

20 WAYS TO LOSE THE BLUBBER

1. Make exercise fun. Listen to books on tape, walk the dog, read a book on the Exercycle, vary your workouts with the season.

2. Chew on this. Eat two fruits and/or vegetables at every meal and one at every snack, and eat them first. You’ll meet the 9-a-day quota, feel full and automatically cut back on calories.

3. Take a hike, every hour. Set the watch alarm on the hour and take a five-minute brisk walk around the office. Over the course of an eight-hour shift, you’ll accrue 40 minutes of exercise. Stop using the kids as go-getters and throw out the remote, too!

4. Brush your teeth after a meal. This signals that you’re finished eating and curbs cravings for dessert. Also, keep in mind: A craving is only a suggestion, it is not a command!

5. Skip the boob tube. Hours of television watching are directly proportional to weight gain. Go for an after-dinner walk, ride the exercise bike, do laundry or paint the living room instead. In fact, men who watch even 10 hours a week are twice as likely to develop erectile dysfunction compared to men who watch less, and 20% more likely than overweight men who don’t watch TV.

6. Eat with chopsticks. You will eat slower and not shovel.

7. Eat slowly. This allows you to digest the food and gives the stomach time to tell the brain it’s full.

8. Drink first. We often confuse thirst with hunger, diving for the ice cream when it’s water our bodies need. Drink a glass of water and wait 15 minutes before giving in to a craving. You may find the hunger subsides.

9. Challenge yourself. If you’re comfortable walking at a moderate pace, go up a short hill during your next walk or pick up the pace.

10. Be a lark. Exercise in the morning so you don’t spend the rest of the day finding excuses why you can’t exercise.

11. Be an expert. Learn to read labels and purchase mostly foods that contain no more than 3 grams of fat for every 100 calories (or approximately 30% fat calories).

12. Doggie-bag it. Most American restaurant servings are platters, not portions. Put half the serving in a doggie bag for tomorrow’s lunch.

13. Skip the fat-free/net-carb desserts. Ounce for ounce, most fat-free desserts are just as calorie-dense as the higher-fat versions. Even if they are low-calorie, you aren’t doing yourself any favors by eating the whole box. Stick to the serving size on the label.

14. Eat less. Cut your typical portions of everything except vegetables and fruit by one-quarter.

15. Eat a salad or drink a glass of V8 juice before a meal. You’ll consume fewer calories.

16. Flavor up. Add herbs and spices, not oils and butter, to recipes.

17. Calories count. The 100 calories in a tablespoon of mayo on a sandwich equals 10 ½ pounds of excess body fat over one year.

18. Eat soy. A study from the University of Alabama found it reduces belly fat and aids in weight loss.

19. Get enough sleep. You’re more likely to overeat and choose all the wrong foods (candy, chocolate, sugar and caffeine) when you’re tired.

20. Purchase a pedometer. This small device is a great incentive to boost the number of steps you take every day.

Face the Battle of the Bite

Here is how to tweak the S-Ex-Y Diet to be healthier, happier and sexier:

image Lose weight gradually. You want an eating plan you can live with for life and that will allow a gradual weight loss of 1 to 2 pounds a week. Strive for no less than 1,300 calories if you are short or relatively inactive (add an additional 500 calories if you are tall and/or active). You should increase exercise, not cut calories further, if you can’t lose weight on this low-calorie plan. Also, you want to cut calories, not vitamins and minerals. That means making every bite count. Don’t waste precious calories on foods high in sugar, refined grains and fat, and low in nutrients. Hey, would you pay to breathe in carbon monoxide? Of course not. Well, don’t pay to eat junk!

“When is as important as what you eat.”

image image Focus on plants. Most antioxidant-rich foods in the S-Ex-Y Diet—from fruits, vegetables and whole grains to nuts and legumes—are low in calories and high in fiber, which fill you up. Load the plate and base your snacks on these. Complement those foods with moderate amounts of calcium-rich foods (nonfat milk) and iron-rich foods (extra-lean meats, chicken or fish). Take a moderate-dose, well-balanced vitamin and mineral supplement to fill in any nutrient gaps.

image image Eat frequently. When is as important as what you eat. Large, infrequent meals might set up a feast-or-famine scenario whereby the body stores more calories as fat as a safeguard against what it perceives as a famine. By contrast, dividing the same amount of calories into five or more little meals and snacks encourages the body to “burn” the food for immediate energy rather than store it in the hips and thighs.

image Commit to health. The ultimate goal is not just a certain figure or a number on the scale, it is a lifelong promise to yourself to strive to be your sexiest and healthiest. It is a lifetime commitment, not just to lose weight and keep it off, but to modify habits so they support health and, ultimately, maintain the best and sexiest weight for you.

Lose It, Lover

You can drop the extra pounds. I have no doubt. But you won’t do it until you make the commitment. Then it’s a matter of cutting back on junk food and moving your body the way it was designed to move. The more junk you cut and the more you move, the more weight you will lose. It’s as simple as that.