I was amazed at the number of emails that I received last week after I wrote my article about losing 129 pounds.  First, let me thank you for sharing with me.  I have thought a great deal about the pain and hardship being over weight gives.  I know that 50% of the country needs to lose weight, and I think everyone is looking for “the quick how”.  Many people are interested in finding the magic pill that will take it off fast. 

My journey to lose 130 lbs. took me 5 years.  “I wanted it to be shorter.  Many people would say to me.  How many years did it take you to put it on?  Don’t you think it will take a few to take it off? 

That brings me to the main thing I would like to share today.  I worked for over 20 years to get it off and was not successful.  You might ask what happened that finally caused me to take it off.  I was in New York with a friend over Christmas 2005 to celebrate the festive season by going to plays, eating out at fun places, and enjoying walking the streets of New York.  That was all well and good, but I was not a very good participant.  I had to take a cab almost everywhere because my right knee would not support the 320 lbs. that I was carrying.  When I got off the plane in Salt Lake City I said to myself, “That is ENOUGH”.  I must find a way to change my life.  At that moment I made a decision that I wanted to have health more than I wanted to eat all the delicious food that crossed my path everyday.  As my friend Jackie Keller would say,  “If you want to stop dieting forever, you have to stop eating with reckless abandonment and get out and exercise.”

That was the beginning of my journey to where I am today….down 129 lbs.  Without an operation or a magic pill.  As I think about this now, I have decided that losing weight is a skill, like playing the piano or the violin.  If you are heavy, you have not mastered the skills and lessons that will help you put your body where it needs to be to be healthy. 

For many years I went on several diets.  Yes, they worked for as long as I worked them, but the day that I went back to being me and eating with reckless abandon, the weight began to creep back on until most of the time I weighed more than I did before I started.  

When I came home from New York, I called a lady that had given me her card three months before and said, “I can help you lose weight.”  Jackie Keller from Nutrifit began to teach me the skills and lessons that I needed to be successful.  Over the past five years I have learned lesson after lesson from Jackie.  After she shared an idea with me, I would work and work on it until I could master each skill.  Some took much longer than others and some time I had to practice the concept over and over.  Failure could not be an option.  It was my health and my life. 

Here are some of the lessons that Jackie taught me.

Eat healthy foods. 

Here is a guide for what I have put into practice:

Fruits and vegetables:  This breaks out to be two to three fruits and five vegetables per day.  The items that I am cautious about are starchy vegetables like potatoes and avocados.  Now I eat about 1/4 of one avocado per serving rather than a half or a whole. 

Proteins:  I stick with lean meats such as chicken breast, pork loin, lean beef, turkey, and fish.  I measure my protein out and put it in a Ziploc sandwich bag to freeze. 

Breads and pasta:  I eat whole wheat bread and pasta.  Both are very delicious and I enjoy them.  Jackie told me to only eat 2 slices of bread per day. Keep the pasta to one cup cooked for one serving.

Rice:  Use brown rice and eat 1/2 cup per serving.
        
Spread:  I use Smart Blend on bread and add little on my veggies.

Dairy:  Stick with the low fat or no fat products.  I enjoy cottage cheese and yogurt and a little light cheese, such as string cheese.  I enjoy adding Parmigiano Reggiano grated cheese to my veggies to give them more flavor. I buy this from Costco.  I use about 2 Tbsp.  It is 20 calories per 1 Tbsp.

Getting your food intake in line is a big key to the weight loss process.  We must have food to live but we need to learn to only eat what we need to be healthy.  I eat 3 meals per day plus 3 snacks.   I work to eat what are called nutrient dense foods.  The best examples of nutrient dense food are fruits and vegetables.

In the future I will continue to write articles on weight loss.  Please send you questions to contact@dianthomas.com.  I will do my best to include your questions in a column.  If you need more information on eating and nutrition, I would suggest you order Jackie Keller’s book called P.E.P. Manual and Journal  that is available only on her website www.nutrifitonline.com (go to Nutrifit store then go to education products where you will find the book.)  She also coaches people one on one as she has done with me.  Learn more about her coaching at www.jackiekeller.com.   The most important step is to decide that you want to change and begin looking for every idea that will help you and then practice and practice until it becomes a skill just like learning to play and instrument.  Remember, weight loss is mastering many skills, not a diet.  YOU CAN DO IT.  Just get started and be patient and in the words of Churchill, “never, never give up.” 

Dian’s has been sharing creative ideas with people in the media for over 30 years.  To see more of her articles on weight loss, go to her website at www.dianthomas.com.  Then click on” Free Article” and go to the bottom where you will find more articles on weight loss. Remember weight loss is many learned skills, not a diet.