Every week I buy a couple of ladies magazines that promise to show me how to lose 97 lbs by (fill in the next holiday here)! Each week the sure-fire way to rid yourself of those unwanted pounds is different. One week you must increase your fiber. The following week you must have protein at every meal. The next week, you should eat 6 mini meals. After that you should avoid all white foods or is it to eat only red foods? Wait, don't forget the celebrity diet of the week and the lose the "belly fat" diet. They start to run together after a while. They must work. I mean they always have proof. Just look at (typical ladies name here). She's lost 83 pounds and her tips can help you do the same thing!

I have a few questions about these diets though. How do you know which one will work for you? Even more importantly, how do you keep from gaining weight while experimenting on the ones that won't work for you?

About 2 years ago I decided that I was gonna do something about this weight even if I had to resort to something really drastic like diet and exercise! I did something I had never done before -- at least not at the same time. I began eating smaller portions of healthy, low-fat foods and this is big, began exercising consistently for the first time in my life.

To get this started, I had gone to Positive Changes, using hypnosis to change my habits. It worked. I did everything I was supposed to do without the dread that I had always felt before. I tried this crazy plan for 5 months. Would you like to know just how much weight I lost? What's your best guess? 10 pounds, 20? Well, I didn't lose any weight at all! That couldn't be right! I was a complete couch potato and I went from no activity at all to consistent moderate exercise. I started out walking 15-20 minutes for the first month. I built up to walking 45 minutes 3-5 days a week. That should have produced some result.

The old saying goes something like "diet and exercise for 2 months and you start to see changes". I would have been satisfied if my clothes had begun to feel looser. Or, if I had gained more energy, that at least would have let me know that I was on the right track. Nope, no energy, no weight lost, no looser clothing. How is that even possible?
Next post: Theories on NOT losing weight