A Simple Diet For Losing Weight and Living a Heathly Lifestyle

By Carlon Haas | August 21, 2007

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‘Tis the season for diet books. A WHOLE bunch of them. I must admit. I feel overwhelmed by the diet industry in general. Form books to pills, it boggles the mind.

But the truth is I understand where a lot of it is coming from. Many people are desperate to lose weight. And most of us want to look good because we want to feel better about ourselves.

I myself am not immune to this. At one point in my life, I gained 25 pounds in a few months after quitting smoking. And for a good year, I was not able to do anything about it. It made me feel bad about myself and hurt my ability to develop.

But I accidentally stumbled upon a very easy diet. And when I say stumbled upon it, I mean it literally. I came up with it after falling down chasing my (at the time) 6-month-old baby. And it’s so easy that you can stick to it with minimal willpower.

With this diet I lost the 25 pounds before my body said “NO more”. And I have more or less maintained the weight (for full disclosure, I have gone on more strict diets in accordance with my workout schedule for building muscle…but this diet is not for building muscle). So, how did I do it?

Well, before I go into it, some disclaimers:

l I am not a nutritionist nor do I claim to be one.

l This diet is meant for people with weight issues and is not a medical diet.

The Possess Less Excess Diet

There are three steps to this diet—the third step being the most important.

Step 1: Use common sense when eating

I have no time to count calories most of the time. But I know that if I eat McDonalds every day I am going to gain weight. So, use common sense when eating. Don’t eat too many fatty foods. Cut down on sweets. Just your basic stuff. Remember the diet is meant to be simple. But you can’t eat fast food all day. You have to eat sensibly. In my case, I stopped drinking cola every single day and stopped eating candy every time I went to the grocery store. Also, I only ate fast food occasionally (but I didn’t eliminate it).

Step 2: Exercise

What? Exercise? I thought the point of all those diets is that I don’t have to exercise. Well, that is the point of most diets. I mean if you lose weight and keep it off, then you wouldn’t need to diet, right?

You need to exercise. I don’t mean you have to go to a gym. Nowadays I go to the gym 5 days a week. But when I did this diet, the only exercise I got was from chasing around a crawling baby all day and basic housework. But it was exercise nonetheless. I think any mother can attest to the fact that chasing around your crawling baby can drain you completely.

But the more exercise you can do, the better. I can’t give you a complete training system, but try a mixture of weight training and cardio-vascular exercise. It is more difficult to lose weight just by running. Doing even light weight training can help you lose weight.

Step 3: Eat until you get full—no more

This is the key to the whole diet. Eat until you feel full—no more. You will find out how little you really do eat. If you’re at a restaurant and you have a big plate, don’t be afraid to leave food on the plate.

I once went to a Mexican restaurant and ate a bunch of chips only to realize that I could eat very little once my plate came. I didn’t do that again!

So, you can eat what you want, but do not force yourself to eat more than you can.

That’s it. The key for me losing weight was eating until I got full. This alone can help you significantly lose weight. Add in common-sense eating habits and some exercise, and you are well on your way.

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