I dislike the word “diet” because it sounds like deprivation to me. Food is one of God’s greatest gifts and is meant to be enjoyed. Food is the basic reward for many people. So begin noticing when you are eating emotionally and drink more water before the food.

When you are feeling emotional, you need to drink as much water or other liquids as you can to delay the eating. If you aren’t hungry anymore which is what will happen, give yourself permission to eat the food later when you are hungry.

I quit smoking 15 years ago by never saying I couldn’t have a cigarette. Instead I learned to delay the decision to smoke or not until a later time. By delaying smoking, I generally forgot to smoke. After the time of not smoking grows, returning to smoking never seemed like a good idea when I was rational and not emotional.

Measurement will be today’s focus for how I lost weight. Measuring your food every time that you eat will be a huge key to your losing weight and keeping it off. When I don’t measure for a few days, I get on the scale to see if I’ve gained weight. If I have, I return to my modified fast.

My modified fast is drinking liquids for as long as I can before I begin eating solids for that day. Remember to always have an assortment of liquids available with no calories. The choices are: (1) water with Real Lemon added will be the liquid that helps you the most-make the water with more or less lemon depending on your taste, (2) always have flavored waters with no calories in your refrigerator, (3) no calorie sodas for when all else fails, and (4) I keep a 2 quart pitcher half frozen from the night before so that regular, cold water can be a choice.

Water is one of your best friends in weight management. Your second best friend is the cup measurements that you have available. Use these equivalents for measure: 1 pound=16 ounces, 1 ounce=28.35 grams, 3 teaspoons=1 tablespoon, 4 tablespoons=1/4 cup, 8 tablespoons=1/2 cup, 16 tablespoons=1 cup, 1 cup=1/2 pint, 4 cups=quart, 1 pound=500 grams, and ¼ pound=125 grams.

For food and/or calories, we use the following sites:

Calories expended during exercise:

http://www.calorie-counter.net/calories-burned-by-exercise.htm

Nutritional value:

http://whatscookingamerica.net/NutritionalChart.htm

Food charts:

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/FoodLabels.htm