When I was younger I was very thin. Of course that probably had a lot to do with the fact that I walked everywhere I went and my family often didn’t have food to put on the table. What we did have, went to my little sisters and rightfully so.
While 115 pounds sounds good on paper. It didn’t look very good on my 5’8″ frame. That was especially true because my body is very curvy in nature.
I managed to keep my weight in control even after two children so I was dumb enough to think I didn’t have anything to worry about. But when menopause hit full force, I found that anything I ate – – healthy or otherwise – – headed straight for my hips.
Consequently, about ten years ago I decided enough was enough. I had been watching Suzanne Somers talk about her eating plan called “Somersize” for months on Home Shopping Network.
It sounded reasonable, only asking that you give up a small number of things like sugar, white flour, and nuts. You could, however, use whole wheat or multigrain flour products as a substitute for white flour.
I purchased her book “Eat, Cheat, and Melt Fat Away” and went to work on Somersizing myself back to a healthy weight. Of course I did not rely on diet alone. I decided to couple it with a 45-minute Richard Simmons work out routine at lease three times a week.
It was nice that Suzanne shared some of her own gourmet cooking recipes in the book. Few people know that she was on her way to become a chef just before “Three’s Company” came calling and made her a star.
The plan was simple. Eat carbohydrates and vegetables together without protein or eat protein and vegetables together without carbs. She worked with various doctors to develop the plan based on the way the human body metabolizes food.
A list of traditional proteins and carbohydrates were listed in her book along with what she called “funky foods” that didn’t traditionally fall into either category. That way it was easily figure what went where.
She also provided two separate eating plans. There was one for those losing weight and one for those who had reached their goal and wanted simply to maintain it.
She insisted that everyone eat no fewer than three meals a day and suggested that any carbohydrate choices be consumed earlier in the day. However, there were no restrictions on how much food should be consumed. The trick was to stop eating once you felt full.
The plan was easy to follow and her recipes left absolutely nothing to chance. I actually found myself eating more food than ever, just in a different way.
The only thing I hated was not being able to consume sugar. But she covered that by producing her own artificial sweetener from the Stevia plant. It is the same as the newest diet sugar on the market called Truvia.
It took no time at all – – less than two weeks – – to see the changes in my figure. The pounds melted away quickly.
I started the plan in October and managed to lose 60 pounds by Christmas. The other 15 pounds came a little slower but they too melted away by Valentine’s Day of the following year.
My business partners, volunteers, and the university staff all worried I would take it too far. But once I reached the goal I wanted I switched to the maintenance plan and kept the weight off for years.
It was delightful to look in the mirror and see a woman that didn’t look like she was 49. Of course getting to purchase new clothes was also a benefit. I had lost several dress sizes. However, the real pay off was that I felt better and had more energy.
I know that Suzanne has taken a lot of hits recently because she is a proponent of bio-identical hormones rather than the artificial ones with which most of us are familiar. I cannot speak to that matter other than to say I read her book and she talked to a lot of physicians before she ever put pen to paper.
I have to say that no other diet plan I had tried previously worked for me. This one did for one reason and one reason alone. It didn’t take away every food I love. It simply taught me how to eat what I normally eat in a way that help my body metabolize it efficiently.
I highly recommend this eating plan. Notice I said “eating plan”, not diet. That’s because it isn’t really a diet in the most traditional sense of the word. You won’t feel deprived and you’ll discover the real you underneath all that excess fat. I did and I am grateful.
