My Challenges
I have tried many, many diets over my 40-plus years. I have done the yo-yo thing, up two pounds, down three pounds, back up one and so on. A vicious cycle, indeed. I am like a human calculator and count off calories in my head now without writing anything on paper. Dieting is hard work especially as you get up there in years. The pounds do not just roll off as easily as they did when you were in your twenties. Your metabolism slows down more and more. I have lost a substantial amount of weight over the past three years, losing the most weight in the first six months of dieting. After the first six months of dieting things did tend to slow down and it became more of a challenge to lose even one pound. Each lost pound now is something to be rejoiced over. I find that the closer I move toward my goal the more difficult it becomes.
My Solution
One thing that I found that works for me, especially in getting past the plateaus is lettuce. I discovered that if I eat lettuce every day and count my calories I will lose weight. This, combined with exercise 3 or 4 days a week, seems to work like a charm. Lettuce is my fat buster.
Lettuce not only has very few, if any, calories, but it is good for you too. The darker the lettuce leaf, the more nutrients are involved. I try to eat a salad a day complete with the extras and go easy on my other food intake or enjoy a little more hearty food and just eat plain lettuce without all the trimmings. You do have to be careful not to pile too many high calorie foods on top of your salad, such as meats, because the calories do add up and now you have more than lettuce, you have a meal.
Different things work for different people, but for me it is lettuce. I encourage everyone to try eating a fair amount of lettuce every day for weight loss. Remember though, this will only work if you go easy on your other calorie intake as well and get some exercise into your weight loss plan.