Lesson 1: Diets Don’t Work

I know you’ve probably heard that line before, but it’s true and let me tell you why. Restricting the type of foods you heat, relying on shakes, relying on prepackaged food, and any other type of diet in which the thinking is done for you, just don’t work.

You’ve got to learn and do some thinking in order to live healthy, and a healthy lifestyle includes all types of foods including fast food, with of course the disclaimer that fast foods should be in moderation. If you’re restricting your intake, you’re going to feel deprived. If you rely on prepackaged food, you’ll never be able to maintain your weight once you need to start cooking on your own (and trust me, you’ll need to cook for yourself eventually since those packaged meals aren’t palatable forever). Whatever method you use for losing the weight is what you'll have to do for the rest of your life to maintain it. You can't live on packaged foods, pills, or shakes for the rest of your life just to maintain your weight... that's not even living!

So, the bottom line is this: You have to learn about food, keep track of what you’re putting in your mouth, and stay away from all diets!