Originally Posted by madamekelly

I tried so many diets over the years, that I finally gave up when my weight reached 504 lbs. (yes, you read that right 504 lbs!) I decided to make one last effort and if it did not help, I would just resign myself to being fat. I made an appointment with a nutritionist in 2008. She was a wonderful, caring lady, whose first question was "What stops you from being able to follow a diet?" I had never asked myself that question. As she and I talked, she was able to tell me that my first problem seemed to be remembering all the "rules" attached to each diet. Her suggestion has been a miracle weight loss 'diet' for me so I will pass it along in case it will help one of you.
Her instruction was so simple, I have lost over two hundred pounds using it. She said "Never eat anything if you can't tell what it was, when it grew." That was so easy to follow no matter who was doing the cooking. An example would be you know a carrot was a carrot when it grew, but what does a bread plant look like? Flour does not grow already ground, so none of that. (No, you can't pretend it is breadfruit!) For those of us who have memory problems this is the easiest diet ever. The best thing she taught me was that a serving of anything is never bigger than your palm. The whole idea is so simple and I have my measuring unit attached to my hand, so nothing to forget! I eat meat, veggies, and fruit. I have also discovered that a lot of the things that were toxic to my health were things I did from habit not from taste. (Frying foods, sauces, gravy, whipped cream, etc.) Keeping it simple has been my life story for the last 24 years, but this is the first time it has saved me. Please use whatever works for you, but remember starving yourself makes your body go into "survival mode" and it starts saving everything for later. Yes, I tried Nutri-system, and the food was just awful. Over processed, over cooked, under seasoned, bland. MRE's that my BFF's DH gave me, were more appetizing. The photos of the food made it look appetizing, but the reality was yech! Good luck on your get healthy plan.