Why Your Diet Isn’t Working

Monica Grenfell, author of Five Days to a Flatter Stomach (Warner), does not mince words in her weekly column in the U.K.’s News of the World. She tells it like it is and doesn’t coddle dieters or let them get off with excuses. Now she takes issue with those who treat their body like a laboratory experiment for whichever new diet is ‘hot’ – or for those who think themselves an exception to all the laws on human metabolism and growth, one of a special few for whom no diet will ever work. She even takes on those who claim genetics is the cause, and that they are members of a special family who defy the laws of nature and gain weight automatically from birth? "This is why I am fat and there’s nothing I can do about it?"

To this Grenfell says: "Rubbish. Getting slim requires no special skills. It’s the same for rich or poor and regardless of genetics."

For these ‘excuse-givers’, Grenfell offers this advice:

You don’t believe in being slim
To be successful, you need something to believe in. Something to which your energies can be devoted and time spent. You need a core belief. Take vegetarians. They’re not meat-lovers trying desperately not to eat it. Many vegetarians used to eat meat but gave up on principle. Model yourself on this image, do what slim people do and only eat food that actually feeds you – fresh food.

You need to eat little and often – you get so hungry.
Every pound of excess fat on your body represents six extra meals you ate. So if you’re fifty pounds overweight, you ate the food you needed ….and then you ate three hundred MORE meals. Still think you need to eat little and often?

Get hungry. Feel hungry. It’s only an empty stomach, not an empty body. Make that fat work for you- believe me, you definitely don’t need extra calories.

I rely on Glycaemic Index, High-protein or other hot trends to tell me what to eat
Forget them. GI dieting, while sound and healthy, is a load of hype to make money. Perfect for athletes and slim people, a fat person with a fat person’s mentality will just pile into low-GI nuts and stay fat. The truth is, you can eat anything and lose weight as long as you NEVER eat between meals, NEVER snack and NEVER eat anything that won’t feed your body. Don’t use a fad diet unless you believe in being a slim person.

I need a daily ‘treat’ to stay sane
No you don’t. They aren’t keeping you sane anyway. Listen, sweets and chocolate rob you of money, your figure, your teeth and your health. How much of a treat is that? Having chocolate around is like having your lover around when he’s dumped you. Every time you see him, it feeds your misery; if you never see him again, you get over him. If you are losing weight you must have a total break from anything that isn’t real food.

I barely eat a thing!
By your standards, maybe. But unless you actually have a medical condition, I can assure you, you’re eating 2,000 calories a day and then some. Watching calories is like knowing how much you spent last week; to the last cent. We all remember the big purchases, but the bus ticket, the newspaper, the parking fee? You MUST write down everything, weigh portions and do this like a job. Anybody who religiously eats 1,200 calories a day for six months will lose 38lbs.

I was born fat – l've never been 100lbs and never will.
No 200 pound babies are ever born! If you’re 200lbs, you were once 100lbs but you went past it. And if you were slim once, you can be slim again.

My family is fat – there’s nothing I can do.
So if you were cast away on a desert island for three years, you’d still be fat, right?

Children notice the behavior of their parents, and when your family experience is watching TV, walking to the car and eating French fries twice a day, you think this is normal. Plus mom complains about her weight, the children hear it and it sticks. Their only experience of weight is negative. This is your experience and you have to snap out of it, make your own life and take control of your most precious asset – your body.

________________________________________________________________________ Monica Grenfell, the UK’s most read and best known diet and fitness expert, is the author of five best selling books. Her column in Britain’s Sunday newspaper News of the World is read by 13 million people every week. She has a BA in Food science and Human Nutrition; and is a Member of the British Keep Fit Confederation, She is also a retained nutrition website consultant to the pharmaceutical company Reckitt Benckiser and an advisor who is retained by many top plastic surgeons in this country, advising on nutrition after face-lifts etc.

5 Days to a Flatter Stomach is available in bookstores everywhere and from online booksellers.

Website: www.monicagrenfell.com

SOURCE Smith Publicity