Although it's been quite a few years since I had issues with my weight, I will always recall the difficulty involved in losing weight and keeping it off. Shortly after giving birth I found myself with about 60 pounds to lose, which I managed to do without the assistance of weight loss pills or fad diets of anykind. Thanks to a combination of youth, being a nursing mother, and having a 15 pound baby to tote around, I dropped the first 40 pretty effortlessly. The last 20 pounds disappeared as a result of one my most reliable diet methods. No, and I haven't discovered the best weight loss pills in existence. My diet secret is quite simple.
Stress.
I lost 10 pounds during my parents (horrifying) divorce.
I lost another 10 pounds when I was helping nurse my grandmother during her final illness.
Unlike many people, when I'm emotionally stressed I cannot eat. Literally -the food just simply sticks in my throat. There's usually one or two foods I can choke down, so I rely on them as my steady diet until the stress period is over. When my grandmother was ill, my meal of choice was scrambled eggs. I ate so many eggs during that six month period that my cholesterol level still hasn't recovered - and that was 20 years ago.
During my parents divorce, the only food I could stomach was tuna fish sandwiches. It's a tad bit healthier, as long as you don't go for the Subway version, which I love, but which has about 60 grams of fat.
I've dropped about 10 pounds over the past year, when I've been exercising regularly and following my husband's metabolic syndrome eating plan. Again, no weight loss pills of any kind. However, the majority of that 10 pounds came off during the past three months when I was so stressed out at work and trying to make a decision about my future.
This time my staple food has been spinach and feta cheese omelets -but accompanied by an oat bran muffin to help keep the cholesterol in check.
I won't say it's the most pleasant diet in the world, but the stress factor diet works every time.