Lose weight automatically

Natural Health, Feb, 2005

WHETHER YOU'RE a peanut butter lover, chocoholic, or ice cream fanatic, there's no reason to sacrifice your most treasured indulgence in the struggle to shed pounds. "If you want to lose weight, you need to set up a personal food environment that works for you," says Charles Stuart Platkin, author of the new book The Automatic Diet. By making small changes in how and what you eat, Platkin says, you can adopt new habits that make weight loss "automatic." Here's his three-step strategy for cutting back calories without cutting out your favorite treats:

1. KEEP A FOOD DIARY. For three days, write down everything you eat and drink.

2. FIND THE FOODS YOU LIKE. After the third day, look at your list and figure out which foods you most want to keep in your eating plan. "If you love ice cream and have been eating it almost every day of your life, you're probably not going to have an easy time giving it up," notes Platkin.

3. LIGHTEN UP. Try several lower-calorie versions of your high-calorie selections to find products that will make satisfying substitutes. "When you replace three or four of your favorite foods with lower-calorie versions, you can save up to 1,000 calories a week," Platkin says. "Most of us tend to think we need to empty out our cupboards and get rid of everything we're used to eating, but weight loss can be much easier if you start with a few small adjustments."