Practically all my adult life was a struggle to lose weight, and to stay slim. After dieting for weeks and months, I would get to the weight level I wanted. But before I knew it, I was back to the same weight, and the same, or slightly worse physical appearance than I started from.

What a hassle! After going back and forth, and up and down with my weight for many years, I finally got fed up with the whole process and adopted the advice of a co-worker who once told me that the best diet was a good tailor! I thought he was nuts, but he was well dressed and didn’t look particularly fat, although he wasn’t a poster child for physical appearance either.

As the years passed, I finally run into a doctor who gave some blunt news or advice if you want to be nice. He told me that I was at a prime age for the dreaded heart attack or stroke danger, and that if I didn’t get rid of my excess weight, that’s exactly where I was headed.

With this sobering bit of news, I re-visited some of my neglected information about dieting. About this same time, I accidentally came across an eating plan that was designed to get control of your weight in a painless way.

I was intrigued by these ideas, and decided to give them a try. After all, I really had nothing to lose, except some weight.

The plan worked like a charm, and to me it seemed like a miracle. Somehow, I became more and more excited about seeing if this plan would continue to work. After a couple of weeks I had lost about six pounds.

I was skeptical, but thrilled nonetheless even though after all those years of dieting, I knew that most of your weight loss in the first couple of weeks was an adjustment in the excess water that our rich, salty diets bring us.

The weeks went by and my weight loss continued, usually about two pounds per week. It continued that way until I had lost between 75-80 pounds, depending on what my true starting weight really was. This process took me just under six months.

The best part of it was that for me it was like a game. The key to this attitude about this weight loss was that I was never hungry during the entire weight loss process.

The key to my eating plan were two things:

First, I had to eat five to six small meals per day.

Second, I had to always eat a protein with a carbohydrate.

It’s such an easy plan to follow, once you are really committed to shedding some weight, whether it’s 15-20 pounds that you can lose in six weeks if you are really serious, or a couple of months if you want to allow yourself some slack time.

Of course, there are a number of other tools, or tricks you should use to insure success.

First, you want to keep a journal of every item you eat. You’re not going to count calories. You don’t even want to think about calories. The journal helps you see what you are doing; whether you are following the plan, or whether you are cheating, thus just fooling yourself.

You need to weigh yourself on a regular basis, always on the same day or days of the week, and always at the same time of day. First thing in the morning is best so you don’t get weight distortions brought about by food or drink you may have consumed later in the day.

You should avoid eating any fat in any form. Most dairy products are loaded with fat. Most meats, even the leanest cuts have some fat in them even if you can’t see it. This amount of hidden fat is sufficient to provide your body the small amount of fat it needs to stay healthy.

A similar process applies to carbohydrates. Avoid sugar in any form, except the small amounts present in many moderately sweet fruit.

An underlying factor that makes the eating plan work is that by eating five to six small meals a day, and in the combinations described above, you cause your metabolism to speed up. So you are not only eating moderate amounts, but your body is burning all these calories faster than you are eating them, which results in burning your excess fat at a rapid rate.

Believe me, it works! After seven years, I have maintained my weight within a couple of pounds of my original goal. Even holidays are not a problem.

As a side benefit, my cholesterol is way below the medically recommended level, and so is my blood pressure. Both these items were high enough to be in the danger zone, and I was taking several medicines to avoid disaster. I have not needed these medicines in the last seven years.