Until age 47 I didn’t pay much attention. Back in 2003 some of my online friends had been posting in their journals about their desire to loose weight and I did a little research just to make sure they knew not to loose TOO MUCH weight.

I found that the Body Mass Index is the primary measure of a healthy weight. For adults (21 and up) the healthy range of BMI is 19 to 25. Unfortunately at 6 feet tall and 200 pounds I was at a BMI of 27.1… 23 pounds over the upper limit!

I was not alone, over half the male adult population is above the 25 mark. To get into the healthy range (BMI=25) I have to get down to 177. To get to the MIDDLE of the healthy range (BMI=21) I would have to get down to 160.

By accident I created a diet I call the Big Lunch Diet. This is the story of how I stumbled into it. NOTE: The Big Lunch Diet worked (eventually) for me but I have no idea if it is safe or effective for anyone else.

One Sunday I had a huge lunch. It was so large I wasn’t hungry till mid-day on Monday! On that Monday I had a fairly large slab of Prime Rib for lunch and again I wasn’t really hungry for the rest of the day.

I weighed myself on Tuesday morning and found that I weighed 194, less than at any time in the last few years. It wasn’t close to 177 (or 160) but it was a change for the better.

Of course I would exercise some. On nice days I would walk a mile or two after lunch. I would take the stairs to my 4th-floor office at least twice a day, sometimes two at a time, sometimes double-time.

The beauty of the Big Lunch Diet is that you get to pig-out one hour a day. You eat meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts and grains until you have no room for dessert… Then have NO calories (or at least VERY few) for the rest of the day.

If you get hungry in the morning just drink some water and anticipate the joys of a big lunch. If you get hungry at night just drink some water and remember how much you ate at lunch.

It took about eight months but I got my weight down to 161. After going back to three meals a day I was able to keep my weight well under 170 for several years, just by skipping an occasional meal if my weight got above 165.

I tried to go to the fitness centre regularly to lose weight. But as I already suspected right from the start there was always something going on that prevented me to go to the fitness centre.

One day I did not feel so good and the next day I worked over time and so on. I tried to follow a diet that allows you to eat as much as you want. The only thing you have to be careful about is when you eat it.

You are allowed to eat carbohydrates in the morning. So that was my loved chocolate cream on toast. I was really glad I did not have to abandon that habit.

At lunchtime, you can still eat carbohydrates but you should eat more proteins. That was great for me because I could still eat at our canteen without having to take care of what I took.

The absolutely important part came with dinner and everything you may eat after dinner. There, absolutely no carbohydrates are allowed. That means no sugar, no potatoes, no bread, no rice, no noodles …

The carbohydrates are the short term energy of the body. As long as that is in the blood (and that is in the blood for up to 12 hours after you ate them), the body uses those and not the fat you want to lose.

Therefore, as long as you do not eat carbohydrates before bed, the body starts to lose fat during the night when you sleep and you start to lose weight.

Of course, you cannot gorge yourself during the day or it will not work because the body builds up more fat than it uses up.

However, if you just want to lose some kg and easy lose weight it works. At least it did for me.

I do this with an empty stomach, in order for my workout to attack the fat. After my workout I eat yogurt, which is known to increase metabolism.

I drink only water, diet green tea (for the herbs), and things with 0 calories.

Fruit juice isn’t nearly as nutritious as regular fruit and pop is just empty calories.

Approximately three hours after eating yogurt, I have lunch. This is my biggest meal of the day, yet it’s still pretty lean.

A piece of white meat (chicken or turkey) and a pasta or vegetable.

I wait about 2 hours and start my mid day workout. This could be exchanged with after super for those who work during the day.

Before I start my workout, I have some whey protein. I do:

140 sit ups (7 sets of 20)

140 leg ups (7 sets of 20)

100 pushups (5 sets of 20)

I switch this with lifting light weights and high reps every other day. I increase my reps about once every month by 5. I follow either of the two with doing at least twenty minutes of cardio.

Wednesday is my day off. After the workout I have another protein shake with whey protein.

I have the protein even on my day off to ensure muscle repair. I follow this by a snack with carbs (i.e. granola bar, oatmeal, ect…).

Three hours later I eat dinner and three hours after that I have a small snack (chips and salsa usually).

Right before bed, I have another protein shake (excluded on my day off).

Nine years and another child later I decided to try it again, this time I was going to stick to it. I was 25 years old 5’8’ tall and I weighed 197 pounds. I hated myself.

I started my diet with a week long colon cleanse program. It was very hard at first because I would get really hungry. But I couldn’t each anything.

I lost 8 pounds with that. Then I replaced two meals a day with a high protein meal replacement. I ate whatever I wanted with the other meal. When I started to get real hungry I would suck on a piece of peppermint candy and drink a tall glass of ice water.

I took a multi vitamin and dared to eat anything after 8:00 pm.

Everyday I made sure I walked at least 2 miles a day. I didn’t have any money for a gym membership, times were hard, so I exercised through popular taped Aerobic programs.

Oh, and I also made sure I drunk one whole gallon of water for the day. I kept up with this program for about three months.

Negative twenty two pounds later, and I was closer to my goal weight of 135 pounds. After the weight loss I adjusted my protein meal replacement to only one replacement meal a day.

Through meditation and determination I have gained the confidence to achieve many other goals in my life. I guess the best is yet to come!

A good support group would also compliment an exercise program, just in case you tend to lose focus of whats important. The greatest weight loss secret is determination. Whether it is the will to see your children grow up, or the will to see another birthday.

Most of my adult life I have tried to lose weight. I learned a great deal about nutrition and exercise but with a very active family I had problems ever sticking to achieving my goals.

I have not gone on fad diets and really did not eat poorly. What I did was to eat too much. Funny, even if the food is “good for you” if you eat too much, you still gain weight!!

Finally, I became bed-ridden due to excruciating pain from hip bursitis and a bad back the summer of 2004.

I could only eat what was brought to me as I could not go up and down the stairs. All the weight I had lost up till then was regained. Afterwards I knew I had to lose the weight to get mobile and stay that way.

I joined Ediets and found a specialized community of people in a section of the group who also had similar health struggles and who were losing weight. I have gradually lost weight. I have also gotten a good pain specialist so that I am now able to walk 1-2 miles without being totally energy depleted for several days.

My “diet” consists of eating a well balanced meal that includes few processed foods. I eat 4-5 times a day. I drink lots of water with a bit of cranberry juice added to it (7 parts water to 1 part unsweetened juice).

I force my self to do daily stretching exercises and walking several times a week. I use hand weights of 1-5 pounds and do random exercises with them. I hope that this was helpful.

On this plan you purchase their food (about $130.00 a week for each of us) and then integrate your own foods into the plan.

The diet was easy to follow because it is extremely structured. We tried to do a walking plan as well and stuck to it for about 3 months.

We both lost the weight that we wanted to but my husband’s weight came off quicker. He had great success in cutting most of the sugar out his diet (in coffee, soda, etc.) and I am still trying to follow his lead on this for myself.

I feel that this is the key in long-lasting weight loss.