How to Still Eat Your Favorite Foods While Losing Weight

What makes a diet stop working? What causes a man or a woman go on a diet, full of good intentions, only to discard the diet in a few weeks or months?

Is it discipline? Frustration? A lack of effectiveness?  According to nutrition and fitness author Jon Benson, it comes down to one word:  "Love."

"Love is the key to staying on a diet, a workout plan... anything that requires a change of lifestyle. It may seem obvious, but unless you actually 'love' the diet you are on, there is little chance of you staying on it for very long," says Benson. "All diets require a change in how you look at food, how you consume food, and even how you think about food. The problem is most diets make too many demands of the dieter right off the bat. They tell you not to eat certain foods, sometimes making that a permanent restriction, while allowing perhaps a day per week to 'overeat' your favorite foods."

"This is a disaster waiting to happen... and there is a much more balanced, healthy and effective way to diet than this," states Benson.

Ten years ago Benson was a somewhat typical American male: Overworked, over-stressed, and overweight. Benson's weight put him officially into the "obese" category and brought with it all the associated disease states such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high triglycerides (a type of blood fat) and of course massive amounts of "stress fat" around the belly and chest region.

When Benson decided enough was enough, he, like so many others who are truly ready to change their body and their life, went a bit overboard. "Oh sure, I ate the typical dry chicken, oatmeal with nothing on it, bland rice, and tried to never eat anything I actually enjoyed. Lucky for me I actually love chicken, but most of my diet was composed of what I call my "hate foods", not my love foods -- foods I truly enjoyed eating. But my thinking was just like that of the typical dieter: 'If I eat (fill-in-the-blank favorite food) I'll get fatter and never lose weight!' How wrong I was... and after I started and stopped my diet at least ten times during a course of three years I finally got the message."

Benson decided to use his nutritional knowledge and his background in body shaping to his advantage. "I started thinking, 'Why not focus on progress rather than perfection?' Again, this seems like common sense, but most dieters are focused on being perfect all the time. So I began applying some old body shaping tricks to my dietary plan. For example, I started cycling my calories. I would eat more on one day, less on another. This kept my metabolism guessing and never allowed my body to hit that dreaded 'no more weight loss' plateau."

"Then I decided to push the envelope. I started experimenting with including my favorite foods -- pizza, pasta, and even desserts, all in reasonable quantities -- on my higher-calorie food days. At first it didn't work out too well. But then I used what I now call my "Caveman Principle" which involves strategically eating protein at specific times with a bit less food volume (and this allowed me to stop counting calories too!) and then including my favorite foods on specific days and, most important, specific times. Timing in this case is everything."

Benson says this timing includes both time of day as well as eating higher-calorie, higher-fat, higher-carbohydrate foods only after exercise. "Specific exercise, done for short periods of time, can set the body up to receive additional calories and carbohydrates more effectively without storing them as body fat. You just have to have to know when to do it. Do it right and it works like a charm."

"The end result was a loss of over 70 pounds of fat, and I never gave up eating my favorite foods... not once, but at least three times a week."

A study conducted at the University of Phoenix could shed some light on why this approach to dieting may work better than traditional "calorie-counting" and overly-restrictive foods plans. People given the option of eating more frequently versus three meals a day ended up eating smaller servings of both healthy foods and, on some days, "junk foods" yet still lost more weight than the three-meals-per-day group. The evidence pointed toward the elevation of the metabolic rate through frequent eating and the psychological ease of being less restrictive regarding foods consumed.

"I believe food should be enjoyed, and in my opinion life is way too short to worry about eating perfect all the time," says Benson. "When I crafted this approach into what is now known as "The Every Other Day Diet", it became an overnight smash, and for good reason... it gave people a chance to have a life while they are losing weight. Let's face it: Anyone can diet for a day or two, and that's basically what The Every Other Day Diet asks of its users. Of course you cannot go hog wild on your Feed Days (the higher-calories favorite food meals) but just knowing your favorite foods are always just around the corner keeps you on the weight loss track."

"The end result is a diet that just about everyone can fall in love with. Loving your diet is the key to dietary success, as I said. And I do happen to love me some pizza! I just use that pizza now to actually help me lose weight rather than gain it, all while staying in good health."

Today, Jon Benson's online best-seller, The Every Other Day Diet, can be purchased along with nine additional dieters bonuses, including the first 30 days of private email diet coaching free of charge, for only $39.97, and the program is guaranteed for a full 60 days. If you are not satisfied in any way, the company, Jon Benson Fitness LLC, will refund your money without questions or hassles. Click Caveman Principle to watch a presentation on Jon's "Caveman Principle" of eating and why it works so well for hundreds of thousands of people for fast, sustainable, and enjoyable weight loss.

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