by Jenna Pope

Created on: June 14, 2009

How many diets can you find? Here are some of them:

There's the Atkins diet; the Alli diet; the Japanese, fiber, and starfish diets; Gourami's diet; the octopus diet; the green tea diet; and the carbohydrate addict's diet. I found the Cheater's diet; the stress diet; the Cambridge, Chocolate, and the biggest loser diets. And last, the detox diet, the Medifast diet, the low carb diet; vegetarian diet; the morning banana diet; and even the grumpy old man's diet. If there had been a grumpy old woman's diet, I probably would have tried that too.

I have been on more diets than I would care to admit. I've gone to diet clinics and spent decades losing weight with diet pills and then gaining it back again. In fact, I did everything short of wiring my mouth shut to lose weight. But then I found something that worked. I changed my eating habits for life and quit making excuses about my dieting failures.

Here is what I have learned:

The only way to lose weight is to change your eating habits for life.

A month and a half ago, I began eating differently and walking a mile every two to three days. To date, I have lost 11-1/2 pounds. To eat this way, it doesn't cost me a penny more than what I normally pay for food, and I have dropped from a size 14 to a size 9. I am only five feet tall. Can you imagine me in a size 14?

My diet is simple: 1200 calories a day and less than 30 fat grams. That's it. I don't cheat - ever. I have even survived a potluck and a smorgasbord, where I just took a bite or two of a few items and put them on a dessert plate to feel like I was eating more.

We only go to restaurants that have a dieter's menu. I don't supersize ANYTHING. Did you know that some restaurant salads contain more than my total daily calorie allotment? At TGI Fridays, their Southwestern Cobb Salad is 1245 calories, and - are you ready for this? - one-hundred-one fat grams! Now before we go out to dinner, I Google the restaurant's menu and see what I can eat. Chili's has a "Guiltless Grill" that offers complete dinners for under 500 calories and 10 fat grams or less. Now THAT is achievable.

I can't believe that I am actually STICKING with this! Now I know basically what and how much to eat without having to count every calorie. I'm already a walking, talking calorie counter.

I drink iced tea during the day (I hate water) and eat raw veggies when I have no calories left. Those are practically a "wash" because you use up most their calories just by chewing them. I don't count calories on raw vegetables.

Every day I grant myself a treat. Currently I'm hooked on those "Skinny Cow" ice cream sandwiches that are 140 calories and 1.5 fat grams. Most of the time for lunch or dinner I just microwave one of those $1.00 Michelina frozen dinners - I pick the ones that have 300 calories or less, and fewer than 11 fat grams. For breakfast, I eat Special K with Berries cereal (one cup of it) with cup fat-free milk. In between meals I might have a piece of fruit or some Ritz Wheat Crackers (130 calories, 5 fat grams for 10 crackers.) I do not go hungry, and I try to quit eating by 7:00 p.m.

A month-and-a-half after changing the way I eat, I am losing approximately a pound per week. It's slow, I know, but in 52 weeks I will have lost 52 pounds! Actually, I don't plan on losing that much weight, because that would put me at 88 pounds soaking wet. I think that weighing between 105 and 110 pounds for a five-foot-tall, 57-year-old woman is reasonable.

That is my progress to date! If you go to my Helium site, you can read my dieting journal's first installment. Wish me luck! I'll keep you posted.

Learn more about this author, Jenna Pope.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.