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Chapter One: You Are Not Alone...
About two and a half years
ago, I got something shocking in the mail. As I opened the envelope, I almost
screamed. There I was, standing at my front door, going through the mail, and
suddenly, I got the shock of my life. I found myself staring at the photo of
something that left me absolutely speechless. I stood there at my front door
with my mouth hung open in sheer terror.
For a moment, I
panicked! Looking around to see if anyone had seen me and my reactions, I
quickly closed the front door and reached for my telephone. As I dialed a very
familiar number, I could hardly breathe as I listened to the phone ring. Finally,
she answered. Good.
As I said “hello,”
she knew in an instant that it was me and she had even been expecting my call. I
took a deep breath and I asked her the one question that we all have probably asked
someone, at some point in our lives, “When did you take that picture?” It was the
same picture that I was still holding in my hand from the mail.
She laughed and said,
“At your cousin’s birthday party.” The truth is that I wasn’t doing anything really
special in the picture. I was just standing around talking. But, I was
horrified by the way that the picture made me look. As I stared at the picture,
the only thing that I kept thinking was that, “I really do need to lose some
weight.”
My friend didn’t mean any harm. I knew that. Yet, for me, I still felt like the world was ending all around me. It didn’t help that when I thanked her, she said that she was glad that she had sent it. She then said, “You looked so cute.” I didn’t think so. I was literally crushed.
We have all have been
there. It’s that dreadful moment when someone takes a picture of you, and in
this day and age, posted it to the internet, or on Facebook, without showing
you or telling you about it first. When you finally do see it, you just want to
cry. That’s because candid pictures will tell the real story about how we really
look every day. That’s why we hate them.
It’s not that you
look bad, it’s just that, well, you just do not look good either. The worst
part is trying to figure out how to ask your friend, or your family member, to
get rid of that picture without sounding harsh or angry? There simply isn’t an
easy way to do it. There isn’t.
At that point, you will
start to remember how you have a closet full of clothes, but never have
anything to wear that fits right. How many times have you stood in the back,
whenever someone asked a group of you to take a picture? What happens when you can’t hide?
How many times do you
have to adjust your clothes just to stand up or move around a room? It becomes
almost a reflex, like trying to catch yourself when you are about to fall.
Worst of all, you have to do it. If you didn’t, you would feel very self-conscious.
I know that I used to, before I lost 18 pounds and managed to keep it off.
How many times have
you seen someone thinner than you and you start to think to yourself that she can
probably eat whatever she wants? Luck chick. She never seems to gain a pound.
Why not you? It is not fair.
In college, you might
have been so thin. You could eat almost anything and never gain a single pound.
Now, you can’t even walk past the bakery section in the supermarket without
gaining five pounds from just the smell of the cupcakes. That’s really not
fair!
As I hung up the phone with my friend, I looked at the picture again. I felt horrible. At that moment, right then and there, I decided that I was going to lose weight. I was going to change the way that I was eating and focus on getting fit again. I had to do this for me.
Within weeks, I went to see my doctor and I was told that I could stand to lose a few pounds. The question, at hand, was how? Sure, she gave me a few tips to lose some weight, but, I needed to learn how to keep that weight off once I lost it. At that point, I had already tried almost every weight loss plan and program on the market and I still hadn’t found one that was right for me.
Most weight loss plans, I have found, tend to talk down to you, like you don’t know anything. With some plans, they make a whole bunch of empty promises. With other plans, they require you to make some very expensive changes to your life and some just don’t work at all.
According to a recent survey of women, at any given time, over 50 percent of all women are on a diet. If that is the case, why are so many of these women still overweight? I didn’t want to be on my own, but, I wasn’t willing to risk my life or long term health on a fad diet, which only works for a little while, to do it. So, I kept looking. I wanted a plan that wouldn’t force me to give up everything that, as a chef, I love about food.
The next week at the supermarket, in my determination not to give up, I bought a whole bunch of healthy snacks. I started drinking diet sodas. A friend told me to go the book store and pick up this one book that promised me that I’d be skinny. Promises. Promises.
Within a week, I
realized that I was making one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I was
starving, so I quit. It simply wasn’t working. Instead of being a skinny chick,
I was a hungry one. I was starving. I needed to do something else and I needed
to do it quickly. I had to.
As you know, the hunger games, when you are trying to lose weight, become very real and every last snack becomes a losing battle. I was so afraid of gaining any more weight and I was even more afraid that I wouldn’t be able to lose any of the weight that I already had.
I knew in my heart
that there were other women, like you, out there who were just like me. The
question, then, is what do we do about it? It isn’t like you and I aren’t
trying to lose the weight. We just don’t know how. Nobody ever told us how to
lose weight, and more importantly, how to keep it off for good. I began to
wonder did any of these diet plans even know how to.
Still, my
determination remained strong. So I kept looking for something that works. What
I soon learned was that any weight loss plan that expects you to change
everything about your life within a few weeks is guaranteed to fail. The ones
that I tried already have.
As a result, I found
myself hungrier than ever and I was miserable. I wanted to eat like I used to,
because with this dieting thing, nothing seemed to satisfy my appetite. When
you are hungry, you eat, but what you eat is not always what and how you are
supposed to eat. Trust me, we all have been there. There you are hungrier than
ever, but still desperately trying to lose weight.
At this point, you might
have already tried the pills, the cream, and even, learned to like cabbage
soup. You have skipped breakfast, sometimes lunch and skimped on dinner. You
have already tried drinking lots of water and eating carrots and learned to
like celery. You will do just about anything just to see a size six again.
You have never met
anyone named Atkins, but you tried the diet. That’s just like you have never
been to South Beach, so you don’t even know if that diet book is really from
there. Still, you tried it anyway.
The plan that you saw
on Good Morning America, you tried it. The plan that your sister’s best friend
swears by, you have tried that too. You now hate her because you don’t know how
she managed to lose so much weight!
The box, that your
meal plans came in, probably tastes better than the actual meal. Your before
and after pictures still look like the same picture with a different outfit.
You tried running, but, in the end, it was only for the ice cream truck. Dinner
is often your hardest meal, because you are often too tired to cook and will
eat just about anything that is easy or convenient.
With most diet plans
and weight loss programs, I use the words interchangeably; I learned that I
couldn’t just change what I was eating. I had to change my life around to meet
the weight loss program’s extraordinary needs. I did this even when the only
thing that I needed was a weight loss program that would meet my needs. That’s
why I wasn’t losing weight.
I soon began to realize that losing weight isn’t the same as joining a twelve step program, where the first thing that you have to do is to admit that you have a problem, and suddenly, you are on the road to recovery. You already know that you want to lose weight. The question is how to do it safely and effectively? Then, keep it off!
Sure, during the winter
months, you can hide behind a bulky sweater that your grandmother gave you, but
in the summer, the truth comes out and you feel embarrassed by it. That is
until the next weight loss plan, pill or gimmick comes along and you start the
cycle of yo-yo dieting all over again. Yes, I said yo-yo dieting.
o-yo dieting is a
complicated way of losing weight. That’s where when you are trying to lose
weight, you successfully lose some weight, and then, you gain it all back, all
over again. Then, you manage to lose this weight all over again on your next
diet. But, like a yo-yo, the weight comes right back. This is very frustrating
and can lead to poor eating habits for many women. More important, it can be
damaging to your good health.
At that point you,
you can try again or you can give up and give in to those extra unhealthy and
unwanted pounds. At least that’s what the world expects us to do. Society tells
us that we are losing the war on obesity and when you are any size above a two.
You simply aren’t good enough. You can’t even control your weight.
That’s the point
where you learn to do math. The two piece bikini becomes a one piece swim suit in
the summer. You, then, add a top to it and some shorts or a wraparound. What
started out as two piece swim suit has multiplied into a full outfit. In the
summer, it really is too hot for all of that extra clothing, but you are too embarrassed
to wear anything less than that.
Having worked
everywhere from the world famous Showboat Casino and Hotel in Atlantic City, New
Jersey to the famed Stephen Starr restaurants, you should know that I enjoy a
good meal just like you do. I used to live to eat, but I still love to cook. It
always has been this way and always will be. But, even as a chef, what I have
learned is that food doesn’t have to control my life and it shouldn’t be
allowed to control yours.
You shouldn’t have to spend countless hours worrying about what will happen if you eat this and what will happen if you eat that. Eventually, you will not eat anything at all, you will be too afraid that you’ll gain weight and be fat. Whoever said that you should have to starve yourself just to lose a few extra pounds?
The truth is that we all want to look better, feel better, eat better and have much more energy. But, why should you have to give up all of your favorite foods to do it? Why should you have to deny yourself the very things that make you happy to achieve this? The truth is you shouldn’t have to give up everything that you love.
I was at this point when
I stumbled across the solution to my dieting problems and yours. It helped me
to lose my 18 pounds. I learned that it wasn’t just the diet plans that are the
problems. It is you and I. We have found ourselves believing in these weight
loss plans, more than we have ever believed in ourselves.
We fed into the
belief that without them, we wouldn’t be happy. In the end, we stopped doing
the one thing that allowed us to get this far, we stopped loving who we are! We
stopped loving what made us special.
By allowing a weight
loss program to determine our sense of self-worth, we lost the motivation to do
what will make us happy. We lost the motivation to take care of ourselves. Eating
healthier doesn’t mean eating less, it means making more nutritional choices in
the foods that we already know and love.
Even if you never
wear even a size six again, you should still be happy. Even if you never own a
pair of skinny jeans, you should still feel good about yourself. This constant
war with our bodies had only made it easier to constantly eat things that aren’t
good for us. We stopped being good to us and we stopped eating the very foods
that are good for us.
By falling back in
love with me, I gained the motivation and confidence to finally lose my 18 pounds
and keep them off. Not just for a few months, but for two years now. How? I
learned how to eat when I am hungry and I only eat when I should and I never
overdo it. Sounds simple? That’s because it is and I will show you how.
Trust me, as a woman,
I understand what is like to want to lose that extra weight and you feel like
you can’t or you just don’t know how. I understand that inside of every woman,
including you, you feel like there is a healthier, slimmer version trying to
get out. You just didn’t know how to make this happen. I can help you.
The problem is, the
woman that I want to show you, using this solution, might not be a size two.
She might be a healthy size eight. By changing how you look at food, using
simple things to balance your diet and adding a few simple “exercises” to your
day, you can finally reach your ideal or goal weight and become the person that
you have always wanted to be.
I just don’t want you
to waste another minute of your life trying to live with that extra weight, and
then, have to make excuses for it. Also, maybe, I should warn you that this book
isn’t going to be some college dissertation on the merits of weight loss. There
is no scientific mumbo jumbo that is meant to confuse you.
My goal is to be as
inspiring, educational and informative as possible. I want this to be a real
woman to woman conversation on what truly works in becoming healthier. This is
a step-by-step guide for women, like you, who have tried to lose weight on
other diet plans and programs, to finally lose that weight, and then, show you
how to keep it off for good.
You should also know
that this will be the only diet book that I will ever write. The number one way
that you can always tell that some diets really don’t work is because every
couple of years, they are always coming out with a “new” one. Why wasn’t the
first one good enough?
They already know
that the average person tries up to four “new” diets a year, so by designing
their diet to fail, or only work for a little bit, they can make more money
offering you a new and “improved” one. Not this one!
Also, I tried to keep the chapters and the paragraphs shorter and easier to read. This isn’t supposed to be a lecture or your high school history book! If you wanted a case study, I am afraid that you have come to the wrong place. I am here to help you, not bore you to death. There might even be a mistake or two. Forgive me as you will forgive yourself for struggling with your weight.
That’s because what I
want to share with you, will give you the first chance to stop struggling with
your weight and the first chance that you have ever had to start living again.
We can’t afford to lose the fight on obesity. That’s why I want to show you how
to win the war to be healthier. You owe that much to yourself.
As a trained gourmet chef
and a graduate of the world renown Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College,
healthy eating is not just something that I know; it has become a big part of
my life. Make it a part of yours.
So take a moment to
congratulate yourself. What I am about to show you is the most proven, safe and
effective way to help you achieve your ideal or goal weight. At this very
moment, right now, you are now only a few weeks away from a healthier, slimmer
you.
Now that you have
taken the challenge to change your life, I guarantee you that the results will
be absolute remarkable. It’s something you can be proud of. I want this to be
the very last diet or weight loss book that you will ever buy for yourself.
The Hungry Chick Dieting Solution is about to change your life forever, the same way that it did for me. Allow it to. So stop starving yourself, you are now a hungry chick and hungry chicks should never go hungry…
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