Weight Loss Plan

After I quit smoking in 2003, I gained some weight in a hopeless attempt to reduce the cravings I had for nicotine.  Those cravings persisted strongly for two full years but then went away.  Now I never think about smoking.

About four months ago I decided to lose the weight I gained and went on a simple plan--not a diet.  A young woman I once worked with told me "diets don't work."

She meant that diets are a finite effort--they begin and end. 

What works is simply changing how much one eats and how much one exercises.

I coined an acronym for my approach:  ELEM.  It stands for "eat less, excercise more" and it's working great. 

Back in college a phy-ed teacher told a class I was in something I've never forgotten:  "There is nothing mysterious about losing weight; all you need do is burn more calories than you consume."  Simple and effective.