You can draw your own conclusions from my personal experience, if diet and exercise is the solution for weight control. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel and it is possible to lose and maintain weight naturally. I am not recommending/ promoting any nutrients, vitamins, hormones, drugs or special equipment which have become part of the billion dollar weight loss industry.
I have known whatever is to know about weight, health, yoga, meditation from East as well as from West. Because I have an advanced degree in science in the west at Yale University in USA and had my earlier education in the East at Punjab University in India . I have written 12 guides combining Eastern and Western approach to health from happiness to longevity.
With all the knowledge and experience, I must admit that I have maintained proper weight within the weight chart. However, I could not reduce even 5 pounds naturally to keep in the lower range of the chart. My reason for lower range is not for appearance but a natural treatment for higher cholesterol level that I always had between 200 to 300. (By the way even 300 was not considered high in 1980s when I was writing my first book "Health, Happiness, and Longevity.")
Coming back to reducing my weight, you will know why I could not reduce even 5 pounds with typical diet and exercise. Look below my daily eating habits and other life style that many of us including medical and scientific experts can call ideal. Here it is my typical day:
After getting up in the morning: 1 cup of tea with no sugar but little skim milk
Breakfast: ΒΌ cup Oatmeal cereal
Snack: Apple, Banana or other fruit
Lunch: About one cup Frozen Vegetables microwaved, plus egg-white from boiled egg.
Evening Snack: Mostly Tea only [rarely a bran muffin].
Super: Two whole wheat (or millet) chapattis equivalent to about 2 slices of bread. Vegetable cooked Indian style with spices and little oil.
Drink plenty of water, 2 cups skim milk, no soda, no alcoholic drink (except in a company or at a party).
Exercise: About 5-10 minutes of yoga stretches in the morning. 3-4 miles walk in the evening.
This schedule is quite healthy and have kept me disease free, pain free, and youthful in all aspects so far after having lived over half a century..
My personal experience of losing weight, in spite of excellent eating and exercise schedule, is what prompted me to share this information. I live in North Carolina on East Coast. I visit my son every 3 or 4 months who lives on West coast in Northern California - San Francisco Bay area. During each visit I gain between 4 to 8 pounds depending on the length of stay. During last visit from December 20, 2006 to January 15, 2007 my weight went to 166.2 pounds which was about 8 pounds more and this time during my visit between March 30 to April 10, 2007, it was 162.8 pounds which was about 4 pounds more than my usual weight of 158 pounds. During my last visit I brought down to my normal weight by increasing protein and decreasing carbohydrate amount in my diet. My exercise schedule was about the same.
It is during this April visit when I tested my new technique. Although it was only 11 days visit but again I weighed about 4 pounds extra. I reached back in North Carolina middle of night, the next day as usual I weighed myself and it was 162.8 pounds. In the next 7 days I changed nothing in terms of diet or exercise but used this technique that I am giving. My weight started to come down everyday (even when I was using my usual optimum diet and exercise) except one day that it went from 159.2 to 159.8 pounds. I usually don't drink by myself but happened to have 2 gatherings where I did took some alcohol. Alcohol is OK but not good during weight loss program. My weight on April 17, 2007, almost exactly after one-week was 158 pounds. I don't know how much will be fat but my belt went down almost one-notch. I do understand that there will be some water loss. But I don't hesitate to call it a miracle technique for reducing belly and losing weight. The most effective among any method I have tested or written about weight loss.
