Well, I’m finally losing weight and it didn’t require an appetite suppressant to accomplish it. Instead, I’m simply starting to reduce my calories to about 1000 to 1200 a day.

It was hard at first; I’d been massively overeating. Like, 3000 calories a day or thereabouts. So it took a couple days for the diet to take hold.

But it’s producing results. In my first week, without extra exercise (which isn’t necessarily good, because you’ll need more food if you exercise a lot), I’ve lost about four pounds. You can lose anywhere from a half-pound to a full pound per day.

The trick is to get a lot of 100-calorie snacks and some Progresso soups that are about 200 calories for a full can. I typically eat twice in the morning… a piece of fruit and a 100-calorie granola bar, spaced out by a couple hours … and then have the soup as lunch. Then, and here’s the real help for me, a 100-calorie popcorn in the afternoon.

No pop, no juice; just sparking water like H2O, or maybe a 25-calorie VitaminWater that contains no artificial sweetners. (Cuz those are poison.) Then in the evening, I have a normal, but sensibly portioned meal of about 500 calories. And if I get hungry before I hit the sack, I can do a piece of fruit for about 50-100 calories, or another granola bar or popcorn of 100-calorie size.

It’s working. I’m already below 250! In a couple months, I hope to be below 225 and closing in on 200. My goal is to get below 180 by spring and then up my calories to a more generous 1500-1800 per day as a “maintenance mode” approach.

Hopefully, my high blood pressure, cholesterol and such will go away with the extra weight and I won’t be out of breath after carrying around the Torah scroll on Shabbat anymore.

Tags: appetite suppressant, counting calories, losing weight