Belly Fat Diet

OK, so I am one of the worst dieters in the world. I can change habits for a few days, but then I'm back to my old ways. I tried South Beach and managed Phase I for 10 days. It worked and it didn't feel too bad when I was doing it. I dropped 9 lbs and it was the beginning of a 15 lb drop. But now four years later, the idea of even thinking about Phase I again is more than I can stand.

I have tried cutting calories. I have tried more exercise. I have tried not eating after a certain time. None of it sticks. Then I saw the Belly Fat Diet from Prevention Magazine. Four meals of 400 calories a day including a serving of a monounsaturated fat included (like sunflower seeds, olive oil, chocolate chips). A plan for those like me who want to make stuff on the fly and another plan for those who like to spend as much time in the kitchen as I do on the road.

It all sounded easy enough, but would 400 calories fill me up enough? I gotta tell you, I'm pretty impressed with this. I've lost 5 lbs in three weeks, which doesn't sound like much, but it would if you knew how much "cheating" I've been doing. And yet, despite the cheating, I'm dropping weight. (I usually don't cheat on diets, but this time I realized I have to slowly work changes into my life if I want to maintain them. So every 3rd day or so I don't follow the plan so well. And lately, it's been worse than that, but tomorrow we start new again.)

Typical day of eating with this plan:
Breakfast
1 cup corn flakes
1/2 c unsweetened applesauce
1/4 c sunflower seeds
skim milk

Mid morning
English muffin with 2 tbsp of natural peanut butter

Mid-afternoon
Slice of raisin toast with 1/4 c cottage cheese and walnuts

Dinner
Red peppers, broccoli, onion sauteed with olive oil, whole wheat penne pasta, tossed with ricotta cheese and some Italian blend cheese on top.

This may not sound like much, but I have to tell you, I'm not hungry and I feel really satisfied. So far very cool.