At this stage of my Fun Factor Diet, you will make a deliberate effort to take yourself and your expectations less seriously. You will adopt a kindlier stance toward your fears and inconsistencies because you have been much too hard on yourself. The results will be a dramatic lightness (both figuratively and literally) of mind, body, and spirit.

Freed from tyranny of your unrealistic expectations, you will be able to relax and have more fun. Things you have dreaded doing in past will become enjoyable activities because you won't have expectations of perfection. Combined with your commitment to Go Extra Smile, you will find your use of food to calm and comfort yourself almost extinguished because taking yourself lightly helps you see yourself as, literally, less "heavy."

The third step in my Fun Factor Diet makes most dramatic difference in your actual eating habits. The employment of my Fun Commandment, Stay Focused, yet Flexible, keeps you grounded in moment, here and now, because it challenges you to give 100% attention to what you are doing right now. Staying Focused, yet Flexible provides dramatic weight loss breakthrough you've been waiting for because you entire paradigm of eating is about to change!

On Fun Factor Diet you Stay Focused, yet Flexible by not engaging in any other activity while you are eating. Activities that have commonly accompanied your eating are to be shunned while putting food in your mouth - including reading, watching television, or socializing at get-togethers. With exception of reasonable table conversation, eating becomes a focused activity for you, not connected with any other behavior because you are about to halt underlying cause of your weight gain.

Once you begin disciplining yourself to separate eating from all pleasurable and stressful activities with which you have associated it, you will discover a disturbing fact: you will be shocked by how much you've been using food as both a stress reliever and a pleasure enhancer. Your weight loss can be dramatic when you change your use of food from pleasure enhancement and stress relief to simple nourishment. You're ready for this change because, with first two steps, you've already begun to fill your emotional and spiritual void with fun rather than food.

This step of my Fun Factor Diet has two primary benefits: you become more acutely aware of your opportunities for fun away from food, which allows you to become even more effective at satisfying your emotional needs with fun, and by eating with full focus you increase enjoyment and appreciation for your food, which allows you to use food as nourishment rather than pleasure. When you combine having fun apart from food with getting greater enjoyment from food you are eating, you eat less food because you are no longer using it in a contrived and artificial fashion!

The final step in my Fun Factor Diet will make your weight loss permanent because it centers you in unique paradigm of lasting success. My Fun Commandment, Practice Wanting What You Have, Rather Then Getting What You Want, increases your awareness of gratitude because it stops merry-go-round of always needing "more" to feel satisfied. Ongoing gratitude for what you have has amazing benefit of making it possible to get and keep more of what you want.

We all make mistake of taking for granted things we truly value and focus, instead, on all things we want that we do not yet possess. This focus makes us desperate and puts conditions on our happiness, because our success never satisfies us and we only wind up needing more. If you ever want to have more fun in your life (as you're going to be doing on my Fun Factor Diet), you begin by counting blessings you already have because that will make your gains and achievements lasting and real.

Becoming adept at this portion of my Fun Factor Diet does two things: it continually reminds you of many gifts you've already been given and it decreases your appetite for those things you think you want will. Realizing that you have everything you need to be happy today eases stress of not having everything you want because all pressure is gone - you're already a success! The end result of this strategy is that you will not feel as empty, resulting in even less desire to fill your void with food.

Filling yourself up with gratitude is not a platitude, so to speak because it works in real practice. You eat in excess to fill an emotional and/or spiritual void, not because you are hungry; you eat too much to provide yourself with emotional comfort, fulfillment, and reassurance. The strategy of Practicing Wanting What you Have, Rather than Getting What you Want, actually fills this emptiness in a meaningful, lasting manner because your emotional appetite is satisfied by things that really sustain it!

Smiling fools your body and attracts socially fun attention, Taking Yourself Lightly releases you from tyranny of your unrealistic expectations, Staying Focused, yet Flexible teaches you to use food for nourishment rather than fun, and Wanting What you Have allows you to fill your emotional void with fun and gratitude rather than food. There you have it...my Fun Factor Diet. Welcome to a life free from weight worries!

By way, in one of his museums, P.T. Barnum found that he was having trouble getting crowds to leave once they had seen all attractions. So he devised a clever sign, elaborately lettered to draw as much attention as possible, which read "This Way to Egress"

Most of patrons expected to see some bizarre animal that Barnum had collected from one of far corners of earth when they followed sign through door. What they didn't realize, however, was that "Egress" is simply another word for "Exit." Funny...and true.

Today you begin your "egress" from excess weight and from all your worries surrounding it. Start using my Fun Factor Diet right now!

"I love this new eating plan because I can have so many tasty meals if I just make a few substitutions."

Ah, so human desire to avoid pain is alive and well. Analyze your thoughts:

1. Face fact squarely that dieting is not going to be a festive cruise through delicious and taste-tempting fodder. Yes, there are ways to make cottage cheese less chalky and spike vegetables with extra flavor. Later, when you reach your goal, you can start to indulge your epicurean creativity. For initial, drastic steps, you are going to have to seek fun and satisfaction in other pursuits while acknowledging that, for now, food isn't very exciting. Grin and bear it: less tempting your plate, easier it is not to overeat. Remember that you are trying to fight temptation not encourage it. 2. Be honest with yourself and don't try to circumvent your plans by relying on claims you know are false. If you are pursuing low carb eating, candy bars which claim to be "low carb" are not something you want to devour with abandon. Whole grain bread is nutritious but consuming everything in form of a sandwich will never result in reaching your goal. If your diet advises "Any amount from Column C," use your intelligence to see that it doesn't mean stuffing yourself completely, and often, even if your intake is limited to vegetables, protein, or whatever your plan allows. 3. While skipping meals can often cause problems, cutting out courses is usually totally beneficial. Who decreed that a meal should conclude with dessert? The goal is to curb that sweet tooth, not assuage it. Why mess with "low calorie" treats such as jello or fruit compote when you can skip dessert entirely and opt for a cup of freshly brewed coffee or green tea?

"This time, it's different. I really want to lose weight and look good in my clothes."

Have you ever heard yourself say that before? Consider a little personal introspection:

1. Why is this time different? When you tried to lose weight in past, weren't you as equally determined? What about your life is different this time? Is diet new and may work better than those you have tried in past? Have you become increasingly worried about what overweight may mean to your health and longevity? Are you newly single and feel that appearance is suddenly more important than enjoying fine dining? 2. Has your attitude about food changed? If you continue to think about food, watch television cooking shows (just looking for low calorie recipes, of course), and plan meals with anticipation, you are doomed. As long as you remain tied to American national infatuation with food, you will never really take control of your weight 3. Examine and modify your attitudes about food. Push eating into a non-dominant section of your overall lifestyle and maximize your pleasure in non-food pursuits. That is secret to regaining control of your weight, your health, and your ability to live a live without compulsions that have kept you a prisoner inside bloated body you detest.

Complete analysis of how you are going to set your goals and how you will handle requirements of "real life" is what can set your present effort apart from prior attempts, and prior failures. Successful long term weight control is more than what you eat, it is what you are.