Top Ten Things I learned from You on a Diet

I find "You on a Diet" one of the more unique diet books out there, in that it focuses not on the usual aspects of dieting like food, calories, exercise, and sheer willpower, but on the biology and chemistry behind the gaining and losing of weight. And it is written in layman's terms complete with cartoon drawings which, therefore tells you that this is for the common man.

Here are some of the things I learned from it so far:

10. Waistline is a better indicator of your progress -- or lack of it -- of dieting than your weight. When you lose weight, you might actually be losing muscle mass instead of fat.

09. The state of mind is half the battle. Food is the common way to combat stress, but this leads to an endless cycle. Fat Bastard in Goldmember said "I overeat because I'm sad. I'm sad because I overeat." Sounds familiar? That's why the more stressed you are, the bigger your wasteline.

08. Never get hungry! Two reasons: One, in starvation mode, the body uses less of the stored energy, aka your fat. Two, you are less likely to overeat. So don't skip meals!

07. When you feel an empty stomach, drink a glass of water first. If the hungry feeling goes away, it's actually thirst that your brain -- through bad habits, or other external factors -- interprets as hunger, which therefore tells you to eat.

06. Watch what you eat. Focus not only on reducing intake of bad cholesterol, but also on increasing intake of good cholesterol. Good cholesterol HDL helps clear the body of bad cholesterol LDL, which can only mean a good thing.

05. Walk at least thirty minutes a day. Walking is good. Do we really need to explain? Just do it, okay?

04. Muscle cells burn more calories than fat cells. Therefore, bigger muscles means lesser excess calories to worry about. So work out those biceps! :)

03. Swing diet is bad. Period. When you sum it up, chances are, you gained more weight. So do whatever it takes to prevent you from swinging.

02. Keep your hands busy. If not, you're hands find something else to do -- such as opening that candy bar which miraculously appeared inside your pocket! Turns out that playing video games tend to keep you from eating.

01. Like exercise, good sex makes you feel less hungry. The pleasure center of the brain that says you enjoyed sex is the same part that says your stomach is full; doing either satisfies it. Therefore, after sex, you are less likely to eat. Ergo, less calories that takes up residence on your belly!

Hope you're learning and enjoying at the same time while reading this.