Have You Tried These Weight Loss Tricks?

In her new book, The Little Book of Big Weight Loss, author Bernadette Fisers shares the 31 rules she followed to break a lifelong cycle of unsuccessful dieting. In this exclusive excerpt, she tells a bit of her story and reveals two crucial rules. It’s not fun being fat—or, to be politically correct, overweight. I should know. Once upon a time, I was seriously overweight too—in fact, I was massive. I’m a full-time working mom. Like many in the same situation, I was time poor and didn’t make myself a priority.

At my worst, I weighed over a staggering (and uncomfortable) 283 pounds. At 5’7” tall, that made my BMI a huge 41.8 percent. I was morbidly obese. To change things, I desperately needed to know what to do in order to drop weight and be healthy—fast. I was fat and getting fatter by the minute, as well as on the brink of diabetes, with hypertension (high blood pressure) and a fatty liver. My doctor was freaking out—and I don’t blame her.

I had read enough of the boring and expensive diet books that were 300 pages long but had only a couple of useful points in them. The bad news: obesity is a global health epidemic. The good news: there is a simple solution for many. The U.S. surgeon general states that obesity increases the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension and some cancers. 210 billion per year. I’m sure those billions could be used better elsewhere.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) the United States has one of the highest incidences of obesity in the English-speaking world, with a whopping 74.1 percent of the population either overweight or obese. The United Kingdom and Australia have very similar obesity figures. We have always been told to eat less and exercise more; for years, that has been the commonsense answer to losing weight.

But . . . We’ve also been told that it’s our fault we are fat— we’re “too lazy, too greedy,” or we don’t have the willpower, plus a barrage of other insulting stuff. That is also a big fat lie. Why are more of us obese than ever before? It’s obvious: we’ve been given the wrong advice. So stop putting yourself down and read this— I mean read it and absorb it— because this works .

Supermarkets are a minefield of sugary food and drinks—and unfortunately, the average shopper is misled again and again. How are you supposed to know what’s truly healthful when every second food product is labeled “diet” or “lite,” but will actually make you fatter? There are many false beliefs about what’s going to help. My method of weight loss costs nothing; it’s simply a shift in how you shop and eat. In doing so, I lost 66 pounds in thirty weeks. Pause while I high-five myself! I was uncomfortable. I was fat.

I was desperate for a long-term answer—and nothing was working. So I started reading and doing research, looking at recent medical studies on losing weight and asking the people I work with—mostly young, fit models—what they eat. I became my own guinea pig. When one weight loss technique worked, I found ways to boost it. I wanted to achieve the fastest weight loss possible without killing myself doing it.

A way of dropping the weight that would last over the long haul, as I had a lot of weight to lose. I wanted warp-speed weight loss. When you’re fat, you want the fat gone—preferably yesterday. I wanted the fat to stay off— permanently. This weight loss plan had to be something I could commit to for life. A lifestyle change for the better.

Individually, the techniques in this book are not new. But put together, just like combining hydrogen and oxygen to make water (H2O), they’re like magic. It’s this combination of techniques that creates superfast weight loss. And, as a by-product, improved health. I know you have a busy life, so this book is a condensed, quick read—simple ideas that work.

Big weight loss is mostly about the food. Exercise is important to a lesser extent—for me, it’s walking and, in summer, swimming. This year in a bikini . Here are two of the rules I follow every day. 3: I don’t drink fizzy drinks (soda) or fruit juices, ever. Such as: canned or bottled soda, iced teas and coffees or fruit juices in any form.

This is a really important rule for those who love sweet drinks. Sodas, iced teas, juices and some coffees are full of sugar and can make you fat. Don’t drink your way to fatness— it’s easily done. As an experiment, try to eat the equivalent amount of fruit that makes up a juice— say, five or six apples. You can’t. The fruit makes you full; that’s the fiber filling you up.

If we were meant to juice our fruits, I’m pretty sure they would have come with a straw attached—clearly they don’t. Sodas contain between 10 and 12 teaspoons of sugar per 12-ounce can, depending on which you choose. Iced teas can contain up to 12 teaspoons per 16-ounce bottle, and a Frappuccino contains about 10 teaspoons of sugar. Considering that I want to consume only about 3 added teaspoons of sugar a day, all these are definitely off the menu. The sugar-free diet ones are full of chemicals such as phosphoric acid, aspartame, potassium benzonate .

I don’t even know what they are, let alone want to drink them. Some people believe that there is nothing wrong with drinking a diet soda that contains zero calories. It’s really up to you whether or not you are happy to consume the chemicals. So I don’t drink any of them. Juices are full of fructose (sugar), without the benefit of the fiber that has been removed (the fiber is the good bit).

A typical glass of apple juice has 7.5 teaspoons of sugar, which is a lot! In short, juices have all of the sugar content (bad stuff) but none of the fiber content (good stuff). The fiber keeps your blood sugar stable and helps you feel much fuller. If your fruit is organic, try not to peel it; the peel contains a lot of fiber.

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