My Answer

You can achieve weight loss by limiting calorie intake or increasing calorie usage, so the calorie intake will be less than the body's need. If you reduce calorie intake by limiting the size of your portions, you won’t be able to feel satisfied and stick to the diet. The best solution, then, is to eat a large volume of foods with limited calories. These are foods containing a lot of fiber (low glycemic foods) and water, including non-starchy vegetables and fruits. Soups with lots of leafy vegetables will give you needed satiety and add to portion size without too many calories. To increase calorie usage, you have to increase metabolic rate and exercise.

So my answer is to emphasize regular exercise and focusing on improving your metabolic rate, and a diet with plenty of non-starchy vegetables and soups, ideally vegetable soups.

1) Regular exercise: Exercise is the single most important factor in sustaining long-term weight loss. Besides my regular exercise program, whenever I have a break I climb stairs, walk around the block, or do some pilates with a chair--instead of taking a coffee break with snacks (even healthy ones). Exercise suppresses your appetite and keeps your mind off cravings for food. Exercise is a positive activity: it makes you healthier, as well as look and feel better. Dieting is a negative concept: it restricts your eating behavior and deprives you from some of your favorite foods. Both exercise and dieting can help you to lose weight, so it is a good idea to build on the positive first.

It is very difficult and unhealthy to keep on reducing your calorie intake, but you can always do more exercise. The US Health Department strongly recommends that adults consume a minimum of 1200 calories per day. In general, dieting helps weight loss more in the beginning, but regular exercise will sustain the weight loss longer, and reduce future failure. Dieting, without exercise, causes more people to fail in weight loss than do diet combined with regular exercise. Actually, dieting without exercise might be harmful to your health, and the failure rate is extremely high. When people fail, they gain significantly more weight. Even they only gain back the weight previously lost, they will have more fat and their size will increase. Rarely, if they are successful--reducing their weight to the ideal BMI (body mass index)--they might lose so much muscle that they may be unhealthy, unfit or look anorexic. In other words, you don't want to be a skinny fat person who has slim body with weak muscle and high percentage of fat, and the foundation for chronic disease.

2) High water and fiber content foods and meals, and soups with lots of vegetables: Eat foods and meals contain a lot of fiber and water, such as fruits, vegetables, stews, hot-pots and soups. I prefer vegetable soups, and have them almost everyday. The water can add volume and weight to a meal without any calories. Vegetables will also increase portion size without too many calories. Portion control is not really necessary. That might be the main difference from most of other diet programs. Both fluid and vegetables will give you needed satiety and prevent hunger. Adequate fluid intake is necessary for maintaining a good metabolic rate, removing waste and excess salt. Unsweetened drinks can be used if soup is not available. Try not to depend too much on fluid alone to fill your stomach, because it empties quickly and you won't feel full for long.

3) Improving the metabolic rate: Increasing your metabolism will burn more calories. Strength training and building muscle mass are the best ways to boost your metabolism. An active lifestyle, more exercise, short bursts of strenuous exercise, eating a proper breakfast, small and frequent meals, the right timing and right kinds of food, and plenty of salsa, spices or hot peppers will all increase your metabolism.