The Step Diet

Can you really eat the foods you love and lose weight?

Review of The Step Diet. The hardest things about any diet include giving up your favourite foods and counting calories. When you have a great deal of weight to lose, it can be frustrating to know it will be months before you can enjoy those foods again, and for many people that means the end of attempting to lose weight.

My sister works in a bookstore part-time came across the Step Diet book one day during her shift. She knew I had been unsuccessfully trying to lose weight for years and thought it might be something that would help me. I asked her to pick the book up for me, and I began reading it with zeal.

The Step Diet has no forbidden foods although it does encourage consumption of whole grains and fruits and vegetables. The key is portion control—you eat the same foods you always ate but in portions that are at least 25% smaller.

In addition you develop the habit of walking 75 minutes daily by using a pedometer to measure your initial steps and increasing those by 500 steps while you built up to an ultimate goal of 10,000 steps daily. You begin the diet with a calorie count of around 2,000 calories and increase it as much as you like based on your activity level.

I thought the diet was perfect for me since I had trouble staying on any diet long enough to lose the weight I needed to lose. It wasn’t for lack of trying but rather because I became frustrated because I was forbidden to eat many of my favourite foods. I had never been on any diet that didn’t discourage me from eating many of the foods I loved, which was the reason I had never been able to lose weight.

I have to admit in the beginning this diet was difficult for me because I had to learn to eat less and exercise more. Once I began to develop a routine, it became easier. Since I work as a sales person in a department store, I already walk quite a distance every day—that made it easier for me to build up to higher levels in order to lose weight.

The diet was easy to follow, and I began losing weight the first week. For those who are looking for a quick way to lose weight, this isn’t it. What the Step Diet does is teach you portion control combined with walking. The key is when you eat more than what you should, you take extra steps in order to eliminate excess calories.

It is a complete lifestyle change that you will find easy to follow routinely. It took me about seven months to lose fifty pounds, and though that may seem rather slow, it was good enough for me. It has been about four months since I reached my goal weight, and I am maintaining it without any problem.

I continue to practice portion control and daily walking both in work and at home. For the first time in my life I am able to buy clothes in regular sizes instead of Plus sizes.

Review by Cynthia Portsmouth