No drugs. No diet gadgets. Just lost another 10, so I changed the figures from 40 - 50. Updated paragraph at the end.

      I remember that years ago, a man friend of mine dropped about 20 pounds in no time. Well, actually it took about two months. He told me he drank a full glass of water both before and after meals. The water not only filled him up so he wasn't so hungry, it helped flush the food through his system. And water's good for you, so it was a beneficial thing.
    That was one way; another was to leave some food on your plate, which is hard when you were raised by a mother who kept yelling, "People overseas are starving. Eat all of your food." My family name was Loubengeiger. German. Anyone under 180 pounds was wasting away. Sheesh.
     All kidding aside, leaving some food behind is one way of eliminating calories. It's a slow process, but hey, it took years to flesh out the body. You don't need to lose it overnight. Taking your time will help keep it off.
     I also work out with hand weights (5 to 10 pounders in each hand) and do aerobics at least three nights a week for a half hour at a time. It used to take an hour, but the longer I work out, the faster it goes. The body gets more limber.
     So far I've lost 50 pounds and kept it off. I'm more conscious of the foods I eat. I still buy cookies or bake cookies, but no cake. Cake is a killer on weight although there are times I would've killed for chocolate cake. Now I buy a lot of fruit which fills you up and takes away that urge for a late night snack. It also serves as an after dinner desert when mixed with jello. And it's filling.
     I'm not trying to start a trend here. I'm seriously worried about the claims in the diet medication. One is a fat burner, another speeds up your thyroid. What in the name of God do these pills do to your body overall? I have an underactive thyroid. Do I want to speed it up? Hell no. Docs told me years ago to leave it be. Especially after one doctor's wife had her thyroid removed. Now she NEEDS thyroid pills.
     Anything that's natural is a lot better than pills and gadgets. I work out my whole body with just hand weights. No stair climber. My washer and dryer is down in the basement, so I climb enough stairs loading the washer, going back for the dryer. Load after load. I also don't have a thigh squeezer, the one Suzanne Summers sold and recently termed in an article a "stupid little gadget."
     I don't want muscles like Popeye. I just want to lose weight and firm up. Consumers should honestly stop spending a billion a year on pills and another billion on gadgets. The one thing I detest hearing is: no need to exercise. OK. Kill your heart and other organs. I believe they eventually weaken from lack of excercise. So what these salesman are saying is: "sit and stuff your face to your heart's content, don't exercise, and use our pills."  Billions a year for that. Please stop it and start being sensible about weight loss.
     If you have another good idea for losing weight without pills and gadgets, drop me a line and I'll add it here.
 

Update 06/18/06

Here it is two years later and I've not only kept the weight off, I lost about ten more pounds. Once you start losing it without pills and gadgets advertised on TV, don't tell yourself you can pig out and always take it off starting next week. As people fighting constant weight gain, we know next week never comes. Some people lose ten and add twenty.
A lot of what you do is your way of thinking about your weight--next month I'll look better. Sure if you keep doing it the natural way and keep losing weight. But if you pretend to yourself that you can blow a diet and start up later, it's only a myth. Now is what counts. Plus, think of the benefits of exercise. Not doing it to death and burning your muscles. But starting out about ten minutes every other day until you work up to a half hour or an hour is the best idea. A lot of people claim they have manual jobs or women, for instance, claim they do housework: that's enough exercise.
However, bear this in mind: when you workout you're using muscles you never knew you had until you go too far and burn one. Take my word for it.
I'm not on a crusade here. I just wonder when people lose 160 pounds with pills, what happens when they stop taking the pills? Do they gain it all back within a short time? Do they suffer withdrawals from stopping the pills? What happens to them? A lot get on TV and claim they kept it off. Sure, with maintainence pills. So after spending a fortune to lose weight, once you reach your goal you figure that's it. Wake up. You need pills to keep it off. So it's a lifetime committment of taking diet pills.
There's a complete gym system in one piece of equipment being sold on TV. I think everyone knows the commercial. "I'm a 51-year old grandmother and have never looked better in my life." Just remember two things: one, if you buy it, how long will you use it? Will it gather dust after a month or so? Two: she's getting paid to do those commercials so it's to her benefit to keep looking good.
Get a workout tape you can do at home. Or better yet, if there's a gym nearby and you can afford it, join. Otherwise do it yourself at home. But for heaven's sake, do it. Don't take those dangerously, expensive pills.
BTW: I don't spend all of my time watching TV. Just a few hours at night. However, with all of the diet pills being sold by one company or another, that's long enough to get inundated.


Update 11/16/06

The latest thing being heavily advertised on TV (no pun intended) is Kirstie Alley and her Jenny Craig. Kirstie looks great. She's lost 75 pounds. Great. What happens when she starts eating normally again? Will those pounds come pouring back? Or will she have to buy a monthly supply, plus a one week bonus, from her Jenny to keep it off. $297 or something like that a month for the rest of your life to keep those 75 pounds off, Kirstie. And do you exercise? I wonder.