The Secret to Making Your Skinny Jeans Fit

There are two little words standing between you and your skinny jeans, and they're not "chocolate" and "fries." They're "if only."

As in: If only you had the willpower to step away from the mayonnaise. If only you could stop after four Pringles or one 100-calorie package of cookies. If only you had the power, the strength, the discipline, to control your waist, then you'd finally have the body you want.

Ultimately, you blame your mind for not being strong enough to win over your waist. The problem, though, isn't that your mind is weak, but that it's too strong. Too addicted to the fat, sugar, and salt that are everywhere around you.

To drop pounds, you need to stop blaming your willpower and start changing your environment. In a perfect storm, the boats that survive and sail again aren't the tough ones -- they're the ones that know enough to get to a different environment.

So when it comes to food, you need to create a new environment for yourself; one in which eating becomes automatic. By automatic, we don't mean open the bag of chips and automatically eat the whole thing. We mean for a few meals a day, take away the millions of food choices you're usually presented with. Eat essentially the same meals for breakfast, lunch, and snacks, and change up the options for dinner. By decreasing the variety of foods, you'll be decreasing the risk of bad choices and cravings -- and you'll sail right into those favorite jeans.

Published on 04/28/09.