I've been on a diet. In the past I haven't had much luck. It wasn't that I didn't lose weight. The problem was that nothing tasted good when Pepsi and corn chips were screaming my name. When I caved in to the cravings, the weight came back with a vengeance. I didn't follow any health gurus on that diet. I just avoided carbs. In fact I was sort of scared of food. Much later, after the twenty or thirty pounds I had lost plus another five reappeared as fast as it went away, I read that the real reason people on low carb diets lose so much weight is that they are dehydrated. They didn't lose fat, they lost fluids. Therefore the rapid re-gaining of weight.

That was before I heard of the Atkins Diet, or Whole 30, or the Paleo caveman diet, or the Keto diet.

I've graduated from an unacceptable pant size to an embarrassing one. My joke that I'm not overweight, I'm undertall just doesn't work.  "Ewe's not fat, ewe's fluffy" is even worse.  Just FYI: a ewe (pronounced you) is a female sheep.  

Now I'm trying a diet again. One where I keep track of what I eat and don't feel starved. I don't know what kind of success I'll have. It's hard to tell what websites are helpful and which are bogus. I've read daunting articles about physiological reasons why women over 60 can't lose weight. I'm confused about insulin resistance, leptins, inulin, ketones, and a host of other bodily functions I didn't know existed.

Overall, I'm a healthy person. I'm not diabetic or lactose intolerant. I don't have a problem with gluten. I have simply eaten my way into a woeful state. I will find out in time whether it is reversible.

One of the problems I've run into is not knowing the nutritional breakdown of recipes since I've also decided to avoid restaurants and cook at home. I've downloaded several recipe books with tasty looking concoctions, but the fats, carbs and proteins aren't provided. Bummer.

You can find anything on the internet. Right?  Well, here is a simple to use Recipe Calorie and Nutrition Calculator that analyses your favorite dishes. The percent of daily values apparently are obtained from government guidelines. Those on a Keto diet will ignore those recommendations.

There is a small commitment of time to input the recipe. After learning the order the program likes, it can be done very quickly.