Answer me this -- who says you're too fat?

Is it your husband or boyfriend -- that hulk over there on the couch with his gut hanging over his belt looking like a 40-lb sack of potting soil? Or maybe it's your wife or girlfriend who always wears a big, full shirt to disguise her belly that looks like she's about to pop out a baby any day now? Or is it your doctor whose white coat doesn't quite hide his rotund bod?

The Pru used to put out a chart that hung in every doctor's office next to the professional scale. Women were granted 100 lbs for the first 5' of height and 5 lbs per inch over that, with the recommendation that 10% underweight was best for you.  I was 5'5-1/2" and seesawed between 155 and 175 and had a miserable time trying to lose weight.  Everytime I saw my doctor (we were members of the same church), he reminded me to get my weight down to 115. Sort of like telling me to fly to the moon or walk on water. Back in the day, most Americans were slim. We tubbies stood out like the proverbial sore thumb. And now, they're telling us older people to keep a little extra padding on our bones so we'll have "reserves" when we are ill.

Then Weight Watchers came along (Bless you , Jean Nidetch!) My neighbor and I walked the 3-mile round trip to the meetings and paid our $5 a week to be talked out of eating so much. The first week, I lost 7-1/2 lbs and I felt so virtuous. Then my friend stepped on the scale and she had lost 15 lbs! I was devastated. I had starved myself and worked out with Jack Lalanne every day. She had eaten Italian food and drank wine with dinner. How she could lose twice as much as I did baffled me. Now I know. What she was eating is called now the Mediterranean Diet and it has proved to be THE way to go. Betty and I lost the same amount altogether (we each got a 40-lb pin) but she did it in half the time.

The reason it works so well is that it has MUFAs. Never heard of them? They are Mono-Unsaturated Fatty Acids, plant-based fats found in some of my most favorite foods -- nuts and seeds, chocolate (really!), avocados, olives and legumes -- and they target belly fat in particular. Rodale Press has a book out called Flat Belly Diet (Go to www.flatbellydiet.com). I'm on this diet right now and it's working like gangbusters! Nidetch was a lot more restricted but Betty used what was allowed to best advantage.

If you have some weight you want to lose, I recommend Flat belly Diet. But do it for you, not Mr. or Ms. Couch Potato.