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Diet Clouds

Things to watch out for in the Diet Sky such as Cumulus Grease Clouds and Cheese Strata Clouds.

Oh those Diet Clouds!  Whatever type they are, they work to overshadow your diet plan. Let's take a look at some of the most popular Diet Clouds:

Diet Thunder Clouds - These generally occur at a restaurant OR at Grandmother's house right before the dessert tray rolls by.

If the dieter ends up feasting rather than nibbling on the dessert tray, great drops of water may fall down the dieter's cheek afterwards. (Face cheek.) (Oh my, that was cheeky.)

The dieter should avoid these cloudy moments if at all possible while assuring that Grandmother doesn't become offended. There are methods of achieving such, particularly if she has a tiny Chihuahua; begging for scraps under the table - who happens to love his master's desserts. But no matter how tempting this 'solution' may be - resist as pet health is also quite important.

Cumulus Grease Clouds - These Diet Clouds are nothing more than giant puff balls - mounds of fluffy shortening that may consist of vegetables or animal fat. The dieter may feel comfortable beneath the umbrella of these clouds, but should not be snookered into a false feeling of security. These clouds go from friendly to bad in a flash.

These common food favorites tend to reside in this cloud group: donuts fried in a well of fat, fried chicken, fried mushrooms, fried onion rings, fast food fries, the Monte 'Crisco' Sandwich, and we'll mention donuts again - those that contain a white filling which is a mix of shortening and sugar.

Cheese Strata Clouds - Tall, wispy, tempting clouds that look gouda but are filled with the scent of limburger. Full blown cheese tends to be extreme in dietary fat content. For example, 1 cup of grated Colby cheese contains about 40 grams of dietary fat. One could easily place 1/2 cup of the cheese onto a hamburger to create a gourmet cheeseburger. Or one could easily add 1/4 cup to two tacos.

What about fast food cheese enchiladas? One typically contains about 350 calories and 20 dietary fat grams - more than half of those derived from saturated fat. Fast food cheese enchiladas also contain almost 50 mg of cholesterol and close to 1,000 mg of sodium content.

Rosa's Cafe has some boss-tasting cheese enchiladas. Their recipe contains 300 calories per enchilada and 21 dietary fat grams. But their chicken enchilada contains 1/2 the calorie amount at 150 calories and 6 dietary fat grams. For beef - 170 per enchilada and only 8 dietary fat grams.

When dining out OR at home and a lot of cheese is on the menu, then be very careful of your choices and of how much you consume as calories add up swiftly. And don't even think about adding full blown sour cream to your selection.

Cloudless Diet Sky - This indicates a clear, cloudless Diet Sky in which the dieter has reached total Diet Contentment. They have chosen a weight loss plan that meets all their nutritional, emotional and physical needs.

Diet Rain Clouds - Similar to the Diet Thunder Clouds. However, Diet Rain Clouds generally occur in the pre and post diet phases.

Let's face it - no matter how lightheartedly that we try to make losing weight to be, being overweight hurts. The dieter may think, "I don't want to be fat. I just want to be normal. Why do I have all this weight to lose? How did I gain so much weight?" These are all very common thoughts to the troubled dieter.

Once the tears are dried, the dieter should move forward towards their weight loss goals with an intensity that was previously unmatched. They must want to lose the weight and they must feel very strongly about achieving their weight loss goal. If not, it's just too easy for the diet to be discarded for the nearest roasted turkey leg served with a side of fried onion rings.

So while it's totally okay to cry - once done, the tears must be wiped away and the dieter must charge forward - fierce and noble and intent on conquering those unwanted pounds.

Diet Cloud 9 - When Weight Loss Bliss is realized. And who doesn't want to be on Cloud 9?

You can certainly get there. Just keep your motivation and keep on track with your weight loss plan and goals. Losing weight takes a bit of time but the rewards are certainly worth the wait.