Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels

"Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels."

I guess that phrase has been around for a while, but I heard it the other day for the first time -- read it in my friend Amanda's status update -- and I really like it, because that about sums it up.

Maybe you're not there yet. Maybe you think you need that cinnamon roll or that slice of birthday cake or that bowl of ice cream. Maybe those do taste better to you than skinny feels.

Maybe that is because you've forgotten how skinny feels.

I was skinny when I was in my 20s. I mean really skinny, like 110 pounds lighter than I was when my fatness peaked in my 40s.

But I'd forgotten how skinny feels.

As I gradually built up my fat stores over the years, I simply accepted my weight gain as an inevitable part of getting older. Thinness is a thing of youth, I thought. As we get older, we automatically gain fat. Look around? All old guys are fat, right?

That is true to some extent -- I am having a helluva time trying to lose these last pounds around the middle -- but the first 60 lbs sure as hell came off, and stayed off . While I am much more active now than fat Steve was, the vast majority of my success in fat loss is directly attributable to my change in dietary habits.

75% to 80% of our body composition is based upon what we put into it, so, we are, indeed, what we eat. Not literally, though. That is the mistake in logic that's been destroying Americans for 40 years. "Accumulated body fat causes all kinds of health problems," we are told, "so we need to stop eating fat."

The problem with that seemingly logical statement is that it's simply not true. The science never supported it. Officials jumped to the "dietary fat is bad" conclusion, and then, when the studies didn't support it, they were too embarrassed to 'fess up. So they stuck to their guns, and now the American people are overweight and diseased.

Fat consumption does not lead to higher levels of stored fat. It does not raise blood cholesterol or triglycerides.

The science has shown over and over that it's the sugars we consume that are much more likely to be stored as fat, which, in turn, raises our blood cholesterol and triglycerides.

(Don't take my word for it. It's all right here in science reporter Gary Taubes's book Why We Get Fat and What To Do About It.)

So what was the primary change I made to my diet to lose and keep 60 pounds off? I got off the sugar. If something was created to be sweet, I don't eat it. Period. No ice cream, no cupcakes, no Cinnabons.

And now, while I am not technically "skinny", I do know how it feels to be thin again. I no longer need those blood pressure meds I was prescribed. I no longer need that cholesterol med I was prescribed. I no longer feel aches and pains that I was pretty sure shouldn't be there. And I never want to go back to what I was.

Did I love that ice cream, those cupcakes, those Cinnabons? Yes. Do I miss them? No.

You know why? Because nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.