Tanya Alvino from New York

Around the peak of the low-carb dieting craze in 2000, I decided that I had had enough of being overweight and very unhappy with how my body looked. I am 5'4" tall and weighed about 180 pounds at that time. I managed to convince myself that the basic scientific principles behind the low-carb diet were more or less accurate: If you keep blood sugar levels low, you prevent the release of insulin which in turn will limit the ability of your body to convert excess sugars into store fats. Following the diet very strictly over the course of 2 years allowed me to lose nearly 60 pounds, most of which was body fat. I was skinnier than I had ever been in my entire life and I loved it. At the same time, research began to circulate on the negative long-term side effects of such an unbalanced diet. But due to the fact that I loved being skinny, I was able to ignore or dismiss most of those findings. My best friend said, "I know that you have achieved your goal of being skinny, but I want you to know that I am very concerned about the negative side effects of your low-carb diet. I want you to stop. I want you to be healthy and eat a sensible diet." She went on to point out the latest research findings, the fact that a calorie controlled well-balanced diet would still allow me to be thin without going to such extremes. I agreed. Then I changed. I used various on-line tools to estimate my recommended dialy calorie intake (now around 2250 calories per day). I spread my meals out a bit - five a day instead of 3. I changed the types of foods that I ate to follow a mixture of the 'Mediterranean' diet. I now get the majority of my calories from vegetables, whole grains and fruit. I keep a food journal, and I count my calories. I am happy, I am healthy and I am in this for the long term!