The last diet I tried cost me ten pounds. Not pounds as in "British currency", no, it was pounds as in "I gained ten pounds on the diet." And it wasn't some kind of weirdo "eat a cake a day" diet. The diet was perfectly sensible and well balanced. It was the dieter who was not.

Because I became obsessed with food, started eating chocolate icing from the can, and then paid thirty dollars a week to vehemently deny this to my diet counselor, I decided to forgo any future diets, and instead to focus on exactly how the thin people that I knew stayed so slender.

The obvious choice for a role model was my friend Ellen. Friends since the fourth grade, we've gone through all the size changes that accompany girlhood: childhood, adolescence, pregnancy and beyond. A quick look through my old photo album would reveal a round-faced blonde just barely squeezing into a large pair of bell-bottoms and a Miami U. t-shirt. That was Ellen in college, at her heftiest, after four years of dining hall buffets and beer-fueled Thursday nights uptown. Fast-forward to several years out of school, and the photos show a slender version of the same blonde. That was twenty-five years ago, and Ellen has stayed slim ever since with a firm commitment to NEVER, EVER diet.

Instead, Ellen has employed several other strategies for staying thin. First and foremost, she does not get on the scales. Never weighs herself; isn't even curious. It's a slippery slope to start obsessing about a pound or two in either direction. The panic of an added ounce will drive anybody straight to a Little Debbie. Ellen's happy as long as her size four jeans still fit.

In addition, she's a firm believer in the "eat your calories" adage. Her beverage of choice is water with a lemon garnish. High calorie beverages like alcohol and soda pop rarely cross her lips. Not only does this save calories, it prevents the food cravings that are often actually thirstiness in disguise.

And diet drinks are absolutely out of the question. Ellen always says "every heavy person I know drinks gallons of diet pop, so it can't be good." Indeed, scientists are linking the consumption of diet drinks to increased obesity.

Also, Ellen never lets herself get too hungry, and she always ensures that healthy food choices are available, because she takes them with her wherever she goes. Every morning she packs a small cooler with supplies: apple slices, carrots, cheese and crackers, yogurt, raisins and almonds. When she's hungry, she grabs a snack, so that at mealtime she's never starving. Consequently, she doesn't overeat.

So how did incorporating these strategies work for me? Well, first I lost the ten pounds I'd packed on during the diet. Then, I started packing a cooler and consequently dropped a pants size. I no longer obsess about food, won't step on the scale, and when I make a cake, the icing actually goes on the cake and not down my throat. Plus, I've saved a chunk of change by drinking water instead of pop, and even more from firing my diet counselor.