Eating Popcorn to Lose Weight (Last Installment in This Series)

A great way to lose weight is to eat popcorn—provided that relatively little butter is used. I count calories whenever I want to return to my ideal weight, and I am thankful that I can eat fairly large quantities of popcorn and not rapidly increase my calorie count. I always popped my corn in a copper-bottomed saucepan with a lid until the day when friends gave me a popper with a crank that can be turned to spin the corn. I used that popper so much that I wore it out!

My Back to Basics Brand Popcorn Popper

I went online to purchase another one, and I found that there are heavier poppers. I bought the Back to Basics stainless steel, stove-top popper, and I am delighted with it.

Here’s how it works.

I slice a patty from a stick of salt-free butter. The thickness of the patty is about a quarter of an inch. I toss the patty in the bottom of the popper. Next, I add a half cup of popcorn. I close the lid, turn the burner on high, and begin to crank, keeping a steady pace, not too fast, not too slow. After less than two hundred spins, the popcorn pops, and, when the popping slows down, I take the popper off the burner and pour the fluffy corn into a big bowl. I immediately salt the corn. As I am concerned about consuming too much salt, I use only enough salt to give me the salty taste without dumping salt on my corn. For some people, my popcorn probably would not be salty enough, but I am accustomed to it and find the saltiness just right.

My popper does a much better job of popping the corn than I could do with a saucepan.

Once in a while, I splurge and add a tablespoon of bacon fat along with the patty of butter. Bacon fat? Why, yes! A clerk at the local supermarket suggested that I try bacon fat when popping corn, and I thank her for the idea. A tablespoon is just enough to give the popcorn an indescribable richness without tasting too much like bacon. It is the popcorn taste that I am after, after all—not bacon flavor!

The websites that dictate how many calories are in a popper full of popcorn may be in error, or it may be that they do are not following my method of using only a small amount of butter to cook my corn. I am convinced that their calorie counts are far too high. In my experience, eating popcorn is almost like eating a food that does not contribute to weight gain. 

Losing Weight by Counting Calories

Twice in my life, I have made it my goal to lose weight, and I have succeeded both times. How have I managed to drop a significant number of pounds? You might say that I’ve done it the old-fashioned way: by counting calories.

Losing Weight by Counting Calories

I limit myself to a daily calorie amount that is substantially under the number of calories that a person of my age and size is supposed to be able to consume without gaining weight. Google a phrase such as “how many calories can I eat to maintain weight,” and you will find plenty of sites that will help you select a number.

Next, I adhere strictly to my low calorie count. I make up my mind that I will feel hungry for the first day or two. My fattened body sends signals that I should be eating more than I am, and I have to ignore the messages, which come in the form of wanting snacks.

When I am unable to resist, I snack on popcorn that I have popped on the stove so as to limit the amount of fat to the smallest amount necessary.

I also must steel myself to the fact that others will try to get me to eat more than I should. For some complex reasons that are beyond me to explain, some friends want to push food onto my plate whenever I have made the decision to lose weight. I am firm with them: “No, all I really want is this salad; no, I am not having dessert; and, no, I do not want a fruity cocktail.”

I exercise regularly. My author friend Eleanor Y. Stewart and I walk 5.2 miles three times a week, and, on many of the days in between, I ride a bike from 7 up to 12 miles. Walking and riding alone will not help a person drop unwanted weight, but, in conjunction with counting calories, such exercise can help the weight to come off quickly.

I also work a half hour of calisthenics into three days per week. I go online to read about age-appropriate exercises that I can readily do to stay in shape, and I will not perform exercises that I feel are going to be harmful eventually. I want my calisthenics to be simple, easy, and free of pain: just enough to keep my muscles responding to what I need them to do each day.

I seek to eat a balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, and meats while avoiding white sugar and white flour. Essentially, I avoid breads, desserts, and anything that has white sugar as a main ingredient. I am not recommending my diet to anyone; after all, people have vastly different dietary needs. I can tell you only that my diet works for me.

On both occasions that I have counted calories to lose weight, I have lost over fifty pounds, and I have kept the weight off for most of my life. Another way of saying the same thing is that I have been slender far more years than I have been pudgy.