How I Lost Weight Fast

There are literally thousands of weight loss diets out there. Atkins works for some, The Palio Diet works for others and then there is South Beach, the Mediterranean Diet, Dr. Michael Eades and Mary Dan Eades with Protein Power, Dr. Joel Furhman with Eat to Live, The McDougal Diet, Dr. Dean Ornish, the Barry Sears Zone diet, and, the Glycemic Index Diet. Oh did I mention the old Weight Watchers, the New Weight Watchers and the even newer Weight Watchers Diets, Herbal Magic and others?

The weight loss diet industry seems to have aligned themselves into several diet categories as far as I can see. The current food pyramid but less of it to promote weight loss, a modification to the food pyramid based on someone’s research or gut feeling about a way of eating, an eat all you want diet like Atkins which promises so much, and unscientific diets like the cabbage soup diet which while unsound nutritionally will work due to calorie deficit. There is one other whacky category of heretical diets like The Ice Cream Diet and the Sex Diet.(“grab a mate instead of a plate”) (Hmmm. Can I be on the Ice Cream Diet and the Sex Diet simultaneously?)

So let’s set all of the above noise aside. I would like to interject some of my own very unscientific but seeming logical ideas and methods of losing weight and losing weight and in a way that won’t break the bank either.

Your individual motivation to lose weight has to be your number one reason to start losing weight. Steely resolve and determination of an army general who needs to win a war are the key words of the day. Most people on long duration slow loss diets will lose their motivation and quick weight loss should be a goal. Have you heard many people say “I lost 20 pound over the year?” A quarter or half a pound here and there won’t do it for me. Dramatic results are up at close to a half a pound or more a day. That sustains motivation because of more immediate feedback. I lost weight once when I was asked to help look after an older gentleman with a cardiac condition at his winter home in Florida. All I could do is think of my spare tire on the beach while I would look longingly at the beach bunnies as these beautiful women passed me by for Mr. Taut Abs. It caused me to lose 65 lbs in 80 days. Then this older gentleman became too sick to go. Oh well I had now 8 inches off my waist and I was now at 34 inches. I noticed other benefits like that girl from high school now kept saying hello to me too!

So my immediate motivation was the need to look better fast. The longer term motivation was from weighing myself and seeing steady and notable progress. If I had to decide that at the end of the week that the scale said one half pound difference I would always wonder about the time of day weighing myself and the position of the scale on the floor. One of the best motivators for me was when one of my coworkers did a double take and then jokingly asked me if I had a tape worm! People saw me losing and it was notable.

Consider what your motivation is. Are you getting married in a few months and want to look better at your wedding? Are you tired after cutting the grass and think your health is at risk? Have you recently gone through a break up and want you look your best to your dates? Are you tired of being the largest person in the room and feel the need to look better professionally? You decide. But in making your decision to lose weight remember that it has to be a burning desire that will see you through to the end of the diet phase of your weight loss plan.

Find an easy to follow and nutritionally sound diet. Consider what a water fast is. Is it easy? Yes the only thing on it is water. Is it nutritionally sound? Maybe for a day or two but no one would say that any fast without medical supervision is sound.

There are so many medical doctors, nutrition researchers and medical writers that encourage their own version of the food pyramid that all I can tell you is to read up on what they say and try to make sense of it. Does it stand to reason that dietary fat doesn’t make you fat? White carbs are good or bad? Fruit is good or no good? It’s really hard to make sense of it all. I do believe that there can be variations on the food pyramid however. Just like there are no two people alike, the same the eating formula can be a bit different for all of us as well. Similarly no one’s activity level matches another so it is important to add that into the equation as well.

My personal experiences have taught me that my body seems to react well to a protein and complex carb diet without too many fats. Go with what works for you.

My most successful dieting was simply boring and boringly simple. Breakfast consisted of a boiled egg in the morning along with one half a slice of dry brown (wheat) toast. Celery was my morning and afternoon snack. I had a boiled egg at lunch with a tomato and for dinner a small piece of chicken, cottage cheese and broccoli. My evening snack was a stalk or two of celery and cup of decaf coffee. I could switch things up at dinner with a small piece of other meat or even an occasional hot dog and maybe substitute a salad for broccoli. Overall I was eating 6 meals albeit small meals a day including snacks and my total caloric intake totalled about 700-800 calories. The job I had at the time was somewhat physical and most weeks of dieting and physical activity lead to a 5-7 pound loss.

There is no middle ground with you or your family, friends and coworkers. You, your family and friends are either with you or against you. We either are enablers to your fattening or enablers to your weight loss. Does that co-worker who offers you a bite of her chocolate when she knows you are dieting really like you? When you go to visit family and they are serving huge loads of buttery and gravy laden potatoes are they helping you?

I want you to consider yourself as an addict. If you had a family member who was a recovering alcoholic would you keep liquor in front of him all day long? Would your family and friends keep pushing drinks on him? Food obsessions are even worse (for me at least) I can totally abstain from alcohol but no one can totally abstain from food for any length of time. So if you, your family and friends finally acknowledge food as a problem maybe you can get the right conditions for your weight loss to occur.

Don’t alienate your friends and family except as a last resort and only if your problem is severe. Many people will not understand your need to lose and will want to give you some relief from a diet. They are well meaning but detrimental to your efforts. One of the best ways to change a person’s behaviour is to quietly take them aside so they won’t be embarrassed and explain how hard it has been for you to lose weight and how they can help.

It can go something like this: “Mom I really do enjoy your mashed potatoes and gravy but I have to lose some weight. When I am at work I noticed that I am the biggest person there. My clothes no longer fit and eating your delicious food will make me feel good now but later when I look in the mirror and when I hear everybody at work talking about a clothing sale or worse yet when I overhear my coworkers talk about me it really hurts. I love your food so much that I don’t have the ability to control my portions. You might find it flattering that I take seconds but I can’t be tempted by it. Please next time make less so I can’t have so much” (or put in here whatever action you want your mother to take)

Reinforce your mother’s behaviour the next time you see her by saying “Thank you mom for not making those mash potatoes. My diet has been a real struggle and you’re now helping me to be happy.”

While I’m on the subject of family support and enablers have you ever seen those shows where the unfortunate person has to have the house cut out from around them and the fire department have a team lift (or drag) to get them to a heavy duty ambulance and taken to a hospital? If these people in this unfortunate situation are these big they didn’t get that way on their own. These are classic cases of enabling. Some family member feels the need or can’t say no to the person who immobile and morbidly obese. These are extreme cases but I have to wonder what the motivation was to keep feeding the bedbound person.

Use your time on the rapid weight loss portion of your diet to research your transition to a more moderate method of eating. One of the biggest problems of leaving rapid weight loss is not having a plan for afterwards. Menu planning, calories, fat, protein should be become part of your vocabulary and you need to become well versed in the subject of your own health. I have read enough diet books and articles that I know there is no magic bullet and truly knowledge is power. Having a plan on transitioning to a less restrictive diet is the key to long term success. Some of the topics to include in your plan might include a visit to a dietitian, understanding portion sizes, smart shopping tips, menu planning, and comparing and substituting food choices, and, acceptable meals outside the house.

When it comes time to start transitioning you will know that you can add what foods and how much to your eating plan. You will plan your menus and shopping lists, keep unwanted or unhealthy foods out of your fridge and cupboards. And you will achieve overall long term success.

Dieting is never easy if rapid weight loss is needed. It’s important to have a strong reason to lose, a support system in place that will help you. Remember that no matter what any weight loss guru says about not counting calories and eat all you want there still needs to be a calorie deficit. Remember too that your family and friends will not have the same burning desire that you have. The fact that you want to lose weight will be only incidental to whatever else is going on in the family. You will be out shopping or seeing an event and your spouse will blurt out to the kids “Who want’s go to ­_(insert burger joint here)__?” Your spouse did not mean to thwart your efforts and don’t admonish him or her for it. Simply pick the best choice on the menu and eat a portion controlled amount. A salad with chicken, no fries or croutons, and a bottle of water or two can be satisfying and your spouse may start getting the message that some restaurants may not fit in with your dietary needs.

Have a strategy for the times you feel peckish. Know how many ounces are in your soup ladle, be able to judge calories based on portion size (for instance a regular chicken breast may have about 280 calories but a large one might be around 320 calories.)

So wake up every day determined to shed pounds