How to Lose Weight

I’ve lost 100 lbs, going from 280 to 180. Because of this, a lot of people have been asking me for dieting tips. Here is everything I know. Or at least, everything I can remember right now and put into words.

I should mention right off the bat that the big secret to my weight loss was three years of therapy getting me ready for it. That sort of emotional exploration and growth was definitely a big factor in feeling strong enough and motivated enough to take this task on.

1. Before starting my weight loss plan, I got a physical from my doctor. I wanted to make sure I was okay. And when I reached my goal weight, I had another physical. Play it safe. Do the same.

2. Don’t think of it as a diet. Think of it as changing the way you eat. A diet implies this is a temporary thing, and that when you’re finished you’re going to drop the diet. When you drop it, you know exactly what’s going to happen – you’ll slowly gain all the weight back.

This isn’t temporary. Aim to change the way you think about food.

But don’t worry, you can still eat junk every now and then. What’s life without the occasional treat?

3. Go slow. It took you time to gain the weight, so it’s going to take you time to lose the weight. It took me over a year and a half to reach my goal weight. A realistic weight loss goal is to lose half a pound to 2 pounds a week. Anything more than that is a bad idea. If you are very overweight, you’ll find yourself losing a bit more than that at the start. If you’re closer to your ideal weight and just want to lose a few pounds, 2 lbs a week is probably too ambitious. Aim for half a pound a week.

4. The biggest key for me: write down absolutely everything you eat, no exceptions. Track those calories. And track whatever calories you burn through exercise. There are many great food logging websites out there, but my personal favourite is My Fitness Pal. This website made weight loss feel easy. It’s also available for the iPhone and Blackberry.

5. It’s all about the numbers – the average adult male needs 2,000 calories a day. (If you weigh more than that, you actually have to eat more to maintain your weight.) One pound of fat equals 3500 calories. Want to lose a pound this week? Run a deficit of 500 calories a day. That means the average adult male would have to eat 1500 calories a day to lose one pound in a week.

My Fitness Pal is the fuel gage I wish I’d been born with. It allows me to track the calories I burn, the calories I consume, and find that level I am aiming for. I used to be aiming to lose weight, now I’m aiming to maintain my current weight. I’ve logged everything I have eaten and all my exercise for over 550 days now.

My food diary is wide open, by the way. Feel free to take a look.

6. “Why don’t I just starve myself and lose weight fast?” If you eat too few calories, your body goes into starvation mode. Your body basically thinks you are dying and does everything it can to hold on to every single calorie. Your body will also eat your muscles in an attempt to hold on to that fat. You’ll discover that despite under-eating, the scale needle refuses to budge.

This is why eating slightly less than normal works – you’re tricking your body. It thinks everything is fine, when you’re really just eating slightly less than you should be -- just enough to keep your body from freaking out.

7. Exercise is great, but worry more about what you eat. Despite everything you have heard, weight loss is far more about the food you eat than it is about exercise and laziness.

“Oh, I worked out today, so I can eat more!”

This is true. You can eat more. But how many calories did you really burn in that workout? If you only burned 200 calories in that 40 minute walk, do you really deserve a 540 calorie Big Mac to celebrate? Unless you know the real numbers, you can’t make an informed choice.

I know this from personal experience. I went to the gym for months. I lost 20 lbs. And then nothing changed. I couldn’t figure out why my weight was stuck – even as I ate ice cream for dinner on a fairly regular basis.

On the other hand, I work out on my elliptical trainer and walk a lot (tracking my calories burned with a pedometer). This does allow me to eat more calories than most people. To maintain my current weight, most days I eat around 3500 calories.

8. Restaurants are dangerous. Most restaurants don’t tell you how many calories are in their food. If you have to guess, you’re probably guessing low. (Were those veggies soaked in butter?) Fortunately, some restaurants do provide calorie information. Ironically, most of these restaurants are fast food places. However, it’s quite possible to eat fast food and lose weight – so long as you accurately keep track of your numbers. I regularly allow myself a grande Starbucks soy latte, which is 170 calories.

9. Cheat. You’re allowed to cheat every now and then. One or two cheat meals a week is fair game. In fact, if you’re trying to lose weight, and you have been sticking to the rules closely, but aren’t losing weight – cheating can help. The occasional meal of extra calories lets your body know that you aren’t starving to death. Food is available! Don’t go into starvation mode!

But keep in mind food is primarily fuel. It’s not entertainment. It makes your body go. When you think of food this way, and limit your cheats to occasional celebrations, they actually become far more enjoyable. Cheesecake for dinner every day is boring. Cheesecake on a Friday night, to celebrate the weekend, actually tastes great.

10. Plan your meals ahead. On most days, you know where you’re going to be and what you’re going to be doing. Bring your food with you. Nuts, granola or protein bars, carrots sticks – get all of this stuff ready, enter it into your database, and know what your food day is going to look like. This make it much easier to turn down a coworker who offers you a donut. “No thanks! I’ve planned my food for the day.”

11. Water, herbal tea, diet soda, and sugar free gum can save you. Often I just want to taste something. These choices can give you a taste fix while adding zero or minimal calories.

12. Eating is banking and budgeting. Look at food and ask yourself, “Can I afford this food, calorie-wise?” Or, alternatively, “Am I willing to pay the calories this food is asking of me? Are there better caloric choices I would find more fulfilling?”

A large strawberry milkshake from McDonald’s is 560 calories. Which is (roughly) five and a half tablespoons of peanut butter. Or several pounds of carrots. Which is going to fill you up more?

13. Watch your protein levels. If you’re losing weight, you want to make sure you get enough protein, so your body eats fat and not muscle. I never would have imagined I’d become the kind of person who drinks protein shakes and eats protein bars. I am now such a person.

14. Go at your own pace, and up the ante with time. Maybe it’s all too much to swallow at once. So start your changes gradually. Eat a salad for lunch instead of a burger. Try keeping a food log without changing your diet, just to get a feel of where you are. Ease in slow. When you’re ready, add more effort.

15. If you screw up, don’t quit. “God damn it, I’m supposed to be eating healthy and I ate an entire bag of Oreo cookies. Screw this, I’m going back to eating nothing but junk food.”

A lot of people think this way. They’re trying to change, they do something “wrong”, and they quit. Don’t quit. You strayed. It happens. Just note that you made a mistake, and go back to trying. That bag of Oreos was a cheat meal. Don’t give up. You’re going to stray every now and then.

16. Be human. Allow self-soothing. I sometimes need food when I’m stressed. It calms me down. And I’ll allow for it. I check my calories – can I afford some candy calories right now? How many bonbons exactly? And then I’ll let myself have some sugar to take the edge off my stress.

If I can’t afford it, I’ll find some other way to de-stress – such as walking away for a break from whatever is bugging me. (Okay, it’s almost always work.)

That’s all I can think of for now. Hopefully it’s useful.

In future, I’ll write up a My Fitness Pal specific post, covering the various quirks of their system. It can be tricky.