How I Lost 60 Pounds and Kept it Off

When I was young, I could eat as much as I wanted whenever I wanted and never gain any weight. My diet was not particularly healthy. I ate fast food, plenty of sweets, and very few fruits and vegetables. I didn't experience any particular dietary problems, so I had no incentive to alter my eating habits. When I turned 30, however, things began to change.

I began to gain weight for the first time in my life. I tried to be a little more active, and that helped, but I did nothing to change my diet. When I turned 42 in October of 2009, I weighed 253 pounds, almost 100 pounds more than I weighed when I was 21. I had tried losing weight a few times before, but I would get down about 10 or 15 pounds and then give up.

At the beginning of 2010, my wife informed me that she was going to try to lose weight, and I said I would support her by eating the same foods she did. I didn't expect to have a great deal of success, but after the first month of eating the low calorie foods she was buying, I had lost 15 pounds with virtually no effort. I decided that if it was that easy to lose 15 pounds, I would make an effort to reach my ideal weight(which for my age and height is 193 pounds). Here is how I did it:

I only ate when I was actually hungry. There are plenty of reasons to eat that are not beneficial: Boredom, stress, you're with others that are eating, there's just a little left in the package so you might as well finish it off, etc. When eliminated all the unnecessary reasons and only ate when I was hungry, I found that I was not actually hungry as much as I thought I might be. I could eat a reasonable amount two or three times a day and be satisfied.

When I was hungry, I ate something. In my opinion, any diet that attempts to get you to do something other than eat when you are hungry is going to fail. Sure, meditation, walking, or any other diversion to keep you from thinking about food has its place, but when you are hungry you have to eat something. If you keep resisting your appetite, sooner or later you will weaken and eat more than you should. I chose food that was low calorie, healthy, and reasonable in portion size. Some of my favorite snacks included almonds, lite yogurt, salads, and fruits.

If you think that salads and fruits aren't something you can do, I know how you feel. I was never a big salad or fruit eater either. Fortunately, I found that once I made myself start eating them, I began to crave them. Not only did I begin to crave lower calorie, healthy foods, but I began to lose my cravings for unhealthy stuff like fried foods, pizza, and milk shakes. In fact, I can no longer eat that kind of food. It gives me terrible cramps and diarrhea.

So I ate only when I was hungry, and then only reasonable portions of healthy, low calorie foods. The next thing I did was to drink a lot. I drank lite fruit juices and diet sodas. I know that these are not the healthiest choices in the world, but they are a good way to put something in you to ease your hunger.

I also began taking walks with my wife. At first I didn't walk very far, but now we go for walks of about three miles about four times a week. What kind of activity you engage in is unimportant, so long as you do something. If you like beating up a punching bag with a picture of your boss on it, cool. Just remember the best exercise is not necessarily the one that burns the most calories, is big with celebrities, or is what all your friends are doing. It is the one that you will actually do regularly.

I reached my goal of 193 pounds at the end of May and have been successful in keeping it off. I feel much better and have enjoyed the extra energy and being able to fit into clothes that I have not been able to wear for years. Everybody is different, so don't expect everything I have incorporated to work for you, but if you at least cut out unhealthy food you will being doing yourself a great service even if you do not lose a lot of weight.