How I Lost More Than 10 Pounds in One Week

Losing 10 pounds is no easy task, especially in a social environment that encourages and pushes eating without regard to the type of food being put into the body. One thing I had to decide to do right out of the gate is to stop eating out at any sort of restaurant, especially fast food restaurants.

Some of these restaurants have plates the size of a 1972 Bonneville and are just loaded to the edge with all sorts of food that is not very good for maintaining health, let alone losing weight. Serving sizes in these places are just too big for most normal folks. The problem I had with these sit down family style restaurants was they would bring me exactly what I ordered, can you imagine?

My point is that you can pretty much get what you want, in the quantities you want and the wait staff is not going to give you any grief about it. They know that the eating experience is going to be better if they give you what you want, and a good experience means repeat business. So, it came down to me taking responsibility for my own weight.

Guess What, I Have a Weight Problem

That's the hard part of any diet for most folks, taking responsibility for your own weight. Nobody likes to stand in front of the mirror and say, "Hey, you're a big fat person." But sometimes that what it takes. I remember the 5-year-old daughter of a good friend just walked up to me one day, pointed at me and stated loudly to the world, "You're fat!" Ouch. She was right. I was fat.

It was time to get serious about weight loss and I needed a plan that would work for me. I consulted all sorts of people-dietitians, friends, doctors, even coaches. I didn't consult the accusing 5-year-old, I already knew how she felt about my weight. One thing I knew was that a weight loss plan had to work for me and it had to include some eating of favorite foods. There was no way I was doing that lemon juice water diet again.

Make a Commitment and Stick to it

I decided to do the Atkins® Diet for the first ten days anyway. I like to eat, I like the people who are around me when I eat, and eating is a part of all of my family's celebrations and get-togethers. I needed a diet plan that would work in just about any situation, any restaurant, anywhere. I was pulling buns off cheeseburgers and ordering big steaks with no potatoes or bread.

The thing with this diet is you can eat just about anything on a huge list of acceptable foods, and they are the foods I like to eat anyway, so that part was easy for me. Fatigue and a general feeling of being low on energy was a big part of the second and third days, but on the fourth day everything changed. I actually felt great and was even more committed to the plan.

I weighed myself on the end of the fourth day and I had already lost 7 pounds! Sure, it was probably mostly water weight, but it was still seven pounds and that was a triumph for me. Each day after that I lost one or two pounds daily and by the end of the week, I had lost a total of 12 pounds. Over the following weeks I continued with the plan and gradually introduced vegetables and some other things back into my diet.

Today, I still battle with my weight and sometimes I lose, but most times I win. The best thing is that I learned what worked for me to help maintain a healthy weight for the long-term. I would suggest that anyone wanting to lose weight should first make a commitment to lose weight, then make permanent change eating habits, and finally develop a plan that works to maintain healthy weight. That works for me, I hope you find a plan that works for you. Good luck.