Lose Weight - The Fast Food and Beer Plan

I am certainly not going to be featured in any Calvin Klein ads anytime soon, but I am extremely proud of the weight I have lost. As a nation we keep spiraling toward higher weights and unhealthy eating habits. The sad thing is, we are losing a battle of common sense against ourselves.

Starting the day after Mardi Gras I decided to observe the season of Lent. This represents the forty day period before Easter that Jesus spent in the desert being tempted by Satan. Many religions observe this season by eliminating a vice in their life. In the past I have chosen one thing to abstain from for the duration but this year I went all out.

I am 6'3" tall and twenty-four years old. If you check at the doctor's office, I should weigh between 195-210 pounds. Personally, I think those charts a bunch of crap and do not intend to live by them. Before the start of Lent, I weighed around 240 pounds. Everyone told me I looked fine because my height can often hide the extra weight I am carrying.

I decided to get very serious about Lent and refrain from eating and drinking many of the indulgences we all like. I completely cut out all fast food, any junk food (chips, cakes, etc.), and drank nothing but water. This sounds like it would be very hard to do, but I still ate meals that I wanted and whatever size portions I wanted.

The hardest part of the entire diet was cutting out everything but water. I am addicted to sweet tea and that is usually what I give up for Lent. By cutting out everything but water I realized that I was cutting out thousands of calories that I get from tea and soft drinks in a given week. I drink a lot of water, especially at work, but to switch entirely to water for forty days was quite an adventure.

I also cut out beer for the duration. I am not a heavy drinker by any means but just by cutting out the roughly six beers I would drink throughout a week I was able to cut out over 700 calories a week. I never really thought about the number of calories in a single beer but with 110 calories in the average light beer, the numbers add up quickly.

Fast food is something that has haunted me since I bought my own house. Since I am living by myself it is really easy to stop in the morning and a get a biscuit on the way to work and then stop and get something on the way home. I enjoy cooking but doing it for just one person can be rather difficult. I was eating fast food about 10 times a week and the pounds slowly started to pack on.

During the forty days I saved a small fortune on food by not eating out. I started buying groceries and cooking meals at home. If you average ten times a week eating out for five dollars a trip, $50 a week can add up real quick. The first month, I spent around $75 on groceries and pocketed the rest for savings.

At the end of forty days I had lost 12 pounds and saved a little over $200. I think that was pretty good for not having to go on a militant diet, cutting out all things that taste good and spending hours at the gym. I did not change my activity in any way and still found that just by cutting back on my calories was enough to lose the weight.

If you are looking to lose some weight and save money, this is the perfect diet. Do not let other people tell you what you need to weigh or how you need to look. I recommend doing this for yourself and be proud of whatever results you see. We could all stand to lose a few pounds, I just do not see the need in killing ourselves to do it.