Weight-Loss Tips: How I Lost 50 Pounds, and How You Can, Too

We all know that there are about 1 million people giving advice on how to lose weight. Some methods work, some methods don't. Some may help you lose weight, but then you suddenly gain it all back two months later. The results vary from person to person. I think the best advice I can give to somebody that is looking to lose weight, is to simply explore various techniques and strategies and use the one that best suits you.

So you must be wondering if I'm going to add to that one million ideas and give my own idea on how to lose weight? Well, yes, I am. Approximately four years ago, I was weighing in at 225 pounds. I stand 6 feet tall, so 225 is not exactly slim for that height. I was overweight. It would've been acceptable if I had the sculpted muscular physique of a professional athlete, but I don't have that.

I looked at the mirror after seeing my weight and was determined to take off a large chunk of my extra cheese. I started my own routine and six months later, I weighed in at 175 pounds. I lost 50 pounds in 6 months. Hey, that's not too shabby! You are now probably wondering if I gained it all back. Well, yes, I did gain some weight back, but not nearly as much as other people have. Three years after weighing in at 175, I weigh in at 180 pounds. So I've gained 5 pounds since ending my routine. Hey, I'll take it! I'm not complaining!

I will now share with you what my routine and diet was. I'm not saying that my routine was the best and most efficient way to lose weight. All I am saying is that it worked for me, so quite possibly, it might work for you.

First, we'll start off with my exercise routine.

For the first two months, I went to the gym three times a week and ran three miles on the treadmill. Well, actually, I only ran 1.5 miles. I walked the other half. It wasn't the toughest workout, but I wanted to start off slowly.

During the third and fourth months, I continued to go to the gym three times a week, but increased my mileage to four miles on the treadmill per workout. I ran two miles and walked the other two.

During the final two months, I increased my workout again. I was still going just three times a week, but I was now running 5 miles per workout. Typically, I started off walking the first half mile, then ran the next 2.5 miles. I would then walk another half mile, then run another 1 mile. I would end it by walking the final half mile. So all in all, I ran 3.5 miles and walked 1.5 miles. Now when I say "walked," I'm talking about a brisk walk, not a slow motion walk. I don't know if 5 miles sounds unbearable to you, but if it does, then I suggest investing in an Ipod. It's really amazing how fast that time can fly by when you are listening to your all time favorite songs.

As far as my diet goes, the first thing I did was throw away all of the junk that I didn't need. I threw out my mayonnaise and butter. I then threw out my salad dressing and replaced them with the low fat versions. I also tossed all of my Pepsi and Coke. I replaced that with Diet Pepsi. For breakfast, all I had was a tall glass of non-fat milk. No, that's much of a breakfast, but honestly, I never have an appetite in the morning. Although, I would snack after that. For lunch meals, I ate sandwiches. The most common sandwich I ate was a turkey sandwich with one slice of cheese (instead of my normal two) and two dill pickle slices. I no longer used mayo on my sandwiches, which I think helped with my weight loss significantly. On occasion, I would mix it up and make myself a tuna sandwich, during which I would add celery and fat free Honey Dijon dressing instead of mayo. During this time, I also I ate a lot of garden salads. I would typically buy three or four large bags of the pre-made salads and go through one bag every two days. I didn't use a little salad bowl for my salad, either - I used an entire plate and poured on some Lite French dressing. Oh, and I no longer used croutons. That was hard for me to get rid of, as I LOVE my croutons, but hey, sacrifices must be made sometimes.

For dinner, I would eat whatever was on sale in the aisle of healthy frozen foods. If the South Beach Diet meals were on sale, I would load up on them. Then, the next week, I would load up on Lean Cuisine. I was not picky about what I got in the frozen food section . . . I just wanted to get the best deal, because eating healthy is not cheap! For snacks, I mostly ate pretzels and oranges.

That was pretty much it. For six months, I lived off of turkey sandwiches, tuna sandwiches, frozen diet meals, salads, pretzels and oranges. Although, I will admit that I would cheat about once every 10 or 12 days and would buy a tasty double cheeseburger from McDonald's. I also treated myself to some adult beverages from time to time, but I've read that it's actually good to give yourself "cheat days" every now and then, so I did not feel guilty - and from the looks of the scales, it was not altering my weight loss progress.

So there you have it. That's what I did. So you ask what I am doing now to stay at 180? Well, not much. To be honest, I have not been on a treadmill in over 2 years now. I do get some exercise from racquetball, which I play once or twice a week, but that's pretty much the only exercise I get. Well, I do occasionally play softball, but softball really isn't much of a workout.

And my diet . . . it is still very similar to this day, although, I do find myself cheating more often and I occasionally now use mayo on my sandwiches, and I also occasionally get the "regular" dressings instead of the "lite" dressings when eating my salads. But other than that, my diet has pretty much stayed the same.

So what is my conclusion? My conclusion is that you don't have to work out for an eternity to keep your weight off! I think once you have gotten down to your goal weight, you can severely decrease your workout, just as long as you continue to eat a decent diet without a lot of junk.

Is this an expert diet routine? Heck if I know! I'm just telling you what worked for me. It may work for you or it may not. I'm just throwing in my two cents and I'm telling you that IT WORKED!

Good luck to all of you on your mission to lose weight! It can happen! You just have to stay focused and keep the faith!