I just achieved my goal weight loss of 25 pounds since January. I’ve been pretty happy with the results, and figured I’d write a long post summing up what I’ve done and what I’ve learned.
My Goals
I started in January at a weight of about 225lb. I’ve weighed in the 220s for a while – at least since college. I picked 200 because it seemed like a good weight to strive for. I didn’t want to try any specific diet – I just wanted something simple and sustainable so I could develop some good habits. And mostly, I just didn’t want to work very hard at it.
How I Did It
I don’t expect this to work for everyone, but these are the major things that worked for me.
LoseIt!
Easily the most important tool that helped me was LoseIt! on my iPhone. LoseIt tracks your weight and what you eat. You can set up a goal, and LoseIt will adjust your daily calorie budget to meet that goal. It has a giant library of foods already in it, so adding new foods was always easy – usually scanning a barcode brought up exactly what I was eating.
Tracking what I ate had a few important side effects. I learned what I could eat that was “cheap” (calorie-wise), and how much I could eat. This meant going hungry a few times, but I quickly got used to the lower calorie consumption.
Measure your food
I bought a digital scale, got out my measuring cups and spoons, and measured everything I ate. After doing this for a month or two, I started to learn how large serving sizes were and could better estimate my consumption.
I didn’t change what I ate, just how much I ate. I still eat plenty of cereal, pizza, french fries, and tacos. I just eat them in moderation and I’m acutely aware of how much I can eat before going overboard.
Lean Cuisine is cheap
Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice, and Smart Ones made up the bulk of my meals because I’d eat them at work for lunch. They’re pretty cheap, both dollar- and calorie-wise. When I can feel satisfied from a 300-calorie Lean Cuisine meal, there’s a lot more calories I can spend elsewhere.
Don’t be strict
I occasionally took a break from my diet. During my trip to PAX, I left the diet behind entirely and ate what I wanted (and what was available). Occasionally I’d go out and eat a giant cheeseburger or pizza. This reduced any stress of trying to stay on a diet, and was a bit of a reward for my progress. Granted, I had to immediately get back on the diet the next day.
Don’t get discouraged
When I got back from PAX, I had gained 11 pounds. That’s a pretty big blow, but I didn’t let that discourage me, and I got back on my diet the next day. Those 11 pounds quickly bled back off. I was fortunate that I was never terribly serious about the diet – it was just something I wanted to try – so setbacks like this didn’t phase me.
Side Effects
There have been some interesting side effects I didn’t expect starting out. For one, a lot less food will fill me up. I guess my stomach got used to the smaller amount of food and shrunk a bit, which made the whole diet easier. I also have a lot more energy, I sleep better, and I feel better in general. I assume this is all because I’m carrying around 25 fewer pounds, which makes a pretty huge difference over the course of the day.
People have apparently noticed, too, which feels odd. It’s rare when people ask me if I’ve lost weight, but coworkers have been asking about it and congratulating me when I tell them how much I’ve lost. It’s a nice boost when someone notices your progress.
Stats
Some miscellaneous statistics:
Total weight lost: 25 lbs.
Time: 164 days (January 11, 2012 – June 23, 2012)
Average weight loss per week: 1.05 lbs (0.15 lbs/day)
Average calories consumed per day: 1478
In Summary
I told people several times during this diet, “If I had known it was this easy, I’d have done it a long time ago.” I want to stress that I got this weight loss simply by monitoring what I ate. I didn’t add any exercise (because I’m lazy), and I didn’t change what I ate (because I like what I eat). The result has been a simple, sustainable diet that I can continue with for as long as I’d like.
I know I still need to add some exercise and probably eat a bit healthier overall (more green stuff, probably), but I’ve been pretty pleased with how a few simple changes have resulted in a pretty dramatic shift.
And maybe someone will come along, read this, and say to themselves, “I’m lazy and cheap, maybe I’ll give this a try, too!” And maybe it’ll work for them. And maybe I can write a dieting book and become filthy rich. And if not, I’ve at least got my own success to be proud of.