I have always been somewhat conscious of my weight. I remember when I was 80 lbs. and I would hold down on the counter while weighing myself to add on some weight and make me feel a little bigger. It wasn’t long after that when I hit 100 lbs. I gained a lot of weight that year. In high school and college I played regular competitive sports and always kept at my ideal weight. In high school while playing basketball I didn’t have to do much work since I was a teenager with a fast metabolism who played ball all day long. In college, I wrestled and had to keep my weight exactly at my weight class limit. When I graduated, the activity slowed down considerably and over the last few years, I have packed on close to 50 pounds. It seems like a lot but when I was wrestling, I was at 7% body fat which is way below normal for the average person.
I finally got fed up 2 weeks ago when I had trouble getting into my pants. I looked around for a diet, started it up and I am glad to say that I have already lost over 8 lbs. If you are interested in the diet, you can find it on Tim Ferris’s blog. For those of you who are interested, in college i wrestled in the 165 and 174 weight classes and since graduation, i have gone up as high as 220. When I started the diet, I was 216 and I am currently about 207.
I came to the realization that dieting can be easy. Here are some of the things I have learned that can make your diet easier for you:
- If you love to eat, pick a diet that allows you to eat a lot. I chose a diet that allows me to eat 4 large meals each day and even have some snacks in between if I am hungry. The diet I am on just leaves out the white carbs and has a few other restrictions. The best thing is that if I am craving carbs and really want to cheat, all I have to do is have an intensive workout for about 30 minutes or so.
- Use a Support System. The most important factor to you keeping to your diet is a support system. You can use a friend who is also dieting with you so that you can share your successes. Your family can also be a good choice to cheer you on. I have my wife who tells me she is proud of me for getting healthy and she prepares my meals for me. I could not do it without her. There is also a website Lose Win Situation that lets you get sponsors to pledge money to your favorite charity for your weight loss.
- Have a goal. Having a goal gives you a realistic idea of how much weight you want to lose and why you want to lose it. Everyone wants to be healthy but everyone also has their own reason to want it. I want to be able to play games and run around with my kids and last as long as they do.
- Don’t use a diet that is too strict for you. If you know that you will crave chocolate, cake, ice cream or any other treat, don’t choose a diet that will make you give them up forever. On my diet, I have one day a week where I can eat anything that I want including all of the above. Apparently, over eating junk food once a week helps weight loss on this diet.
- Do your research. There are so many diets out there. Some claim to help you lose 30 lbs. in a month and others tell you that you can’t lose more than 2 lbs. per week. Many diets will work and many will not. Before trying out a diet, do a little research and find out how it works and why it works. Find out about what it will cause to go on in your body. If it seems like it will work, it is not unhealthy and it seems like something you can do from beginning to end, try it out. If it works, great, if it doesn’t, don’t get discouraged and try a new diet.