How I Lost 30 Pounds (and Kept It Off)
Posted on January 01, 2024
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Before ending the year, I want to share with you my experience of losing weight. You may need it after the end of the year celebrations.
I was overweight my whole life until around 16, so I have experience with the topic.
I will describe what worked for ME.
It's not the optimal way or the best way. It's what worked for me. It may work for you, but it mayn't.
I won't convince you in this post about why you should lose weight. You can find this elsewhere. Thus, I assume you want to lose weight (and keep it off).
As I mentioned, I was overweight my whole life until around 16. I was 20 pounds (10 kg) overweight. It's not that much, but I wasn't happy with that. When I was a kid, it was worse.
One day, I decided I wanted to be fit. It was like a sudden realization. I've experienced something similar a couple of times in my life, where I have a clear determination about something. It's a sort of shift in consciousness.
And I would say that that was the most crucial step. If you have no determination, you will never drop weight forever. After all, most people who lose weight regain it after a couple of years.
The reason is that losing weight is not only about eating fewer calories. It's about a change in your identity, about who you are. It's a lifestyle change, and many people are unwilling to change that. We are risk-averse creatures and don't like to change. But for me, it's an essential part of the process.
Step 1 (Determination)
Indeed, this is step 1 in my "method ."Have a 100% determination to be fit and healthy. And be willing to do whatever it takes to change who you are. 99% is not enough. It has to be 100%. How you reach this determination is something that escapes me. As I mentioned, for me, it was spontaneous. Some people never get to this stage and experience the yo-yo effect.
Step 2 (Tracking)
Step 2 is to download a food-tracking app (like MyFitnessPal). For the next 2 weeks, you will track everything you eat. The key here is EVERYTHING. At this stage, you are not trying to lose weight. You need to learn how much you are eating. Most people trying to lose weight underestimate how much they eat. A lot of trash food is filled with calories and doesn't satiate you. So yeah, you may be eating not much food in terms of volume, but you are eating more calories than you need.
Using the app will be a little cumbersome at the beginning, but by the end of week 2, it should be more or less part of your routine. Don't skip this step because everything else will be based on tracking your food.
Also, this exercise will help you become more aware of what you are consuming. Don't aim to be a perfectionist. There will always be a margin of error. Especially when you don't know the exact quantities. For example, back then, I ate what my mom cooked. So, I created different meals in the app, putting the ingredients and the number of portions to get an approximation.
As a side note, the tracking phase should take place during your "normal life." That means no holidays or too many special meals.
Step 3 (Replacing)
Step 3 is the replacement step. You will know what you consume regularly after tracking your food for 2 weeks or more.
From here, you will pick 3 foods you consume often and are calorie-dense. By calorie-dense, I mean they have a bunch of calories and little nourishment. For example, chips, cookies, and ice cream. Also, sugary drinks are included here. In general, foods with lots of sugar and fat and little protein. I would choose, if possible, processed or junk food. For example, pasta is also quite calorie-dense, but I wouldn't choose it on the first try.
Once you have chosen the 3 foods, you just don't eliminate them. You will find a low-calorie replacement for each of them. THIS IS CRUCIAL. DON'T SKIP THAT. The idea here is to avoid you getting hungry. At least initially, you want to reduce calories while keeping yourself satiated.
You continue tracking your food intake and weighting yourself once a week to check progress. Here, it is also important to be mindful of weight fluctuations. It's pretty typical that your weight changes from one day to the next by 1 lb. Don't freak out if you don't see progress in one week. It's more important to know the trend.
In this method, I wouldn't modify my diet anymore (besides the 3 foods we chose previously) until my weight is stuck for 2 consecutive weeks. When that happens, we again select 3 different calorie-dense foods and replace them with better alternatives. And we repeat the process until your diet is free of calorie-dense foods (at least significantly).
This method should keep you going for at least 3 months (probably between 3 and 6). If you do this process consciously, you should lose weight and learn about yourself and what works best for you. You will learn more about nutrition than any advice I or a fitness guru can give you. In any case, I plan to release a more advanced version in the future for those of you who followed this method.
If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment.
Finally, I wish you a happy New Year.