How I Lost Over 50 Pounds and Kept It Off

Starting in October 2002, I lost 55 pounds over a period of a year.  I’ve kept off the weight successfully and I’m 100% confident I’ll continue keeping it off (barring some unforeseen disaster in my life). This apparently puts me into a minority of dieters. Here’s how I did it, but I must emphasize there is no magic bullet or easy way to lose weight. It requires a permanent change in lifestyle and eating habits.  Everything below is honest and complete - it's a full account of my diet, and my eating habits today.

First, a few statistics and facts on my weight history. I’m 5’5” and 125 pounds. I was thin from childhood to young adulthood, and quite active. I became less active in my 20’s and ‘30’s and gradually gained weight, from 125 to a high of 140. I would diet occasionally and lose weight, but usually not as much as I wanted, and it was always difficult and a drag.  Around 1997, at age 40, I got sick of the dieting yo-yo, and pretty much abandoned trying to eat smart, as well as regular workouts. As a result, my weight ballooned from about 140 pounds to 180 pounds over the next five years.  I hated the way I looked and felt and really wanted to lose weight - even just so I could stop wearing ugly, baggy clothes -  but it took me over six months to psyche myself up for it. Finally, after a trip in October 2002 in which I had to endure looking at photos of myself, I felt truly disgusted and fed up. I began to use hypnosis tapes to help motivate me, and it all started to come together. I became very determined and focused, and ended up losing even more weight than I had planned - a total of 55 pounds.  Since Oct 2003, I’ve weighed 125 pounds. That's a BMI of 22.  Today, I'm really happy with my weight, my figure, my health, and my new lifestyle - it was SO worth it!

Here are the key things that helped me lose weight and keep it off.

1. I lost weight the “hard” way. I ate less and exercised more. I did this day in and day out and turned it into a habit. I lost weight slowly and steadily. I deliberately allowed myself a larger meal or a sweet as an occasional treat or reward, but no more than every couple months or so. I never binged, and never fell off my diet, not once. (See # 4 for how this was possible.)
2. I found a type of exercise that I enjoyed doing – hiking up and down a small mountain near my home – and tried to do this every single day, but at least 5 or 6 times a week. It was only half an hour a day because that was all I had time for. I occasionally went swimming. I also did 50 situps a day and used weights to strengthen my arms and shoulders (10 minutes a day). Other than that, I tried to do more walking in general, and always tried to take stairs instead of elevators. I’ve continued to maintain this same exercise routine – it’s become an enjoyable habit, and I believe regular exercise is essential to weight loss maintenance. It also makes me feel better, both physically and mentally.
3. I ate lots of fruits and vegetables. I always ate fruits and vegetables before, but once I began my diet, I increased my input. As a result, I came to really enjoy eating fruits and vegetables, even more than before. I continued my high intake of fruits and vegetables after I finished losing weight. They are a major staple in my diet.
4. I permanently changed my attitude towards both food and hunger. This took time, and was probably the hardest thing, but maybe the most important thing if you want to keep the weight off. A lot of it was not conscious, it just began to happen on its own because of my enforced long-term change in diet. Before I started my diet, I was somewhat obsessed with food, although not overly so. I just really liked to eat whatever I wanted when I was hungry, which meant full meals of pizza, hamburgers and French fries, and so on, and I had a hard time eating in moderation. After I started dieting, I gradually learned to:

• be content with small portions and not overeat (to this day, I feel both physically and emotionally bad when I'm overfull, so I rarely let it happen)
• stop craving things that I cut out of my diet completely, including French fries, sweets, red meat, breaded and fried foods, sauces, and full-fat salad dressings
• be satisfied with an apple or a banana for a snack when I was hungry, instead of something fattening or a full meal
• get used to feeling hungry, and associate hunger with positive thoughts and emotions like “feeling skinny,” pride in my willpower, satisfaction and excitement the next morning from feeling “a little bit lighter”, and so on – little mind tricks (I must stress that I was hungry for 2-4 hours every day, and went to bed hungry every night)
• not prioritize food and eating so much – e.g., going hungry for longer without getting anxious or irritable, not caring much if I had to skip a meal or refrain from eating what others were eating, being comfortable choosing a healthy snack over an unhealthy one when both are available.
• be satisfied eating salads or other low-calorie options at restaurants

5. I cut out sweets completely. I don’t have a huge sweet tooth to begin with, so this wasn’t too hard for me. In my opinion though, if you can’t cut out sweets almost entirely for awhile, you won't lose weight, at least not healthily. Today, I do indulge in chocolate and ice cream (mostly), sometimes up to several times a week, but in relatively small amounts.
6. I counted calories. I bought a couple food-listing books, and familiarized myself with the calories of the foods I was eating. I knew by the end of every day about how many calories I had had, and tried to always keep it between 1200 and 1500 a day. There was a few rare days when I went over that, but never more than 2000 (the amount I needed to sustain my current weight).
7. To help reduce my caloric intake, I ate “light” and "diet" everything, and lots of “low fat” foods. The only exceptions were peanut butter and cheese, two of my favourite foods, because I really couldn’t stand the taste of the light or low-fat versions. I ate those in extreme moderation though.
8. I cut down on starchy carbohydrates, but not completely. Mostly I stopped eating potatoes and rice, but continued to eat moderate amounts of pasta and bread because I love them so much. Today however, I eat only bread regularly. I eat potatoes, rice, OR pasta perhaps 4 to 6 times a month.
9. I cut out all calorie-dense liquids, except a glass of juice twice a week. I drank lots of water, including a glass with every meal. I continue the same pattern today – in general, the only liquids I drink are water, diet soda, skim milk, coffee/tea, and small amounts of juice (and some alcohol, see #10).
10. I reduced my alcohol intake, but did not eliminate it. To this day, I’m not sure if the calories in alcohol really “count” or not – alcohol may contribute in other ways to weight loss – it’s certainly dehydrating! At any rate, it’s not helpful to have several drinks a day. Try to limit it to 1 or 2 drinks a day 2 or 3 times a week, or less. Also, stick to wine and light beer, or maybe vodka mixed with water. Stay far, far away from sweet drinks like liqueur, wine spritzers, pina coladas, etc.
11. I allowed myself to eat anything I wanted, and never deprived myself of something I really wanted. However, my willpower and motivation was almost always sufficient to ensure that I didn’t really want it badly enough, or that I ate very small amounts.
12. I weighed myself every single day, and once a week I marked my average weight for the week on a graph chart. Today, I continue to weigh myself every day and chart it. This helps motivate you while you're dieting, and helps maintain your weight afterwards. My weight does vary naturally by about 2 or 3 pounds on any given day, but it generally averages out to 125 pounds on an ongoing basis. (I think these weight variations reflect changes in water retention.)  So it takes a few weeks to notice if your weight is actually starting to creep up by 2 or 3 pounds.
13. Throughout my diet, I read lots of books and articles on nutrition and healthy dieting. They helped keep me motivated and feeling good about what I was doing. They also provided lots of useful information and tips.
14. I found it helpful to focus on my food - that is, don't do anything else while you're eating, eat slowly, put your fork down between bites, chew thoroughly, and consciously savour every bite. That way, you'll eat less, recognize when you're full - and best of all, truly enjoy eating even though you're getting less.
15. After I lost my weight, I continued eating exactly the same way I had throughout my diet, including the same foods and mostly the same amounts. I increased the food amounts here and there, but not by much. I also started eating sweets in moderation, mostly chocolate and ice cream (my favourites), about 5-10 times a month - also sometimes potato chips, I confess. I don't actually count calories anymore, because I know intuitively by now if I'm eating too much. I think my current calorie intake ranges between 1500 to 1900 calories a day, sometimes a bit more or less.
16. Vacations - I've had a tendency to indulge while on vacation, as well as stop my normal exercise routine. But that usually meant having to lose 2-5 pounds when I got home, and I got tired of doing that.  Now I do whatever exercise I can manage while away from home, even if it's just extensive walking. I still enjoy the local cuisine, but have less, such as a heartier breakfast and lunch to keep my energy up during the day, and only a small salad for dinner.  It works!
    

Here’s my basic diet today: 

• Breakfast: non-sweet cereal with skim milk.
• Mid-morning snack: Banana.
• Lunch: Chicken or turkey sandwich with cheese, lettuce, tomato, on multigrain or whole wheat (and low-fat margarine and mayo).
• Afternoon snack: large serving of raw vegetables (no dressing), 2 or 3 pieces of fruit. Sometimes a small sweet or fatty snack (and less fruit).
• Dinner (typical): fish or chicken or tofu (occasionally beef or pork), with cooked vegetables and/or salad. Or, sometimes a large salad or a moderate serving of stew, pasta, or casserole.
• After dinner snack (3 or 4 times a week): 3-6 crackers with peanut butter or cheese, or popcorn with low-fat margarine, or unsalted nuts.
• Weekends: I tend to eat differently on the weekends: Boiled eggs on toast for breakfast with juice, and either an extra-large late lunch and no dinner, or healthy snacks throughout the day and a typical dinner.

I occasionally indulge in a large or fattening meal - maybe once every month or two. Sometimes I even do crazy things like eat an entire large bag of cheese popcorn in one sitting, or a family-size chocolate bar.  The key is not to do this rarely, and go back to your normal, healthy eating habits right away.  I may try and make up for it the same day by reducing other foods.  If not, and I do end up needing to lose a pound or two over the long run, I just cut out sweet/fatty foods for a couple of weeks. To me that doesn’t feel like dieting, it’s more or less my normal diet, since I think of sweet/fatty foods as “extra luxuries” at any time. Constant vigilance is the key. It’s much easier to lose 2 pounds than 10. (Another reason to weigh yourself every day.)