"I dropped from 245 to 185 ... here's my secret: GET SICK. I lost 30 lbs due to viral pneumonia, then starved myself for another three months. 12 lbs a month for five months. First, go to Walmart and get a $34 digital weighing scale with memory - essential to tracking your progress on a daily even hourly basis.
Here's my simple easy to remember dietary method, which is basically my twist on the Atkins that I find easy:
1. Here are the No's: bread, pasta, factory food of any kind, fast food, ice cream - as it's tough to resist, rid the house of such junk and stay out of convenience stores. Eat nothing in bags, or from a counter in a store. Period.
2. You'll start by eating only a banana or apple for breakfast. You'll find apples are your friend, but bananas are filling. If it's fructose it's OK. Work out in the AM and eat a second apple at around 11AM to maintain blood sugar.
3. At lunchtime but not later than 1PM eat a half a chicken sandwich on a wrap (that's it for your bread).Tomatoes, lettuce, veggies etc are all fine. You can also eat as much salad as you want but NO dressing. Buy one sandwich and make it last two days.
4. You're going to be delirious about 12 and 3. At ~3PM eat another piece of fruit, but I'd avoid oranges, they spike too much
5. Now for the good part: at dinner you can eat as much protein as you want, and as much fruit and veggies as you want.
Also, as it is so hard to resist, you shall have no more dinners out until you reach a goal, say every 10 lbs. What you will quickly learn is that you work hard to reach those 10 lb increments on the scale that you don't want to go back and do it a second time. Exercise is great, but it's really all about conservation of energy laws and calorie counting. When you don't eat much your body metabolism shuts down into winter hibernation mode and it's then quite hard to have the energy to work out. If you do work out, you can eat more, just pay close attention to your calorie balance sheet, which I find hard to meter. If you eat very little it's easier to drop fast.
As for alcohol, it's all carbs but a drink a day (beer or wine) is fine before bedtime. Avoid mixed drinks until you're way down in weight.
I actually started gaining weight because I eat so fast at Deerfield. Why? The damn food was so good but at lunch we were only given a few minutes to eat it. I used to literally shovel and I never lost the bad habit. I am always the first at the table to finish, and so I ate more than I should have. All it takes is 10 calories a day.
a few other things I forgot:
1. RULE #1: NO fried foods for the rest of your life ... and yes this means French fries. Moreover, potatoes of any kind are empty calories, (the white veggie is like white bread) avoid them. For chips see section on bagged factory foods. Again, if it comes out of a factory don't eat it. And alcohol comes from a factory my friend..
2. RULE #2: Positive reinforcement is key (see the digital scale tip). Give yourself a real non-food reward as you make progress. Mine was learning to fly ... something I'd always wanted to do. It also helps to make the reward gradual as it keeps your mind on a goal. If you buy a car that's a one time hit. You will get people noticing the change just around the time you cross the 50 yard line (you have written down a concrete loss goal and target date, right???!)
Now that the fat is off your body is at a super low metabolic rate and this is the hard part: keeping weight off. Almost all people gain back the weight in a year. Fat is like an organ, the body fights to put it back, and for men this is always belly fat, which is terrible for heart disease. The main key to keeping it off is behavior modification to stop what started it. All you need to eat is a mere 10 calories extra each day to gain 10lbs in a year. That is hardly anything, think about it. You must change the way you think about food, which leads to other benefits. Oh, and you'll save money by not eating out.
Exercise is key but if you're fat it's hell on your knees. As you drop the first 30 you'll find it easier to sit up, stand etc."
