How to lose two pounds per week, guaranteed.
March 15th, 2007 by Erich ViethThree weeks ago I noticed that I was overweight again, but I’m doing something about it again.
I’m not quite sure what did it. Maybe it was the almost-nightly bowl of ice cream or maybe those french fries weren’t really counteracted by those side dishes of broccoli. Whatever it was, three weeks ago I noticed that bad eating habits had kicked my weight more than 15 pounds over my usual weight. Those 15 extra pounds I was carrying around weighed as much as a bowling ball.
I’ve had to lose weight before. Five years ago, I decided that I was tired of carrying around lots of extra weight. Back then, I noticed how bad things had gotten after a friend showed me a photo of that 194 pound version of myself at the beach. Back then, I decided to see if I could lose 10 or 15 pounds. After doing a bit of research, I implemented a series of the eating and exercise strategies that worked well for me. They worked extremely well. I’m going to share them in this post. I dropped more than 4 pounds per week, week after week, until my 194 pound carcass melted into 159 pounds, a swing of 35 pounds. After I got going with my program, it was almost painless. I found myself feeling better and I looked better. Based upon well-established statistics, I knew that I had substantially decreased my chance of being afflicted with heart disease, stroke and various kinds of cancer. I was comfortable wearing my clothes again and I was no longer obsessed with food. What was not to like?
I’m 5’ 11”. For most of the past five years, I have carried about 163 pounds. When I recently noticed my scale rise to 178 three weeks ago, then, I declared war. I’m fighting that war right now. I calculated that my approach will take me back at my normal weight in about 5 more weeks, a steady weight loss of about 2 pounds per week. It’s working like clockwork. In three weeks, I’ve lost 6 pounds. To give myself even more incentive, I’m making my weight loss ambitions public here!
This weight loss story is the sort of thing that has been told many times, of course. But I’ll continue.
Over the past year, I fell into some bad habits about eating well and working out. And to accelerate my weight gain, I haven’t exercised much. I normally commute 10 miles/day by bicycle, but extremely cold winter has hindered that. Also, I haven’t been getting enough sleep, a factor that is associated with weight gain. During the day, I work at desk job and I’ve been hovering over my computer several hours each night (much of it writing this blog). Further, I take care of my two young children quite often; it is hard to work out vigorously when one is with them. They just can’t keep up (although that is changing rapidly).
Now that we’ve had our winter thaw, I’m back on the bicycle almost every day. I don’t belong to any health club. My exercise program is virtually free. In addition to riding a bike to work (which saves 1/3 gallon of gas every day), I do floor exercises several times a week. I do these floor exercises for only 10 minutes, in accordance with many of the suggestions of a pretty decent book, Eight Minutes in the Morning, by Jorge Cruise.
Here’s a short version of my “secrets” for losing weight: eat reasonable amounts of good food and exercise. There’s no substitute. Don’t tolerate excuses out of your own mouth. Excuses are a dime a dozen and all of us have thought of all of them ready. Here are a few of my favorites. We live in a toxic society, nutritionally speaking. It’s really tempting to eat all those sugary fatty salty foods. It does take more effort to chop up some zucchini and stir fry at then to eat a big bowl of potato chips. I could go on and on. Tell your excuses to get lost.
When I try to determine a workable series of rules five years ago, I focused on several things. My number one rule was that my approach to eating could not require any daily menus. I wasn’t going to buy expensive concoctions or prepared foods. My approach had to be an approach that I could use anywhere, whether at someone’s house or a restaurant.
Substituting nutritious food for bad food at home was a terrific jump start for dropping pounds. In my case, I became sold that eating lots of whole grains (carbohydrates loaded with fiber) was a critically important basis for eating well. I work whole grains into my breakfast, lunch and dinner (here’s why). It’s really easy to swap out crappy cereal for cereal loaded with fiber. There are many delicious whole grain breads available for purchase (look for bread that has at least 3 grams of fiber per slice). I learned much about whole grains by reading Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating, by Walter Willett, of the Harvard School of Public Health.
When I decided that I needed to lose weight three weeks ago, I didn’t realize how many bad habits I had gotten into over the past year. It’s really easy to overlook all of one’s own bad habits. I started noticing that I was grabbing food for numerous reasons having nothing to do with hunger: anxiety, nervousness, stress and boredom. Many times, I was eating food when I was really thirsty and I should have been drinking water instead of eating.
What’s amazing though, especially this time, is how hard it is to turn around one’s habits. When we get into old eating habits, they are really hard to break. It’s like trying to turn around an ocean liner. One’s habits, especially one’s food habits, are quite personal. To change one’s food habits is to change one’s self; it is to reject one’s (own) self. The problem is that we tend to get used to ourselves and make lots of excuses for ourselves. We humans are capable of liking ourselves the way we are, no matter who we have become.
I’m three weeks into my better eating campaign, and I notice that I’m starting to rediscover the good habits that I initially learned five years ago. I’m eating more nutritious foods and staying away from processed foods. I’m staying more conscious of my food while I am eating it and I’m enjoying it more. Because I am again focusing on eating nutritious food (again, avoiding refined and over-processed foods lacking fiber) my metabolism has settled down. Before I decided to get with it again three weeks ago, I was finding myself looking forward to my lunch break even when I wasn’t really hungry. Now, because I’m eating well, I often find myself working straight through lunch, forgetting to eat. Sometimes I feel “fatigue” at one or two in the afternoon, and then I remind myself that I haven’t yet eaten. It’s not really fatigue that I’m feeling, but real hunger, something that I haven’t often felt during my year of bad habits.
I’m not suggesting that eating can’t be fun while eating well. I’m really enjoying those extra doses of vegetables (I usually stir fry them) and whole grains. I’ll still have a small cup of ice cream several times a week. Sometimes, when I crave sweets, I grab a small piece of good quality chocolate—I’ve found that a small piece of good chocolate (I use Dove chocolate bars these days) is much more satisfying that large amounts of waxy cheaper chocolate. The point is not that people need chocolate to lose weight–everyone will have their own favorite foods. The point is that a bite or two of highly craved foods often extinguishes the craving and, if one deprives oneself of those favorite foods entirely, one might “compensate” for the unextinguished craving by eating huge amounts of food one doesn’t really want or need.
During my past 3 weeks improved exercise and better eating, I find that I’m sleeping better–when I’m working out, I feel refreshed after getting only 7 1/2 hours sleep each night, rather than eight. I’m happier. I think faster and remember more, it seems. And I’m losing weight.
Imagine if someone came up to you and said that they had an amazing drug that would make you feel much better, sleep better, enjoy life better and provide immunity from many horrible diseases. Imagine that the price of this proven life-lengthening drug was $10 per day, more than $3000 per year. Imagine all the people nonetheless clamoring to get their hands on such a drug! Well, there is no such drug, but there is a free way to get all of these same benefits.
As I’m writing this, I keep thinking that I’m saying nothing new at all. People know all these things. But maybe it’s worthwhile to share a story like this so that others who want to drop 15 or 30 or 50 pounds can be reminded that it can be done. A long journey begins with the first step, but that first step is the hardest of all the steps one will take.
So, without further ado, here the tips that I’ve used and I am again using. This is the list that hung on my refrigerator. After about a week, though, I knew these tips well. These are the same tips I’m now offering to anyone else who wants to drop some weight. I’m offering this program free of charge. If you are overweight, just follow this advice and you will lose weight. I guarantee it. It happened for me five years ago and it’s happening again.
So here is the information that worked for me. It starts with a declaration that reminded me that my quest was not so much about weight loss as much as attaining a state of health. Being at a healthy weight is not about not eating. Rather, it’s about eating well.
DECLARATION OF HEALTH
When Health is absent, wisdom cannot reveal itself, art cannot become manifest, strength cannot be exerted, wealth is useless, and reason is powerless.
Herophilies, 300 B.C.
How Much to Eat
- A well-tuned body is potent mental medicine. Your mind will follow the body’s lead.
- Articulate your specific reasons for committing yourself to an energized existence, now and for decades to come. For instance, become a savvy eater to show that you really care for loved ones. Do you really want to be around for your children/grandchildren?
- 65% of Americans are overweight. A healthy BMI is less than 25 and closer to 21 (at 23 we are still 3 times at risk for adult onset Diabetes). Think like a thin person. Become a believer that your body is well-tuned only when your BMI is in the low 20’s.
- Eat only until you are “70% full” (the European approach, as to the American approach (eat until you’re full).
- Consciously identify seductive marketing and incessant social pressures to eat poorly and to eat when you’re not hungry. Clocks and other people are incapable of telling you when you are hungry.
- Eat only when you’re hungry, not when you’re thirsty, bored, frustrated or trying to be polite.
- Put the fork down when you’re no longer hungry. Food is much better off in the Tupperware (or even the trash) than in your full stomach. Praise yourself for leaving unneeded food on the plate.
- You would never tolerate it if someone else forced you to eat food you didn’t need. Don’t do it to yourself.
- Choose small portions & beware huge desserts.
- When dining out, think seriously about splitting a single meal. My wife and I do this sometimes, and I’m always surprised that I am perfectly satisfied eating only “half” a meal.
- Spoil your appetite, so not to eat ravenously later. If you’re really hungry an hour before a planned meal, have a snack.
- Starving yourself slows metabolism and burns muscle tissue. Starving, then, is not a sustainable approach to losing weight.
- Slow down and eat consciously. Enjoy each bite. Eating should be pleasurable. Overeaters are always thinking of food, except while eating.
- Focus on eating well, not on avoiding bad eating.
- Don’t beat yourself up for eating lapses. You’ll use bad judgment here and there. Don’t make an enemy out of yourself. That makes it much harder maintain your enthusiasm.
- Get enough sleep, or else you’ll reduce your metabolism and affect your levels of leptin, the hormone that makes you feel full. When levels are low you crave sweets and starches. Sleep deprivation also reduces growth hormone, which affects your body’s proportion of fat to muscle and repairs muscles.
- Beware eating too much on while traveling away from home. Exposure to too many large restaurant portions, and the fatigue of traveling, encourage weight gain. Also, I have an often-recurring thought that taunts me on the road:
- “Eat a little extra, because you are not at home, where food is easily available.
- Be good to your carcass. You are your body. Treating it poorly is self-mutilation.
Exercise
- Strength training increases your metabolism by 7-12% for 15 or more hours. Do it each morning for 10 minutes to add a bit more muscle. It is really effective, though it doesn’t sound possible. A pound of muscle burns 50 cal/day more than a pound of fat. Here’s a book I recommend on short daily sessions of exercise: 8 Minutes in the Morning: A Simple Way to Shed up to 2 Pounds a Week Guaranteed, by Jorge Cruise
- Cardiovascular exercise increases metabolism for an hour after activity. This burns extra calories and is essential for your heart and lungs. Briskly walk or bike whenever possible.
- Track your progress once per week by getting on a good scale. Don’t weigh yourself every day. You’re body is telling you how much food it really needs, if you’re eating good food and staying away from starches and refined foods.
What to Eat & Drink
- Here is my “Bible” on how to eat: Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating, by Walter Willett, of the Harvard School of Public Health. Willett is an innovator, having argued way ahead of the crowd of the dangers of trans fats and of the need to drastically renovate the “food pyramid.” The pyramid has been changed drastically, adopting many of Willett’s suggestions, though many of Willett’s recommendations were ignored.
- Substitute whole-grain carbohydrates for refined-grains (e.g., amaranth, barley, brown rice, bulgur, corn, millet, oats, rye, spelt, tritclale, wheat berries, and wild “rice”).
- Beware the starches: white rice, potatoes, pasta and highly processed bread. These cause insulin to spike. Eating these is like eating pure processed sugar.
- Replace saturated fats (e.g., meat & dairy) and trans fats (i.e., “hydrogenated” processed foods) with unsaturated fats (e.g., flax, canola, and olive oils).
“Cholesterol free” does not mean lack of trans fats. - Do eat good oils, including omega-3 oil, and smaller amounts of omega 6 and 9. These oils suppress the appetite by activating brown fat (as opposed to white fat), responsible for 25% of the fat calories burned). For an easy source of omega 3 oil, grind up flax seeds and throw a tablespoon or two on your cereal.
- Use liquid oils (flax, canola, olive) in lieu of butter or margarine.
- Eat plenty of a wide variety of fruits and vegetables (lean toward the dark leafy lettuce).
- Eat flax, fish, nuts, canola, and soy. Soy, however, acts as a phytoestrogen. Limit it to 4-6 servings/week.
- For protein, eat a healthy mix of nuts, beans, chicken and fish.
- Nuts contain fat, but it’s mostly good fat. Eating fat doesn’t make you fat. In fact, taking fat out of one’s diet can do much more damage.
- There’s no privileged place for dairy products in a diet, many of which are linked to prostate cancer. Calcium can be found in many foods other than dairy. Consider soy milk.
- Use alcohol in moderation.
- I take half of a daily multivitamin.
- Drink lots of WATER. Reduce caffeinated drinks;
- For snacks consider nutritious food. Don’t overlook the great taste of real fruit & fruit smoothies (but avoid fruit juice), whole grain cereal in soy milk, brown rice, beans, seasoned whole grains, stir-fried veggies (e.g., spinach or bok choy), whole wheat breads, popcorn.
- Have healthy food & water easily accessible (e.g., in kitchen & backpack) and avoid bringing home processed or refined food products, to maintain positive momentum.
March 16th, 2007 at 7:53 am
If you do end up straining your back, getting a stiff knee, or getting a sprained, or sore body part, “Return to Glory Days” is invaluable/valuable. I swear that it is worth getting, it will save your limbs, literally.
http://www.amazon.com/Return-Glory-Days-Easy-Read/dp/0671563238
be careful the book is also flammable/inflammable.
March 17th, 2007 at 10:38 am
“The problem is that we tend to get used to ourselves and make lots of excuses for ourselves. We humans are capable of liking ourselves the way we are, no matter who we have become.”
Thanks for that wisdom, it has been rattling around in my head for a couple days. It turns out that I am a “cherry picker” in terms of the way I live, and the excuses I make to myself. I would bet that a lot of us are. Anyway, being able to rationalize the thought (and keeping it in the front of your conciousness) is a good start to improvement.
March 18th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
e,
we are expecting weekly updates.
tmol
March 20th, 2007 at 11:49 pm
I received this email from a long-time friend:
Hey, how is the diet going? You owe us all at least weekly updates. I think the best part of exercising and dieting is that over time the self-loathing that comes from habitual pigging out fades and then disappears.
The endorphin high from working out is incredible, free, legal, there for the asking anytime you want it, and I guess there is no such thing as an overdose. Name another drug like that.
Waking up and looking in my closet knowing i can wear any size 30 waist pants hanging there is such a great way to start every day.
A real challenge is learning not to hate yourself and throw in the towel when you goof up.
Oddly, the more I exercise, the less appetite I have and the less willpower seems to have to do with anything.
March 21st, 2007 at 8:40 am
There is no such thing as “willpower”. You either do something or you don’t and whether you do that thing is determined by it’s utility to you. In other words, only when the temporary pleasure of a bag of potato chips is outweighed by the pain of being overweight will you be able to pass up that snack.
The joy your friend feels ALL DAY LONG at being able to wear a size 30 far outweighs the 10 MINUTES of sugary pleasure that a donut will provide, hence the so-called willpower.
(This theory is not mine. It’s is my brother’s. Dave Pulcinella is a lifelong bodybuilder and a nutrition and exercise counselor in Delaware.)
March 21st, 2007 at 10:46 am
Reporting in: Today’s weight is 171.4 (starting weight was 178).
March 21st, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Good progress! Just remember, if you are losing more than a pound or two a week, you are losing it too fast. You’ll be losing too much muscle tissue along with the fat which sets you up for a weight gain rebound once you ease off your program.
(More wisdom from brother Dave.)
March 24th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless there are three other people.
Orson Welles (1915 - 1985)
March 26th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
e,
i hardly think it is in the spirit of full discosure for you to bury your weekly weigh-in metrics in comments to a several week old post. Who scrolls down that far? In fairness to all, please post your weekly weight on the first page of Dangerous Intersection each Wednesday.
Thank you for your prompt consideration of this request.
t.
March 28th, 2007 at 7:57 am
Reporting in for my Wednesday weigh-in: 169.7
April 4th, 2007 at 8:03 am
No progress this week: 169.8. I must say, though, I am eating better food, feeling more alert on the same amount of sleep and feeling more energy. I’m staying the course.
April 4th, 2007 at 6:10 pm
“No progress this week: 169.8. I must say, though, I am eating better food, feeling more alert on the same amount of sleep and feeling more energy. I’m staying the course.”
So much for your “guaranteed” loss of two pounds/week.
Anyway, great rationaliztion (above).
April 5th, 2007 at 7:13 am
“So much for your “guaranteed” loss of two pounds/week.”
Don’t worry about it, Erich. Weight gain and loss is not a steady thing. I’m sure your weight gain over the past year or so wasn’t a steady 2 pounds per week.
If after two weeks there is no change, you have hit a plateau which means your body has become accustomed to its new routine. The way to break out of that is to change something. Cut wheat from your diet. Increase cardio a few minutes each day. Doesn’t matter what you do as long as you do something you haven’t done yet.
Patience and persistence is the key, as you know. The bottom line is you ARE healthier. I don’t think that’s a “rationalization” at all.
April 10th, 2007 at 6:12 am
e,
for tomorrow’s weigh in, remember you still owe us the two pounds from the previous week, so we are expecting a 4 pound loss by tomorrow.
skip dinner.
t.
April 10th, 2007 at 7:58 am
Please do not skip dinner as tmol suggests. The body reacts to food deprivation by slowing the metabolism and storing more fat: exactly the opposite of what needs to happen to lose weight. Instead of skipping dinner, increase exercise.
April 10th, 2007 at 8:55 am
Maybe it’s just a rationalization tool that overweight people use, but isn’t muscle denser than fat? At least that’s my cpmforting hypothesis. Or maybe you could just have big bones?
I’m trying to eat a bit heathier too, but it is harder than just knowing the facts, there seems to be some kind of will power (lack of) involved. Last time I checked I was about 180 lbs. That would be fine, IF I was six feet tall. So either I need to grow 3.25 inches or lose a couple (10, 15?) pounds.
April 10th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
i say all that metabolism stuff is gobble-de-gook. if you set out to lose two pounds a week, just do it. no excuses. no ratioanalization, no muscle weighs more than fat excuses.
whatever it takes. cut off an appendage. anything.
the hard part is maintaining your ideal weight.
April 11th, 2007 at 7:39 am
168.4 today. No excuses for TMOL. This is the same program that knocked off 4 pounds/week several years ago, but it’s not having quite the same fast impact this time around. I’m staying the course for another week.
Notes from this week: I’m eating about 500-1000 fewer calories per day compared to most of the last year (when I gained the weight). I’m not skipping meals. I’ve done that technique before; it causes weight to fall off, but it’s a cheap fix. My experience from before is that one can lose weight without ”dieting,” but by eating like naturally thin people eat. Here’s the thing that’s most interested since I cut out most refined carbohydrates: I don’t get hungry in the middle of the day–it often doesn’t occur to me to eat lunch until 2 or 3 pm. When I do think of eating lunch, it’s usually because I’m feeling low-energy rather than “hungry.”
April 11th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
” I’m staying the course for another week. ”
HUH?
Another week? Are you kidding. It’s the rest of your life.
For your children.
I would write more but am headed to THE GYM.
April 11th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
another thing to stay away from is High Fructose CornSyrup
in simple terms it is high sugar corn sugar it is pretty gross when u learn about it
April 18th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
Reporting in: 167.2
April 18th, 2007 at 8:54 pm
we are still observing all this. hang in there. no rationalizing. no excuses. just do it.
small progress is still progress.
April 19th, 2007 at 8:05 am
Ben asks, “… isn’t muscle denser than fat?”
Yes, muscle is denser than fat, but muscle increases the basal metabolic rate, whereas fat does not. So, exercise not only burns calories while you’re doing it, but it also creates more muscle, which continues to burn calories (fat) even after you stop exercising. That is part of the reason why athletes can consume several thousand calories per day and still lose weight — they are burning it off through exercise and the increased metabolism they get from exercise.
April 25th, 2007 at 8:12 am
Reporting in: 165.9
April 25th, 2007 at 9:35 am
Now I’m starting to worry that Erich might be anorexic.
April 26th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Most people place emphasis solely on weight and not on health. Our culture tells us to strive for a certain weight at all costs- nutritional deficiency and metabolic harm or not. Eating healthfully might not make you a twig, but it will make you feel better, live longer, and probably lose weight anyway.
I feel pretty strongly about this health-versus-weight ideology because I learned it the hard way. Going from a naturally skinny kid to a more curvaceous young adult seemed to me like I had suddenly screwed up and amassed many extra pounds. But kids have essentially asexual bodies, without curves, and most young women get hips, thighs, and breasts seemingly out of nowhere just like I did. Buying into the common notion of treasuring skinniness, I struggled with diet and exercise trying to get myself back to my old, undeveloped weight. It just wouldn’t happen. I can see how anorexia forms in teenage girls, since I would have needed to literally starve myself to get back to the weight of my prepubescent self. I no longer had the body type for it.
Many people do essentially the same thing to themselves that I did: they expect themselves to look the way that a person with a completely different body type does. We can’t all have rib bones sticking out, razor-blade shoulders, and size 0 waists (thankfully!). But we can ALL take good care of our bodies and look and feel better for it.
April 26th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
e,
isn’t it the coolest when your clothes start to feel a little baggy?
t
April 27th, 2007 at 11:21 am
TMOL: I know that you, too, lost some weight and have experienced what I am experiencing. Yes, it is cool “when your clothes start to feel a little baggy.” I don’t feel like a “sausage” anymore. Even though I am losing the rather modest amount of 15 pounds, I need to remind myself that such a “modest” amount is the equivalent of the weight of a bowling ball. What would it be like to carry around a bowling ball everywhere I go?
Throughout my healthy eating “program,” I’ve been exercising about the same amount as I exercised when I gained the weight (I commute to work on a bicycle on most days (10 miles round trip) and I do 15-minutes of floor exercises two or three times per week). I’ve noticed that I seem to be waking up refreshed with 15 or 20 minutes less sleep. Just imagine—if that is true, it’s as though someone just handed me the equivalent (15 min. x 365 days) of 2 weeks of vacation per year. Really, the more you think about being a healthy weight and living a healthy lifestyle, the more reasons you’ll recognize for doing it.
I’ve been gently reminding myself to eat healthy amounts and types of food rather than telling myself to stop eating. I have not engaged in starvation tactics. I have not consciously skipped any meals. Because I am eating lots of whole grains and minimizing processed/refined foods, though, I find that I often forget to eat lunch until I start feeling “tired” at about 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Then I eat some food.
I do think that the gentle reminders work better in the long run. Yes, I sometimes have an ice cream cone, but I enjoy it even though it isn’t piled to towering heights with ice cream. I’m often leaving some food on the plate at restaurants because I’m no longer hungry (give me one other good excuse for eating). I am enjoying getting up from the table without that “full” sensation that I had begun to associate with normalcy. Yeah, I don’t like “wasting” food, but putting it in my body when I don’t need it is also wasting it, as well as hurting my body. When we eat more than we need, we are hurting our bodies, making it harder accomplish chores during the day, making ourselves more susceptible to disease and hurting our joints.
The thing you mention, though, is icing on the cake, so to speak. When those clothes get comfortable again (which mine have), it’s the absence of a distraction and that’s very nice, indeed. This is the best time to notice that change, because my too-heavy condition and my current condition are both vivid in my memory, so that I can make the A-B comparison. One of my suits is actually a little too big now. I’ve also noticed a difference in my face, which seems narrower and more angular.
BTW, I had lunch at the “Cheesecake Factory” this week. I ordered a salad, and the waitress asked whether I wanted the lunch version or the full version. I hesitated, then went with the lunch version. It was enough salad for two people. This episode reminded me that eating out can be especially bad for health. When eating out, one needs to keep one’s guard up and not let the restaurant guide you regarding the amounts of food that is appropriate. Lots of restaurants are serving entrees which contain enough food to serve two people.
TMOL, thanks so much for your encouragement over the past few weeks.
Note to Ben: Anorexia! Funny you mention that. When I weighed 194, I couldn’t have imagined weighing 30 pounds less. But I did weigh in the low 160’s for several years, and I felt really good, quite healthy (I’m allllmost 5’ 11”). FYI, the charts http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/primry/life15.htm say that men with medium frames (no one has ever accused me of having a large frame) should weigh somewhere between 154 to 166. My target weight is 163. Ergo, no anorexia. If I start bragging about weighing less than 150, though, I expect a prompt intervention.
Note to Erika: your point is a critically important one. Lots of people lose weight to be smaller, rather than to be healthier. I’ve met many unhealthy looking people who are clearly within the guidelines of height/weight charts.
April 27th, 2007 at 11:46 am
Ever seen/read Stephen King’s “thinner”?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinner_%28film%29
May 2nd, 2007 at 10:29 am
I celebrated a birthday this week . . . too much cake . . . Therefore a fell off the plan a bit. Today’s weigh-in is 165.3
May 2nd, 2007 at 10:54 am
“I celebrated a birthday this week . . . too much cake . . . Therefore a fell off the plan a bit”
As Sargeant Friday said, “just the facts, ma’am.”
May 2nd, 2007 at 11:25 am
“Ma’am”? I’m starting to feel like JD on Scrubs.
I’m giving the facts and a bit of context so that anyone reading this knows that the problem is with my bad decision-making rather than the plan I am promoting.
OK, Sarge?
May 2nd, 2007 at 11:48 am
” a bit of context” = excuses.
As Nike say, “JUST DO IT.” (Speaking of which, I went from 223 to 158 over five years. Still at 158 a year+ later. Gave away my 38″ jeans and wearing 29″ Levis as we speak.)
May 4th, 2007 at 11:41 pm
TMOL sent me this link as an alternate way to lose weight fast: http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/05/03/bandb.killing.ap/index.html
May 5th, 2007 at 7:18 am
“I do these floor exercises for only 10 minutes, in accordance with many of the suggestions of a pretty decent book, Eight Minutes in the Morning, by Jorge Cruise.”
Are his exercises really that good? And are 10 minutes every day really enough to gain some strength?
I don’t need to lose weight, I weigh 106 pounds at 5′ 1.5″ (every half inch counts someone once told me
), but I’m out of shape. I’d be extremely happy to find exercises that only require 10 minutes a day. 
May 7th, 2007 at 9:47 pm
To respond to projektleiterin: I know that doing these exercises regularly (I do them every two or two days) gives me some benefit, because they are easier to do if done regularly. I can’t comment on strength gain. I assume I’m stronger for doing some strength exercises rather than the aerobic exercise (bike riding) I do almost every day.
BTW - Consumer Reports has just released a new report evaluating popular diets: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18496858/
May 8th, 2007 at 10:17 am
“I do them every two or two days”
Yes, it is good to keep a consistent routine.
I do a weekly run which includes an exercise trail. There are stretching and strengthening and BALANCE placed periodically along the trail. It is fun, and I am strong like bull/ox. I like to push the envelope with the strength exercises like pull-ups, sometimes I stretch more, and other times I go for endurance by adding a few laps jogging around the field. I can do about 5 pull-ups or 15 push ups, at the drop of a hat, or I can sprint like a gazelle for 200 yards, also tumbling, spinning, flipping, and jumping. In my opinion, being “in shape” includes being athletic, coordinated, limber, balanced and confident, not just having low body fat. Incidentally, I am struggling with fat, still tipping the scales at about 180lbs, mostly the “dangerous” stubborn fat around my gut. My biggest roadblock is over-eating, I often eat like it is a sport…
http://www.ifoce.com/
http://www.ifoce.com/video/ifoce_promo_2006.mov
http://www.competitiveeaters.com/worldrecords.htm
May 9th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
isn’t today weigh-in day?
what’s the deal?
did you have another birthday this week?
May 9th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
TMOL - you caught me stalling: 165.0
May 9th, 2007 at 11:35 pm
Tmol is a fundamentalist weight coach. He does not go for wishy-washy weight loss techniques. Banish thy gut!
May 10th, 2007 at 2:20 am
Thanks, Erich! I got the book and will take a look at the exercises. 8 Minutes a day does not seem as much, but it’s still better than nothing, I guess.
May 16th, 2007 at 7:10 am
today is wednesday.
May 16th, 2007 at 10:47 am
164.5 I don’t want to rush things. TMOL apparently doesn’t have much else to do than watch me fail to finish this off quickly. Oh, yeah. No excuses. But hey, I’m getting there, and it has been painless.
May 17th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
e,
good start.
t
May 18th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
I was scared to look, but it seems that I am down to 175 (from 180). Gonna shoot for 170 now. Actually I guess I will shoot for 165 and that way 170 might actually arrive someday!
May 18th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
Eh, on second thought (dinner) make that 178.
May 23rd, 2007 at 10:54 am
162.9 - My goal was 163, so now I’m going to have to eat a bit extra today, to gain .1 pounds. Unless anyone objects, I’ll report for a few more months because this is good incentive for me to maintain. Special thanks to TMOL for all of that tough love.
May 24th, 2007 at 11:11 am
hey, way to go friend.
May 30th, 2007 at 5:25 am
now comes the hard part.
avoiding relapse.
May 30th, 2007 at 11:03 pm
so much for weekly wednesday updates.
May 30th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
Sorry. I’ve been out of town on business. No scales anywhere to be seen, except for truck scales. I won’t be home until Friday. I promise another update next Wednesday.
June 1st, 2007 at 12:12 am
what town are you in that does not have any scales? i want to live there.
June 1st, 2007 at 8:46 am
I wonder if Erich is really so fat that he needs to lose weight. That’s going to sound mean, but seeing so many fat people has a deterring effect and causes other people with a bit of overweight or who are even within the normal range to obsess about their weight. I read an article yesterday that just annoyed me. British researcher found out that even thin people can be fat. Now you don’t have to worry about the external fat under your skin, but also about the internal fat that surrounds your organs.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/10/health/main2788524.shtml
Can’t they just leave people alone?
June 6th, 2007 at 8:31 am
I weighed in again today: 162.9 What’s amazing to me is how little food I’m eating, compared to what I was eating before. I should have been gaining a pound a week at my pre-program eating pace. I suppose that the body somehow fights off absorbing the extra nutrients in an attempt to maintain homeostasis.
I’ve also noticed how important good habits are. I’ve gotten out of the habit of eating until I’m “full,” for example. I used to do that for probably half of my meals. Like any habit, though, it is not hard to eat (as the European saying goes) until I’m 70% full, because I’ve been doing it repeatedly.
I decided to lose this weight for purposes of better health, though (like TMOL) says it’s great to have the old clothes fit comfortably.
I won’t bore everyone with weekly weigh-in’s anymore, though I’ll check in monthly, with a weight and with observations about trying to maintain this weight.
June 6th, 2007 at 10:28 am
Projekt: That finding, while terribly scary, reinforces what essentially everyone here has indicated before: you cannot use thinness as a proxy for health. Before this finding, we already knew that the thin could have health problems: people with very low BMIs due to anorexia or bulimia often have heart trouble, because their extreme starvation stresses the body just as overconsumpution does. Skinny women also often smoke to keep their weight down- they smoke! Does a 100-lb starving chimney of a woman have better health than a slightly overweight woman? Definitely not!
Our society still labels the apparently overweight or flabby people as lazy and unhealthy, when a slightly overweight person could easily have better health habits (and as a result, better health), than a sedentary skinny person. This finding reminds us that none of us can escape the necessity of healthful habits, regardless of whether we have the guise of a good body to seemingly protect us.
June 6th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Erika, I think what I found a bit bothersome for a while, although I’m not overweight, is this raging crusade against fat people. It no longer seems to be only an aesthical or health problem, rather it is now also a moral problem. It has become unethical to be overweight. Being fat is a crime to society. You’re totally and absolutely wrong for having lovehandles and hopefully you understand that you will get sent straight to hell after your short disease-ridden fat life. And now I see the new antifat crusade starting soon for normalweight people - if you don’t exercise you will also go to hell because the fat layer around your inner organs will grow bigger and bigger and make you die soon, too.
June 6th, 2007 at 8:22 pm
Erich says:
“What’s amazing to me is how little food I’m eating, compared to what I was eating before. I should have been gaining a pound a week at my pre-program eating pace.”
I found the same thing, even more so because besides eating right I have been working out way more than ever before. Thus just considering calories in vs. calories expended, it amazes me that I didn’t weigh 1,000 pounds before starting to eat right and exercise. or that i am not stil losing 5 pounds a week. it doesn’t make sense.
well, anyway, for me it all boils down to this: don’t eat unless you’re hungry and it tastes good.
also, there is nothing like an endorphin high from a good workout.
and erich, way to go, my friend.
June 12th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Very impressive Erich, and you’ve now motivated me to lose weight. I used to be 104.5 lbs at 5′3″ back in late September 2005, but after I quite competitive piano (which required around 2 1/2 hrs - 3 hrs daily practice) I gained around 11 lbs in 5 months. I was 116 lbs last April 2006.
Went I went to the doctor’s office yesterday for a check-up, he told me that I was still 5′3″ and 121.5 lbs. My BMI is now 21.5, which is getting closer to 23 (which you mentioned: “at 23 we are still 3 times at risk for adult onset Diabetes”). I don’t EVER want to get diabetes. EVER.
I’m going to print out your list of advice you compiled and hang them up all around my house. Reading this has really inspired me.
June 22nd, 2007 at 10:08 am
umm hi!!! =) my name is brooke and i’m 14, 5′0 and i weigh about 108 pounds…im not so serious about my weight - i mean, im just a little chunky. it’s just that my whole family seems to have all these eating disorders and they’re either 400 pounds or 60, and most of them have gotten EXTREMELY sick and since my dad had his near death heart attack, i’m wanting to lose just a little bit of weight so i dont get all that started. when i was in fourth grade i was like 25 pounds overweight, and i lost it all pretty much in a roller coaster since 5th grade, but i’m just wanting to get to about 100 pounds, maybe by a healthy 1.5 pounds per week loss
??
June 30th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
I wrote that I would check in periodically. I’m at 161.2 these days. Having worked hard to get into some better habits is making it easy to maintain this weight. Your stomach really tells you when you’ve had too much to eat, if you listen.
July 3rd, 2007 at 3:03 am
i’m in a foreign country right now, and while there is no scale at the home i’m staying at, i’m honestly not sure if i’ve gained or lost weight. i think i’m maintaining the same 121.5 lbs though.
being in the city, i’ve found it hard to do intense workouts (run a few miles, and such) but i’ve walked for at least 10 minutes outside and done some stretching exercises indoors. the food in this country is by far much more healthier than anything i’ve been exposed to in the U.S. i hate fast food so i don’t go to pizza hut, kfc, mcdonalds and the lot here and i think being around skinny people have motivated me to eat healthier.
although my grandmother keeps pressing me to eat .. she’s a bit overweight but surprisingly not as big as i expected her to be, had to lived in the US.
July 25th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
Apparently, there’s evidence for a new rule for those who want to avoid weight gain: don’t hang around with obese pals:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19961197/site/newsweek/
August 11th, 2007 at 11:11 am
I’m surprised that your article doesn’t mention the 3-hour diet concept, you even suggest that forgetting your lunch is preferable to looking forward to it, at least that was my interpretation.
3-hour diet, eat 50% protein, and 50% carb or veg every three hourse, at your weight 3/4 cup each, this will keep you in a fat burning metabolism as opposed to a muscle burning metabolism. It will guarantee your 2lb a week weightloss without exercise.
This diet is better in my opinion because it enables a higher muscle to fat ratio, which is ideal for long term fitness.
August 16th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
Just checking in with my weight, in case anyone’s interested. I’m 163. I really don’t think about eating the “right” amount of food anymore. I am conscious of not pigging out, however. I figure that as long as I’m not eating till I’m uncomfortably full, I’m reasonably OK. No food is “off limits.” As TMOL mentioned above, this pays dividends every day, in that my clothes are comfortable, though I got serious about eating right to improve my health.
September 3rd, 2007 at 10:43 am
“Eating Made Simple: How Do You Cope with a Mountain of Conflicting Diet Advice?” is a good review of the current state of diet and health information and it can be found in the September 2007 Special Issue of Scientific American.
The author, Marion Nestle, starts by pointing to all of the apparently conflicting information we hear regarding nutrition and diet. He reminds us, however, that basic principles of diet and nutrition are not in dispute: “eat less; move more; eat fruits, vegetables and whole grains; and avoid too much junk food.” The prototypical junkfood is soft drinks, which contain lots of sugar, but few or no nutrients.
The article points out that deregulation and government encouragement for farmers to grow more food caused the “calories available per capita” to rise dramatically, from 3200 calories per day per American in 1980 to 3900 calories per day in the year 2000. The eating culture also changed in that interval. People started accepting between-meal snacking, eating almost anywhere, including eating in bookstores and clothing stores. We also saw the serving of much larger portions in restaurants. During that time, the obesity rate (as reverse to people with EMI ratings greater than 30) rose from 15% in 1980 to 33% in 2004. During this time of the regulation, the food industry also jumped in to barrage the American public with a torrent of misinformation about what is healthy. It turns out that what is allegedly healthy tends to be processed, expensive empty calories encased in fancy and environmentally unfriendly packaging.
This same article discusses the only proven strategies for dropping weight and keeping it off. These conclusions are those of James Hill, a psychologist who is an authority on weight loss. He established a national weight control registry to collect data on people who have lost at least 30 pounds and kept that weight off for at least a year. Those people tend to have several things in common:
Their activity becomes the driver; food restriction doesn’t do it. The idea that for the rest of your life you are going to be hungry all the time–that’s just silly.” People in the registry get an average of an hour of physical activity every day, with some exercising for as much as 90 minutes a day. They also keep the fat in their diet relatively low, at nearly 25% of their calorie intake. Nearly all of them eat breakfast every day, and they weigh themselves regularly. “They tell us two things,” Hill says. “The quality of life is higher–life is better than it was before.” And “they get to the point with physical activity were they don’t say they love it, but they say “it’s part of my life.”
September 22nd, 2007 at 8:21 pm
If you are a (non-diet) soda drinker who wants to lose weight, there is no better way to get a jump start that getting rid of all of that high fructose corn syrup. http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=1614
September 24th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
If you eat alone, you eat less. If you eat with one other person, you consume 35% more food on average. If you eat with four others, you consome 75% more food. If you eat with 7 others, you consume 96% more food. All of this, according to Harpers Index, October 2007.
September 26th, 2007 at 9:23 am
I would like my money back…
I have been trying to lose a few pounds, but whenever I seem to make some progress, my body (mind) seems to revert into an “eating” phase. I can tell (just by the portion size) that I am eating too much when this happens, but my body (mind) tells me that I am hungry and to go ahead and keep eating. Am I not trying hard enough? Maybe I am trying too hard? Is it that I am confusing my metabolism by exercising/dieting past the point of exhaustion, then my body wants to store the energy? Maybe I just need Tmol to yell at me?
September 26th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
Ben: Hang in there. I had lost significant amounts of weight before, without much problem (I lost 35 pounds 5 years ago). This, time, though, it was a lot harder. It was as though my body would burn fuel more efficiently every time I cut back. There were days on which I was eating half the calories I was eating previously, yet there was no weight loss for an entire week. Time is on your side. Cut it back another 10 or 20% and give it another week or two. It will happen.
I hope TMOL heeds your cry for help. It would be fun to see someone else getting it from him for a change.
Another idea. Go ahead and plug in your current weight and your goal as a comment. Then check in with your weigh-in every week or two. It’s great incentive for honest reporters.
October 1st, 2007 at 2:31 am
try harder.
December 20th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
Hey! It’s DECEMBER. What happened?
December 22nd, 2007 at 9:58 pm
168. Thanks for the shot across the bow, MolT.
December 23rd, 2007 at 12:09 am
187. Tmol is clearly not doing his job very well…
December 23rd, 2007 at 12:23 am
Ben: TMOL (you cleverly saw through one of his psuedonyms) is just kicking it into gear. It’s his job and his destiny to keep people like you and me in line. And the main weapon in his arsenal is guilt.
Thank goodness he showed up now to remind me to stay focused.
January 3rd, 2008 at 6:47 am
I love this song. It’s called Perfect 10 by The Beautiful South.
[gv data="JvNRwE-AyCk"][/gv]
January 3rd, 2008 at 1:21 pm
So, it doesn’t seem like you can embed videos in the comments. Here’s the link to the video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=JvNRwE-AyCk
January 27th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
Here’s an Obesity Map of the U.S. It’s incredible how much fatter we’ve gotten over the past 20 years. http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/fit.nation/obesity.map/
January 29th, 2008 at 4:48 am
Here’s a dramatic story of weight loss. This fellow dropped 400 pound. It reminds me that there are no “fat people,” but only people who happen to be fat. http://www.hemmy.net/2007/07/02/david-smith-amazing-weight-lost-story/
January 29th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
He looks surprisingly cute (I read somewhere that he got some cheeks implants though, but whatever). I’m guilty, as a lot of other people I assume, of not being able to see fat people as potentially attractive people who are stuck in a fat body, but simply as fat people. I want to go out now and convince everybody I know who is overweight to lose weight.
April 20th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
about time for a weigh in from erich.
April 20th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Huh?: You remind me a lot of TMOL. Do you guys know each other?
As a matter of fact, I weighed in a couple days ago at 168, which relieved me, given that I’ve had to curtail working out for several months due to a back problem. I’m exercising again, though, and I plan to bring it back down to about 163 soon.
Thanks for checking.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:58 am
I was at 177 last week. Since then I have “celebrated” a bit by eating haagen dazs. Not sure where I am right now.
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:18 am
so, erich, in other words you gained five pounds, yet you say this “relieved” you? maybe you should gain another five, and then another, and triple your “relief.”
April 24th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
To Huh?: My point was that in the context of doctors telling me to not ride a bike or work out strenuously for more than a month, I was pleasantly surprised that I hadn’t gained much weight.
You seem really focused on my need to lose weight. If I were to lose so much weight that I entirely disappeared, would that make you ecstatic? Or would I just become a singularity in another dimension?
Time to end this late-night comment . . .
June 11th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Erich, I just stumbled on this site today and want to thank you and the other commenters for a great weight loss post. I am 52, and weight loss/muscle building is nowhere near as easy this year it was 10 years ago for me. But I am going to follow in your footsteps, and try and work the same basic plan. I too have just come through a tough winter and beltline creep. Thanks!
July 6th, 2008 at 5:02 am
I find that although I know everything you have stated here, it is nice to hear that you slipped and are able to get back into the routine. I dont have a problem starting a plan and losing weight, i tend to slip on occasions and feel like it will be impossible for me to ever stick with it. Less about the info you shared and more about hearing about a similar issue and seeing that it is possible to return to ones better habbits. I gained 70 lbs in my pregnancy this, i deliverd my baby 2 months ago, and now i’ve given myself until her first birth day to lose it all. Being health is important, and being a rolemodel is even more so. Thanks for the inspiration.
September 14th, 2008 at 12:59 am
To all. This is crazy. If you want to lose weight, look at your caloric intake needed to maintain your current weight on any of the 1000s of online calculators, then reduce that by 500-1000 calories, then burn 500-1000 calories through cardio exercise each day, and lift weights three or four times a week for 30-45 minutes. Make sure to eat plenty of protein, complex carbs, and healthy fats. There are great supplements bodybuilders use like protein shakes and bars that are nutritionally balanced. This will require some discipline, but it is going to work for you, and at the same time teach you how to eat healthfully. It’s hard, but it’s really the only way to consistently lose weight.
September 20th, 2008 at 2:02 am
What Does 200 Calories Look Like?
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-200-calories-look-like.htm
I’m taking over as trainer, no more tmol cake walk for you slackers, this means you too ladies.
October 8th, 2008 at 8:33 am
How can you keep that weight off once you’ve lost it? Ride a bike a little bit every day. Thanks to Dan Klarmann for this link: http://scienceblogs.com/aardvarchaeology/2008/10/why_am_i_still_skinny.php
October 8th, 2008 at 11:05 am
I recently tried riding the path to work. Its a beautiful winding path through a creek/park with smooth pavement. It is a long route though, because it isn’t direct (took about an hour the first time, guessing it was 10 miles). I could ride on the streets (about 5 mi), but i’m not keen about sharing the road with cars. I’m gonna keep trying to find an ideal route (mix of trails and street), and get myself and my bike into Touring shape, which will improve travel times.
October 13th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
well, i’m going to start this today. i hope it works. i’ll keep telling you how much i’ve lost each week. thank you.
October 24th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Hi, I’m not sure if people are still checking this but I am DESPERATE to lose 1-2 pounds a week for… 10+ weeks until I lose 20 pounds. I graduated college over a year ago where I was an athlete and weight was never an issue for me. However. I have discovered my love for food and restaurants and have packed on 20 pounds since graduating, its a terrible feeling. All of my new friends are chefs and servers, love food, and are all overweight. I couldn’t help myself from falling into the same group and gaining weight. I love the ideas presented in this plan and its similar to what I am trying, eating less, eating better, exercising more, which seem basic but it has not been easy. I’d love either advice, or someone to scream at me and demand weigh ins and express their disappointment when I’m failing (which I have been).
October 24th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
20lbs: would keeping a food blog of your own help? If you had to report your habits and your current weigh in for potentially the world to see, would that help snap you into shape at all? I don’t know if the open-reporting had any influence on Erich’s results, but the tactic does seem to help some people stay on track.
I’ve never lost a super-significant amount of weight, but I’d venture that both the evidence and anecdotes I’ve witness suggest a slow-but-steady way of things. I think the pointers Erich shares here and elsewhere in the blog are great- overall habitual changes, not totally banning any food, learning to eat thought fully and responsibly and not giving in to social or other pressures that beg you to eat when not hungry.
My only additional tip would be to focus on health, not weight.
And here comes the yelling part: If you want to lose weight, do it! You’ve clearly looked into it, you understand how the problem began, and you know some of the ways to get started. So go for it! Start right now! There is no reason to wait, and there is no reason to give up once you’ve started. An occasional slip-up does not invalidate all of the work that you’ve done in the past. And that’s all I have to say!
October 24th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
This website is so inspiring! I lost 25 pounds through Weight Watchers and have gained 10 back since going on paxil. I am going off this week and look forward to losing 10 again! I want to lose it in 4 weeks. I know 2 pounds a week is hard but can be done. I weight 170 today. I will check in once a week…
October 24th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Food diaries seem indeed to help:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1703763_1703764_1826306,00.html
October 27th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Love this website! It was great fun to read. We all need a tmol in our life. Sometimes people sugar coat things to much for us. I have a lot of weight to lose. After my third child my body was like Erich’s the weight always came off so easily but being now 35 and 3 children later my body is fighting me big time. I work out 6 times a week. I love my workouts and I have started charting my food intake in a way to keep track and see exactly where my calorie intake needs to be so that I can lose 2lbs a week. I am 205 and my goal is 150. I also want my BMI back down to 21. I am tall and have more of a bigger bone structure. Thank goodness there are no more babies going to be happening in my life. I look forward to getting to goal and maintaining.
Thank you for all your wonderful advise!
November 1st, 2008 at 6:20 pm
hello, i just started a diet last week and i was 186 pounds. this week i weighed myself and i weigh 178.5 pounds. i have been eating so for those of you who are sitting there saying it’s unhealthy, don’t tell me because i am doing this the right way. not the wrong way.
i’m going to keep going.
November 28th, 2008 at 7:37 am
I am a male who started dieting 18 days ago. I wanted to share my plan to those it may help. I do not exercise, it’s easier for me to reduce calories than to burn them off.
Starting weight 202.6 pounds.
Starting BMI 32.7
Current weight 193.3
Current BMI 32.2
Target weight 154.8
Target BMI 25
Using the Harris-Benedict principle for calculating my calorie requirement, I require 2,273kcal per day to maintain my weight of 202.6 pounds. I took 500kcals per day from this and it left 1,773kcal per day.
Rather than only drop 500kcals per day, I decided to set a personal target of having a fixed 1,500kcal per day (no less than 1,200kcal).
Each week I weigh myself and recalculate, using the Harris-Benedict principle, my calorie intake requirements. It is important to do this because as you lose weight, you need LESS CALORIES to maintain your new current weight. Here’s my example:
Starting weight: 202.6
Kcals required to maintain weight: 2,273
Kcals required to lose weight: 1,773
Current weight: 193.3
Kcals required to maintain weight: 2,204
Kcals required to lose weight: 1,704
Eventually, should I reach my target, it will be as follows:
Target weight: 154.8
Kcals required to maintain target weight: 1,916
So as you lose weight, eat at least 500kcal less calories than the Harris-Benedict formula shows you need to maintain your weight. When you get to the weight you want to maintain, eat no more than the number of calories that the Harris-Benedict formula shows you need.
Over the 18 days I have averaged a calorie intake of 1,520kcals, about 700kcals less than required for my height/weight. I have lost 9 pounds, but realise that this is probably water loss.
Every week I weigh myself and recalculate (it’s all in a spreadsheet) my intake using the Harris-Benedict principle. So due to losing weight, I now only need 2,204kcals to maintain my current weight, or 1,704kcals to lose weight. I will continue with my plan to eat 1,500kcals.
The great thing about this method is that I do no exercise and continue to eat what I like as long as it is less than my daily target. Your weight is gradually and safely reducing and your calorie intake also gradually and safely reduces in parallel. Because you are still eating enough calories, your body does not starve and it is likely to be a sustainable weight loss.