How to lose weight: the first 20 pounds are the hardest

I lost 20 lbs. last year, and you can too.  How?  I'll lay out a series of topics below that I'll cover in future posts, but there are a few overriding principles that you'll have to get your head around to make this happen:

• No "diets".  A diet has a start date and an end date.  You have to look at the structure of your overall life, and your nutrition in particular, in order to make lasting, meaningful changes.
• Take the long view.  You didn't get to this point overnight, and you won't get out of it overnight either.
• Be realistic.  Your initial plan will undoubtedly be overly optimistic in what you can achieve.  Make your plan and then scale it back by 25% to make it achievable.
• Make time to exercise.  Look at your daily calendar.  It's likely filled with lots of meetings, appointments, and other scheduled events; treat exercise just like any other recurring event and put it down in your schedule ahead of time.
• Set goals that are defined, measurable (to assess progress), and have a date attached to them.  The last is key to sharpening your focus -- it's been said that "goals are dreams with a deadline".

I lost the weight through diet (going back to basic dietary principles and re-assessing my nutrition from the ground up) and exercise (I got back into triathlon training after a six-year layoff and renewed my love of long-distance running).  It's really quite simple, and you'll see that as a theme in the topics we'll cover in future posts:

How to re-assess your nutrition
Getting into endurance sports
How to run
How to recover from long workouts
Tips to make the long workouts more manageable

Hope you find this helpful; it's an ongoing process, but incredibly rewarding!

Comments

[Becky Gillaspy]

Hi Joel,

Just a quick note to let you know I enjoyed this post and your sensible approach to weight loss. We really have to learn how to give up the "fight" to lose weight so we can finally find success.
On a personal note, I ran my first full marathon last May and now with the snow and ice here in Pennsylvania that has been keeping my workouts indoors, I can't wait to get outside and do some more long runs.
Becky

[Joel]

Congrats, Becky, both on the weight loss and the marathon! Endurance sports are a good example for the rest of life, especially in what we can accomplish over the course of a year or more if we put our minds to it. Keep up the good work.