How I Lost Six Stone: My Advice on Weight Loss

Over the last 1 and a half years I have lost around six stone in weight. I went from around 18 stone to just under 12 stone, and I still continue to lose it to this day. In this article I will tell you all of the information I know, and what has helped me achieve this weight loss, in the hope that it will help other people trying to lose weight. Please look through the whole article, as you are certain to find something helpful.

Determination

Definitely one of the most important factors, it doesn’t matter what plan you have to lose weight if you don’t stick to it. If you are overweight, you need to visualise becoming a normal weight. Visualise what you’d look like, the clothes you’d be able to fit into, and any changes this could have on your lifestyle or love life. One of the things that kept me going was knowing that I’d be more desirable by the end – if I was considering whether to eat a piece of cake or go for seconds, I’d think of an attractive woman Chocolate cake or a new beautiful girlfriend? No contest! (I pick the girl, just so you know.) It sounds a bit silly, but you need to imagine the benefits of losing weight to keep you motivated. Keep reminding yourself why you are doing it and you will want to continue.

Weight Loss Plan

There are countless weight loss plans out there, although really I’d recommend you would either take a traditional low calorie diet, or a low carb approach. I tried both and they both work for me, but you really need to find out what works best for you as everyone is different. I’d definitely recommend low carb, I have never felt so awake and alert and I lost weight very fast, although I couldn’t fit in with my family’s eating habits so I had to stop. Overall though, it’s a matter of finding which you like best. I would not however recommend any random fad diets where you just eat one type of food, or food supplements. It’s a load of rubbish that’s not necessary, and certainly not healthy. Also, no starvation diets – you need 1,200 calories a day minimum. Starving yourself is counterproductive and not necessary in the slightest.

To be honest, I personally don’t strictly follow any diet regime. I just know what is healthy, I don’t count calories, but I’ve dramatically decreased my portions. More on this later.

Breakfast

Everywhere you go, you see people strongly advising that eating breakfast is necessary for weight loss, to boost your metabolism etc. Well, all I found was that eating both a decent breakfast and lunch would make me lose weight slower. However it could be beneficial to some people. What works for me is probably either a very small breakfast and a decent lunch, or vice versa. If you want a breakfast to keep you going throughout the day, some sugary cereal is no good. You need one high in protein or fat to keep you fuelled.

Drinking Water

No other drink is as necessary or beneficial as water, we’ve all heard about the great benefits of drinking plenty of it. Seriously consider cutting out the soft, fizzy drinks all together, they’re not good for you and just add unnecessary calories. I have barely drunk a single fizzy drink in 2 years, and if you’re a heavy soda drinker you’d probably lose weight just from cutting them out. So overall I recommend you drink water and little else, it’s certainly helped me.

Cut the Sugar Addiction

This follows on from the last section. I think one of the main reasons for my success is that I barely eat or drink any sugar at all if I can help it. Sugar is addictive; pretty much to the extent of nicotine – and we are not able of coping with the high amounts of the refined stuff we consume nowadays, hence the diabetes problem. Consuming sugar raises blood sugar, insulin is then released in our bodies to calm down these levels and over time we build up a resistance to insulin, this process gives us Type 2 Diabetes. The hormone insulin also is one of the main catalysts for storing fat, and so it is thought that by keeping blood sugar down weight loss may be easier; this is the main principle behind low carb diets. Important message to take away though: cut down your sugar intake drastically.

Is Fat Bad?

Fat has been labelled as a monster over recent years, all over the TV adverts and supermarket shelves are low-fat products that supposedly are a lot healthier for us. In some cases maybe, in some cases probably not. Often if they remove the fat out of a product they need to add something else in instead to compensate for the flavour, which could be even worse than the fat in the first place, like sugar. I’ve read into the topic and from what I’ve read there’s really no need to be scared of eating fat, natural fat at least. Monounsaturates are good and I really don’t think saturates are as bad as they’re made out to be – there’s a fair few books out there disproving the dangers of cholesterol and saturated fat, such as “The Great Cholesterol Con,” which would make for some good reading. However trans fat really does need to be avoided, a man made fat which is carcinogenic and that our bodies don’t properly know how to even dispose of – this stuff can be found in some margarines, despite them telling us they’re more healthy than proper butter.

When dieting of course, you may need to take into account fat intake – fat contains a lot of calories. However I don’t personally restrict the amount of fat I eat, and as a long term healthy eating plan I really wouldn’t worry about fat from natural sources such as meat and dairy. Technically, the diet a creature exists on throughout its evolution should determine what is “good” and “bad” for it. Studies of bone from our predecessors showed that we mostly lived on meat, fruit and some vegetables, so it only makes sense that is a diet we should follow today.

Processed Food

You’ve probably heard everywhere to avoid too much processed food, and yes it does really make sense. Ridiculous amounts of random ingredients and additives, some potentially harmful, and less beneficial nutrients than fresh food. Processed food is definitely convenient, but not really the healthiest option. In fact I would expect that switching from a diet of mostly processed food to fresh, natural food would probably make you lose weight by itself. You’ve heard it a million times before, but fresh fruit and vegetables are essential for a healthy lifestyle. Frozen veg is fine, Although canned food and fruit is full of salt and/or sugar and is best avoided.

Portion Size

A bit of a no-brainer, but less food = more weight loss generally, although don’t take it to extremes. The amount and frequency of my eating has decreased radically throughout the last 1 to 2 years. But instantly halving your food intake overnight could be difficult. I personally have gradually ate less and less over a long period, I still eat a reasonable amount but I only eat until I’m full, not just eating for the enjoyment of it. Don’t worry if you find eating less difficult at first, just don’t overdo it and your body will slowly adjust accordingly, and your appetite will drop just as mine has. I can’t eat anywhere near the volume I used to be able to.

Stop looking at eating as an enjoyable activity. Don’t eat for comfort. Food is a fuel. This is what I have started to realise throughout my period of dieting – food is necessary for our survival but gorging on it definitely isn’t.

Plateaus

Argh, a dreaded word for dieters. A plateau is a term for when you stop losing weight for a period, and is the bane of losing weight. I have encountered many throughout my period of weight loss and my advice is to just stop worrying about it. Yes, you WILL start losing weight again, just give it time. What I’ve done sometimes is to actually eat slightly more than I was doing previously for a period, and then continue with the normal diet procedure, I think this temporary lapse in diet gives a kick up the backside to your metabolism and tells it to start working again.

Slip-ups

Yes, they’re bound to happen. Giving into to your desire for some cake, or going out for a lavish dinner, or whatever it may be. If you have a bad day, or even week, don’t worry about it. Let your diet lapse and perhaps put a pound or so back on? Well start again and you will probably find it comes off again easily, as your metabolism may have recovered a little from the harsh thrashing your diet may have given it. However, try and avoid too much yo-yoing; it’s pretty harmful to your body and an excess of this could make it harder to lose weight in the future.

Exercise

Exercise has always been touted as necessary for effective weight loss. Well unless I’m an exception, no it really isn’t. My level of exercise is actually embarrassingly low, I have never been to the gym, although I do walk a fair amount. And I have still successfully lost weight. BUT, exercise, as we all know, is necessary for long term health. That does not mean however that it has to be strenuous exercise, so don’t think that – a lot of athletes die young so it can’t be all it’s cracked up to be. But regular gentle exercise has numerous benefits, and of course exercise during weight loss should speed up the process due to the expended calories, and increase your metabolism. Just make sure that the exercise doesn’t make you so hungry you end up eating more, therefore completely wasting your time doing it in the first place.

Weighing Yourself

I weigh myself daily, but it’s up to you if you would like to do it that often. It does however give an ongoing progress report, and is a useful tool. But there are some things to consider. Your weight will naturally fluctuate from day to day, so don’t worry if you’re a pound or so heavier than yesterday. I had a strange phenomenon myself – I would always weight a couple of pounds heavier on a Sunday – but be back to normal the next day. I never did work this one out. The amount you eat that day, and even the amount you drink can make your weight vary by as much as several pounds. Weigh yourself at the same time every day, either at night or perhaps better in the morning, wearing nothing, or at least only in underwear – even different clothes could affect your weight measurement.

Remember of course that even though we give it the term “weight loss,” it’s actually fat we’re trying to lose here. So some of your weight loss may be water weight or unfortunately, muscle mass. This is an inevitable loss throughout dieting with most plans, although you may like to check out an ebook titled “Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which has been very popular indeed, and promotes losing bodyfat and increasing muscle mass – as the problem with losing too much muscle is that it will actually slow your metabolism. I personally don’t worry about being muscular, but it may bother some more than others. I don’t think losing muscle has hampered my weight loss too much.

Hopefully if your weight loss plan is successful, you should be losing 1 or 2 pounds a week. Yes, this doesn’t sound like a huge amount and I’ve sometimes lost it faster or slower, but this speed is a good guide to go by. Rapid weight loss is dangerous and makes it more likely for you to put it back on afterwards, whereas 1-2 pounds is a conservative amount that still makes progress after a while. Ignore any rubbish weight loss plans that may advertise “Lose 10 pounds in a week!” or some similar garbage, it’s all lies and is likely to be some kind of starvation plan, or something that plain doesn’t work. There is no real easy way to lose weight, except from drastic measures like liposuction and I don’t condone that in the slightest except in extreme cases.

The “End” of Your Weight Loss Program

So, you’ve reached your target weight. Well done! But you really can’t stop there. Weight loss unfortunately has to be a permanent change to your lifestyle. You can’t go back to your old habits, otherwise all of your hard work will be undone and all that time and effort wasted. Yes, to maintain your weight you can eat more than you were to lose it, but it is absolutely vital that you completely permanently change your eating habits. Sticking to a healthy diet will ensure you live a healthier, longer life and keep at a good weight. Because I have totally changed my eating habits and outlook towards food, I now have no desire to return to how I used to eat. This is what you must also achieve.

Conclusion

You have probably noticed in this article that there wasn’t anything particularly radical. This was intentional. I have honestly and truthfully told you all that I know, that has helped me achieve what I have. Weight loss can be a difficult thing, it takes a long time but the benefits are tremendous. Just don’t fall for those fad diets, there is no easy way out. Thanks for reading this article, I hope it has been of use to you.