The Secret of Weight Loss…

Troy here!

Chris posted a piece yesterday on the real science of weight loss – psychology.  I’m in total and complete agreement with everything he said.

I’d like to add my own secret to go along with the science:

Just do something – and stick with it.

I lost a ton of weight this year – something I’m hella proud of. I credit 4HB quite a bit for the inspiration and plan – but what I credit more is the part where I actually did the f**king diet for 8 months.  

I have a co-worker who’s obsessed with diets. If Doctor Oz says something about weight loss, she’s telling me about it the next day. Some things, sure, are good new ideas. Some things are batshit insane. Some things are just common sense. She’s constantly researching diets, finding the best foods for dieting and looking for the magic bullets. The one thing she’s not doing is ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING…  but she’s certainly sticking to it!

I’ve bumped into many friends from “away” over the part month or two – and their reaction is very much OMGWTF when they see me. They tell me they can’t believe how much weight I’ve lost – then they ask me how I did it. I give them the 4HB quick list: no fast carbs, a good breakfast, no fruit, no dairy, lots of protein, water and veggies – and a mandated cheat day once a week. The next question they ask is “what do you eat?” – and often when I start with breakfast it all falls apart for them:

ME: “I eat eggs with egg-whites, turkey bacon, guacamole and refried beans.”

THEM: “Yuck, I couldn’t do it, I hate beans. {blah blah blah excuses excuses}”

You hate beans? Fine – but holy hell-damn-crap, DO SOMETHING ELSE THEN if you want to lose weight.

If we can get past the 4HB details, folks will often then start to question me on how I could endure this process – how did I possibly possess the willpower to endure it? Simple: I was tired of being fat and I did something about it.

SOMETIMES THE GOOD THINGS IN LIFE REQUIRE A LITTLE HARD WORK AND DEDICATION.

I look better with fifty pounds gone, sure, but I’m also staring down the big 4-0 in five years and looking at my 70-year old father at the same time. He has Type-2 Diabetes, a pacemaker, and recently underwent a heart valve replacement. I’ve also seen that mofo try a number of diets over the years – never to actually lose any major weight and keep it off. He has a potentially magic book sitting on his coffee table – and it’s been there for years – The G.I. Diet. It sits on the coffee table, right in front of his favourite chair. It’s been around the house for so long that the pages are turning yellow. I’m sure he’s read it many times – and I’m pretty sure he flipped through it again after I told him this could help him lose weight like I did *and* help with his diabetes. The book isn’t even huge – the first couple of chapters are all you need – over 90% of the book is listings of the Glycemic Index of various foods!  All this info – but he’s not ever gone into the process for more than a week.

So whatever you do, whatever you try – JUST DO SOMETHING AND STICK WITH IT. Take notes, keep a record. I suggest trying it for eight weeks and see what happens – that’s a good trial window that will take into account things like “water weight”, or the fact that some diets see nearly no loss when only done for a few weeks. There’s no magic foods. There’s no magic devices. There’s no magic pills.  There’s no magic easy diets – and there’s really no fast-acting diets. If any of these things existed, we’d all be at a healthy BMI within a month and society could stop with the late-night infomercials.

I’ll leave you with a bit of distilled wisdom:

It’s not the diet, it’s the duration.

Powered By DT Author Box

Written by Troy