How I Lost 40 Lbs. in 4 Months Eating Whatever I Wanted

I originally published this hub 6 years ago, then I fell off the map. Today I'm reexamining lifestyle choices. The biggest challenge is old habits. They say that it only takes 30 days to develop new habits. Where do you start ? You start at the beginning; breakfast, breakfast is the first and most important meal of the day, treat it as such. Don't focus on everything you should take out, focus on what you should add. Add fruit, lots and lots of fruit, add a banana to your cereal, add a side of strawberries to your bacon and eggs, add blueberries to your pancakes, top your ham with baked apples. Do these simple things and you will have less room for junk, and you will also have more energy.

I was watching a television show about weight loss and thought to myself they are going about it all wrong. There was this young girl who weighed over 200 pounds. She was told that the BMI for children was based on percentages. Well the percentage of 17 year old girls who weighed over 206 pounds is only 2 percent. What a way to make you feel good. So I started researching losing weight. There is one major reason that diets fail; eventually people go back to their old eating habits. That banana split is just way too tempting. Maybe your vice is a thick bacon cheeseburger, perhaps a slice of cherry pie with vanilla ice cream. Well you are in luck because I am going to tell you how to EAT what you want and still lose weight.

Show me a person who doesn't like Carrot Cake and I will eat theirs. A typical slice of carrot cake is between 350 and 450 calories. This does not mean that you can not have any. But all things in moderation. You can not have six slices just because I said you can eat carrot cake. The secret to losing weight is not locked in a vault in South Beach. The secret is not even creating an eating habit. It is using your current eating habit to lose weight.

A lot of fad diets have you watch fats and carbs. The thing you should be watching is total caloric intake and salt. Americans consume more salt than they need and men are the worst. Men between the ages of 30-39 consume more than double the recommended sodium intake. The recommended daily allowance of sodium is less than 2300 milligrams or 1 teaspoon. Well you ask, how do I cut my salt? The answer is simple enough, limit fast food and processed foods. Use common sense when consuming salty foods. If you eat something like a Pastrami sandwich or a B.L.T. you are most likely using up most of your salt intake. Eat something low in salt like a fruit salad. This will help to balance all that excess salt.

Most dieters have heard of BMI but what is it and what is BMR. BMI stands for Body Mass Index, The major flaw of BMI is that it doesn't take in enough factors unlike BMR. Basal Metabolic Rate or BMR is the base level calories we need to maintain our bodies just the way they are. Some of the factors that BMR measures are age, weight, and activity level. When you know how many calories it takes to maintain your weight it is easier to adjust your eating habits.

The surface area of a 14 inch pizza is approximately 155 sq. inches. Whereas a 16 inch pizza has approximately 200 sq. inches. What does the area of a pizza have to do with dieting? The simple answer; proportion size. If you trade two slices of a medium pepperoni pizza for one large one, you will save at least 100 calories. To lose 2 pounds a week you need to cut 7,000 calories from your weekly calories. This is the reason so many people give up pizza, fried chicken, hamburgers, dessert, and so much more. They just can't see any other way to cut 1000 calories a day.

Let's be honest, if you are reading this you probably already tried to lose weight. After a while you probably gave up. Now that you have weened yourself off diets you can start a meal PLAN. If you eat less of what you are already eating, you will lose weight. I know exactly what you are going to say next. But I'm hungry. This is where planning comes into effect. If we know that our BMR is 2500 calories, we need to take in less than 1500 calories a day, to lose 2 pounds in a week. Since a good Pastrami sandwich is about 1500 calories how can we fit one into our plan? There are a few answers, here is the most basic; if it isn't already on the menu don't place it there. The other answer is obvious, work it off. Now for the single biggest culprit of hidden calories, soda. One regular soda has 200 calories per 16 ounces. So if you give up one Double Big Gulp, and one can of soda, there is your 1000 calories right there.

© Robert Burroughs 2012