How I Lost 36 Pounds

It’s safe to say that the world of weight loss is very confusing and discouraging. How many calories should I eat? Should I avoid all carbs or just cut down? What kind of exercises should I be doing? There are so many diet and exercise programs out there that it’s hard to know where to begin.

Let me first tell you that losing weight was the hardest thing for me to accomplish, until I figured out how simple it is to do. I, like so many others, always procrastinated about it. Throughout this process I also learned so many ways not to lose weight, ha-ha.

In this blog, I will break it down into 3 easy steps so that you can reach your goal weight, and stay there. My weight loss was a total of 36 pounds. I was 205 lbs when I decided to take control of my weight management, and now I maintain a weight of 169 lbs.

So you want to lose 5, 10, 20 lbs? Whatever it may be, after this post, you will have the knowledge and tools to be very effective at losing the desired weight. More importantly, this blog might even help you make changes in other areas of your life. So let’s get started.

Step 1: THE MIND; before you lose your weight physically, you need to lose it mentally. Instead of thinking about how overweight or unfit you are, I’d like for you to shift your thoughts to the desired weight or body form you would like to be in. Take time throughout the day and think about how good you will look when you lost all the weight. Think about the clothes that will fit you again. Think about how great it would be to go the beach and not be ashamed of taking your clothes off. I even went as far as buying jeans the size I wanted to wear, I bought shirts on the size I wanted to fit in. I made it a must, not a should. You would be surprised at what you can do when you put your mind to it. Have a final number you want to get to, and then break it down by 5 or 10 lbs at a time. For me I wanted to be at 170, so I broke it down by 5 lbs at a time till I got to 169. I was losing about 1 to 2 pounds a week, some weeks even more.

Step 2: THE DIET; although this might cause some controversy, I’m a strong believer that all diets work. Yes, I do believe that all diets can work for anyone but the key is to be in caloric deficit with any diet you choose. I know this because I tried a lot of different diets and this worked for me. I never eat more calories than my body needs. I try to eat around 2,000 calories a day. I believe that the reason people lose and re-gain the weight, or give up on it altogether is that they over eat and don’t switch it up on their diet. Like everything in life, sometimes you just need a change. If a diet becomes a chore then you will not stick to it (at least that was the case with me). I’m not telling you to go out there and buy everyone’s books, diet programs, and exercise videos. I’m simply saying that you should pick the food items of your choice and make it yourself.

I started with juicing, then a low carb diet, and then intermittent fasting. Although juicing worked very well and gave me lots of energy, it wasn’t sustainable. The following is the recipe I used: kiwi, green apples, collard greens, kale, cucumber, ginger, cilantro, celery, mint, parsley. Keep in mind that this is not enough food for the whole day as it is very low in calories so you should supplement it with other small meals. As an example, have the juice in the morning, followed by a salad at lunch, and then have whatever meal you want for dinner (but remember not to over eat). I moved on to the low carb diet when I got sick of the juicing. For me, Chipotle was my go to option but you can choose whatever you want as long as its low carb. I ate burrito bowls without rice, cheese and sour cream. The thing to avoid with this diet was, of course, too much carbs, like bread, rice, starch, and saturated fats. For snacks I ate nuts and yogurt. Yoplait’s strawberry Greek yogurt was the best for me. For other meals I’d have chicken, fish or beef with vegetables.  I also didn’t eat fruit with this diet because of its high sugar content. The next phase of my diet involved intermittent fasting. With this diet I ate everything except sweets and regular ice creams. For me it was hard to cut out the ice cream because I love Ben & Jerry’s. However, I tried skinny cow ice cream sandwiches and was surprised that they’re so delicious, and low in saturated fat! This didn’t sabotage my diet and kept my spirits up during the beginning phase of fasting. Based on my schedule, I chose to eat between 11:30am and 7pm so that at least 15 hours would elapse between meal cycles. The key to intermittent fasting is that you don’t eat for a period of at least 15 hours. Additionally, you need to maintain caloric deficit within this window for this to work. I also found that it’s much easier to adhere to intermittent fasting when you stick to the same eating window every day, and only eat during that window. Of course, this excludes water so drink as much water as you want.

Step 3: THE WORK OUT; my work out routine is very simple. Three times a week I’ll do a 40 minute workout which includes 10-15 minutes of cardio, and 25 to 30 minutes of weight lifting. Additionally, I do a 1 hour workout once a week. This 1 hour workout consists of 30 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of weight lifting. Although I don’t have a favorite workout I usually run, jump rope, or use a cardio machine (such as the elliptical or stair climber). You can do whatever cardio workout you’d like but it’s helpful to use a variety of methods. As for weightlifting, I just make sure I work out the entire body every week. I also play golf a couple times a week, and when I do that I usually walk since playing golf and taking a cart is not much of a workout.

In conclusion, I have to say that the simple keys of being successful in losing weight are being there in the mind positively, and not negatively. Think about what you do want, not the current state you are in. Do not eat past 7 pm. Eat things with low saturated fat. Maintain caloric deficit. Lastly, when you start working out, you will not be motivated at all, so do anything in the beginning. I mean literally anything, even if it means going for a 10 minute walk, a little is better than nothing. Doing something small will create a habit, and when you create a habit, you will not want to miss your workout, trust me. I used to be the biggest procrastinator when it came to working out and now I want to work out as often as I can. If you stick to it, anything can work for you.

                                                                                                             Gus Dacosta.