I’m not particularly obese by American or Scottish standards, but I’ve been dissatisfied with my body fat percentage for a while. Here’s what I did that helped me drop 15 pounds – some of it fat, some of it muscle.
- Stopped doing things that didn’t work for me. Basically I stopped trying to add muscle at the expense of everything else. So no more post-workout carb and protein blitzes.
- Find food I like to snack on. This was pretty simple. Cashews. Loaded with fat and calories, and supposedly good at improving mood. I eat the heck out of them whenever I feel peckish. Sometimes I eat about 3 cups a day. Crazy amount of calories, but it works for me.
- Eat often. I eat a lot. It’s supposed to increase your metabolism, and I eat anywhere from 4-7 times a day as my schedule allows.
- Don’t eat food product. I try to eat things that are made from food, with few ingredients. Nothing from a box, some things from a can, and as much as possible that I have cooked.
- Salmon burgers. Frozen. Fried in oil. From the freezer to the plate in 6 minutes which is important when you’re eating all the time. I get them in bulk from CostCo.
- Fruit and vegetables. I’m terrible at eating these – really. So I just get them juiced at Jamba Juice or the Daily Juice. Two stores that are on my way to other things.
- Salad. Salad is dull as dishwater for me, so I cover it in oil and vinegar – either a home made dressing or store bought. I have a salad with a slice of bread and a salmon burger every day for breakfast whenever possible. The salad is supposed to fill you up. At any rate, it makes me less worried that I’m missing out on nutrients.
- Exercise. I don’t exercise more than I used to, I just enjoy it more. I kick-box twice a week, and the difference with this is that it’s fun and I like the people. Which means I tend not to skip class. Working out alone sucks.
- Cut out the rubbish. I stopped gorging on bread and cakes and chocolate and booze. For me the only way to stop drinking a lot of booze was to stop drinking at all. Same with chocolate. Bread I have in moderation, and I try to eat the decent bread. It’s not hard to figure it out looking at the back of the packet. I also avoid high impact carbs whenever I can. More sweet potato, less corn chips. I also avoid dairy, as it doesn’t work for me.
- Sleep and drink water – in that order. I drink water before I eat anything in the morning. A hot cup of water with lemon in. It’s supposed to flush something or other out of somewhere or other. I don’t know if it works, but it sets my attitude that I’m not going to eat junk all day before I even eat anything.
- Don’t eat carbs after 5pm. My kick boxing instructor told me this would help me wake up in the morning, and it really does. Sure I have a late night cookie from time to time, but I try not to. And I wake up with a ping every morning. Sleep helps with that too.
- Measure every day. OK so this might be a little overkill, but I weigh myself every morning as soon as I wake up and take care of the pee-pee. So I’m measuring roughly the same thing each day. Me, slightly dehydrated from the night’s sleep and having just taken a pee. I chart it. If I was really good, I’d measure body fat percentage – my scale does that but I don’t trust the absolute numbers too much – just the daily changes.
So that worked for me. My weight has stabilized, so I’m looking for a way to get rid of another 4% of body fat – I know it’s vain and pointless but I want a 6 pack for my birthday. And realistically, most of life is ultimately pointless, so why not?