Lots of small steps

One question that I get asked a lot is, “How did you do it? How did you lose the weight?”

I think people are interested in this because there’s always a hope that there’s a silver bullet or a magic pill that will help you lose weight, lower your cholesterol, or make you look like Fabio.

Fabio is still sexy right...?

I can understand the desire to get to your ideal weight quickly. There’s a lot of pressure to look your best. Truthfully, I was looking for the same before I started but I figured out what any thing you can do quickly can, and likely will, undo itself just as quickly.

For me, there was no shortcut. Just a long winding road filled with potholes... 

Basically, any road in Massachusetts. 

When I first started down the path to get fit, I tried to cut out all liquids that wasn’t water or coffee (no way in hell would I have been able to give up coffee). This meant all juices and sodas. I didn’t drink alcohol anyways so that was really easy for me to do. It was challenging at first and for a while I would find myself drinking a can of seltzer here or there if I found the need to have something fizzy.

Over the course of a few weeks I eventually learned to just drink water and coffee. There goes my first five pounds. 

Next were the sweets. As much as I profess that I only like savory snacks - I do catch myself craving something sweet once in a while. Now giving up all sweets all of a sudden is unrealistic for me - some people can do it but not me. Instead, I started bringing fruit with me to work and when i craved something sweet, like a mini snickers from a coworker’s candy bowl, I would eat oranges, grapes, or berries instead. A few weeks down that road and there went another 5 pounds. 

I could bore you with the details but the trend is very similar for the next year. I would figure out the next small life change I needed to make and try to get to it slowly. I understood that there would be setbacks and tried not to get discouraged. 

Here are some of the other lifestyle changes I did over the course of a year:

Add a small salad to dinner -> then a big salad -> then a salad at every meal

Start by running a mile -> then 2 miles -> so on

Find creative ways to substitute breads -> then cut out bread altogether

The list goes on and on and honestly, for each person, it’s going to be a bit different. You might not like running but you enjoy swimming. You may prefer tea over coffee. The main takeaway from this is to just focus on one small thing and make it a lifestyle change. Make it a part of your regular routine. Make it a part of you. Once you’ve mastered that, them move on to the next thing and the next and the next.

Just remember, it takes a long journey and SHOULD be a long journey.

Watch out for those potholes.