How I Lost Forty Five Pounds in One Year and Kept Them Off For Thirty
General Stanley McChrystal did not originate the one meal a day lifestyle. I did. More than thirty years ago.
My normal weight is 170 pounds. That’s what I weigh today. Thirty years ago I weighed 215 and climbing.
My path to permanent weight loss has its beginning inside a Roos Atkins clothing store in San Francisco, where I had come intent on buying bigger pants. Again. Suddenly I stopped, mid stride, turned around and walked back out. No more bigger pants. No more yo yo dieting. For the last time, I was going to lose weight, and it was going to be for the last time because I was going to keep it off.
I’d been through all the diets. They were all good. They all worked. For a while. But nobody stays on a diet permanently and the weight always came back. I had two wardrobes. My fat clothes and my skinny clothes. Mostly I wore my fat clothes. But I always felt better in my skinny clothes.
On that day, as I walked out of that clothing store,the realization punched me in my overweight midriff that regardless of what all the diet pundits claim, there is only one way to lose weight and keep it off. And that way is the simplest way of all. Eat less.
I didn’t say it was the easiest way. I said it was the simplest. Often, if not mostly, there is nothing easy about simple.
Eat less! That’s the way to lose weight, and to keep it off, we need to continue to do so. No losing the pounds we want to lose and then going back to our old ways. That won’t work. The pounds always come back.
Of course that’s a lot easier said than done. It requires commitment. It requires a lifestyle change. Well, I was committed and although I hated the thought, I was determined to follow through on that lifestyle change. I set my mind to the concept that from that moment forward, I was going to eat less food and I was going to accomplish that by eating only one meal a day. Instead of trying to worry about exactly what I was going to eat, the way it’s done with dieting, I would eat anything that struck my fancy – for that one single meal of the day. And not a morsel was to pass my lips before or afterwards. Also, I wasn’t going to start tomorrow – I was going to start now! And since I’d already eaten breakfast and lunch, I would not eat again until tomorrow.
I was ravenous in the morning and had a big breakfast. It was tough not eating anything for the rest of the day. I drank gallons of water. But I made it until breakfast next day, when I again had a humongous breakfast. And again, I had to tough it out for the rest of the day. I won’t bore you with all the travails I had, but over time, things began getting easier. I stepped on the scale every day, watching the dial show me losing two to four pounds a day. That was gratifying.
I had quit drinking alcoholic beverages too. At the time I was heavily involved in fraternal affairs and attended dinner meetings every week or so. I stood around during the cocktail hour, nursing a glass of club soda. You have no idea what it’s like to be the only sober person in a room full of drunks! That was particularly hard.
Had I been totally undeviating, I could have lost the entire forty five pounds I wanted to lose in about ten weeks, this way. But I was in this for the long term, like permanently, and I knew I could not keep this up forever. That’s just not realistic. I was thinking about lifesyle here, and who wants to live like that? So I sort of “fell off the wagon” once in a while. Weekends I indulged. Had a few martini’s with my wife, ate an extra pizza, gained back some of the weight I’d lost during the week But always, on a monday morning, I was down a couple of pounds from the previous monday morning. That was steady, and I saw myself steadily losing weight. At the end of a year I had it. I weighed 168 pounds. Perfect.
By then I was so much in the habit of living this way that I could no longer imagine going back to my old ways. I didn’t want to. I felt good! Eating only one meal a day was no longer a burden. I didn’t really want to eat any more than that.and I could watch my wife indulge without a qualm.
Of course, it should go without saying that I”ve been taking supplements since day one. It’s important to get the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients you need. No matter how much you eat of today’s available foods, the way they’re produced today, no matter how careful you may be, You’re bound to be missing out on something, and I’m taking no chances. So I take supplements. Lots of them.
I don’t even feel the need to indulge on weekends anymore. It’s all about habit. One meal a day is entirely adequate. I eat anything I want; no need to worry about dietary menus, but of course I try to stay with healthful, nourishing foods. No junk food! And no in between snacks. I don’t miss them. I don’t want them. Except sometimes. Then I allow myself something extra with the full knowledge and determination that this is a deviation that cannot be allowed to continue beyond once. If it is, if I start overeating again, it’s back to the fat clothes.
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Category: Wellness, Fitness and Diet
Keywords: lifestyle, weight loss, lose weight, fat clothes, eat less, lifestyle change, supplements,