Tuesday, October 30, 2007, I work up and stepped on a scale, 70 pounds lighter than I had been 20 weeks earlier: 180 pounds.

What I Have Learned

Everything I know about losing weight I learned from my recent experiences, as well a few other observations. I'm not a doctor or nutritionist, and people are different from each other in surprising ways, so what seems to have worked for me may not work for you, and it remains to be seen how easily I can keep this weight off. Please keep all that in mind as you read my current thoughts!

Losing weight is 90% mental, 10% physical. If you've heard that losing weight is all about "calories in, calories out," this may seem counter-intuitive, but I think these two thoughts work together. It is one thing to test a lab rat, feeding him a set amount of calories and requiring a set amount of wheel-running. It is quite another thing to expect a person to stick with a set amount of calories — or any diet regime — for an extended length of time. It takes much more than knowledge, and much more than a quick decision. While the lab rat has access only to what is is given, our challenge is to resist the tempting delights that await us around every turn. The office birthday cake, the holiday pie, the weekend donut, and on and on they come. I have become convinced that nearly any choice of diet can help you lose weight, though some plans are healthier than others and some plans are faster than others and some plans may work better from certain people. Still, the most important key to weight loss isn't exactly the method you use to control the calories in, it is deciding to do it and stick with it.

Unfortunately, I don't know the key to establishing willpower, but neither do I believe someone is born with it or not. Somehow I had the willpower to stick with this for the last 20 weeks, which thoroughly amazed people who know me and wouldn't have bet a dollar on my willpower. It's true that you probably are not well-known for your willpower (if you were, you'd be thin!), but it's also true that it's never too late. I've just lost weight that I've carried around for decades! I have tried and failed before, and played tricks on myself to try to motivate myself, and none of it worked. While I don't know exactly why I was able to do it this time when I couldn't before, I know that my example should demonstrate that you can always try again.