How I Lost 30 Pounds Without Making Myself Miserable

"Your weight indicates your health" by Slyvar on Flickr

In 2013, I saw a number on the scale I'd never seen before: 230. I was only five years removed from my fifth marathon, but bad habits had gotten the best of me. In short, I'd gotten fat. And I wasn't very happy about it.

This wasn't my first membership into the exclusive club called the "heavy set." My life as a marathoner had been immediately precipitated by my previous record for portliness. After tipping the scales--a phrase for which I had a newfound appreciation--at 225 I exercised my way to a 40 pound weight loss. It's not hard to slim down, after all, when your weekends include 20-mile runs and two-hour sessions at the gym.

But because my diet didn't change much--and certainly didn't improve--in subsequent years I never really learned the importance of healthy eating. Once I got burned out on too much exercise, therefore, I started backsliding. The result was that I slid all the way past my previous low point.

By the time 2014 rolled around--again, the phrase is appropriate--I knew something had to change. In fact, I thought I was going to have to change everything.

But here's the thing I learned--and this will be really good news to anyone looking to lose weight in the coming year--moderation isn't only a good strategy when it comes to indulgences; it's also a good strategy when it comes to healthy habits. Too much of anything--whether eclairs or exercise--can do more harm than good.

That revelation led me to embrace several little changes that added up to a big difference, and allowed me to see a number starting with "1" on the scale for the first time in a few years. Here are the ones that made the biggest difference, and that I'll continue to focus on in 2015:

• Eat protein and veggies at every possible meal. This was easy for me since I like veggies and can say no to bread and pasta. It became even easier when I realized how much better I felt when I relied less upon refined and processed carbohydrates.

• Salads instead of sandwiches whenever possible. An extension of the above. The key here was having spinach and protein sources (canned tuna and frozen shrimp being two of my favorites) on hand to make salad prep as effortless as making a sandwich.

• Mixed drinks instead of beer. Most good nutritionists will tell you that if you want to lose weight, you should cut out alcohol altogether. They're right--but I found that, at least for me, that wasn't entirely necessary. I definitely benefitted from drinking a little less in 2014, but switching from beer to vodka and soda or diet tonic was an easy, socially-acceptable switch that didn't feel like a sacrifice.

• More HIIT, less LSD. No, not that LSD. The change here was simply doing more high intensity interval training and less long, slow distance for my cardio workouts. This was surprisingly hard for me because running has always been more who I am than what I do, so running just one or two times a week felt unnatural. However, when I subtituted this great HIIT workout for a couple of runs, the pounds starting coming off more quickly than ever before. Another benefit: I could complete my cardio workouts in a fraction of the time.

• Stairs not elevators, walk whenever possible, and if you can't walk, bike. This one all comes down to moving more, even when not conspicuously "exercising." I'm fortunate to live within a mile of a couple restaurants, a grocery store, a hardware store, my dry cleaner, and the place I get my haircut, so I try to walk or bike to these little errands instead of driving. I also made it a point to take the stairs whenever practical and bike to work whenever I could.

• Prioritize sleep. This was a big one, and the cornerstone of everything above. Seven to eight hours of sleep a night is now non-negotiable for me, even if it means missing a workout. When I'm tired, my workouts aren't are focused and neither is my commitment to eating healthy. To be blunt, if you're having trouble losing weight and you think you can get more done by sleeping less, you're wrong.

I want to emphasize that I still have work to do. My new focus on everything in moderation--including good habits--means I'm prone to backsliding a bit. But if I stay focused on the strategies mentioned above, I'll be more likely to recover before things get too out of control. What does this mean for you? Well, if you want to lose weight in the coming year, start by accepting that it won't happen overnight, but also know that the changes you'll need to make may be less disruptive than you might imagine. And this time next year, you might make more progress than you'd ever imagine, too.

#personal #productivity