Lose Weight Now. Well, Lose Weight In Six Months. Well, Lose Weight Over Six Months.

In 2019, I lost 50 pounds. Many have asked me the secret, and I've told them all the same thing: "It's a complicated regime: I ate less and exercised more."

Usually people kind of nod and smile at this. Of course, it's oversimplifying things, and enough people have asked me how I did it that I figured I would make a short post about it. Your mileage absolutely will vary, I'm not a nutritionist, or physical therapist, or doctor, so you're on your own. 

I started by struggling with the fact that, a few years ago I suffered a serious injury to my back that led to surgery. I still have chronic pain from permanent nerve damage, and on several days each week it's bad enough that it's hard to walk from the car to the front door, let alone up stairs. Often with a cane – I have a folding one I carry with me and try not to use. The extra weight was a direct result of the injury. 

I tell you all this because it means that I can't easily do things that I used to do to stay trim (before I became a big, fat fellow): running, martial arts, surfing, and hundreds of sit-ups. 

I did physical therapy and got strength training exercises, and hired a trainer who was familiar with mobility issues. I came up with a regime that gave me enough cardio to get my heart rate up to the target area every day, without stressing unnecessarily (at all if possible) my back or legs. I spend about an hour to an hour and a half in the gym most days, doing cardio and some strength training. I drink barrels of water, and lots of coffee. I don’t ever drink soft drinks. I never drink any alcohol. 

I try to do strength training that leverages my body to help my body - marine pullups, pushups, dips, planks, and the like. I do some weight training and some machine training, but mainly I try to lift, in various forms and methods, my own body weight. 

The "eat less" part is not really true: I think I probably eat the same volume of food as ever, I just eat much better. I almost never go to restaurants.

I also wasn't going to feel deprived, or count calories. I am aware of them, but I don't live by them. The only thing I do is consider carefully any use of oil or fat - and try not to use it at all. Weirdly, for me, fat (not carbs) is what makes my face look like a beachball - weight I gain always goes first to my face, then my gut. It's amazing how little oil or fat one needs if you start from "no" and add only what's really necessary. I've cut out most fat.

I bought an Instant Pot and have a daily diet anchored in a variety of pressure-cooked or steamed vegetables (mainly root vegetables like beets, carrots, parsnips, turnips, rutabaga, celeriac, and the like, plus squash and other water-dense veggies). Every morning I chop and slice, add lots of spices, and pressure cook for one minute. 

I eat bushels of fresh fruit - lots of pineapple, orange, berries, apple, pear, grapes, and other fruit in season. Often, I chop these all into a fruit salad.

I eat lots of non-fat Greek yogurt, and I've cut out as much sugar as I can stand to cut out - but, again, I never deprive myself. For example, I put sugar and whole milk in my coffee, and I still eat bagels a couple times a week and pastry my wife makes as often as I can. And I really enjoy the occasional cigar. 

I am a meat lover, and I make sure I have meat every day. To do this and still cut down on fat, I mainly eat chicken breast, turkey breast, and low-fat cuts of pork, but red meat is what I absolutely crave. To sate this need, I have relied on bison steak, mainly the sirloin cut. Cooked rare to medium rare, pan-roasted in a good non-stick pan, with just spices and no oil, or pressure-cooked in stews, bison satisfies in the same way that steak does. I've found a wonderful source of it - organically raised, grass fed, locally slaughtered and butchered - but I won't tell you where it is because I am greedy. You can often find bison in supermarkets or farmer’s markets, and if you've the money to spend you can find it online, from specialty farms throughout the US that will ship it to you frozen. 

Ostrich is another wonderful beef substitute. As is venison. I cook all these meats without oil, with lots of spices - which means I do a lot of modified (no oil) Mexican and Asian cooking - I do a low-fat, high protein street taco, with homemade corn tortillas, sliced meat in a homemade Chipotle and tomato sauce, a Szechuan bison-with-broccoli dish, and stews and soups that would knock your socks off. 

I also make (and get in restaurants) sushi and sashimi. 

For snacks, I mix into this diet things like Kefir; homemade applesauce and pear sauce; walnuts, pecans, cashews, almonds, and a small amount of dried fruit every day – these all serve to satisfy my sweet-and-crunchy tooth without resorting to Snickers bars (which taste fantastic because each bar contains more than an ounce of sugar, and gets 44% of its 280 calories from fat). 

All these foods give me variety, they're highly satisfying, highly filling, low fat and even low calorie - so pangs for Shake Shack are held in check. 

By eating after workouts, working out regularly with a cardio-heavy regime that includes strength training, drinking lots of water, playing with intermittent fasting (fasting for 12-14 hours each day), eating almost exclusively whole, raw foods prepared at home, and being careful not to further injure myself, I managed to lose 50 pounds from December 2018 to June 2019, and keep within 5 pounds of the same weight since then. I've gained muscle and shaped my body. And while I still have pain every day, it's lessened.

Even the occasional blowout (like Indian food from a superb local restaurant; holiday meals of turkey with all the trimmings; and even the occasional night out at a steakhouse) doesn't take me off track. 

My diet and regime is not for everyone. It works for me.

I hope it inspires you.