The John Diet, What is That?

As I was working out tonight I had a thought… I have lost 35 pounds in about 33 weeks since the beginning of the year! Wow! That sounds like I am losing about one pound a week. Many diets would like to claim such a weight loss per week. But most often I have observed the diet industry makes initial weight loss claims such as lose 40 pounds in two weeks – I’ll show you how (I just made this up but you can see how silly this sounds).

Do you want to lose 20 ugly pounds? Cut off your head (at least in my case – this would be true)

I digress but seriously lets examine why I am happy with a pound a week and why the diet industry is focusing on quick weight loss over lifetime results. Now I can hear some of you saying your diet is the best and works well. Well I am glad for you! But that is not what I am addressing today. What I am addressing is how you can find something that works for you and how some commercial diets may fall short, especially the ones that claim quick weight loss. 

Everyday we are bombarded by weight-loss pills, plans, the latest celebrity diet and such and many of us that have recently failed on another get-rich-quick-scheme – woops, I mean lose-weight-fast-diet are still looking for something-for-nothing-diet that will painlessly take the weight (read fat) off! Are we wrong in wanting something for nothing? I say YES.

Have you ever heard the saying, “No pain – No gain?” Well other then in the case of an overly zealous sports enthusiast harming their kids, I generally agree with this statement. There is no free lunch! You cannot have your cake and eat it too (if you are on a diet).. ok I’m finally tiring of the catch phrases

The point I am trying to make is losing weight does not have to take a supreme effort but it will take effort. It is doable to lose weight for anyone. You will have to take your own journey and seek your own answers. The good news is you can read some exercise and diet advice resources and start to understand what you are up against. One good resource is from the Office of the Surgeon General here.

You will have to do your homework and then either try one of the common commercial diets like wight watchers or design your own plan. I think most people will eventually design a plan they can live with but like me will have started with various diets. If you would like to see how I have lost weight in the past and kept it off for several years (before I started back to school - I am a stress eater), look at my free diet book entitled, “Slimmer Zimmer – Safe Effective Weight Loss” here.

Now that you have seen some of the prep work you will have to do to get to the point where you are willing to go though some pain, you are at the point where you have tried and failed a couple of times. Good! What? Why is that good you may be thinking. Well  I think you have learned valuable information about yourself that will allow you to design a diet and/or exercise program (yes I said you) that you can be successful with for life!

Here is the John diet. I have lost 35 plus pounds (I am reporting monthly now to take the pressure off of myself) since the beginning of the year. I have lost several pounds in a week and also did not lose anything for several weeks during this time. That is the way I like it as I am just concentrating on the steady applicaion of behaviours that will keep my weigh-loss steady.

Here is what I do (this works for my age, gender, and activity level):

• I eat 1500 to 1800 calories a day (most days)
• I walk a hour a day, most days (about 4 to 5 days a week)
• I don’t beat myself up if I eat more or exercise less in a day or week
• Tomorrow is always a new day and I know if I stay on track more often than not – I will be successful

 This is basically it, coupled with my knowledge of diets and excercise I have gleened from trying, failing, getting back up and trying again and again when I was younger. I don’t eat totally low-fat but do more often than not. I don’t do high aerobic workouts all of the time but do race walk one or two times a week. I don’t over-eat late at night as much as my wife is helping me by cooking some wonderful boca or turkey burgers on low-calorie/fat torpedo rolls that totally fill us up in the evenings. I don’t eat out at restaurants often (but more often lately as we are getting ready to move – everything in disarray) but try and limit my exposure to overly caloric or high-fat meals.

So you can see the age-old-mantra, “Everything in Moderation” is true for me so long as it makes sense. Here is what you cannot do and still be successful. You cannot have a bad eating day and think you have ruined your diet! It simply is not possible to ruin a diet in one day for most people. It takes 3500 extra calories beyond your daily needs to gain an extra pound! If you weigh an extra five pounds after a large meal – that is not true weight! Water weighs almost eight pounds per gallon so don’t worry.

What I am trying to say is after you have done the ground work to understand how diets and exercise work and make a plan – work your plan and do not easily be discouraged. The proof should be over the long haul and not over several weeks. You did not gain your weight overnight so PLEASE do not try and take if off overnight! 

After you do your due diligence you will discover that you want to lose fat and not muscle. Starvation diets do not burn fat mostly but burn muscle. That means that losing weight fast should not be an option! Losing wight slowly has another advantage – Your body will get used to you at a lighter weight for a while. This will set the stage for a wonderful plateau before your next gains(weigh-loss)! Some people speak of a “set point” or magical number that the body strives to keep your weight at and I think this ‘set point’ can be adjusted by your activity level as well as caloric intake over time. The good thing about getting your body comfortable at a weight is you can then lose the next five pounds easier! At least this logic is working for me.

So now you too know the secrets of the John diet! I don’t particularly try to lose weight, I just continully do the behaviours that acheive it! Every once an a while I will buckle down and stay on track more often than not and get to the next level! No sweat. My advice to you is find a method that makes sense to you and then go about achieving your goal, whether it be increasing your excercise, decreasing your calories or some combination (or other type of diet). I know you can succeed because there is no magic, just a little pain of changing your habits to acheive your success!