I try to stick to salads and seltzers. After breakfast, every meal should have a salad base. You can put almost anything on top of it, but it must have a fresh vegetables and lots of greens. And no diet soda or regular soda. Only seltzers. This is not a magic bullet. The change takes some time.

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I may not be fast, but once I get going, it is hard to stop me...

This made me laugh. Try being pescatarian, with more of an emphasis on the vegetarian side.

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People will give you all sorts of advice on what to eat, when to eat, what not to eat, what not to combine with what, etc. Ignore ALL of that. Here's what you need to know:

calories in < calories out

I'm not saying you shouldn't try to eat a healthy diet (of course you should), but there are plenty of examples of folks that eat too much healthy stuff that can't lose weight, and plenty of folks that eat relatively unhealthy but lose weight because they control the total intake. Take it from someone that's lost (and kept off) 30+ pounds in the last year. Don't overcomplicate things. Track what you eat using any of the readily available websites or apps and balance it against what you burn. For me, I use Myfitnesspal to log food, then import that into the Fitbit app that tracks calories and "remaining calories to eat" (I manually enter workout calories). It's really that simple.

Edit: pick a sensible caloric deficit so you don't wreck yourself. It's tempting to try to lose 5 lbs a week. That's not sustainable. a 1,000 cal. per day deficit will drop 2lb/wk, but that's TOUGH to sustain for any length of time. a 500 cal/day deficit will drop 1lb/wk. That was far easier for me to manage without feeling destroyed after long training days. Also, do NOT skip the nutrition during workouts. Run your deficit by managing what you eat outside of workouts and immediate post-workout recovery unless you want your workouts to be really sucky.

quoted for truth. Eat less. its a SIMPLE formula.

Have you ever actually tracked your food. I am not super pumped on people doing this all the time, but I do think it is good to do it at least for a week every quarter. It amazes me how quickly we lose touch with conscious awareness about how much and what we eat. I have done this for larger periods of time and it works phenomenally. Simply put, what gets measured gets managed but it isn't sustainable for most so that is why I suggest for a week a quarter or maybe two weeks a year. I have two old posts that may be of some help, one is my own published 7-day food journal and then one is some thoughts on food scales.

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+1000. Eat less, move more. That's really all there is to it.

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

Yes!!! I have a huge salad before every meal. The salad is usually about a pound of spinach topped with various vegetable (and fruits for lunch). I use a little feta cause it is healthy and either kimchi or salsa as the dressing, so no extra calories from dressing. Also no croutons or meat.

x 1000000 on the calories. get the myfitnesspal app or something similar and start tracking to see where you are

and read this. http://physiqonomics.com/fat-loss/

"Despite what you’ve probably heard about hormones and insulin and good and bad calories and demonic toxins living inside of you bent on eating your insides – the number one reason you’re not losing fat is because you’re eating too much. Yes, even when you’re adamant you aren’t."

Eat foods that require you to chew more... Rather than something that instantly turns to mush in your mouth. The tougher the food, the harder it is for the body to absorb those calories.

I'm 49. 3 years ago, I was 209, and climbing. I'd given up all forms of exercise. I had high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high fasting glucose. Bad report card from the doc that year. I tried two different BP meds, and started taking statins. After a lifetime at 14x-15x, I was fed up with being fat.

Over the course of 8 months (November 2015 - June 2016) I lost 55 lbs. I started walking, resumed a little cycling and once I reached about 17x lbs I started a little running. In June of '16 I crossed into the 15x range, and by late June '16, I was 154.

The math is very simple, eat less than you burn---3500 calories = 1lbs of fat (more or less). Eat a little less, burn a little more. I hate the false dichotomy that is put out these days that tries to pit exercise against diet...alleging that eating less is MORE IMPORTANT than exercising.

Track everything you eat/do. I used an app called LoseIt!. There are plenty of others. I recorded everything I ate for the entire period of weight loss. I FIRMLY BELIEVE THIS IS KEY while you are losing weight. It creates accountability, and allows you to make informed decisions about what you eat. I generally tracked what I was going to eat BEFORE I ATE IT. Again, I think this is key...you can't make a decision once you have already eaten it.

I tracked every calorie I ate. I tracked every calorie I burned. I kept a spreadsheet my calories consumed and burned, as well as my actual body weight, and bf% (bioimpedance based) EVERY DAY for the entire 8 month period. I also had my bodycomp checked via calipers about once a month. I calculated my lean mass, and fat mass every day. I didn't want to lose lean mass (I lost a total of 4 lbs of lean mass as indicate by both bioimpedance and calipers). My body weight fluctuated by 4-6 lbs throughout the week. So, it takes about 3 weeks for the effects of your deficit to register definitively on the scale. But, if you track it every day you can see the trends. I knew which day of the week was going to be my heaviest (Sunday), and which would be my lightest (Thursday).

I don't track calories every day, but I still weigh myself every day. I still record it most days. Today I weighed 150.8, at 13.5%bf.

I raced two Oly tris last year...and I'm training for the same two events again this year. I don't take BP meds anymore. I still take statins, but my Cholesterol is now well controlled. My fasting glucose is normal.

Its certainly work. But, you can do it.

I agree for maintaining weight. But, I do not agree for LOSING WEIGHT. I have tried MANY, MANY times to lose weight by eating what I think is *less*. Only to see ZERO change in the scale after a long enough period of time. I've watched my wife, and two of my daughters struggle with the same thing. They all refuse to "track daily", and SWEAR they are eating less. But, the scale doesn't lie. If you don't lose weight you ate what you burned.

I strongly believe that daily tracking is a KEY to sustained weight loss on the order of 30-50+ pounds. The margins of error are too small. Its too easy to eat just a little more than normal (because you are hungry) and wipe out that 500 calorie deficit.

Absolutely! Besides the margin of error issue, there's a certain accountability that goes along with havng to log everything you put in your mouth every day. There have been countless times where I have those late afternoon cravings and there's a plate of cookies sitting on the counter (damn kids!) and the only thing that kept me from eating one (ok, all of them) was the thought that I would have to log them and then my remaining calorie budget for dinner would amount to three celery sticks.

As so many others have said, it is simple, but not necessarily easy. Eat less and exercise more.
I literally say this EVERY DAY to my patients.


Those that 'get it' really do achieve excellent results. And there are some additional tricks like: eating far less food at night, when you are heading to bed with further slowing in your metabolism; smaller portions or even splitting/skipping meals at night (intermittent fasting), more water later in the afternoon and with meals to help with the feeling of earlier satiety, higher protein with later meals as that also helps curb appetite, eating more slowly. I'm sure there are others that I'm not thinking of off hand.


Maintaining physical activity, although less important for most triathletes, is still important for everyone, especially those who have fallen off the wagon of regular training. This helps kick up the metabolism so there is added benefit beyond the actual caloric loss from the activity itself. Current advice is 180 minutes weekly of aerobic exercise. (Many of us do that on any one weekend training day but I doubt those people are the ones struggling with weight)

I have learned through the years that #1)we all like to eat because food tastes good and #2)most of us really have an unclear idea of how much we actually eat over a typical day/week/month. There are seasonal variations for sure...

Be sure to convince yourself that you are not doing a 'diet' but are making a 'lifestyle modification' for better overall health and well being.


And remember, the amount of physical activity you do is pretty close to inversely proportional to cardiac risk-ie the more active you are, the less likely you will have a heart attack or stroke.

Google Kansas St professor Twinkie diet. He lost over 20# in 2 months by restricting his caloric intake from 2600 per day to 1800. He did this while eating mostly twinkies and junk food.

This certainly isn’t a long term solution, but it demonstrates that a drop in caloric intake will equate to weight loss.

We are the same age and I can tell you, losing weight that has been on for decades is very hard to do. Of course at 5'8" and over 200, you have some low hanging water melons..I'm 5'10" and topped out at 184 before I got disgusted with myself and finally did something that seems to be working now.

Of course there is the equation of calories in and calories out, but that only seemed to get me 5 or 6 easy lbs, then roadblock. What I have done is begun one of those intermittent fasting programs. So for at least 18 hours a day/night I dont eat anything, just coffee. So basically eat last bite around 6pm, then dont eat again until after noon the next day.

So since I have less time to eat, I get full faster and just dont eat as many calories. I also tried to eliminate some carbs and substituted good protein and fats, but really not that much change in what I eat, just the time.

And I found just in a couple days that I dont get hungry anymore, and I do my workout during the morning fast. No bonks and I feel stronger than ever, and dont even feel hungry after working out. A couple times I went 20 to 23 hours on the fasting part just because it was easy. My body is definitely burning more fat, and that is fat that has been hanging on for 25 years now.

It is no miracle, and it is a slow progression, but from 184 I have come down to an all time 3 decade low of 169.8. It bounces around a couple pounds in an area, then usually another pound or so breakthrough. So I know it is working, lost a belt loop size and just got back a blood test that had a lot of positive stuff happening. Mostly increasing my T level by about 18% though, hoping it will continue to climb with the last 5 or 6 to go.

Anyway tons of info on this kind of fasting, take a look and see if it will work for you. I'm on about my 7th week now and feel like it will become part of my lifestyle pretty easily. Anyone else done/doing this type of eating pattern??

I once lost 75 pounds over a period of 6 months. I've kept it off for many years, but I know my predisposition is to be obese. Even at 75 pounds lighter (and 10% to 11% body fat), my BMI is less than a point below "overweight." I don't calculate my caloric intake anymore, but I still work the intake/output equation every day of my life.

The key for living the good life while controlling the weight is working both sides of the equation. Learn your caloric intake requirements / limits and develop eating habits around those limits -- habits that are so engrained that you don't have to think about in the future.

But also, ramp up the exercise part of the equation. I burn over 10,000 calories on the bike every week of the year. It is very easy to control my weight when I'm burning that many calories. Not saying you have to go to 10,000+, but every calorie burned is a calorie you don't have to cut back on the intake side.

Hang in there. It's going to be worth it.

why do you need to lose 18lbs by Sept?


I would say small gradual changes are usually the way to long term success. years back before I started triathlon and ballooned up to 200lbs (I'm 6' 2" so that's not huge but I felt like crap). My goal was initially 185lbs. I started running and reducing my meal size by going to route of small plate size and eating out I would just eat 1/2 - 3/4 of what I ordered. At least in the US restaurant food portion sizes are crazy big. Then I started working on adding healthier foods into my diet. oatmeal with fruit in the morning. salads with grilled chicken. I green smoothie here and there. Less alcohol. I'm lucky I don't have much of a sweet tooth. For me, I don't see any fad diet working long term for me. I'm now down to 173lbs and have been in that range for a good 4 years. I still work on eating healthier.

I actually just had a patient leave who lost 85#'s over the past 2 years. He noted two additional points that helped him: accountability and support from family/friends.

Food tracking worked for me. I didn't change what I ate, but I used the Lose It! app and tracked calories in vs. calories out last year. Went from 190lbs post knee surgery November 2016 to 163lbs early June 2017. It helped me keep proportions in check and my snacking calories were greatly reduced.

• 85-90% plant based (eat mostly plants)
• 10-15% animal product
• Eat real foods (get away from processed)
• Do not eat too much: Eat the calories your body needs and nothing extra...in fact, start at a caloric loss. (This wont be hard if you are eating a lot of vegetables and fruits)
• Exercise regularly

I am 5'10"


Played college hockey and soccer


was 180lbs


now 152-158lbs depending on the training day.


EDIT: I should note that I am now 100% vegetarian

Both of these have been great for me. Started using MyFitnessPal. There is a lot of food I didn't eat because I didn't want my wife to see it on the food log.

the more complicated you make it, the less likely you are to succeed. like others have said, calories in less than calories out is the basis of everything. guesstimating is a recipe for failure. track your calories on a site like myfitnesspal and be honest. most people underestimate how much they eat and overestimate how much they burn through exercise. i've lost 95 pounds with this strategy and still track to maintain

Thanks for you n=1 experience. I also played those sports, stopped, and hit 260. Lifted weights and a low carb diet to lose the weight down to lowest 155. O yea, 100â„… meat-a-tarian

907 days of tracking every damn thing that goes in my piehole later, I agree with that wholeheartedly. Just knowing that I have to put something in my diary where my accountability partners could see it has often been the difference between eating something or not.

I've lost and gained and lost and gained over the last 20 years. Right now I'm down 53 pounds, and I could stand to lose another 30. It's true that you can't outrun your fork. Quite frankly, changes in my medications have made more difference than changes in my diet, caloric intake, or my exercise routines. Start with saving dessert for special occasions and eating more green things, but accept that it's a slow and often not linear process.