I have discovered the secret to permanent weight loss.

[Tobin S.]

Diets don't work in the long term. Gym memberships are more costly and even less effective. Cocaine on the other hand...that's one hell of a drug!

Just kidding.

The secret to permanent weight loss is simply to get moving for a large portion of the day. As long as you aren't consuming something like 25 hotdogs in a day it really doesn't matter much what you eat as long as you are active. As fat people, we see thin people eating cheeseburgers and drinking soda and marvel out how they stay so thin. It must be something genetic, we tell ourselves, when actually the chances are that they are just much more active people. I work with a guy who is thin as a rail and he drinks Mountain Dew and eats at McDonald's for lunch. But you know what? He loads semi trailers by hand eight hours a day.

I noticed this recently because I've lost 20 pounds in the last couple of months without any conscious effort after I took a new job. At the old job, I drove a truck all day and didn't get much physical activity. I found it very difficult to lose weight when I worked there and I could never keep it off when I did manage to lose some. I would try cutting calories and exercising after work, but I just couldn't stick to that permanently and I would relapse and gain the weight back. Now days I have to work my body to do my job. I'm either moving semi trailers around a yard and looking after them or I'm on that loading dock slinging freight. I probably walk at least 5 miles a day at work doing those jobs and when I'm on the dock I'm also constantly lifting and moving heavy stuff around. I have only noticed one guy who is really big where I work, besides me, and he drives a truck.

I have not changed the way I eat much. The only thing I've done is cut out a bowl of cereal I was having as a snack every day. Everything else I eat is pretty much the same kind of food I've always eaten.

Here's why exercise programs usually don't work in the long term for a lot of people: you don't have to do it. It gets to seeming pointless and boring and it gets really difficult to stay motivated and you just start slacking off and then you quit. However, when your livelihood depends on you moving your body you will always have motivation to move and you won't get bored with it.

I think people are bigger now days mostly due to the fact that a lot of them have sedentary jobs. Many of us sit at a desk all day. Most truck drivers are overweight, and guess what? Most of them sit all day to perform their jobs.

We were made to move. It's not natural for us to sit around all day even though a lot of us don't feel like moving around. In my case, I think the only way I will keep moving is if I have to. For almost all of our evolutionary history we have had to be active to survive. Fat people probably weren't very common before the twentieth century.

[applegrove]

1. Wow. That is inspiring. I'll have to get a standing tray for my laptop

when I get my income tax back. That way I won't be sitting so much.

[ReRe]

2. Just remember this:

... Eat less and move more.

[liberal N proud]

3. I have managed to lose 20 pound since the first of the year

I didn't change my exercise routine as much as I changed my day to day diet and I would not call it a diet per-say.

For one, I cut out eating at the company cafeteria, it was all fried/deep fried foods with lots of carbs. I went to a sandwich and a bowl of fruit as a large part of my daily lunch routine. Some days, I do go to a nearby deli and get a something and have a bag of chips but mostly stick with the bag lunch of a sandwich which is usually a slice of meat and a slice of cheese, no mayo, no butter and maybe some greens if there are any in the fridge. Each week I prepare several little containers of mixed fruit, strawberries and blue berries. maybe pineapple, grapes and peaches.

From there it's portion control, you don't have to eat everything on your plate at dinner and no late night snacks and cut the French Fries.

Taking it off slowly due to lifestyle change hopefully will prove to be a success.

[fasttense]

4. You are probably a man

I'm an older female and I run an organic farm with a sick husband. I am very active. I refuse to get an ATV, so I'm always walking. I drag and pull large sheep. I garden without heavey equipment and I muck stalls and coops. But I've gained over 40 lbs in 2 years when I quit smoking.

There were months, I would fall into bed so exhausted that taking a shower seemed like too much work.

Now that I'm on a low carb diet, I've managed to lose 10 pounds. It's a start. But for me, heavy physical labor didn't make any difference in weight loss.

[Tobin S.]

8. Congrats on quitting smoking.

I'm coming up on my 4 year anniversary. It's in my top 5 of the list of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I put on a bunch of weight when I quit, too, but I think you will agree that it was well worth it to be free of that addiction.

[Scuba]

5. I'm a believer in the ELEM diet.

Eat Less, Exercise More.

[LeftishBrit]

6. There was a report somewhere...

that showed that people actually ate more in the 1970s than they do now, but were less likely to be obese because they were more active.

Good luck with the job, your health and everything!

[Iggo]

7. Eat right and exercise.

The solution is simple, though in practice it isn't always easy.

Here's what I did:

I cut out sweet treats a few months ago...soda, candy, cookies, donuts, pan dulce, etc.

I do a little bit of portion control, but not much. For example, I still have a Caramel Macchiato once-a-week, but instead of a Triple Grande, I have a Double Tall. And instead of a large sandwich at Togo's or Panera, I get a half sandwich and some soup. Stuff like that. Also, I don't force myself to finish what's on my plate anymore. Soon as I take that deep breath, it's over. (That one was really hard, considering how it was ingrained into kids of my generation to "Clean you plate!&quot

I live in SoCal and I don't drive, but I work full time twenty miles from home in L.A. I get a ride to work most days, but I take 2 or 3 buses home every day. So even on the best of days, I'm doing a pretty decent amount of walking. But that's been going on for the last 10+ years so I didn't have to change a thing exercise-wise.

The short version is this: I cut out sweets, increased portion control a smidge, continued walking every day, and I went from 210 to 182 in about 3 months. And that weight came off in weird places. It wasn't just my pants that got loose. My hats and shoes got loose, too! Who knew?

Eat right and exercise. For a fairly healthy American male in his mid-fifties, it works.

EDIT: And Congratulations!

[NewJeffCT]

9. I've lost close to 30 pounds in a little under a year now

1) I used to eat a bagel every morning with breakfast. I switched that to plain yogurt 6 days out of 7 every week (they have free bagels every Friday at work, so I splurge once a week). I would also sometimes have a bagel mid morning as a snack at work. I've basically cut that out and now have an early light lunch and a mid afternoon snack instead.

2) I started exercising regularly and kept at it. I haven't really exercised regularly for a length of time for years.

Other than that, I haven't changed much - I still have pizza regularly, get the occasional ice cream, etc.

[pablo_marmol]

10. Good for you, though I disagree with your comments on exercise.

I go in and out of shape. I think that most people give up on exercise because..........

1) They "go through the motions" without really pushing themselves, and.......

2) .....as a result, they never get the hard body that keeps them motivated to continue

For the very first time in my life, I'm having a difficult time getting motivated to work out. Never used to be an issue -- in fact I used to love the strain and endorphin high that resulted. Now I'm struggling.

[Arugula Latte]

11. I think this has a lot of truth, but "they" say that

weight loss is 80 percent diet (i.e. what you eat, not being on a "diet&quot , and 20 percent exercise.

[femmocrat]

12. Congratulations on your weight loss.

I have lost and maintained it by eliminating sweets and some carbs. I don't exercise much, but do yard work or walk every day. You are right, we have to keep moving!