A sense of style II, or How I lost weight

Yesterday I saw a parked vehicle—someone's private transportation, not a business vehicle as far as I could tell—with a fairly large magnetic ad stuck to the back of it which said simply "Transitions Lifestyle Systems."

My reaction was, "Huh? Just what in the friggin' heck is a "lifestyle system?"

Well, I just Googled it and I won't do the company the courtesy of providing a link, but it is simply yet another weight loss / diet scam—uh, excuse me... system—where they sell you packaged food and other supplement-like stuff which, at an admittedly quick glance, seems to me like quackery or of dubious effectiveness at best.

There are the usual testimonials of allegedly real people who supposedly lost significant weight using the products in question. And who knows, maybe they have—who am I to judge? I can't say that I personally know they're lying and if it might help people, then that's wonderful.

However, I can also speak from personal experience when I say that people simply don't need to spend money on such products or "systems" to lose weight. Over a period of a couple of years I've gradually lost 60-70 pounds. (At one point I was up around 210-220 lbs and didn't like the way I looked or felt, but these days I hover around 150-155 lbs and feel much better physically.)

How'd I do it, you ask? Well, I simply ate less and exercised more. That's it. Revolutionary, ain't it? Here are some general guidelines which may not be for everyone, but I highly recommend that folks who desire to lose weight at least consider them:

► The number one issue for me was the "eating less" part. This mainly means portion control. You can eat what you like (within reason, of course, since a reasonably healthy balanced diet is obviously beneficial). But just because you like something that doesn't mean you have to eat a bucketful of it. No seconds. Eat small portions and savor the flavor. (Ooooh, a rhyming slogan!) I found that it didn't take too long to get used to the smaller portions and before you know it, you find that you simply don't even want to eat more and probably couldn't anyway.

► Avoid soft drinks—yes, even so-called "diet" ones. I mostly drink cold tap water and take it with me if I must. I like orange juice for breakfast, though. I might have a soda maybe once a month. Just because soda is included with a "value meal" doesn't make it a value. By the time you factor in all the excess calories and sugar and the harm they do to your body in large quantities with resulting health issues, where's the "value?"

► A similar philosophy towards french fries as part of a "value meal" concept is also a good idea. I like fries and get them once in a while, but mostly I'll just get a sandwich and drink my water. (I like Wendys' chili, though, and sometimes get a small chili and two 5-piece nuggets as a light lunch.)

► I don't eat desserts. Sure, I'll have cake or pie at family occasions and holidays, but that's it. Frankly, desserts just never interested me that much. Give me a good meal and that's enough. Dessert would not enhance the pleasure of the meal for me, it would only detract.

► Exercise. I'm not fanatical about it. I don't jog or do anything horribly strenuous. Mostly I have a three mile route around what passes for a "block" in my rural town and I either walk it (roughly an hour) or bike it (13-14 minutes), daily if possible, but with colder weather coming on I'm sure the frequency will lessen. I don't try to set speed records, but I don't dawdle either. If I feel particularly energetic, I might go a little further or do a second loop around the circuit.

That's pretty much it, no big "secrets" or gimmicky guidelines. I'll admit the last 10-20 lbs were the toughest to lose, but it can be done. And even if I hadn't gotten rid of those, well, even at that point I still felt much, much better than I ever did with the extra 40-50 lbs so even that weight plateau was a big improvement that I would have been happy to maintain.