Weight Loss from an ex-fat person.

Now that I am a 32 waist and a good, healthy 176 lbs. for my height of 5'9", most people want to know my secret...

First off, for someone who was OBESE (270 at my highest), its difficult to just start dropping pounds. Diet and excercise was and still is my mantra, but diet and exercise in a daily regimen that doesn't include that means only one thing--a lifestyle change.

This is the one thing that people don't get when I tell them about my weight loss...It literally is a change of (bad)habits that you have accrued over time. Some examples:

*Factoring in time for exercise
*Factoring in foods that you probably haven't ever been inclined to eat, but now need to in order to lose weight.
*Factoring in that since your body has been used to the weight for so long, differences in exercise regimes and diet modifications might not be expressed for a while...it took me literally THREE months before I dropped anything more than a pound a week.

Now that I have the weight off for FIVE YEARS (no need for applause, belive me its WORK), its still work to keep it off.

Researching intake of food, how one's body processes and uses it was paramount to my goals and has led me to a few forgone conclusions--

That our morphology as humans is still hunter/gatherer...to a degree. Some people are able to tolerate a good portion of carbohydrates from grains, and I have found that its mainly on where you come from in the world and the diets around those reigons. I am American Indian, and only recently as 150 years ago that my ancestors ate what they killed or picked. My diet has included that factor.

Get off your tukus...Enough said. I reccomend some high-intensity, low impact aerobics to get the heart rate up. Rowing, Cycling, Swimming. I ran since it was cheap and easy, but now I had to cut down due to the stress on my knees. The elliptical machines out there are pretty reasonable for the sort of exercise one would need for weight loss.

Keep a positive mind. I didn't use a scale--throw those damn things out. All they do is discourage you. For instance, weigh yourself, and then weigh yourself after drinking a good quart of water...you gained two pounds! Go by the waistband test. I am a 32, and if my 501s start getting snug, then its time to pack it in.