I reached my GW and it was easy the whole time (~205->165, 6'1", M)

The past couple of days I have been weighing in at or below my GW, so I thought I'd make the post I wish I could have seen before I started. I found this sub to be pretty discouraging due to people always talking about how extremely difficult it has been for them to lose weight. But over the past 120 days or so, I discovered that it does not have to be difficult at all! So, if you're overweight and haven't started trying to lose weight yet, just go for it! With the right mindset, you might be surprised at how easy (and even fun) it can be.

Here is the strategy I employed for maximum ease in weight loss:

Strategy

1. Decide how aggressively to lose weight. I saw recommended that for healthy, sustainable weight loss you should lose 0.7%-1.0% of your bodyweight per week. I'm a little impatient, so I chose to shoot for 1.0% per week, but this is something you have to decide for yourself!
2. Weigh yourself. Plot your weight and your "goal curve" in whatever app you'd like. I just used a simple R script. Your goal curve should start at your starting weight and decrease exponentially by x% per week (whatever you chose in step 1). This is what my final graph looked like. The goal curve goes flat at the end because I've reached my goal weight! =)
3. Weigh yourself and record your weight EVERY MORNING. Do this right after you wake up, after urinating/defecating(if able) and before eating or drinking anything (including water). When rendering my plot, I found it very psychologically helpful to only look at how far I have come, not how far I have left to go.

And that's it! I just ate a little less if my weight was above the goal curve, ate a little more if my weight was below the goal curve, and voila! Weight loss!

Some things I did not do:

• Count calories. I knew that the effort required to count and record calories would make it more likely for me to give up. I sought to make my strategy require the absolute minimum possible amount of effort. I just weighted myself every day, recorded my weight, and looked at my plot. Anything more than that would make me more likely to fail.
• Overhaul my diet/exercise. I knew that trying to suddenly turn myself into a paragon of health would be impossible. I focused only on losing the weight. Now that I have lost the weight, it's time for me to improve my diet. Once I am consistent with a good diet (and maintained the weight loss), I will introduce a consistent workout plan. Take things one at a time. If you try to improve every aspect of your life at once, you will probably fail.

Mindset

With this strategy, I think it was psychologically easier for me to lose weight than is has been for other people because I was always succeeding. If my weight was near the goal curve, I'd achieved my goal for that moment! Losing weight any faster would be unhealthy/unsustainable, so it wouldn't make sense to focus on how much farther I had left to go or how much effort weight loss takes overall. I was on track. And being on track is the most you can ask for!

And if I fell slightly behind, the goal of losing 1 or 2 pounds to get back on track was totally manageable!

Weighing myself and getting to look at how far I'd come became the best part of my morning routine.

Now that I've reached my GW, I know that I still have a long way to go to establish healthy habits in terms of diet and exercise. But it feels great to have accomplished what I have so far! I look like a normal, healthy guy now, and I few months ago I was worried that I'd be overweight for the rest of my life.

Whether you use this strategy or not, I hope you find ease in your weight loss. Anyone have other tips to make weight loss effortless?

submitted by /u/antimatterSandwich
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