The Two Secrets to Weight Loss

When I got back home from my vacation in San Diego, I noticed that my jeans were fitting a lot tighter than they did before the trip. I stepped on the bathroom scale, and my suspicions were confirmed: I had gained about five pounds in one week!

In fact, I have steadily been gaining weight over the past few months, ballooning from 165 pounds to 185. That doesn't sound like much, but when I gain weight it is all around my waist and nowhere else. I had gone from a 32 inch waist to 36 inches. Not good.

I have lost that extra five pounds over the past week, and I am going to share my diet secret. This is the diet secret that "they" don't want you to know about, the secret to weight loss that companies making literally millions of dollars don't want you to know. Are you ready? Here it is:

"Eat less. Move more."

That's it. That's the secret to weight loss. I know what you're thinking. This information is probably worth what you paid for it, right? Well, don't discount it so quickly.

Human bodies are hardwired with the DNA of our cave man ancestors. Back then, food was scarce. After all, there were no supermarkets back in the days of the Cro-Magnon and Neanderthals. They had to eat when food was available, and when there was food, they binged because they didn't know when their next meal was coming. This caused them to pack on weight and fat they they used to survive until their next meal came along.

Unfortunately, what was good for the cavemen is bad for us. You probably would not have seen cavemen with six-pack abs. Our lifestyle is a bit more sedentary than those of our ancestors, so loading up on the all-you-can-eat buffet is not good for us.

Once I saw that all of those breakfasts at Denny's had caught up with me, I immediately cut back on the amount of food I was eating. I'm not saying you should starve yourself, just eat reasonable portions. We're all adults...we know what a reasonable portion is. A spoonful of mashed potatoes is OK. A steak that hangs over the edges of a dinner plate and a mountain of mashed potatoes that you could sculpt into Mount Rushmore is not.

Everybody's caloric needs are different based upon their amount of physical activity, so if you're a real couch potato, like me, you probably don't need to be eating 3,000 calories a day. 2,000 is plenty, and 1,800 is probably even better. Stay away from junk, or processed foods. In the words of Jack La Lane, "if man makes it, don't eat it." In other words, Cheetos are bad. Bananas are good.

If you're cutting back on your food and still maintaining your weight, or worse, still gaining, you need to get off your butt and on your feet, literally. You don't need a gym membership or the latest gizmo that promises you rock-hard abs. Go for a walk for 30 minutes each day. Shoot some hoops with your kids. Ride a bicycle. You know, the crap you used to do before you got fat. If you want to buy a used weight set off Craig's List, go for it. Personally, I walk and exercise with a pair of 20 pound dumbbells I bought at a place called Play It Again Sports, which sells used exercise equipment.

So, after just one week, I'm down to 180. I'll post weekly updates on my progress. I hope to get back down to 165 or even 160. With the holidays coming up, it will be hard, but it will be worth it. You can do it. Just remember the two secrets to weight loss:

"Eat less. Move more."