I've successfully done this before, only through God's grace when I went from 440 to 225, and I plan to do pretty much what I know works and what I consider the best/healthiest way possible. There are certain ways to trick your body into losing weight (don't mean to offend anyone) such as atkins diets where you basically cut out as much carbohydrates as possible so all the fat that you eat, your body can't store. Your body NEEDS carbs! Yes you can survive with very minimal carbs and your body might look great but as my anthropology teacher, also one of the few leading forensic people around, told me one time, "I would rather do an autopsy on someone who smoke and drank their whole life than on someone who was on the atkins diet." Like i said, you WILL lose weight if you follow it but your insides will get messed up. Your brain needs carbs to function properly, your whole body does. The other problem with most diets is that they are very short term or goal oriented and same goes for contests or other such motivations that can end. What happens after months of not eating carbs and you eat carbs? For most people they will overindulge for the lack of carbs they had in the past. What happens when you win a weight loss challenge? You might want to go celebrate or feel that you deserve some food you might not have been eating and fall into the trap of treating yourself. In one of my Dietetics classes i learned that around 90% of people who lose a significant amount of weight will gain it back, and a non lifestyle change is usually what causes people to relapse. By God's strength i was able to keep my off for a couple of years but then when i injured myself and i couldn't run the 5 miles a day that i would, the depression hit and i fell into my old habits because i remember being angry at God, even if i didnt express it in that way, for allowing that to happen to me. So i will eat the normal recommended allowance for a person at a regular weight which is 2,000 calories. Losing weight is INCREDIBLY easy in theory! If you eat 1,999 calories per day and you burn 2,000 calories, you will lose weight (over time of course because 1 lb = about 3,500 calories) If you eat 2,001 calories and you burn 2,000 you will gain weight over time. I know because of my size i burn more than the two thousand by being at work running around, my 15 minute walk to and from class, and with swimming. I'm not trying to lose 20 lbs a month like last time because i was told i could've gotten a heart attack because i lost too much muscle. I am aiming at the 2 lb/week which i will achieve my 200 lb (for now) weight around September of 2017. If you want to know how many calories you burn i definitely recommend the Bodybugg which is a device that measures your calorie burn by more than 90% accuracy. I used to see how many calories i burned that week versus how many i ate and before i weighed myself, i knew how many pounds i should have lost and it was right 95% of the time! All my planning is for nothing without the power that God can give me because i've tried loosing weight i dont know how many times but without Him, my selfishness gets the better of me.
