How to Lose 60 Pounds in 6 Months in 4 Easy Steps

One of the proudest accomplishments in my life occurred a few years ago.  I won the county newspaper's annual weight-loss contest.  I lost nearly 60 pounds in 6 months - 28% of my starting body weight.  I led wire-to-wire, got to a healthy BMI, and beat second place by 6 or 7%, and I only started at just over 210 pounds.

One of the least proud accomplishments in my life was gaining it all back in just a few years.

Some of it I can blame a thyroid condition. Some of it I can blame on the stress of leaving my old job for a new one.  Some of it I can blame on starting a new job which involves nearly 100% travel and the poor health choices that go along with that lifestyle. Last but not least, some of it I can blame on being a barbecue nut: certified contest judge and the one who always cooks fatty, salty, sugar-laden sauced meats on every occasion for both family and friends. 

When I won my weight-loss contest, I learned a lot.  And I can do it again.  Here's a no-nonsense list of observations that I followed back then.  After just a few days, I am already on target to get back to where I was a few years ago.  The bigger goal is keeping this up.

STEP 1 – IDENTIFY YOUR BMR

Identify how many calories in your basal metabolic rate (BMR). Your BMR is the number of calories your body would burn if you stayed in bed all day. This calculation can be done using several online resources. Don’t stay in bed all day to try and measure it. Instead, Google: “basal metabolic rate calculator”.

A typical BMR will be in the range of 1,400 to 2,400 calories for most adults, depending on age, gender, height, and weight. This number will decrease with decreasing weight. BMR is less for women than men.

Be sure to know your BMR within 100 calories. Re-calculate it as you lose weight and always keep that number in mind.

STEP 2 – DESIGN A SENSIBLE, HEALTHY DIET

Using your BMR number as a baseline, design a sensible diet that stays within a few hundred calories of your BMR, but is above the BMR. This will ensure that you maintain your energy level and do not starve or feel starved. Important things to consider:

Learn the nutritional information, especially calorie amounts, of everything healthy that you like to eat. Use the internet and read food labels.

HINT: If you think a food is unhealthy, it probably is.

WARNING: Healthy-sounding foods may not be as healthy as you think.

Do your due diligence once and you never need to check a food label again except for new items you may decide to add along the way. Make the healthy items you choose the backbone of your diet.

• Eliminate sweets from your diet. You already know these are bad for you.
• Eliminate salty snacks from your diet: potato chips, nacho chips, pretzels, and popcorn.
• Eliminate fried foods from your diet, especially deep-fried foods.
• Eliminate soft drinks from your diet, even diet soda. Drink water at every meal or black coffee or healthy no-calorie beverages like green tea.
• Avoid added ingredients you know are not good food choices. This includes processed cheese, mayonnaise, cream or cheese-based sauces, and gravies. Instead add flavor using herbs and spices, spicy or tangy sauces and condiments.
• Avoid processed foods, as much as possible – nothing out of a box. Avoid frozen dinners, even so-called “healthy” frozen dinners. They may be low in calories, but are very high in sodium. Don’t believe the positive words from marketing experts printed on the box, like “smart” or “lean” or “healthy”.
• Reduce your consumption of carbohydrates, especially bread and pasta. Eat potatoes less frequently, for example, and eat more vegetables like squash as your starch. Make sure what you do eat is whole grain. Eat wraps, not sandwiches. Use pitas and flatbreads in place of buns, rolls, and pizza crust. Eat spaghetti squash instead of pasta once in a while.
• Reduce your consumption of red meat. One or two servings a week at most.
• Reduce your consumption of alcohol, or eliminate it entirely if you can, or at least during the week. Avoid beer, not because of the calories, but because of the foods you are likely to crave with them like pizza, chicken wings, potato chips, and more beer. Instead, opt for a glass or two of wine. Red wine is only about 25 calories per ounce and has some health benefits.
• Plan your diet around large amounts of vegetables and fruits. Eat a salad every day at lunch. Mix up the salad type, spinach or romaine or spring mix, but always try to add a protein item. This will keep you from feeling like a rabbit. The protein item can be a piece of grilled chicken, turkey, salmon, hard-boiled egg, or steak. If you wish for your salad to have no meat, keep a tub of low-fat cottage cheese handy. All protein portions eaten with your salad should be about 3 to 5 ounces - not more.

Be sure to only use oil and vinegar as a dressing, using only as much as you need to add flavor. Low-fat dressings are high in sugar. Low-calorie dressings are high in fat. Don’t be fooled by the verbiage on the label. In restaurants always order dressing “on the side”.

Be sure to eliminate fattening items from your salad: cheese, croutons, and bacon, for example.

• Include so-called “Super Foods” in your daily diet whenever possible. These include salmon, broccoli, blueberries, beans, oats, oranges, pumpkin, spinach, tomatoes, walnuts, and yogurt. 
• Eat three regular meals, keeping the calories consumed at breakfast and dinner lower than lunch, if possible.
• Make time in your day to eat both a mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack. This can be a banana, bag of trail mix, hard-boiled egg, yogurt, apple, or string cheese. Keep the snacks between 100 and 200 calories.
• Tweak your favorite menu items substituting healthier choices for less-healthy ones. Use skim milk instead of 2% or whole milk. Use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. Use roasted garlic instead of butter. I even use wheat germ instead of bread crumbs as the binder with eggs in turkey meatballs.
• Establish a “cheat” for yourself so you don’t go crazy. Be sure to still count it calorie-wise, but don’t let it bother you. Keep it sensible. One cookie. One extra glass of wine. Perhaps double the cheat if it falls on the same day as an extra-intense workout.
• Try to eat at home as much as possible. Restaurants have a lot of hidden “bad” foods, particularly added butter and salt. If you must go out, many restaurants now offer ‘lean” or lower calorie menus. Middle Eastern restaurants use a lot of fresh vegetable-based menu items, so they are really good choices. Opt for salmon or grilled fish whenever possible. Substitute double veggies for the potato.

Last, but not least, DO NOT STARVE YOURSELF!

If you are hungry, eat a mixture of your favorite veggies, cut up, that can be dipped in Greek yogurt. My favorite mixture includes broccoli, cauliflower, baby carrots, grape tomatoes, and radishes. You may also eat a small, measured portion of nuts. Walnuts are best, but almonds, pistachios, and even peanuts make good snacks.

Another acceptable late-day snack is a handful of healthy chips with a healthy dip. Do your research and label-reading on this! I like flax seed chips with baba ghanouj (roasted eggplant and garlic with tahini). Acceptable dips are salsa, Greek yogurt-based dips, and guacamole. Eat the dips sparingly.  Do NOT use the veggies as a utensil to eat the whole container of dip!

STEP 3 – DESIGN A SENSIBLE EXERCISE ROUTINE

As an ex-runner, I tend to lean toward cardio, not weight training, particularly walking and running. Weight training can be added in at any time. I made a goal to reach 1,000 miles walking and running in 6 months and figured running would begin when a comfortable weight was reached – and not before. I walked on a treadmill and at the mall when the weather was bad, and around the neighborhood when the weather was nice. I walked on the beach while on vacation. If you do walk, keep the intensity up. This will burn calories faster than a stroll or walking the dog. I also learned that walking briskly twice as far as I could run burned more total calories, although it did take more time.

Not a walker or runner? Swimming works. So does riding a bike, even an exercise bike. Or elliptical. Or stair climber. Again, keep the intensity up with whatever you do.

If possible, set aside a fair amount of time to do your exercise routine - at least an hour. Why? Many simple activities will burn at least 400 calories an hour. If you have the time, a longer workout can burn 1,000 calories or more in a single exercise session. Try to work out at least five days a week, but never more than seven in a row. Your body needs some rest

STEP 4 – COUNT & LOG YOUR CALORIE DEFICIT

SIMPLE MATH:  Diet Calories – BMR Calories - Exercise Calories = Calorie Deficit

The most important fact is last. A pound of fat is 3,500 calories. To lose a pound of fat, your diet and exercise must result in a 3,500 calorie deficit. Burn 500 more calories than you consume and you will lose a pound a week. Work out extra hard and burn 1,000 calories per day and you will lose two pounds a week. That is about what I did, but you need to make the math work. Work out harder if you need to, but do not increase your calorie deficit through starvation!

Although this goes against conventional fitness wisdom, weigh yourself EVERY day, preferably in the morning. The constant knowledge of what you weigh at all times is important. You know how much money is in your checking account, don’t you? Why wait for the monthly statement to confirm whether you are solvent or broke? Same with your weight – eliminate any surprises.

Weighing in every day gives you immediate feedback and should prod you into making immediate changes, especially after a “cheat” or unavoidable large meal or party situation. Weighing three pounds more than you thought should tell you that the prime rib or those ten cookies you ate last night were probably not a good idea. Now is the time to work them off, not later.

APPENDIX – YOU HIT YOUR GOAL, SO WHAT’S NEXT?

Now that you are healthy, energetic, and your weight is normal, keep up the exercise or perhaps cut it back just a little or work out less frequently. Work some foods you missed back into your diet. By all means stick with healthy habits you have made.

Now that you are in a maintenance mode, not weight-loss mode, consume more calories, if you wish. You can burn it off now.

Just remember, the equation in Step 4 above always applies. Happily though, once you get to maintenance mode, the target calorie deficit only needs to be zero, not 1,000 calories per day.