Reducing Weight

I made a big move in my life, to a new location and a new job. Now four months later, I've lost about 30 lbs (13.6 kg) and improved many things in my life, while still having a busy and active life.

I really don't like tracking calories or eating strict diets, but I did mostly accomplish this task by reducing the amount that I ate.

Here is everything that I did, which I'm posting here in the hopes that some of these strategies may be helpful to you.


Sleep. I haven't been strict about getting a huge amount of sleep, generally averaging about 6 or 7 hours per night. I have tried to be consistent about my sleep timing.

Food. Eating less. I've discussed some strategies for this elsewhere on this site, and in general eating less seems to be the big key. A few things that seem to be working well for me are the following: 

• Reducing calories at lunch. Having a salad with protein has been very beneficial for reducing my food intake during the day. My current favorite protein is fresh poke (pronounced "po-ke"), a Hawaiian dish of marinated raw seafood, such as marinated ahi tuna. When it's fresh it just melts in your mouth without fishy flavor
• Having calories after working out, a.k.a. "nutrient timing". I try to take in some calories after a workout, which seems to be important to avoid crashing during the day. My current understanding is that eating within a few hours of exercising is a very good time to make sure that they go to where your body needs them rather than storing them where your body doesn't need them.
• Occasionally skipping dinner on days I don't do intense exercise. If I'm not hungry in the evening then this becomes an "intermittent fast". However, if I'm feeling run down or unhappy, I do try not to skip meals because there seems to be a good improvement after I do eat something.

Exercise. I've been going regularly 5 days a week. I go first thing in the morning right now because that's the time when there are fewer crowds and I can be sure that I won't put off doing exercise. The best exercise is the one you can do consistently and which holds your interest. I've been going surfing on Mondays and then doing weightlifting 4 days per week on Tuesdays through Fridays. This schedule will be a little disrupted through the December holidays but I'm sure that I'll return to a regular schedule.

Final thoughts:

• There are some margins where I feel that I should improve, my coffee intake for instance.
• Nonetheless I more or less set up a routine, and just implemented it over 3 or 4 months, and the results are great. 
• It really does feel great not to carry around a lot of extra weight, and clothes fit a lot better.
• As with everything on this site, please consider this a work in progress and a story for your benefit.