By Linda Gabriel
Let me ask you a simple question. What if it were just as easy to lose weight as it is to gain it?
If you’re reading this it’s likely you’ve struggled with dieting, exercise, and weight loss – probably for years. You’ve read countless articles, spent time and money as you suffered through your attempts to lose weight. You’ve watched people be tortured and shamed on prime time shows like The Biggest Loser or Celebrity Fit Club. It’s obvious that it’s painful and difficult to lose weight.
Or is it?
How I Lost 10 Pounds in 2 Months. Effortlessly.
When I was in my early 30′s I was the mother of two young children. I’d gained 50 pounds with each pregnancy and had managed to lose all but about 10 extra pounds. Those 10 extra pounds weren’t what I now refer to as “vanity pounds” – the attempt to look like an underweight runway model. My BMI (Body Mass Index) was too high and those 10 extra pounds posed a health risk.
Not only was I responsible for a couple of active toddler boys, our family was building a home while remodeling our current home into an office for my husband’s practice. The office he was leasing had been rented to a new tenant so there was a strict deadline by which we had to have everything done. It was left to me to handle the daily problems that cropped up in our simultaneous building projects.
How did I deal with the stress? Every night I relaxed with a nice glass of wine… or two. This went on for more than a year.
Finally the day came when all had been completed. We had finished the projects, had moved office and home but I was still polishing off my couple of glasses of wine with dinner each night. I can’t remember exactly when it hit me but one evening I had a “Betty Ford” moment. I liked my wine a little too much. It had served it’s purpose, but now that the major stressors were gone I really didn’t need it any more. So I decided to quit.
Within 2 months I lost 10 pounds. Effortlessly.
The only thing that had changed in my diet was no more wine with dinner. I was also getting a bit more daily exercise now that I was living in a larger house with an upstairs bedroom, but I really didn’t notice the difference consciously. The truth is, after a couple of days, I really didn’t miss the wine. I’m not a drinker and it had just become a habit during a time of stress.
Those last 10 pounds made a noticeable difference in my appearance. Friends started asking me, “What did you do to lose weight? You look great!” When I told them it was as simple as cutting out wine with dinner the answer was always, “It couldn’t be that easy.” One friend’s response to my explanation was to lower her voice to a conspiratorial whisper and ask, “Really, Linda. You can tell me. What did you do?” “No, seriously,” I insisted. “I just stopped drinking wine.” She refused to believe me.
The disbelief was universal. Virtually everyone insisted that it couldn’t be that easy. But I’m telling you truthfully – it was.
I had trouble believing it myself. I wanted to figure out how cutting out wine with dinner had made such an amazing difference. Once upon a time I’d looked up the caloric value of a glass of white wine. It was 90 calories, right? I checked again. I’d failed to notice it’s 90 calories for 3-4 ounces. Nobody drinks only 3-4 ounces of wine.
I pulled out one of my lovely wine goblets and decided to measure how much liquid it actually held. I was shocked to find the capacity was 12 ounces! Because it was stemware, the glass appeared to hold much less than say, a full can of cola. But most certainly it did. I was shocked to realize I’d been drinking at least two 10 ounce glasses of wine. I’d been mindlessly consuming an extra 600 calories each night!
600 x 7= 4200 calories per week.
4200 x 8 weeks = 33,600 calories.
It takes approximately 3500 calories to gain (or lose) one pound. Suddenly it was clear how cutting out those glasses of wine had led to losing 10 pounds in 2 months.
If you eat 100 extra calories than you burn per day, that adds up to a weight gain of 10 pounds per year.
200 extra calories per day? Twenty pounds per year.
The reverse is also true. If you cut out 100 calories per day, you will lose 10 pounds within a year. 100 calories amounts to a soft drink or a few bites of food per day. 200 calories is one extra cookie, or the amount you eat when you “finish your plate” instead of stopping when you are full. If it’s easy for you to quit drinking wine or beer, you could be 10 pounds thinner in just a few weeks.
Automatically. Efforlessly. Without suffering or shame.
Let me ask you another simple question. Where could you effortlessly cut out a few hundred calories per day?
Related Posts:
How to Change Your Beliefs about Weight Loss
Does Size and Shape Really Matter?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Linda! I hardly ever read anything about dieting for two reasons: 1) no real problem with weight here 2) It usually makes me roll my eyes.
Finally some sanity! I’m truly laughing out loud here–can’t believe I’m reading this. All you have to do to lose a couple of pounds–or more–is cut some calories or burn some calories and/or both. It really is that simple.
Any time I’ve gained some weight–and I have gained and lost about 20 pounds a couple times, and almost every winter 3-5 or so–it’s because I’m eating more and exercising less. Very simple. Right now I’ve got about 5 pounds of “winter weight” that have to go. What do I do? Skip some of the olive oil, stop the treats of cream on my oatmeal, cut out some of that cheese on the weekend not to mention the wine that goes with it–all high calorie, creamy stuff I crave in the winter (cold salads just don’t cut it for me in winter). Snow is gone, add a mile or two to my walks/runs, put skates on. Bingo. Gone. No biggy.
I love peanut butter too so that has to get minimized. At 120 calories/Tablespoon–oops!
I’ve been the same weight, more or less, all my life, and I’m 48. And I’ve followed exactly what you say here when I do gain a few pounds. It’s so simple!
Thanks
Thanks for chiming in Leah! It’s funny how pervasive the belief is about how difficult and complicated it is. You don’t even have to give up your peanut butter, just eat it half as often as you currently do. I’ve used this method to coach so many clients and they always surprised at how easy it actually is. Even for people who have a lot to lose, you just start with 10 pounds then cut back a little bit more. Rinse and repeat! Of course there are other factors such as stress, which I hint at in this article. But there are so many effective calorie-free options. It’s not just about calories though. I find when people connect to a purpose-filled lifestyle, their weight tends to normalize automatically.
Considering you hardly ever read stuff about dieting, I doubly appreciate your taking the time to comment.