Forget about diets

A few years ago, I was a fat man with a bad report from my doctor. Not the C word or anything tragic, just a harvest of what I’d sown in years of lazy health habits. Fortunately, I could improve the dangerous numbers with big pharma pills or a healthy lifestyle. But one fact was certain — I was at a crossroads. Stay on the path toward diabetes and heart disease, or make a proactive midlife change.

I chose a healthy lifestyle.

I meandered through many whacky diet plans for a few months until I distilled a sustainable healthy lifestyle into three simple strategies, which I’ll discuss here. You can start all three simultaneously or in stages; that’s up to you. If just reading this article is a chore, maybe you need to start slow and feel the breeze of a few wins to motivate you forward. That’s fine.

Just do something.

Let’s get started.

3 Easy Lifestyle Changes to Lose Weight and Keep It Off

1 — Cut the Carbs with Healthy Keto

The keto diet eliminates carbs, forcing your body into ketosis and burning fat. A traditional keto diet isn’t concerned with what you eat as long as it’s carb-free. Eat cardboard as long it’s chock full of protein and has no carbs. You’ll lose weight on the traditional keto plan but sacrifice the nutrients in veggies not found in cardboard. I’ve enjoyed success with Dr. Berg’s healthy keto plan.

Healthy keto balances carb control with eating healthy green vegetables and isn’t a diet. A diet is a short-term solution to a long-term challenge, which is why people bounce from diet to diet their entire lives.

Healthy keto is a sustainable forever life choice.

I refuse to return to my old habits when I can buy keto loaf bread and sea-salted caramel ice cream.

Your local grocery stores have caught up with the keto craze, and you’ll find many keto-friendly foods. And with healthy sugar and grain substitutes available, you can make yummy recipes.

Lifestyle strategy one — healthy keto!

2 — Target Your Eating Times with Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting (IF) is a dietary strategy that alternates between periods of eating and fasting. Unlike traditional diets, which focus on what to eat, IF is about when to eat.

Common Intermittent Fasting methods include:

• 16/8 or 18/6 Method: Fasting for 16-18 hours and eating within a 6-8-hour window each day.
• 5:2 Method: Eating normally for five days a week and significantly reducing calorie intake (around 500–600 calories) on the other two days.
• Eat-Stop-Eat: Involves a 24-hour fast once or twice a week.
• Alternate-Day Fasting: Alternating between normal eating days and fasting days.

Dr. Berg has several videos about the benefits of IF. I started my weight loss journey on January 1, 2022, at 219 pounds and lost 12 stubborn pounds in four months. Then, on May 1, I combined healthy keto with intermittent fasting (KIF) and shredded 16 pounds over the next two months!

I followed the most common IF routine — I ate lunch and dinner in a 6-8 hour window and didn’t eat for 16–18 hours.

Pivot when you pound into a wall

I smacked into a wall in July, which spawned a revelation. I was taking dinner calories to bed with me. So, I flipped the script and started eating breakfast, a midday snack, and a late lunch around 2–3 pm, giving myself more time to burn calories. And since I’m an early-to-bed and early-to-rise guy, I’m asleep at night before hunger sets in.

Pounds aren’t created equally. The first few pounds are cheap, lazy little leaches that drop at first sight of a salad and treadmill. But the last tiny morsels, when your 6-pack is beginning to break through, are the money pounds, and they lock on tighter than grandma’s dentures. However, this meal swap knocked off the last seven pounds for 35 pounds lost in less than 11 months.

It’s common sense. Consume calories in the morning when you need them for fuel (and to keep from being a grumpy old bear), and avoid them at night when they turn to fat.

Lifestyle strategy two — combine healthy keto with intermittent fasting to turbo-charge your weight loss.

3 — Get Up and Go Walking!

I know, you are kicking and screaming now. I’ve advised you to stop eating pizza and Snickers and starve yourself at night, and now I’m asking you to exercise.

But you want to age with grace and spunk, right?

I promise you that if you change your lifestyle to healthy keto with intermittent fasting, you will feel like walking. You will have extra energy to burn. You may feel like walking 10 miles a day!

Weight loss is basic math. The number of daily calories burned must be greater than the calories consumed. The average person burns 1800 calories a day without exercise. If you want to eat more, burn more. Walking is a fantastic and free way to kick the calories, and it’s forgiving on old knees and joints. One YouTube fitness expert says walking is The #1 Exercise To Lose Belly Fat (FOR GOOD!), and your dog will love it.

My sister-in-law, a Licensed Physical Therapist for 40 years, says we must keep moving as we get older.

Lifestyle strategy three — get out and take a walk!

In Summary

Forget about diets. Diets take off the pounds today but put them back on when your mortgage is due again next month, and you start stress eating. Diets are about looking good in a bikini in June. A healthy lifestyle is about feeling good every day until death do you part. Examine why you want to lose weight and choose a sustainable way — healthy keto, intermittent fasting, and walking work for me.

And don’t lose your marbles if you mess up one day. A bacon double cheeseburger today won’t kill you. One every Tuesday and Friday will. Screw up, get up, and get back on track. You’re in this for the long haul and will succeed if your approach remains consistently healthy.

So, get started. 

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