How to attain and maintain the weight you want

In college, and for a few years after college, I was trying to put on weight to hit my target goal. After a lot of effort, I finally reached that goal. Shortly after that, my goal was exceeded. And over some years, you can say I overachieved. All in all, I was 25% over my ideal weight. Bringing this percentage down was more challenging than I thought it would be. I believe a large population of us have encountered the same problem.

Hitting the gym more frequently and spending extra time doing cardio did have some positive effects in bringing my weight back down but the progress hit a plateau at some point. It seemed like my weight would fluctuate around this new normal weight and my workouts were having little impact. My metabolism must have slowed down as I've heard people talk about as we age, and this might be the weight I should get accustomed to now. I didn't think my weight would significantly drop until I did the following:

• I started out with a one day fast and only had liquids.

• Following the one day fast, I'd only have non-carbohydrate vegetables, protein, and fruit.

• Try to eat slowly. Do not over-eat but you do not need to leave yourself feeling hungry either.

• Ditch sugar, processed foods, and skip the carbs (bread, pasta, rice, potato, etc.)

• This is pretty much the "keto-diet" or the "paleo diet" that has been popular in recent years.

• Repeat this for "X" amount of days.

• For me, by day 3-4 my body is in ketosis which means my body is burning fat to utilize as energy instead of burning glucose (carbohydrates or sugar).

• In this stage, I lose a pound or two per day and you can choose how many days you want to stay in this stage.

• I stuck it out for about 5 - 7 days.

I returned to my "normal" diet after that and slowly gained some weight back. After a few weeks, I thought I would try again. This second time around, I added an eating window to about 8 hours. When you limit your eating window, you are essentially doing a mini-fast each day which is also known as intermittent fasting. My weight was shedding pretty dramatically. It seemed like it might have been a couple pounds each day after day 3-4. At some point, I was reaching a weight that was lower than what I desired. I was getting close to my high school weight which is much lower than my ideal.

I now have a weekly diet that I adhere to that works for me. I do eat carbs on a weekly basis now and that is for two reasons: 1) to swear off carbs and sugar completely is just not fun; and if something is too strict or limiting to a person, the person may not stick to it. 2) to maintain some weight so that I'm at my ideal target weight without being too heavy or too light. This is what I do now:

• I no longer need to start off the diet with a one-day or one-meal fast. Maybe a couple times a year might I do that.

• Monday: Vegetarian with some carbs.

• Tuesday - Wednesday/Thursday: vegetables, protein, and fruit.

• Friday: I keep this day as whatever I feel like. Occasionally, I'll go vegetarian, I may keep it similar to my Tuesday to Thursday schedule, or I may start to incorporate carbs & some sugar depending on how I'm feeling.

• Saturday/Sunday: I allow myself a little bit of sugar and foods with carbohydrates. Sometimes, you just feel like some bread or pasta.

• In a nutshell, I may rotate and have 2-4 days of no carbs and the remaining days I might be vegetarian, pescetarian, or anything I want day (being somewhat sensible and not going overboard.) 1-2 days of no carbs may be enough for me to maintain where I want to be, and this can change with the level of physical activity or the time of year. It may vary depending on where each individual might be on their journey.

Then I'll start the week over again. And depending on how my body is doing, I may adjust and add an additional vegetarian day or something else beyond that Friday. Every person and every type of body is different; and each may have a different target goal. Even the same body at a different age or a different season may have different needs. I keep it flexible, and I also believe the best diet plan is one that a person can be consistent with and stick to. With this flexibility, I've been able to keep my weight at an ideal targeted range for over a few years.

Lastly, I'll add that the keto diet & the paleo diet commonly contains a lot of red meat. A lot of research studies suggest the "blue zone" areas where they have the most people that are able to age beyond 100 often minimize their intake of red meat. So, the protein I try to take in between Tuesday and Friday are often fish, some chicken, and other plant-based protein.

*Anyone considering a dietary change should consult their doctor beforehand.