I spent about 5-6 years being fat. I know it sucks. I had been at a high point of 260 at one point in the fatness stretch and a low of 205. So I'd bounced around a bunch but I spent most of that time in the 225-230 area. Then in May of 09 I decided enough was enough and I dropped from 235 to 180 by Nov 09. Here are some before (
pic 1,
pic 2,
pic 3,
pic 4 at 260 -- my high point... small res though, can't find the big one on this comp -- and lastly,
pic 5) and after (
pic 1,
pic 2,
pic 3,
pic 4,
pic 5) pics although the after ones are like the five most recent pics on my facebook (hence the low res -- but all from the last few weeks) and the before ones are from random periods through my fat years. I didn't take pics directly before/during/after my focused weight loss.
So anyway, this is anecdotal, general and I'm sure very unscientific but it worked for me:
1) Set things like weekly goals. Over the years, I found it too difficult to say "okay I'm going to run 2 miles each day" or "I'm going to limit my calories to this amount per day" or whatever. Also, if I had a bad day, I would do the typical blow up where I made it a horrible week/month/whatever. If you're on a week plan, it's MUCH easier mentally but it's still short-term.
I actually had some unintended consequences from this whole thing that made me actually enjoy the processes involved in healthy living. After a week or two of leaving the stricter living to the last three days or so, I started actually being more proactive and doing a great job early in the week so I could goof off later in the week. Then, I started to get a bit sick from the crappier/greasy foods during the cheaty parts of the week and I just cut them out altogether strictly based on the fact that I genuinely didn't want them anymore. The only thing that has remained me for me is occasional sweets. I've maintained my BF levels no problem.
2) This is kinda similar to what Assani recommended but it's a lot more flexible. I basically forced myself to eat chicken, veggies, some fruits, nuts/seeds, etc before eating bad food, even on the days when I was doing things like going out to eat. Like if I was going out with friends I would eat 1-2 hours before going out and then I'd be pretty happy getting something small, not touching bread, etc. When you eat a lot of fiber and protein, you just don't desire the crap food anymore. Obviously the goal is just to fewer calories but I've always found it impossible to eat a lot of processed carbs and keep calories low.
3) Don't eat unless I'm truly hungry. I don't follow this 100% strictly these days (trying to eat more for lifting reasons, I've had trouble going back in the other direction of occasional overeating) but when I was losing weight, it was key. And believe me, this was much harder than it sounds. Before I ate, I would usually just ask myself, are you just eating because you're bored? Can you eat less than what you're spooning onto the plate and not be hungry? Especially early on, I realized that I was usually eating because I was just bored or whatever. I was living in the Cayman Islands without a lot of friends around and I'd just hang out and eat for no reason. Maybe Assani's suggestion about only eating foods you don't really like is a good one for something like this but, basically, I had some major issues with boredom eating or just general irrational portion-sizing. I also had some weird thing about not realizing that a little bit of hunger is just a sensation, not something that is going to kill me. Sometimes you've gotta just be a little hungry, no need to be scared of it. Not the end of the world. Obviously don't starve yourself but you're going to feel a bit hungry sometimes.
All of the above might be obvious, but any fat person will tell you that they don't follow those rules. So it's more about execution than the game plan, for obvious reasons. You just have to want it bad enough.
One last piece of advice which you probably already know but, this battle will be won or lost in the kitchen. You could lose your gym membership card for the next six months, eat super healthy and you'd look great. Now, like everyone else is saying, squats/deadlifts are going to make you way hotter (and yes, you have 9 potential if you do everything right). But your diet is going to be the key over anything else when it comes to losing fat. Don't think that you can ever outexercise a bad diet when it comes to weight loss -- you can't.
Now go do it!
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