How To Lose Weight

About three months ago I set off on a quest to lose some weight. I am not by any means a fat person all over. I had skinny arms and legs and big fat beer belly. I was carrying what is called Visceral Fat, otherwise referred to as Hidden Fat. It is called this as it is hidden deep inside the body, wrapped around the internal organs and intestines. In my case I had so much of it that it was preventing my lungs from fully expanding, there simply was not enough space to breathe properly. Something had to be done about it.

At the time I weighed 92 kilos, and I set myself a target of 82 kilos. Well, I have now hit my target and I am going to tell you how. It is nowhere near as difficult as you may think.

It all comes down to one simple equation. You have to reduce your calorie intake and increase your calorie burn rate. In my case, that meant ditching all my favorite things like cheesecake, pistachio nut cookies, fruit scones, and KFC Chicken and fries. What was great fun to discover was that I did not have to totally eliminate those things, I just had to massively reduce the amount. I still allow myself the odd treat now and then, about once or twice a month, instead of three times a week.

To help me on my way, my lovely wife quit those things with me. She also found some low-calorie rice, ice cream, and pasta. And she happily changed from white to brown bread.

Apart from that, our normal diet is unchanged. We still eat meat and fish with lots of vegetables and fruit afterward. Also, we have lots of typically healthy Japanese dishes such as noodles and sushi, which we did before anyway. So, that's the calorie reduction plan. Now for the exercise.

As it happens all of my life I have always been fairly active, sailing, surfing, swimming, jogging, mountain climbing, cycling, and walking. However, with the Covid problem all of those activities, apart from cycling and walking, had to be curtailed. I compensated for this by setting out my plan to cycle every single day between ten and fifteen, sometimes twenty, kilometers.

Of course, I kept a complete record of my progress as this helped to keep me on track to hit my step targets. As it happens I have a vitals record book which I started three years ago due to various health conditions. Once or twice a day I record the date and time of day, my blood pressure, body temperature, oxygen levels (SPO2) toilet visits, weight, and kilometers cycled.

What this all means is that if anything suddenly changes, such as a rise in body temperature or blood pressure, or a sudden reduction in oxygen in my bloodstream, I can catch it nice and early before it leads to some serious condition such as another mini-stroke or silent heart attack, which I have had before.

At the end of the day, it is up to us as individuals to take responsibility for the healthy maintenance of our bodies. I have to be honest here and admit, I was one of the worst at keeping an eye on my health, and I learned my lesson the hard way. Don't make the same mistakes as I did, whatever it is, especially if it is excess weight, do something about it now, before it's too late.

I sincerely hope that my advice and plan above are helpful and make you feel inspired to become and to remain, healthy for a long, long time to come.