On losing weight (Part 1)

Many people have noticed that I have lost a lot of weight (almost 90 lbs. as of this writing) and I am frequently asked: “How did you do it?” Unfortunately, there is no simple answer to this question. There is no single “just do this.” No magic bullet. The weight loss that I have experienced is the culmination of multiple small changes made based on a long process of trial-and-error. It is my intention to catalog the steps that I have taken, via multiple blog posts over the next few months, in the off chance that it might be useful (or at least entertaining) to someone. Here’s a sneak preview of topics I intend to cover:

  1. Dan’s Weight History – Everyone has their own reasons for their health, be it good health, or bad health. Every person is a complex combination of body, soul, and spirit, and these pieces affect each other in interesting ways. In order to understand my journey to health, I think it will be helpful to understand the thoughts and feelings that led me to gain weight in the first place, and what motivated me to lose it.
  2. Noom Weight Loss App – The spark that started me on this journey, and one of my main sources of inspiration during the majority of it, was an application that I downloaded for my smartphone.
  3. Calorie Counting – Yes, I count calories. But just counting is not enough. You need to have a plan. Budget your food consumption. Know what you’re eating, and when you eat it. I’ll let you know how I go about it.
  4. Volumetrics – The decisions that I have made in changing my diet have been based mostly around the simple concept of “volumetrics”. I intend to give a brief overview of what volumetrics means, and how I follow it. Hopefully this will illuminate some of the decisions I have made.
  5. Dan’s Eating Habits – Up until this point, it’s all been background information: history and theory. This is the nuts-and-bolts. What specific changes have I made to achieve the results that I got? This section might get a bit long (winded) and may take up several posts. We’ll see how motivated I am.
  6. Other Weight Loss Changes – Researchers seem pretty unanimous in their recommendation that lasting weight loss must come from changing eating habits. Just Google “diet vs exercise” and you will come up with a whole host of articles from various sources that mostly back up this claim. However, I don’t think that diet should be the sole component of an overall weight loss strategy. In my final entry, I will outline some other changes that I have made that I believe have had a beneficial effect on my health.

So if you’re curious, stick around. Who knows. Perhaps some piece of my ramblings could spark something in your own life that starts you on a similar journey to better health. That is my hope, and prayer. I have discovered something that has been elusive to me for years. It would be selfish of me to not at least attempt to share that discovery with others.

– danBhentschel

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