In this video I explain how I lost 24 pounds in three months easily and effortlessly. I went from weighing 179 pounds to weighing only 155 pounds without any crazy diets or backbreaking exercise. Just a few simple lifestyle changes.  

Okay, so why did I decide to lose weight? Well, I never really felt like I was overweight or unhealthy until one day I went to see my doctor for the first time in many years and my doctor told me I was overweight. My BMI was 26 which was slightly over the recommended range of 20 to 25 for men my age. “So you should think about losing some weight.” she said.  

So I’m 5′ 10” and according to online BMI calculators, I needed to be 155 pounds to have a BMI of 22 which would be right in the middle of the healthy range. That means I needed to lose 24 pounds.  

Here’s the thing, I hate going to the gym. I’m not really good at sticking with diets.  I mean, sure I can eat salad three times a day for a few days. Anybody can, but I just can’t stick with it for months on end. Call me lazy, but I’m the same way with hard workouts. I just prefer not to do them.  

So if I could lose weight and keep it off, anybody can. So here’s what worked for me: 

Step 1 – I established my baseline. My current BMI and my current activity level. I needed some kind of activity tracker so I got a Fitbit, but really any activity tracker will do.  An apple watch, a Garmin, or you can even get a step counting app for your cell phone. The goal is to measure the number of steps you take each day. The point is you want to measure how active you are right now as you go about your regular day before you start to make any kind of changes. I have an office job and I drive to work and I found out that on a typical day I take around 6,000 steps.  

Step 2 –  Figure out ways to walk more, a lot more. It’s actually not that hard. You can go for a walk after lunch or you can spend more time walking around the store when you’re shopping, whatever. The best option is to start walking on a treadmill. This is what worked for me. The best part about walking on a treadmill is that it’s easy. You can watch your favorite shows as you do it and it doesn’t feel like you’re killing yourself in an intense workout. I can get around 6,000 steps per hour on a treadmill, which for me doubled my daily step count in only 1 hour on the treadmill.  And I barely broke a sweat! Put on Game of Thrones or House of Cards and time just flies by. It doesn’t even feel like exercise. My personal goal was 100,000 steps per week and most weeks I could reach it.  

Step 3 – This is the part most people hate. No sugar. All right, hear me out. It’s not as crazy as it sounds. All I did was stop eating things that are loaded with sugar.  So no cookies, no milk chocolate, no soda, no sugar in my coffee… You get the idea, oh and no fruit juice either. Fresh fruit is okay, but skip the fruit juice. Trust me on this. Now, I still eat some rice. I still eat some bread, but if something has more than 10 grams of sugar per serving, just skip it. Don’t worry. I know we’re only human, so go nuts once or twice a week, give in to half a slice of cheesecake now and then, but don’t overdo it and be true to yourself. Cereal in the morning?  Switch to eggs.  Like pancakes? skipped a syrup. Don’t punish yourself and don’t starve yourself. You’ll end up quitting in no time if you do that 

Step 4 – Stick with it! Don’t be a quitter. It takes about two weeks to form a new habit, so don’t give yourself excuses. Just do this for two weeks.  After that it’s a part of your daily routine and it’ll be easier to stick with it for at least two months. It took me three months to lose my first 20 pounds. Losing weight is easy. The idea is fewer calories in, more calories out. Done.  

Step 5 – Frequent check-ins. Weigh yourself first thing in the morning every day. If you can keep track of your progress by recording your weight in a notebook or in a weight loss app. There are some web connected scales that will do this for you automatically. Your weight can vary by more than a pound up or down every day.  So don’t fret over the day-to-day fluctuations.  It’s important to focus on how your weight changes over several weeks and months. If you’re overweight, your body wants to lose some weight too and a weight loss of about two pounds per week is possible. Any more than this, and you might be overdoing it.  

So that’s it. Just keep walking, avoid sugar and don’t stop until you reach your target weight. After I reached my target weight of 154 pounds, my goal was to maintain my weight. I only do between 70,000 and 80,000 steps a week now, and I don’t feel guilty about the occasional dessert. My weight has been fluctuating between 152 and 157 pounds for well over a year now. But here’s the thing, I know that I am in full control of my weight. If I see my weight creeping up, I turn up the step count and turn down the sugar intake and just like that, I can drop two or three pounds in two weeks no problem.  

So there you have it. It’s an easy lifestyle change and it’s easy to stick with it. No crazy diet, no back-breaking exercise regimen. Anybody can do it.