You made me laugh out loud with that one, Jay! A whole kid!

I did it pretty much the same way you did. Made myself smart about food and
how the body uses it and realized the whole low-fat but high carb diet I was
eating was all wrong. Didn't go the Atkins route because that's a bit
extreme, but I realized that the balance of what I took in wasn't what my
body really needed to be healthy. So I set a few rules and goals for
myself.

Rule Number One: Don't take any rule or goal too seriously! Have fun but
with an eye to shedding some weight and being healthy. Weeks I was pretty
disciplines, weekends I gave myself a break and loosened up on the rules.

2. Aim for a pound off per week. Some weeks I made it, some weeks I
didn't. Oh, well. I got there in the end.
3. Eat food like we're meant to. Humans didn't evolve to eat processed
food. If the cavemen didn't eat it, then I won't (refer to rule 1). This
means eating stuff in as natural a state as possible. If it comes in a box
or a jar, I usually don't eat it.
4. Minimize bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, and cereal because I simply don't
need as much of it as I was eating
5. Bulk up on veggies, 5 colors a day if possible. You can eat as many
veggies as you want and they're still good for you.
6. I wasn't going to be a food nazi and bore my friends rigid with talk
about dietary habits (this made sure I still had friends to notice the
weight loss!)
7. Eat smaller meals more frequently. Breakfast, snack on an apple at
1030, lunch, snack on a banana at 1630, dinner; that sort of thing. That
way I'm not so hungry when meal time comes so I eat better and less.

There were some other bits and pieces in there but that was the bulk of it.
The motivation was watching the belt and collar on my shirts get too big. I
went from tight 36" pants down to loose 32". I'm now on the smallest notch
of a belt I nearly gave to Goodwill because I couldn't get it on.

Started at about 200 lbs and got down to a low of 157. I've put some of it
back on because I've come off some of my discipline, but I'm back on it and
losing it again. This was all without a lick of exercise, by the way.

Like I said, I'd rather put that 40 lbs in the fuel tank (or into
performance)! That was enough motivation for me!!

Good luck with your habits. Sounds like you're on to a winner!

Shawn




"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:kSRye.138502$xm3.89132@attbi_s21...
I lost 40 pounds over the last couple of years. The Pitts is definitely
more spritely at the top of the verticals than it used to be. I can do
some cool gyro stuff I don't remember doing before!

FORTY POUNDS? Wow, that's, like, a whole kid!

Congrats, man. How'd you do it?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"