As we come to the end of the year, and the start of a new year, the most popular New Years’ resolution is to lose weight and/or exercise more. I am opting to kick off my weight loss resolution a little early.

I have always struggled with my weight. I am a big guy at 6’2″ and since getting to that height in high school, I have been slowly adding weight. I went from about 185 up to 210 when I graduated from high school. After that, I have been creeping up to my current weight of about 275 pounds.

It’s hard for me to believe that I am that heavy. According to the BMI tables, I should weigh no more than 194 pounds. That means I need to lose 81 pounds. Ouch.

The only thing good about being heavy is that my metabolism is pretty high. Even without exercise, I am burning about 3,200 calories per day. If I can hold myself to a reasonable calorie intake, I will see good results pretty quickly which is good because like everyone else,

“I want to lose weight fast!”

I did have a period in my life where I dropped about 45 pounds ten or twelve years ago. I followed the Burn Rate Diet, tracked everything I ate and had pretty good success. Of course, because the amount of effort required to track and record everything was significant, once I got down to the weight I was targeting, I stopped tracking. And I’m sure you can guess what happened next, my weight began creeping up. I had regained about 30 pounds one year later, and now, I am 81 pounds overweight.

At this weight, I am technically obese. There are health problems that often start showing up at this stage – high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. Plus, it’s just harder to do physical activities.

So here I am needing to drop weight and get back into shape. Just like most folks, I’ve been on and off various diets most of my life. The hard part isn’t getting started, it’s sticking with it. Just like in most things, consistency and resilience are what separate the successful from the not successful.

Here’s the diet I’m embarking on. It’s a blending of the Slow Carb Diet popularized by Tim Ferriss and the No S Diet.

Rule #1: No Sweets, No Snacks, No Seconds (except on “S” days)

I really like the simplicity of the diet. This is the only rule in the No S Diet and it’s pretty self-explanatory. S days refers to days that start with the letter “S” – Saturdays, Sundays, and Special days. The key is to limit your S days to holidays and birthdays – do not lie to yourself about what constitutes an S day and you’ll be fine.

As far as the No’s:

• Sweets – stay away from sugar during the week
• Snacks – eat only during meals (3 per day)
• Seconds – take one plate and don’t go back for more

I came across the No S Diet recently. Having been on many diets over the years, and being one who tends to track everything, I had noticed a number of trends with my weight loss. One of those trends was when looking at my calorie intake, if I carved out the sweets, snacks, seconds, and alcohol, my calories tended to be right where they needed to be for me to lose weight. I happened to go online and search for no sweets, no snacks, and no seconds, and sure enough the No S Diet site appeared.

As I said, I am drawn to the simplicity (another “S” word) of the No “S” Diet, and it serves as a good foundational structure, but I have found that I need a little more in order to avoid feeling hungry and falling off the wagon. That’s where the Slow Carb Diet rules come into play.

If you’re not familiar with the Slow Carb Diet, you are not a dieter. Seriously, it’s been written about extensively by Tim Ferriss and there are numerous success stories on Tim’s blog. Tim’s book, the Four Hour Body also goes into quite a bit of detail about the diet.

I have seen a derivation of the diet in action. One of my family members lost a significant amount of weight and has kept it off for years using most of the principles in the Slow Carb Diet.

Rule #2: Avoid “white” carbohydrates

Avoid any carbohydrate that is — or can be — white. The following foods are thus prohibited: bread, rice, cereal, potatoes, pasta, and fried food with breading. If you avoid eating anything white, you’ll be safe. By the way, you will notice that sugar is a white carb, so you could technically capture the first No S with this rule, but again I like the simplicity of No S as a foundation

Rule #3: Drink lots of water (and other non-calorie beverages)

I am drinking an amount of water (and other non-calorie beverages) in ounces equal to my body weight in pounds. For me that means I’ll start out drinking 64 ounces four times per day plus a couple cups of coffee.

The theory is that by making sure you are adequately hydrated, your hunger will be better managed. Often thirst can be mistaken for hunger. Also, you are probably used to getting more water through your food than you realize. When you cut down your food intake and eliminate salty snacks, you will need to drink more to counter.

That’s all the rules. We’ll see how it goes and I’ll keep you updated on my progress.

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