3 Ways I Kept Weight off After a Reboot

There is one part in Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead that has always stuck with me.  It is one of my favorite lines in the movie and I always thought back to it, not only while going through my 30 Day Reboot, but also the rest of the year when I was losing weight and becoming healthy.

“I’ve done the crime and now I’ve got to do the time.”

I love this.  It is so true.  One of the first steps to changing your health and your life is admitting that what you have done is not working and that you are doing a disservice to your own well-being.

When you are at the start of your journey, especially when you have a substantial amount of weight to lose, it can be extremely overwhelming on many levels.  And staying motivated can be extremely difficult.  During that 30 days, I really faced myself and I thought about that line a lot.  I really looked at it like I was “doing the time” and thought about that line over and over again.

So now, two years later, I get one question very often. How have you kept all the weight off? In other words, how have I kept from having to start over and go back to “prison”?

Here are three things to consider before you start a Reboot that will help everything stick long-term:

YOUR REBOOT IS NOT A DIET
If your goal going into a Reboot is solely to lose a lot of weight very quickly or you are only focused on the weight loss, you are destined to become a “repeat offender” to use another lawful term.  Rebooting is not a diet.  It is a way to take time to reset your body and prepare for a total lifestyle change.  I lost 38 pounds in 30 days but I am always sure to tell people that the most important thing that happened to me during that 30 days is that my cravings changed and my taste buds adapted to real, whole foods.  Before my Reboot, the only vegetables I would eat were white potatoes and broccoli.  Now I will eat basically any vegetable (except beets) and I no longer eat white potatoes.  In turn, I also have not been sick in over two years.  You’ve tried plenty of diets.  It is time to reset and change your life and your habits and quit dieting.

HAVE A GAME PLAN FOR AFTER
Your Reboot is over, now what happens? You have to have a plan for the days and months following your Reboot.  I committed to eliminating processed foods from my diet and completely shifted how I looked at food.  Through that and through constantly educating myself on health, I was able to lose 95 pounds total in 2012 (only 38 of that was through the Reboot) and kept it all off.  My health is a priority and I always have the time for it whether that is cooking healthy meals, working out, or taking time to recover and heal.  Through that, my days and months have naturally become years and now this is just my life.  For instance, it is not a big deal for me to take about 90 minutes on Sunday to prepare healthy lunches for the week because it is just something I do.  It is a habit and it is a priority because I know what it does for my health and keeps me from having to make “on the fly” bad decisions.

DEFINE YOUR “WHY”
When you are mentally worn and you are not sure you can go on anymore, what keeps you going?  What is your why? You have to find the one thing that motivates you.  For some, it may be to get off of a pill or to fight off diabetes.  For others, it may be to get outside and play with your kids or increase your chances of being there for your daughter when she walks down the aisle.  You have to define what it is for you and to think about it whenever you are down and ready to quit.  Change is extremely hard but I promise you that it gets easier.  Like I said above, if you can get to a point where your health is a priority and changes become habits, you can simply live and enjoy your life and your health.

Just getting started and have any questions or comments about anything above or maybe something I did not touch on?  Comment below and let’s discuss!