I am a new me. In the last 4 months, my wife and I have made a change.
We eliminated carbs.
More below the orange cinnamon roll.
My wife and I are in our 60s. As is per usual with persons of our age, every decade has brought an additional 10 lbs. When I was younger, I was pretty thin. In my 50s, I was either robust or fat, take your pick. Not morbidly obese, BMI ~ 32.0. My wife was more chubby, BMI ~ 33.3. She was extremely dissatisfied. As she was shorter than I, she looked fatter, and her BMI was higher. She was more and more unhappy. She threatened to force us onto one of those liquid diet things (run by a local medical system).
So we decided to cut out carbs, and focus on salads, lean protein, a lot vegetables, and a modest reduction in alcohol.
Here is our progress:
Date Ms WiUSA Mr WiUSA
March 202 226
April 188 216
May 176 210
June 168 204
July 140 190
Not great, but very reasonable. You might note that Ms WiUSA lost weight faster. She did have a bit more to lose, but she is much more single-minded, and gets a little more exercize.
Details:
1) Considerable reduction in dairy - little cheese, yogurt, etc
2) No carbs at all - bread, rice, pizza crust, bagel, white potato
3) Vegetables - anything except white potatoes - yams, sweet potatoes, green, red, etc
4) Alcohol - reduction to mostly Fri Sat sometimes in the week - 90% wine, little beer
5) Protein - modest amounts - size of deck of cards - low fat chicken, pork
6) Snacking - raw veg, hummus, string cheese some, baba gannou, carrots, carrots, carrots (did I mention carrots)
Physical activity of all kinds (all kinds) is more fun. It's also easier. More fun too.
It is a diet that can be maintained. Just don't snack, don't each carbs.
When we go to Europe in October, we hope to be mistaken for Dutch, not Americans. In Europe, they can always spot Americans. Americans are bigger than everyone else.
Hopefully that is less true for us now.