Back on July 27^th I wrote about a new app I was using called MyFitnessPal. At the time I had been on my new “diet” for only nine days. I had already lost three pounds off of my peak weight, but three pounds can easily be attributed to normal, even daily, fluctuation. Eight weeks and almost twelve pounds later, I am beginning to believe there might actually be something to this whole idea of watching what you eat. (You can even follow my progress over in the right margin of this blog.)

MyFitnessPal isn’t anything special. It’s simply a calorie counter with extensive searchability and an intuitive interface both online and in the app version. I haven’t done anything fancy either, except be cognizant of my food intake and jog for about 30 minutes three times a week. (Confession: I skipped a week of running at the end of August.)

So what’s the secret? It can’t be that easy, or everyone would do it.

Well, just like everything else, there is some discipline involved. This just happens to be the first time I’ve ever been diligent enough to stick with something for an extended duration.

The grand finale? I set my goal to lose one and a half pounds per week. To achieve this, I was allotted only a little over 1,600 calories a day. That seems extreme at first, especially once you realize how many calories are in the typical foods you eat, but once you become conscious about your food choices, it’s not so difficult. I would highly recommend the Slim-Fast shakes that replace your breakfast and lunch meals with a mere 190 calories each, and try to cut out fast-food completely. A double cheesburger, fries and a shake will taste absolutely delicous but will also completely decimate your calories for an entire day.

It’s very rewarding to watch the numbers on the scale get smaller and my clothes begin to fit a little looser. Now that I’m just over half way to my goal weight, I’m even more motivated. It’s like my wife always says, “Plan your work, and work your plan.” (She really does say this all the time. Way more often than it should naturally have the opportunity to show up in conversation.)

Have you ever successfully lost weight? Did you find it again later? What methods worked? Which ones did not?