The Greatest Weight Loss Article Of All Time
Alright, so it may be a tiny exaggeration. And even if it wasn’t, my opinion may be slightly biased considering that I am the writer. And sure, using fun attention-getting titles is something I’m a big fan of doing. However, what I can say with absolutely certainty is that “the greatest weight loss article of all time” is exactly what I set out to put together.
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that this is the week when millions of people around the world make their New Year’s Resolutions. I also mentioned that the #1 resolution may very well be to lose weight.
I then mentioned something that probably sounded a bit strange… that you should not spend a second of your time doing anything weight loss related. Don’t research. Don’t learn. Don’t buy. Whatever you do, don’t go out and look for weight loss. My reason for this of course was that I was going to “bring weight loss to you.”
And now, as promised, I present to you (I’m also a huge fan of overly dramatic introductions)…
The Ultimate Weight Loss Guide
As for a brief description, I’ll let its first paragraph do the describing:
This is it, folks. This is the first, last and only weight loss article you will EVER need to read. Only, this is much more than an article. This, my friends, is a guide. In fact, it’s the ultimate weight loss guide. It’s a collection of every single thing you will ever need to know about losing weight. Every helpful tip, every useful fact… it’s all here, compiled in one place, just for you.
If you need to lose weight, this is EVERYTHING you’ll need.
Oh, and Happy New Year!
38 Responses to “The Greatest Weight Loss Article Of All Time”
Wow, thanks for doing my weight loss homework for me. How long did it take if you don’t mind me asking?
By Sean on Jan 3, 2008
Sean, it took years! (Get it, because I started it in 07 and now it’s 08. This is one of those hilarious time related jokes you can only make the week after New Years. They’re just HILARIOUS!)
Seriously though, I don’t really know. I was working on it on and off throughout December.
By aCalorieCounter on Jan 3, 2008
I am so impressed-you wrote the perfect article. About 5 years ago I lost 160 pounds. I did it by reading everything I possibly could on the subject of weight loss, throwing out 90% of it, and then pretty much doing exactly what you say. Seriously-you distilled virtually everything there is that is important about weight losss into this article. I plan on passing it around. Kudos.
-Thoreau
By Thoreau on Jan 3, 2008
You’ve got it all right. This matches exactly the Hacker’s Diet. I recommend it because it has good tools to determine your basil rate. http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/www/hackdiet.html I lost 70 pounds with the simple caloric monitoring and good old fashioned control.
I recommend weighing every day, but plotting using a tool that smooths out the data. Like this one: http://infohost.nmt.edu/~carmiac/whdt/whdt.cgi
Good luck, all!
By Brian on Jan 3, 2008
Thoreau, thanks for the compliments. And congrats on your own weight loss. 160lbs is pretty damn amazing.
Brian, congrats on your weight loss as well. I’m definitely familiar with The Hacker’s Diet. It’s based on all the right stuff. As for weighing yourself daily, it’s a great idea in theory, and some people can pull it off without any problem. But, I think most people would become way too obsessed with it, and daily fluctuations in the wrong direction would probably make the average person question their diet/exercise and start changing things.
By aCalorieCounter on Jan 3, 2008
Great site, very true indeed. Thank you.
By Kaliastrih on Jan 5, 2008
This is really fabulous. Thank you. I estimate I have a whopping 100 pounds to lose — this is after losing 60 pounds on the South Beach diet and promptly gaining it back plus 40 more when I got tired of all the restrictions and the unpleasant side effects — muscle cramps, constipation, to name a few, not to mention feeling hungry all the time.
Anyway, I “stumbled upon” your article and am inspired. Thanks again.
By Denise on Jan 5, 2008
I found your guide and read it all the way through. I am done. For months I have been doing this, doing that, to try to educate people about common sense weight loss and you have done it already. I agree with you 100% and I applaud you for doing this in such a readable concise method. Might I link to your guide on my blog? I consider this the last word on weight loss. Absolutely perfect!
By the way, I have been advocating what you have written, but have never been able to do such a great job.
I have lost over a hundred pounds so far, with some to go yet and I have been worried about maintenance, but I am not worried anymore, I will just up my caloric intake as you suggested when I get ready to maintain and see how much it takes.
I appreciate your efforts and look forward to reading more of your articles, even though you said to ignore them.
Jan
By JanB on Jan 5, 2008
Kaliastrih, glad you liked it.
Denise, I know what you mean. Maintaining weight loss with a diet that unnecessarily restricts certain nutrients/food groups is pretty tough. And when you realize that it can be done with a balanced diet that restricts nothing but the stuff that should be restricted (unhealthy junk), it just seems so silly to even try. At least you learned from it. Too many people do exactly what you did and then just keep doing it over and over with some other gimmick diet.
Jan, thanks for the compliments. Feel free to link away. And congrats on the 100lbs lost. A number like that is amazing to hear. You’ll be completely done and ready to maintain before you know it. Awesome job.
By aCalorieCounter on Jan 5, 2008
Thanks so much for this! I’ve gained a bit of weight recently and I was thinking about ‘not eating after it gets dark’ and a lot of other fooey ideas. I’m 18 and a size 17 [pants wise] and I’m uncomfortable with it. Not because it’s not what’s ‘in’ but just because it’s not me. I do plan on counting my calories and I do plan on doing at least 30 minutes of exercise a day! This guide made me feel like I can do it!
By Samantha on Jan 7, 2008
A few years ago, I dumped all the ideas of ‘fad dieting’ in favor of pretty much every single thing you wrote about. Forgetting the idea of ‘image’ and focusing on my health, not obsessing over my appearance, and making the decision to change how I ate FOREVER. The weight came off, about 70 pounds over two years. I had my ‘indulgence’ days but I learned to prepare my own treats from scratch without all the processed stuff contained in store bought stuff, and it made such a difference [especially in quality and flavor!]. Experimenting with healthier foods became like a hobby almost, it took awhile but I learned to put meals together that I love eating, and that are good for my body. Thank you for presenting the reality of weight loss and health the way you have. Most people call it ‘the hard way’ and it can be at first [it was for me], but after awhile it really does become easy and enjoyable. Thanks for breaking it down so well and telling it like it really is. I’ll be passing this on to a lot of people.
By Laurie on Jan 7, 2008
Everytime I come back to your blog you always have something good!!! After New Year.. I went down hill.. while a lot of people started with a new year Resolution – Weight Loss… I’m slowly being lazy. But I’m happy to read your great information to kick my butt and continue to work HARD again! Great motivation! Keep up the Good work… Thanks for all your time that you put in to this =)
By B on Jan 7, 2008
I really appreciate the time you spent on this article. It’s so helpful. As far as the limitation on drinks, I was wondering about herbal teas, vegetable cocktails, and stuff i make with my own juicer. Would these actually make weight loss less effective?
By Bronwyn on Jan 13, 2008
Great article! Had a question though it may more be like a suggestion. You mention in your common myths section about the pitfalls of thinking more reps will tone muscle. One idea that I’ve heard is that if you build lots of muscle and then stop exercising, the muscle will turn into fat. To me, that doesn’t seem to make scientific sense, but obviously going from heavy exercise to no exercise will probably result in fat gain. Maybe you can add it to an article focusing on all the fads, crazes and myths surrounding body weight.
By Eric on Jan 15, 2008
“Workout” is a noun ie “I had a great workout.”.
To “work out” is two words ie “I am going to work out now.”.
Good article..
By Melinda on Jan 16, 2008
This is wonderful. Great website, and great guide. Thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to write it.
By Jason on Jan 17, 2008
Awesome blog. Thanks for putting all this in one place. I am in the process of losing weight the healthy right way and these articles will help. I found Sparkpeople which is based on most of the same ideas.
By Vicky Virtual Assistant on Jan 22, 2008
great motivation thanks
By sameer on Jan 23, 2008
YOU ARE MY INSPIRATION, I WILL BE SHARING THIS WITH ALL MY GIRLFRIENDS, IT ALL FINALLY MAKES SENSE. IF I WOULD HAVE KNOWN THIS LAST YEAR, AND THE YEAR BEFORE THAT, AND SO ON-SO ON, I WOULD HAVE ALREADY MET MY GOAL. I JUST FEEL LIKE I CAN ACTUALLY DO THIS AND STILL LIVE LIFE, YA KNOW. I GUESS IT PAID OFF GOING THROUGH EVERY WEBSITE THAT HAD SOMETHING TO SELL BUT NOTHING TO OFFER, I FINALLY STUMBLED UPON HERE AND BOY AM I JUMPING UP AND DOWN, YOU ROCK!!!
By lananjosh on Jan 25, 2008
Basically if I could have written an article on weight loss and maintenance, this would be it. It is perfect. I am trying to teach my family how to eat and this will be going out to them. Thank U a million times over fortaking the time to write this and putting it out there for free. It is the only thing people need.
By Jake Silver on Jan 30, 2008
Thanks. Nicely written. Tons of great information.
By melissa on Feb 18, 2008
I use Stumble to mind numbingly browse the internet and most of time I get junk but once in a while I find solid gold. Such is the case with this site. Good job!
By Kevin on Feb 20, 2008
this was an amazing read! I rarely sit and read something this long but I was glued. My calorie maintenence level is 3500 cal. so I need to intake 3000 cal per day and I guess Im not doing to good. Today I had cereal 300G, 2 bananas, 1 apple, lunch(280cal), and a salad for dinner(300cal?) Iam very active at work and I jogged about 20 minutes today. Am i doing harm or losing weight?
thanks,
Mike
By Mike on Mar 25, 2008
Great writing! Easy to understand. All the things I’ve learned put into one easy to read, easy to follow road map. Now….I need to put it in gear and into action! Thanks!
By Frannie on Mar 26, 2008
Thorough, easy to understand… a great article.
Just one suggestion… a section on DIETARY FIBER. I’ve found that this is crucial both to my overall health and my weight-control goals. Although the RDA for fiber is 25-30 grams/day, most Americans are lucky if they consume half that. I eat at least 40g fiber/day and try to do better than this. I recommend it highly!
By Nancy Keswani on Mar 29, 2008
Just had to come back and report on my progress at this point. I LOVE this article - with it I have lost almost 15 lbs. in the course of 5 weeks. It really gave me a lot of inspiration to keep going and do what I’ve been needing to do for a while now. Thanks so much!!
By Grant Gardner on Mar 31, 2008
You did it again. Wonderful article Jared. When I read your article on Cravings, I lost 50 lbs. This article gave me the extra push to lose the last 15 and finally be at goal. You’re an amazing man to put all your time and effort and research into something for free. Thank you again!!
By Lacy on Apr 1, 2008
Great article on weight loss. There seems to be only one confusing thing for me. You go back and forth between weight loss and fat loss interchangeably. You say “3500 calories less per week equals 1 pound of lost fat”. Is this really true? What dictates the fat being lost compared to muscle being lost? Reducing calories will definitely reduce weight, but not 100% of that weight will be fat. Maybe a paragraph saying how to steer that weight loss in the direction of fat would be useful. Thanks again for all the well written info!
By Mike on Apr 16, 2008
Great website, thanx for the 3500 calorie per pound a week loss info, never knew that before.
By Elli on Apr 22, 2008
This is an awsome website and explains everything in plain English and now it all makes since. I guess I have to do the figures and see what I should be eating, LOL, and I am off. I have some CD’s that I ordered on weight loss but when they arrive I am definitly returning them ASAP. You have done a wonderful job on the site and I am so glad to be able to come and see how many calories are in foods right away. Awsome Job
By Kim on Apr 29, 2008
Wonderful guide! Thank you for sharing it with everyone. As others have said - I had worked my way around to pretty much the same conclusions. The guide is easy to follow, well organized and easy to move between sections to find what I am looking for this time.
One thing that I have found that helps me monitor my calories in/out is The Daily Plate. It makes logging my food/exercise very easy….and it’s free (90% of features anyway) For me, it takes most of the guess work and hassle out of figuring out just what I ate and the nutritional information for it. As I continue on my journey I will be referring to your guide often.
By Pitxitxita on May 27, 2008
is it possible to gain muscle and lose weight at the same time?
if, for example, you are eating enough food to build muscle but you are also on caloric deficit, is that possible?
i mean maybe not that much muscle can be gain but can you gain some muscle during caloric deficit if you do progressive overload,eat tons of protein and still lose fat?
By kaiser on May 27, 2008
I’ve seen so many articles on the web and never gotten through the first sentence or two. I read this entire guide and it’s given me some motivation and confidence (the comments on it helped also). Just like the first poster said, thanks for doing my homework for me
By Caitlin on May 27, 2008
This is a fantastic article. You are so right about everything too, it took me SO LONG to weed out the good and the bad, and you have it all here. I lost 40LBS after I had my son and it was a lot of ups and downs because of all the lies out there on tv, in magazines and books. Thank you for helping people lose weight, with no hidden agendas.
By Brittney on Jun 3, 2008
This website is awesome. I lost over 30 pounds a lot faster than I thought I could. People I hadn’t seen in a month noticed right away, and couldn’t believe it. I feel great. Thanks a lot.
By Ronnie on Jun 11, 2008
You’ve already received tons of kudos…but I felt it important to let you know that your GUIDE really helped me to kick it in high gear. I’ve been thinking and talking but not actually doing anything to lose my extra 15 lbs…and now I’m encouraged, inspired, and thankful. I can’t thank you enough for sharing this information in a straight-up easy to read (no reading between the lines) type of format. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. =)
By Kristy H. on Jun 18, 2008
This is the absolute best instructional and theoretical article I have ever read concerning weight management. Loved it, LOVED IT!! Thank you. This will be my guide for the remainder of my life. Awesome!
By Gayle on Jun 19, 2008
Wow, amazing, thank you for the feedback.
I’ve just read all what i had to know about loosing weight.
By connie on Jun 24, 2008