A year ago

The plan was to lose weight quickly and keep it off. After a year, it almost worked.
About a year ago I set out to lose some weight. At the height, I lost 45lbs dropping from 235 to 190. Now I'm back up to 220. It was a slow progression back up as I kept exercising steadily for six months. Then it slowed to a crawl and I haven't gone to the gym at all in one month.

Well, it's time to see if my advice and notes I wrote to myself actually works. I'm going to learn from the past and do it again. This is what I learned before:

RELY ON YOURSELF
There is no one but YOU. Personal trainers DON'T work. Conquer your own fears. It's more rewarding. When I was asked, how did you lose 45 lbs? I responded with "I ate nothing but good healthy shit and I worked out every single fucking day for two to three hours sacrificing dates, social life, parties, and personal hobbies, sometimes til 2AM if needed". It's simple, but it's up to you to make it happen!

ORGANIZE YOURSELF
Create a schedule of your regiment and the promises to yourself. Read your plan everyday. I am going to try the original plan AGAIN since that worked just fine for me.


MOTIVATE YOURSELF
You have to WANT to exercise. There can be no ulterior motives. You can't lose weight because you want to be healthy, or get a girlfriend, or have stamina for better sex, or to get a reward, or to win a bet. No ulterior motives will keep you doing something you don't like. so you have to learn to LIKE exercise. These other motivations however WILL get you to start, but after a couple of weeks, it HAS to be your enjoyment of exercise that keeps you going.

CHALLENGE YOURSELF
Try different activities, it's good for the brain. Courtney taught me that and it works. The daily routine of the same activity is boring. On another level if you ARE going to do the same activity, then push yourself and challenge yourself to go faster, go longer, lift heavier weights, etc. It's incremental goals that are ALWAYS achievable. It's honest fairness in this game, the more you work hard = the more weight you lose.

OPTIMIZE YOURSELF
Do not eat four hours before you exercise and SLEEP WELL. This is the most crucial component to getting a good workout.
Plenty of sleep + food four hours prior + exercise in the afternoon= optimum