Nine years...

Today is October 27, 2011, and it's been nine years since I hit my "healthy weight" on the BMI scale.

Of course, we know that BMI means little to an individual person, but it's often a goal on a chart in a doctor's office. BMI readings make doctors stop giving you crap when you're on the right spot on their charts.

Nine years of "healthy weight" means about nine and half years of dieting, exercise, good eating, and healthy cooking. It's been a long time since this stopped being work, now it's life, and just what I do.

In nine and a half years I've gone from a couch potato to a healthy dad, from the guy who was always picked last to a personal trainer, nutrition coach, and even a part time "athlete."

Jason, Nazo, John, and me at last weekend's kettlebell charity event

I'm really more the "weekend warrior" than a true athlete, but I do okay! In case it's not obvious, I'm in the blue shirt, next to three real athletes – and my friends – from the Orange Kettlebell Club.

In nine and a half years, I've learned a lot, through reading, research, asking, and just plain trial and error. Recently I did a presentation at Lisa Wolfe's Miracle Fitness, where I shared a lot of what I learned, talking about the habits and behaviors of fat loss. I started off with some drama, just to make the rest of the talk go easier, of course!

95% of dieters regain the lost weight?

Please notice the question mark.

I talked about this 95% statistic that's tossed around so lightly. "95% of dieters fail to keep the weight off" it's said. That's the typical statement. 95%. That's depressing, isn't it? Well, it shouldn't be, not to you.

First, who makes up that 95%? All sorts of people, but mostly, it was people without a real plan. It was people given diets and sent on their way. We don't know the plan, and whether it was a good one. We don't know what type of support that they got, either from friends, family, a formal support group, or their personal trainer or nutrition coach. We don't know how badly they wanted to lose weight and keep it off. We can just assume...

What I tell my clients, friends, and family is this: The fact that you have a plan, desire, and support puts you in a totally different group. When you have these things, you may be in that mere 5%, but once you are in that group, your chances of success are much larger than 5%. Much.

Plan – Over almost ten years of "dieting," I've tried so many diets, and not all of them worked for me. But, rather than just stop dieting, I changed my plan. I've changed diets and plans many times, but never without knowing my next step. In nearly ten years, I've never been off of my overall plan.

Desire – I remember one day the desire sort of kicked in or turned on. I resolved to lose weight and keep it off. I looked at what frustrated me in the past and addressed it. By and large, my issue had been that I was trying to lose weight to get girls happy. Instead, I resolved to be happy first, and lose weight to look good for the health benefits. I have strong feelings about getting yourself happy to lose fat, but that's not for today... it deserves it's own blog post.

Support – I've had plenty of support, from personal trainers and nutrition coaches, from my coworkers, family, and friends, and from my friends online at JPFitness. I told everyone that I was losing weight, and those who supported me and my goals are still good friends to this day. Sure, there were naysayers, but rather than let them drag me down, I just realized that they have their own issues, and hope that they will get better one day. I focused on the positive people; a good network of support and a public resolve to lose weight was key.

Flip the statistic

Speaking of focusing on the positive, with what I know now about long term fat loss and maintenance, I would say that when you have these things in order, you've flipped the statistic. You might be in the 5% overall, but once you're in there and resolved to stay there, your chances of success are more like 95%.

Think about it. If you want it, and are willing to make it happen, what's going to stand in your way of fat loss success? Only giving up, really. So don't give up.

95% chance of success? 

I think so.

95%

Make it happen. Do it.