It’s a New Year, and like most of you I’m looking at my waistline and wondering how reality and my perception of reality have come to such a disagreement. It’s easy enough to blame it on having to walk past the candy machine several times a day, or various injuries that have kept me from being active in 2007. But like everything that is wrong in your life, the problem always lies at your own feet.

I am not a doctor, I’m just a computer obsessed geek who spends too much time doing everything but being healthy. However, I have lost 12 lbs in 6 weeks by following these tips.

21 Tips for Losing Weight

1. It’s all math. 1 lb is 3500 calories. That is a *LOT*.
2. Learn the Weight Watchers formula so that can compare foods properly (although I never joined their program). Once you can compare apples to oranges (literally) it really helps you make healthier choices. The best thing you can get from Weight Watchers is learning how to read nutritional labels.
3. Watch out for nutritional label hijinx with serving size. Is serving size eight chips, or one slice of bread? They play lots of tricks to make it harder to compare products.
4. Don’t eat blind. Read those labels!
5. Your regular metabolism burns much more calories per day than most exercises, so do everything you can to boost your metabolism (drink water + eat fiber + gain muscle).
6. Building muscle and cutting calories is often counter productive. That’s why body builders have bulking and cutting phases. You might want to alternate between them.
7. Get sleep. I’m an insomniac and lack of sleep always leads to overeating, not to mention a deadening my sense of smell or sense of taste (which leads to less enjoyment of food). Listen to your body. Exercise really helps with insomnia as well.
8. Always eat breakfast. Your metabolism is higher when you aren’t running on empty.
9. Eat slower. I gulp my food down like someone is going to steal it, so I have to eat more in order to enjoy it.
10. Don’t eat the same caloric amount every day. That’s the easiest way to plateau. Mix it up with big calorie days followed by two low calorie days.
11. Buy a digital scale. Weigh yourself regularly and journal it. A notebook and a pen is good enough, those online journals promote spending more time on the computer.
12. Keep track of eating out. I don’t like to cook so I will get into cycles where I eat out between 5-10 times a week. Restaurant food has higher calories than something you made yourself.
13. Penthouse Letters were right, raw vegetables are your friend.
14. Pick your meat carefully. Turkey < Chicken < Cow < Pork. (Can’t remember where different fish and lamb fit). Learn from religions, and avoid pork.
15. Pick your condiments carefully. Cheese, mayo, bacon and peanut butter are much higher in calories compared to mustard, ketchup, or salsa.
16. Don’t drink your calories! No soft drinks, no juice, cut out the milk and sugar from tea or coffee.
17. Sober up. Alcohol slows down your metabolism, and is high in calories. If you do drink, something like vodka + lemon juice + club soda is the way to go.
18. Reduce your stress. Stress can lead to binge eating, problems sleeping, and there is evidence that it changes the way your body stores food.
19. Make exercise part of your life. Incorporating exercise into your commute is the easiest way.
20. Join a team sport. The camaraderie and competitiveness can help give you more reasons to be in shape.
21. Travel. Other countries have countless intestinal parasites that can completely turn you off of food.