Weight Loss Before and Afters

You know I've been surfing the net for before and after pictures. For one, they give me encouragement. Two, they let me see how the people lost weight. Was it a pill? A specific diet? Exercise? Some combination?

FYI, for these comparisons, I am not using any information from weight loss program or supplement websites -- that would certainly skew the results!

It looks like (and this is very unscientific) watching what they ate and moderate exercise is the clear winner. It doesn't seem that most people counted calories, but just started making better choices -- you know, fruit instead of chocolate cake, grilled chicken instead of fried -- that kind of thing. And walking/jogging was the most common exercise.

Weight Watches plus moderate exercise is the winner for people who followed a program. Some people went to the meetings, some people did it online. Again, walking seemed to be the exercise of choice.

I saw some NutriSystems and Jennie Craig -- they were the favorites of the people who didn't want to think about what they ate, at least not at first. Portion control was one of the reasons.

Interestingly enough, I didn't see any for taking diet supplements (remember, I wasn't going to the program or supplement websites when gathering this information -- I was going for generic before and afters). At least, if the people used a supplement, they weren't saying so.

Nor did I see any for strictly exercise.

Well folks, looks like to really lose the weight and get fit, we need to do some sort of monitoring what we eat as well as at least some light exercise. Doesn't matter if you have to start with walking around the block. I mean, I can't get through the exercise DVD I bought yet. Not only can I not get through all the exercises, but I can't even do all the reps for each one! But each time I try a little harder, do a little better.

It takes time, folks. You won't lose the weight overnight and you have to makes some sort of effort. There is no magic pill (darn). Now this isn't to say that a supplement can't help -- they certainly can. But you have to do your part as well.