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I love to cook and to eat and that’s why I gain weight quickly. I have tried various diets throughout my life and exercised a lot too. But I never managed to get the desired results because of my laziness. It usually went like this — I started out very determined but after 2 weeks, I gave up.
But even lazy people want to look good. As I keep searching for tricks that can make the weight-loss process easier, I would like to share one trick with the readers of Bright Side. I would like to note that it’s my personal experience and everything I’m sharing is my subjective opinion that I don’t want to impose on anyone.
Hi! I am lazy Karina who doesn’t like diets and sports but still managed to lose weight.
You have probably seen or heard shows about losing weight. There are analogs in different countries but the goal is the same — participants lose weight with the help of diets and exercise and the one who loses the most weight (in terms of percentage, not pounds) wins. As we all know, the best motivation is money. That’s why these shows give so-called “diet rewards” for losing weight. There are also many sites and services where losing weight for money happens in the form of a game. So I decided to try but instead of using a website, I just borrowed the principle and offered my friends to participate in “slim bets.”
I got interested in the simplest option where I had to lose 4% of my weight within 4 weeks. The one who fulfills the task wins.
If one person managed to reach the goal, he would receive the entire reward. If there were several people, then the money would be divided between the winners. There were no photo votes, no prize raffles, and no compulsory exercises. The winners were calculated mathematically, which meant that everything depended strictly on the individual. When I told my friends about this method, 10-15 people agreed right away but there were only 5 of us left by the start of the game. However, the more people take part, the bigger the chance to win decent money. Anyway, even 2 people were enough for the game. It’s better to bet an amount of money that would be quite a shame to lose and quite pleasant to win. We bet €20 each.
My weight at the beginning of the experiment was 156 lb.
When I told my friends about the rule 4/4 (4% of the weight within 4 weeks), everyone calculated how many pounds they were supposed to lose and started to offer to increase the rates.
Everyone decided that losing several pounds a month is as easy as pie. Because the less extra weight you have, the easier it is to get rid of it. But for me, it was vice versa. When I gained a lot of extra weight in 2014, it was easy to lose 30 lb within half a year at that time because I felt disgusted looking at myself in the mirror and this fact kept me on the track. But the closer the goal was, the less motivation I had. Once I came close to my perfect body, I didn’t seem fat to myself anymore, relaxed, and ended up in a vicious circle that I couldn’t get out of.
In the left photo, it’s October 2014 and I weighed 182 lb. In the right photo, it’s January 2015 and I weighed 150 lb.
Before starting the game, I already knew what methods I was going to use to reach the goal.
In weight loss poker, there is no mandatory program consisting of exercises and nutrition. Each participant chooses the most comfortable way to lose weight on their own. So I chose a simple way and my methods looked like this: 2–3 times a week: cross-fit training with a personal fitness instructor. I have been attending the gym for one month — 2 weeks before the experiment with losing weight and 2 weeks during the experiment. Within this short period, I have suddenly discovered that one can sweat gallons by simply doing squats, push-ups, and abs exercises. Application for counting consumed calories and water: I have been on diets many times but I never counted my calorie intake. I simply felt too lazy to count, write something down, and then calculate. But a simple application for calculating became a magic wand for me. It turned out that I drink very little water and despite the fact that I almost don’t eat any fried and smoked products, I still consume too many fats. Money: This is what really helped me say no to unhealthy food easily — without any internal struggles. And this is what motivated me to start my physical training. Whenever I saw a Snickers bar lying in the fridge and asked myself whether I should eat it or not, my answer was — €20. When I wanted to fatty dumplings, I checked its nutritional information in the application, found out that it contains half of the daily norm of fats, and my desire to eat it disappeared.
Everything was going great until the moment we visited archaeological excavations on the 3rd week of the experiment where something unpredictable happened.
Living in tents and making archeological excavations replaced my physical exercises. But there was a small issue with food. The first morning, it took me a long time to get ready and my husband went to get the breakfast. He ended up bringing me oatmeal with condensed milk, candied fruits, and raisins. Of course, if I went myself, I would ask not to add all these sweets. So sugar took the fortress of my mind without the slightest fight. Right after a sweet breakfast, I had ice cream, soda, and donuts that we started to buy in the nearest shop every day. Fortunately, this one-week spree didn’t affect my weight drastically, however, it anyway moved me away from the goal. When I returned home, my weight was 152 pounds. There was one week ahead and I had very little time to catch up to the other participants, let alone beat them. But the first person I had to overtake was myself.
In order to reach my goal, I used an emergency method — I started an express salt-free diet.
This diet lasts 9 days — 3 days at each stage, where you need to eat about 800 g of food. I felt pity for myself and reduced the diet to 3 days. Unsalted rice without any spices and sauces. Boiled or steamed chicken meat without salt or spices. Various vegetables and fruits except potatoes, bananas, and grapes. My diet finished one day prior to the control weighing. I stood on the scale and couldn’t believe my eyes — my weight was 147 lb. I lost 9 lb instead of 6 lb within 4 weeks. The second pleasant moment was that out of all of the people there was only one girl besides me who reached her goal. Getting a reward was a nice bonus in addition to the fact that I not only lost the weight that I wanted to, but I ended up losing 3 pounds more!
The difference is not huge but it is visible and I can definitely feel it when I put on my old clothes. I lost several inches in total, the folds on my back shrank, and my waist became more defined.
It was a good method for me to check myself but there is one disadvantage...
Slimming poker helped me start the work without any excuses and delays — right here and right now. But it didn’t help me become a different person — one without bad habits and someone who is free from food addiction. Today my weight is 150 lb-152 lb. It is better than it used to be but it’s still very far from my dream weight. But I understand that it’s extremely important not to fight the laziness but to learn to control my emotions and to replace bad habits with good ones. That’s why I am going to continue experimenting and looking for new methods and one day, I’ll become indifferent to food and will start perceiving it not as a source of positive emotions but as “fuel” for my body.
Have you ever been on a diet? Did it help you reach your goal? Please tell us about it in the comments!