Losing weight can be hard work, believe me I know. I have been fat for most of my life, except for two years in high school when I was playing so many sports that I ended up getting a quick taste of being skinny. Unfortunately for my waist, my love for Friday night football games turned into a love for Friday night drinking games. After gaining the freshman 15 and another sophomore 25 while sporadically starting and stopping diets at will, I thought I would be obese for the rest of my life. I accepted that as a fact until one day I woke up and decided that I was tired of being fat and that, this time, I was actually going to do something about it.

As the title suggests, I can be a very lazy person, just ask any of my friends, so I decided the way I would actually lose weight would not be forcing myself to go to the gym or giving up alcohol, because I knew I would fail just like I had all the other times. Instead, I decided to find what works best for me and would help keep me motivated. I have lost about 40 pounds thanks to these tips and a strong drive for change. I hope that they can help others who are also hoping to make a change.

Think Of It As A Lifestyle Change And Not A Diet.
Anyone can do anything they want, they just need to be in the right mindset. This is true for college goals, personal accomplishments, career dreams and especially weight loss. When I decided that this was the time I was actually going to lose weight, I realized I couldn't look at it as a diet because I hate diets and that is one of the reasons all my previous "diets" failed. I needed to look at it from a different angle. I decided to see it as the start of a new healthier Dallas and that the extremely unhealthy phase of my life was over. I am not saying that I went in with the mind set that I was going to be a health freak. To this is day, I am nowhere close to that. Instead, I saw it as the start of my future and that even after I hit my weight loss goals, I wasn't going to go back to my unhealthy ways of eating things like french fries smothered in ranch dressing for every meal. Seeing it as a new, better me instead of as just another diet is probably the biggest reason I was so successful with the weight loss.

Acknowledge Calories.
I say acknowledge calories instead of count calories, because saying you're counting calories seems to have a negative connotation to it, especially for guys. One day while binge-watching "My 600-lb Life" with my mother, I heard the doctor say something like, "If you only eat 1,200 calories, you will lose weight. Simple as that." Now I am not sure if that is exactly what he said, but it is the jist of what I got from watching. I took that message to heart and figured I'd give it a shot. I downloaded the popular app MyFitnessPal, which I strongly recommend to anyone who is trying to lose weight quickly and safely. MyFitnessPal was counting my calories for me and for the first month or so, I stuck to it religiously. Once I felt like I had a solid handle on what I should eat and what I shouldn't, my counting calorie days were over. I still have the app, but I only use it now to log my weight and to check to see if something I am unsure of is healthy or not. You do not have to count calories to lose weight, but I do suggest acknowledging them as much as possible. You can do this by reading the nutrition label thoroughly. I suggest reading parts of it out loud if possible because you are much less likely to eat a whole bag of Doritos in one sitting if you hear yourself saying "About 11 of these chips are 140 calories and 12 percent of my fat intake for the day."

Have Go-To Meals and Snacks That Work For You.
We all have foods that we love and could eat everyday if we had to. For me, it's steak and mashed potatoes, but for my heart's sake I do not eat steak every day, and it is not one of my go-to meals. Having go-to meals that are good for you is key to a successful diet, especially on a college meal plan. My school's meal options, like most other campuses, are not the best. We have "The Caf" which serves different main options every day and few options that are constantly there, such as a salad bar, burgers and sandwiches. Before I decided to start being healthy, whenever I didn't like the main options for the day (which was often), I would get a hamburger and fries. Once I became more health-conscious, the hamburgers and fries soon became a salad. Yes, a salad, because salads are good for you, and you can make them taste great! I would add chicken, cheese, nuts and a little bit of balsamic vinegar. (You have to be careful about salad dressings because most dressing can make that salad as bad for you as eating out at McDonald's.) I used to be a weight thrower (the heavy chained ball you whip around your head before you throw) at the collegiate level, and I am in a fraternity; if I can eat salads, anyone can. My other big go-to meal was a grilled chicken wrap and pretzels from our other food place. When eating out, I look for something that has grilled chicken in it, so I am at least a little bit healthy at restaurants. While at school, since I had the meal plan, and I was on a budget, I did not buy other food to keep in my room. This really helped me because late at night, a time when I used to pig out, I no longer had any food at my place. I would've had to drive somewhere to get food and that was enough to convince myself that I did not need to eat anything. Now that I am living at home for the summer, the whole not eating between meals thing is nearly impossible. The food is free and the fridge is always stocked. But whenever I do cave and go for a snack, instead of reaching for a bag of chips or eating leftovers, I'll eat fruits or vegetables. I usually eat celery and carrots with a little bit of peanut butter, strawberries, blueberries or my personal favorite, frozen grapes. If you have never had frozen grapes, I suggest you stop reading this right now, go to the store buys some grapes and put them in the freezer. While they are freezing, you can finish reading this article.

Don't Drink Your Calories.
Water. Drink Water. Let me say that again, drink water. Water has nothing in it, no sugar, no calories, nothing. That means you can have as much of it as you want. You can overindulge in any other drink except for water (Yes, I know you can die from drinking too much water, so just don't drink gallons of water in one sitting, and you should be okay). I do my best to avoid soda completely, although on rare occasions I will have myself a glass. Let's look at one can of Mountain Dew. There are 170 calories and 46 grams of sugar in each can. Say you drink four cans a week, that's 680 calories and 184 more grams of sugar you are drinking a week than you would be if you just chose water instead. That's 2,720 calories and 736 grams a sugar a month you are ingesting just by drinking four sodas a week. That is over a whole day's worth of calorie consumption that can be cut out of your life just by not drinking soda. Drinking water while eating can also be a subtle reminder to you that you are trying to be healthy, so maybe it could help you not go for seconds or thirds. It is also filling, so if you drink enough water you might not even want seconds and definitely not thirds.

I suggest carrying around a water bottle with you pretty much everywhere you go, when you leave your house, bring water. I carry around a water bottle that holds a liter of water in it, so I do not have to refill it very often. It also insures that I am drinking a lot of water to help me be healthy and hydrated. You are probably thinking that you need something with more taste than water, which I get. Water can taste pretty bland, but you have to find a way to get yourself to drink more water and less of everything else. I personally love water, so I do not need to add anything to it, but my Mom always adds a lemon to her water and my best friend just started adding blueberries to his. I am sure there are other fruits you could add to your water for it to taste better, but that is for you to explore and find what you like best. If you are trying to get more serious about drinking water, try challenging yourself to drink only water for a week. If you don't think you can live without your coffee in the morning, add it back in, but only after trying just water for a week. Again, you have to find what works best for you.

Find The Right Exercises For You.
I know I said I am lazy, and I don't really exercise. I am lazy, and you won't see me in a weight room anytime soon. I hated lifting and avoided it as much as possible when I was an athlete so now that I am a non-athletic regular person, I really avoid the gym because it is just not for me. Every now and then, I will have spurts where I go to the gym, but they rarely last longer than a week before I am choosing to sit on the couch instead of doing squats.

Once I started to lose a decent amount of weight just by eating right, I decided to find ways to make myself more active to make my weight loss even more rapid. I decided to try running because, at one point in my life, I enjoyed that, but not so much anymore. So then I started playing basketball, which I loved and tried to play as much as possible. I was being active and enjoying it. This helped me lose a lot of weight while I was at school. Now that it is summer, and I am at home, it's a lot harder to get pickup games organized, so I had to find another way to be active.

Currently I have found hiking, and I love it. I live in the middle of nowhere in Central Pennsylvania, so there are many cool forests and hiking trails everywhere, and some of the best conversations can happen while hiking. When I can't find anyone who will hike with me, I will put on my headphones and explore the miles of wilderness in my backyard; it's one of the perks of living ten minutes away from town. I call it exploring or hiking, because it makes it sound more fun and enjoyable than just saying I went for a walk. It has rained basically every day for the whole month of June, so hiking, being an outdoor activity, has been limited. When I am rained in, I will work out on my mom's elliptical machine while watching TV, because I am going to watch TV anyway, so I might as well get something out of it.

I am telling you all the things I do to show you that you don't have to join a gym to be more active. You have to find something active that you love doing then it won't feel like you are forcing yourself to do. Instead, it will be something you want to do.

You don't have to do the most optimal things to get maximum results. I like to think of it as some results are better than no results. If you hate everything that you are doing to lose weight, you are either going to give up before you hit your goals or once you do hit them, you are going to gain it all back once you are done with the diet. You have to find your perfect medium where you are still happy but losing weight at the same time. I didn't give up drinking alcohol, I limited it to weekends only. I am not busting my ass in the weight room. If I did give up drinking and joined a gym, yes, I would lose more weight more quickly, but that is not how I wanted to do it. I did it how I saw best fit for me which was eating healthy enough to make up for those beers and lack of weight training. You may think I am crazy for choosing the route I did and that you would rather join a gym or skip the party. Well then join that gym or skip that party. What I did and am doing makes me happy and healthy and hopefully you can find your way to feel the same.

You probably noticed an underlining theme which would be, "you have to find what works for you," because that is exactly what you have to do. I told you what worked, and is working, for me, but you are not me. You know your body and your mind, so use my tips if you think they will work for you, and if you don't like them, find something else. The most important thing is finding a healthy way to lose weight that doesn't make you miserable and actually makes you drop weight.

This time last year I weighed 240 pounds. Yesterday, I weighed myself and I finally made my weight loss goal of breaking back into the 100s for the first time since before I graduated high school. I saw 199.4 on my scale, and it was probably one of the greatest feelings I have ever felt in my life. I hope that my tips will help you get to experience a feeling like that!