Have you looked at yourself in the mirror several times this week and been unhappy with the person looking back at you? Have you spent hundreds of dollars in the last year buying low-calorie foods, ordering diets pills offline, or trying any of the new fads ranging from putting plastic wraps over your stomach to sprinkling powder on your food? If you answered yes to any of the questions above, this article is for you.

Trust me, I know how it feels to be labeled obese, overweight, or chubby, so don’t for a second think that I am trying to be condescending — I’ve actually lived the life. In my senior year of high school and my first two years of college, I found myself at 5 feet 10 inches and falling just under 300 pounds. To put that into perspective, the ideal body weight for a man that height is 130 to 175 pounds. I loved burgers, French fries, and the endless trips to the buffet bar at Grand China. The food was good, but the way I despised myself soon overcame the tasty treats. One day I decided enough was enough, and I began trying everything I could think of to shed the fat. Here is my list of do's and don’ts if you’re wanting to actually change your life and feel better about yourself again.

• Don’t waste your money on diet pills, specific nutrients, fad diets, and crazy contraptions. While some of these things may give you a tiny boost, most of the research on these things shows they don’t really work. I probably tried every diet pill on Walmart’s shelf as well as some online diet pills, and none of them changed a thing. I achieved my goal the old-fashioned way — diet and exercise. Don’t stop reading this article now that I’ve shared the harsh truth. If you want to do it right and keep the weight off permanently, keep reading.
• I joined a gym to help motivate me. While exercising in front of people may be daunting to you, hear me out. I was surprised to find that working out in front of other people motivated me to try just a little harder. Even if it meant that I did one extra crunch because the guy next to me did more crunches, it was worth it. Forget about that stigma that only skinny, in-shape people go to the gym. When I see people just starting out at the gym I’m elated that they are putting forth the effort. I admire them all the more than the people sitting around complaining that they can’t lose weight.
• Start your diet out simple. Don’t run to the grocery store and buy hundreds of dollars’ worth of healthy foods. I say this for two reasons, (1) let’s be honest, you’re not going to last a week and (2) you simply don’t need to. Start off with little changes to your diet, such as limiting your soda intake. If you are an avid soda drinker, start off by only drinking two or three cans a day. Don’t try to quit it altogether because you’re going to crave it and it will drive you insane. Once you’ve started weaning bad things out, start replacing them with good things. For instance, I try to drink decaffeinated green tea at least three times a day. The benefits of green tea are fantastic and worthy of your research. Check it out here.
• It's also worth mentioning to make sure that you don’t try to starve yourself. If you are hungry, you need to eat and starving yourself actually makes things worse. When you starve yourself, your body isn’t getting the nutrients it needs to create energy, so the next time you eat, your body is going to store the nutrients instead of converting them into energy. The sayings are true — try to eat five to six small meals a day rather than eating two to three large meals. Eating this way is very helpful for your metabolism. What is metabolism? Click here.
• One of my secret weapons is actually my smartphone. I found an app called My Fitness Pal (created by Under Armour) that has become my best friend. This app allows you to track your food, your workouts, and your progress. It begins by taking your body statistics and it develops a plan to help you get to your goal. It sets a number of calories you should consume to reach that goal and allows you to scan or search items that you eat to keep track. Once you’ve eaten a few meals, it tells you how many calories you have to spare. Here is the cool thing: if you run out of calories for the day and you are still hungry, you can document a workout and it will give you calories back! The simple premise is that you should burn more calories through the day or through working out than you consume. My favorite thing about My Fitness Pal is at the end of the day, it tells you approximately what you would weigh in five weeks if you stick to your daily meal plan.
• Don’t beat yourself up for splurging. I always set aside a meal or two a week in which I allow myself to relax and go crazy. I don’t try to order tiny side salads as an entrée when my friends want to go get food. It’s perfectly fine to eat the foods you love in moderation. My friend always told me that everything is good in moderation. While I don’t think that premise applies to eating ice cream or shooting black tar heroin at every meal, it has some truth to it. After working hard on your body all week, reward yourself. This will keep you from constantly craving problem foods and find yourself late one night six plates deep at the Chinese buffet (I could go for an eggroll right about now).
• The last thing I do may not work for you, but it really helps me out. Twice a month, I always cleanse the toxins from my body. I don’t do this by lighting incense and performing a séance, but rather by using organic foods to flush my system. On the chosen day (for me it’s usually a Monday after I’ve splurged that weekend), I skip out on all my normal foods. I’ll drink as much water as I can stand and only eat organically grown citrus fruits and light vegetables. On top of that, I drink about five to six cups of detox or dandelion tea to initiate the flush. This step is completely optional and for some may be out of the question, but after a cleanse, I always feel recharged and renewed. If you’re curious, try it once and see if it helps you out.

There are so many healthy ways to lose weight. None of the ways mentioned above are going to make you lose 20 pounds overnight, but I guarantee that if you work at it and set your mind to it, you will start seeing little changes every day. Consider those changes to be small victories and live by the words of Jose N Harris: “I may not be there yet, but I am closer than where I was yesterday."