Best Way to Lose Weight: The 49/51% Rule

So, you have a ton of weight to lose (pun intended) and you don’t even know where to start. All the weight loss products, goods, and wraps that are out there. It gets even more muddled when you do research because there is so much information on the internet.

Well, I know a thing or two about dieting. Being fat my whole life gives me some expert knowledge on it. I know random things like how many calories are in a red delicious apple or a square of chocolate-even how many squares of chocolate I can eat for my total caloric daily intake.

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I would caution you against this because it never worked. Plus, it left me sitting on the toilet praying for my life to be over. So there's that...

I have tried every single diet known to man. Atkins, Cabbage Soup Diet, Paleo, Vegetarian, Vegan, Raw Vegan, Military Diet, Grapefruit Diet, Banana Diet - all were effective, too, for a short period of time.

I always became fat again, though. I would lose weight, then, if I ate “normally” I would pack on the pounds. Until...

When I entered a workplace weight loss contest, I knew that I needed to think differently than I had in the past. The whole grapefruit diet thing wasn’t sustainable for 6 months, which is how long this contest lasted for.

No, I needed something that wasn’t a quick fix, and honestly, I wasn’t sure I knew how to do that. I could lose 30 pounds on the military diet, but I knew that after a month I would get sick of being hungry and gain it back and then some.

So, I put on my thinking cap. I wrote stuff down. I thought more about how I could strategically win, versus a quick fix.

Don’t get me wrong, after I won the money, I was totally going to Vegas and eat my face off buffet style. However, until then, I had to find a realistic way to get that money.

So, my bright idea was to still eat my face off. Yes, I said it. I lost weight eating my face off. This, I could do. But how can I accomplish my goal and still eat chocolate cake?

I am not even kidding when I tell you this was my goal. I even wrote this down. Crazy, right? Who knew it would be my claim to fame.

The 49/51 Percent Rule

Let me ‘splain...

The most effective way I found to lose my 160 pounds and keep it off is the 49/51% rule. This rule has saved my life and continues to help me keep my weight off when I gain a little or a lot (yeah, the holidays are killing my vibe right now), and also helps me in my daily life as well.

So, what I did, since I wanted to eat my face off and lose weight is:

1. Divide the week up. 51% of the week was approximately 4 days out of the week.

So, I figured four days I could be pretty strict. I started with Weight Watchers, lots of fruits and veggies and meat that wasn’t fried. Basically, I stopped eating crap on those days.

2. The three days I was “bad” wasn’t a free for all. I was pretty lax, though. I ate what I used to on my pre-diet days, and ate cake.

The thing that I did do differently that I did not do my pre-diet days was that I limited a bit more. Not a lot - I ate one piece of cake versus six. Stuff like that.

3. I lost weight quickly. Some may not, but since I ate tons of crap on a daily basis, it came off fast - at first. The first month I think I lost like 18 pounds. Before, I would have balked at 18 pounds, whining that it wasn’t enough.

This time was different. I had a goal to meet and I was in it for the long haul. I had to win it for Vegas.

4. What do you do when you hit a plateau? Yes, it is inevitable that you will hit a plateau. Yes, it sucks. This is when it gets hard.

You have to power through, put on your big girl or boy panties and suck it up. You can keep to the 49/51% rule or up the ante. What I did when I started to hyperventilate because I was no longer losing weight was to take one day away. Just one, though.

I agonized over it because remember, my goal was to be able to eat my face off and I felt a bit sad and depressed. However, when I thought about it, on the three days I had to “cheat” during that first month, I really didn’t.

I felt like crappola when I did, so out of those three days, I may have actually eaten too much just one. So, I decided to go for it.

5. That was all it took to get over the hump. However, weight loss can be slow. Don’t get all freaked out. It’s the Turtle and Hare concept. The winner is the one with consistency. However, the turtle gets to still eat cake, so there is that...

I worked hard to be able to eat cake. I still eat cake, but now I try not to eat the whole thing. I am an athlete... An athletic eater that is.

However, because of this “rule”, I made up, I can enjoy my life, feel like I am able to be normal. And yes, I still stay within my macro count; well, except for now.

Holidays are killing my vibe, but I have only gained 2 pounds, which is pretty good, considering.

I would love to hear about your weight loss experiences. We are all different and losing weight can be very individual and very arduous. Inquiring minds want to know.