Ha, I’ve done similar things, but I’m still in the middle of it, 62 pounds in to be exact, that’s about the half-way point.

The key component turned out to be the scale for me. Automatic tracking works much better for me than manually keeping track of it. (I also got a Withings scale, but I don’t think the brand matters. As long as the scale automatically logs everything without you having to do anything or even look how much you weigh in the morning it’s great.) Seeing your whole progress in one graph really helps me keep on track.

A week without progress even though you did all the exercise you always do and ate like you always do? With the trend-line and the chart going all the way back you can easily see that it’s just a statistical anomaly, most likely random noise (probably mostly dependent on when you drank your water and when you went to the toilet). It doesn’t mean progress has stopped.

That 2lb setback, probably because I wasn’t careful about what I eat? Now I look back all the way I have come and those 2lbs seem harmless. That’s a ridiculously tiny amount of weight to lose. It’s so easy. Just some extra care to what I eat and how active I am and I’m all set.

With manual tracking (mostly memorising what I weighed and remembering it the next day) I would at these points just get afraid of the scale and eventually stop weighing myself. The whole process was less transparent with manual tracking and the automatically logging scale demystified it for me. During my previous attempts weeks without any progress just doomed me and got me to this really dark place. No I’m not even bothered by them. The trend-line is going down. Always.

Now, step counters may not be accurate or even a good way to track how active you are (and walking or cardio may not the best ways to aid weight loss) but the built-in step counter in my iPhone that I have always with me (plus my podcast addiction and the beautiful weather this summer) actually lead me to automatically want to beat those 10,000 steps per day. And at some point I just started doing it. I think there isn’t one day during the last two months where I didn’t walk at least 9,000 steps per day, without even consciously deciding to do that. I just wanted to beat those 10,000 steps. I want to see the bar turn green and the 10,000 to light up. That has helped me tremendously to stay active (and not just move less when I started eating less).

I also started driving the ergometer for 30 minutes every day and while I don’t really track that I’m seeing my progress (I can drive with more and more resistance and without any breaks in-between) – also with my scale. The heart rate measurement doesn’t work so well (it fails two times out of three) but it also shows steady downward progress. From a resting heart rate in the high 80s I’m now down to a healthy one in the low 60s. I also feel much better and sleep much better. (This would certainly be beneficial for me, even without any weight loss.)

All this progress also motivates me to constantly optimise. Next step: Buy good shoes and convert some of that walking distance into running distance. (70 minutes of walking per day are a bit long, but doable. However, with some running I can bring that time down.)

(The eating story is similar. I don’t particularly care about what I eat, but when you restrict how much you eat you will automatically tend to prefer food that makes you feel fuller. That’s at least how it was for me so far. I don’t want to eat pasta every day because then I wouldn’t ever feel full. And when I do eat pasta I would rather make the portion a bit smaller and add a salad for the saved calories to feel fuller.)

Will it work? Ask me in three years. I hope so. I think keeping up my weighing routine forever will be the key. If I can do that I see no reason why I can’t keep at it and at least hold my weight (but most likely lose some more and hold the weight I want to have). I’m cautiously optimistic. This is the most weight I have ever lost in my life and the longest I have been at it and I don’t even feel constantly starving or demotivated or crushed (something that was common during previous attempts). I actually feel great most of the time.

Get tracking! It helped me.