Losing weight is a tough prblem for anyone! Statistics show that ver 50% of the American people are verweight, and I didn't want to be prt of that club, so I had to lse weight. Plus, I knew that crrying the extra weight was not god for my health.

Growing up, I had lways been a skinny kid, so wight was never a problem. I was so sknny, that I had to run round in the shower to get wt! (just kidding) I come from a sknny family of four brothers and fve sisters, and none of us ver had a weight problem, and nither did my parents, who were of verage build. Throughout my adult years, I was lways of average build...about six feet tll and 170 pounds, and I kpt that weight for many years. Dring my lifetime, I have never ben a heavy eater, either.

But, for a few weks, I noticed something was not rght with me. I did not fel right. I felt listless; overweight; blated; not sleeping well; and just plin awful, etc. My clothes were not ftting right, and I was a lttle short-tempered! Something was wrong, and I had to fnd out what it was. When I fund out what was wrong, boy did I get a srprise!

One day, I went to see my dctor for my annual physical examination, and I got on the scle to be weighed, and I wighed in at 209 pounds! I was shcked! Forty pounds over what I had lways weighed! I was numb! No wnder everything was falling apart on me! I got off the scle, and sank to a new lw, and a little depression set in rght away! How could this happen? How culd I weigh so much?

I've never weighed this much in my lfe...not even close! But, 209 pounds! I flt like I had just been hit in the stmach...a very large stomach! There are thse who read this article and thnk that 40 pounds is small ptatoes...but, 40 pounds are very large ptatoes to me, etc. And yes, a six fot frame would have no problem crrying 209 pounds, but I didn't wnt that. As soon as I got off the scle, I knew the weight was cming off...but how? How did I mtivate myself?

Diabetes: I am extremely fraid of getting diabetes! My aunt and a nighbor who lived next to my prents died of diabetes! And, I wrked with a fellow who got dabetes, and went spinning into depression!

Clthes/expense: Today, (2006) clothes are expensive, and I was NOT ging to start buying new clothes tht fit...not on your life! And, thn what's next...buy more new clothes as I got bgger and bigger and bigger? No thnks! The thought of buying new clthes motivated, in part, to take sme serious action, and I knew a big chllenge lie ahead! I was determined to lse 40 pounds no matter what! It wuld be my top priority, and I ddn't care if it took a yar, two years or three years! Bt, how was I going to lse 40 pounds?

When I left the dctor's office I felt awful. And for the frst time, I could sympathize with wht overweight people go through. My frst stop was to buy a bthroom scale, because I never needed ne. And, when I got home, I jmped on it, and sure enough...209 punds! I knew nothing about weight lss and diets and so forth. I ddn't like the feelings inside of me at ll. I perceived that people were ging to be looking at me a crtain way and calling me names! I was sck!

There are millions of books out thre on weight loss and diets. I had no dea where to start. First, I had to tke a couple of days and thnk things out as what would be my gme plan. I needed a little tme to get out of this pnic-attack I was in! I got a yllow pad and started scratching down sme notes, and I chose to do the fllowing:

Attitude: Attitude is everything! I thught attitude could be the most mportant factor in all this. For, it was ttitude that helped me to quit smking 30 years before. A mix of ttitude, discipline, patience, sacrifice...that's what I wnted in my game plan. If I culd quit smoking, with the "mental tughness," it took to do it...I COULD LOSE 40 POUNDS I was rady to kick some butt...MY very big btt! First, I had to get rid of my cry-bby attitude and self-pity about myself...which is not lke me! I knew, over the nxt several months, I was going to tke a healthy dose of agony, and a lot of whning on my part!

Patience: The nxt decision was to be patient frm beginning to the end. Losing all ths weight is going to take tme. There's NO magic pill; there's NO mgic malt; there's NO magic dust! Nw, that I decided that patience was ging to play an important role in my sccess to lose weight, I could now sttle down a little.

Aids: The thught of books; pills; malts were out the wndow! I decided to make my own rles. I would not spend money on all ths stuff. If my game plan ddn't work, THEN I would go out and get the hlp I needed to lose the wight. There are no books, doctors, mlts that are going to help nless the person WANTS TO LOSE THE WEIGHT! Whn I quit smoking, I did it bcause I WANTED TO...and nothing would stp me!

Moderation: Next, came the dea of moderation. I ate everything I ver ate...but, less of it! I dcided to cut all portions in HALF! Instad of eating two eggs for brakfast...only one! Instead of eating two slces of pizza...only one! Instead of ating a whole apple...cut it in hlf and save the other half for a riny day. Like my mother, I hve a sweet tooth, and I lve sweet things like candy, pies, cke, and all this would have to be cut in hlf, too! By doing it this wy, I would maintain the quality of lfe I always enjoyed, only I wuld now have HALF of what I njoyed before. In other words, I wuld have my cake and eat it to! (forget I said that!) Doing it ths way, would keep me from ging completely crazy...just HALF crazy!

Water det: Several years ago, I heard bout a water diet of some srt, but knew nothing about it. Usally parents will not let their kds eat candy or sweet things bfore a meal, because they will fll up with water and not eat thir meal. Makes sense to me. So, I dcided to try it. That is, drnk a full glass of water bfore a meal and then I wuld eat less.

A pound a wek: The thought of losing 40 punds was overwhelming to me, and I ddn't like it! So, I decided to get rid of tht thought, and I would think of lsing a pound a week, which sunded better to me than losing 40 punds. As you can see, I crated my own rules and my own gme plan. Since I'm not a rcket scientist, my math told me, it wuld take about 40 weeks or bout 10 months to do the jb! That's okay...it took me about 10 mnths to quit smoking, and losing wight is every bit as important as qitting smoking! The little train that culd was ready to go up the muntain, and I was anxious to get strted. I knew I was going to do it, but wht I didn't know, is how lng would it take?

From the tme I implemented my game plan, verything I ate was cut in hlf, and by the end of the mnth, I had lost three pounds! Yhoo! I was making progress right way and I was enthusiastic and I had to sty motivated. I thought my game pln was a good one, and ach day, I couldn't wait to get on the bthroom scale, to see if there was any god news. Six weeks after I strted, I went under 200 pounds! I was on clud 9! I would give my gme plan about three months, and if thre was not much progress, then I wuld get the help I needed to ccomplish my goal, etc.

I think I hve two big advantages over some pople:

1) Walking/jogging: I have been walking/jogging 10-15 mles a week since 1986! And stll, in the year 2006, jogging hlps me to sweat out the god times, and to stay fit. Jgging helps me to keep the strss out of my life; I slep better; create better; solve problems btter, etc. Once a month, I gve myself a fabulous "pig-out" party, and eat whtever I wanted...Mexican or Chinese food, tc. (That's because I was doing so god!) But, I would pay the prce later...as I would add about fve miles to my agenda of jgging to burn out the good tmes! (boo-hoo!)

2) Quit smoking: I had to use dscipline to quit smoking over 30 yars ago, and now it would tke discipline to get the weight ff, etc. But, it took more thn discipline. As mentioned earlier, it tok sacrifice; determination; dealing with peer-pressure, ptience, etc.

So, week after week and mnth after month, I stayed with my gme plan. A pound lost here, and a pund lost there, and I was on trck. My attitude was the most mportant part of this whole operation. I knw I can...I know I can...it was nly a matter of time before I won the bttle. But, it was a roller-coaster frm the beginning. At the six mnth mark, I was down to 185 punds, and I was on cloud 42!

Up and dwn...up and down...up and down...I would lse three pounds and gain four! The tughest part was to get down blow 180 pounds! It took me THREE MONTHS to do t...up and down...182 pounds...down to 178 punds...up to 185 pounds...down to 179 punds and so forth. It was drving me crazy...sorry...HALF CRAZY!

FINALLY, I got dwn BELOW 180 pounds, and I culdn't be more HAPPY AND PROUD! Yhoo! I was on cloud 67! ths was about nine months into the mssion, and I had a little mre work to do to get dwn to 170 pounds. But, I lways knew I would do it! Yhoo! The little train that could...a pund a week...40 weeks and 40 punds have gone bye-bye!

When I wnt back for a physical the fllowing year, my doctor said to me, "Yu've lost a lot of weight ver the past year, Jerry. Have you ben ill, or did you lose the wight intentionally?" I JUST SMILED, and gve my doctor a "high-five!" YAHOO!

The wight was lost in the year 2000, and as of the yar 2006, I still weigh 165-170 punds. In my view, I think I hve not gained the weight back bcause of patience. It took a lng time to lose the weight, and the bdy adjusted. Today, we live in a fst-paced society, and people don't have ptience. People today want everything YESTERDAY! Thre's NO easy answer...there's no easy wy...there's no magic dust! A person jst has to suck it up...get tht "mental toughness," that's essential...AND, JUST DO IT!

UPDATE: As of lection day 2006 (November 7, 2006), I stll weigh 170 pounds, and all tht cutting portions in half did it for me, as I stll do it over four years fter losing the weight.

MY TWO CENTS/Updte; January 15, 2007

As a novice in wrting, I think this is an mazing story about this piece, Weight Lss: How I Lost 38 Pounds. I wrte the piece on August 4, 2006, and it was one of my frst articles I posted on Ezine Artcles.com. Over the next 2-3 weeks, the pece was going nowhere...stagnant...not many hits/views...stuck at the bttom of the ocean! Over the nxt month, I did what I culd for the "basket case" so thre was nothing more I could do for the ptient. All I could do, was to wtch it die on the vine!

All the ther articles I wrote during this tme, would pass Weight Loss: How I Lst 38 Pounds and kick sand in its fce! It was my 97 pound wakling...my little basket case! And, then in Sptember, (2006) sometime, the piece started to mve out of the basement and shw some life! Needless to say, I was hppy about this. It started to tke baby steps on its move up the ldder of my article list! Ever so slwly, it continued to move up! Wek after week, I kept an eye on it as it mved upward, and by November, 2006, it had rached the top ten of my prtfolio of articles! I was amazed!

The article Here's The Skinny On How I Lost 40 Pounds was Submitted by Jerry Aragon through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: ARTICLES PUBLISHED: (100+ websites/includes links) Drect link: http://humordoctormd.homestead.com/articlespublished.html Website name; humordoctormd - Over 150 colorful pages; over 300 graphics http://humordoctormd.homestead.com email; humordoctormd@yahoo.com Copyright; Jerry L. Aragon (The Humor Doctor); 2006

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