Oprahs Easy Weight Loss Tip - How It Got Me Started

The past 2 years have been very tough with a lot of emotional stress which I will gladly give full credit in my journey to a size 43 1/2″ waist, but I know I have to take the blame on that. One of the first things I learned from my eye doctor actually got me thinking. It turns out that with every 10 pounds you gain, your vision will steadily get worse. It won’t improve when you lose it though.

I know many people will say, “Well, it’s already messed up, so what’s the point of losing weight?” To answer that, it just keeps getting worse with each 10 pounds. That news affected me way more than the usual people proclaiming that’s it unhealthy, heart disease, diabetes, and all that good stuff.

So my year 2008 was spent going from size 33/34″- 42/43″ and 200-229 pounds. I was so depressed and kept fooling myself saying that I was happy this way and finding everyone to blame except myself. Now I know that many people do have medical conditions, but there’s just as many that say they must have a ‘condition’ rather than deal with the reality. If you’re happy at your size, that’s great (that’s what it’s all about), but if you’re not, the first step is always the hardest.

I know that the number New Year’s resolution is always ‘losing weight’, so I started making my changes at the beginning of December 2008. If I could lose weight during the holiday season, I could make it the rest of the year.

My biggest thing was I have never gone for the lose weight fast ploy. We’ve all watched Oprah go that route and now she’s back where she started. Even filmmaker Kevin Smith tried last year and nothing changed. In the past I’ve always learned that by making small changes in your lifestyle was the only way to make long lasting changes.

My new best friend is a little device called a ‘pedometer’. This thing has been the best thing I could have every found! Best of all, it only costs a couple of dollars and you can get them anywhere, even Wal-Mart. This little gadget measures every stride you take. Going from a pretty sedentary lifestyle could only be a plus for me!




You wouldn’t think that it could make a difference but when you see how many steps you take in your everyday life and then start doing things to push the counter up really helps. For anyone whowants to try the pedometer, the initial goal is to work your way up to 10,000 steps a day. That’s the average for an active lifestyle. It’s not near as daunting as it sounds either. My first day I logged just 3,000 and then the 2nd day went up to 7,000 now I’m averaging about 20,000 daily. Every 2,000 is roughly equivalent to 1 mile. I find myself getting up to do more things now to make sure the numbers keep increasing each day. Even if you live in a cold climate or aren’t comfortable going to the gym, this is for you. It’s as easy as you want too!



If I can do it, anyone can do this! To learn more about this amazing device, check out www.pedometer.com. I don’t know who runs the site, but this is where I learned about it.

This is the first article in this journey, but if it can help other men or women who are in the same situation, that’s what it’s all about. Also, if any of you have similar stories or have discovered inexpensive things that are helping your weight loss, please forward to me at :

westmemphisthree@comcast.net