Ask YC: How do you lose weight?

Frankly, most of us are professional sitters. We essentially do nothing physical every day. If we were, historically, designing the human system, we would have never expected it to expend so little energy in a day. We have systems to manage and regulate weight but our activity level is below the expected minimum and they fail. Design-wise--we are not what was expected, so we must consciously do more.

This is to say that medicine and science can help you tremendously with 1) but you need to get your head in a different place if you want to succeed at 2) and that is hard++.

In addition to your efforts at 1), I would _strongly_ recommend working on new habits. One I continually recommend is getting the habit of doing something physical for an hour a day on average. If you can't do an hour at first, do a half-hour on average. By something I mean literally that: bounce a ball against a wall, go for a walk, go for a run, hit the weights, jump rope, bicycle, etc. Just make sure you are fairly constantly active for the period. I think this something idea is more effective because it is much easier goal to keep. People fail at 2) because they cannot stick to their goals for new habits.

This is already more than I intended to write, but I have one last point. Focus on developing a truthful awareness of what you are putting into your body. Eating is an amazingly subtle and powerful mental process. Forcing yourself to be aware of what goes into your body will help you engage better habits.

If you want to lose weight you need to include both exercise and proper nutrition in your life (I don't like the word "diet").

Running, weights, PT, biking, swimming, etc. Brisk walking is great. Just do something!

My best advice regarding exercise is to make it a habit by including it in your daily routine. At first you'll feel worse when you do exercise than when you don't, but if you persist you'll soon feel worse when you don't. That's when you've succeeded.

The body's a machine, and with proper fuel and maintenance you have the best chance for a long and productive life.

When I'm eating that salad every day during lunch I just tell myself it's "brain food," and I notice the difference in the afternoon.

I also believe being a balanced and well-rounded person gives you the best chance of being a successful entrepreneur. You can only sprint for so long--think instead of "what I'm going to do for the next 40, 50, or 60 years."

Exercise. Establishing a lasting exercise routine is the only way to stay healthy for life. I was about 40 pounds overweight for 5 years and tried all sorts of diet changes, and nothing lasted for more than a month or so.

Instead of going on another diet, I started running. The above route is almost 6 miles that I ran last week. In February, I could barely run a half mile. It didn't take that long to get into great running shape, and I feel fantastic. I've only lost about 10 pounds, but I figure I've gained about 10 pounds of muscle and lost about 20 pounds of fat. Instead of concentrating merely on what's on the scale, concentrate on how you feel- the scale will come around eventually.