The secret to weight loss

I thought I'd take a divergence from pediatrics for those of you who may be reading that don't have small kids and talk about something I have very intricate experience with... weight loss. Of course pediatricians don't have to deal with weight loss right? The sad truth is incidence of childhood obesity and diabetes increase every year. But more importantly, 3 years ago I was 50 pounds overweight, and decided I needed to change my habits. I lost 50 pounds in about 6 months (which I acutally don't really recommend).
Here was my 'after' photo:

Everyone asked what my secret was, but after I told them they always seemed disappointed. Its actually quite simple (conceptually at least).

Here it is:
Calories eaten - calories burned = weight loss or weight gain

Sorry, I know you were looking for an easier way. But the secret is, there are no shortcuts. When you are ready to accept this reality, you are ready to make some positive life changes that will help you lose weight and keep it off. If you are looking for a shortcut, you will continue to fight a losing battle. Don't get me wrong, I think there is a place in this world for crash diets.. a wedding coming up soon and you need to fit into your dress, the Oscars are coming up and you don't want Joan Rivers to mock your bulge, or you are appearing in the latest "Men on a Mission" Calendar:

But crash diets have no place in the quest for long term weight loss, and most of them will make you end up heavier than you were before you started. Its the truth!

A good friend of mine in medical school had a million dollar idea... He was going to mow his lawn and package it into capsules and sell it as a weight loss supplement. He was going to sell it as a 'doctor recommended' item. On the packaging of the supplement he was going to make sure to include the footnote *best results obtained when combined with low calorie diet and regular exercise. That is the basis of all the 'tricks' to lose weight... they work well if you exercise more and eat less.

I'll post more in the future (I'm trying - but not succeeding - to make my posts shorter) on the things I found to be the most helpful in my weight loss quest, and maybe they will help someone else. Just being the kind of person I am, I heavily researched it before I jumped in, and at the time felt I could write a book on it. But I figured no one wants to know that weight loss takes a little work, and there's actually a million books out there that already say that.

Here's a little tidbit of knowledge that can take you a long way: A 12 oz can of soda is about 150 calories. To cut one can out per day, you decrease your calorie intake by about 55,000 calories per year. For most people that would result in a 9-10 pound weight loss in a year. In fact, I lost my first 10 pounds by deciding to drink only water and lots of it (and an occasional glass of milk), but I ate pretty much the same. I lost 10 pounds in two months with just that change. Try it!