If you want to live, you must die to yourself. This is a plain and self evident truth of life. You may not live solely pursuing your base desires. Rather, you must subordinate them to right reason, and your life must be determined by the intellect, not by base desire.

When we are driven solely by desire, we rightly understand the way of life to be "addiction," and addiction is generally bad. The thing to which you are addicted becomes your master, a Master of Puppets, so to speak.

This is especially true with respect to food and drink. Obesity is one of the greatest problems our country now faces, and being obese is a horrible thing. Being obese almost ensures the one who is obese a vast host of health problems, even if it's only later on in life. Heart disease, diabetes, etc...these are all highly preventable diseases, and the chief way to prevent them is by maintaining a normal weight.

Of course, people will offer a variety of excuses for their weight, and some people (many, in fact) will go so far as to say that there's nothing wrong with their weight. They claim that they should be judged not by their outter appearances, but solely by their personality. Hogwash. People don't become overweight overnight. People don't become obese by accident.

Obesity has a root cause: a lifestyle of gluttony. Obesity of itself is not immoral, nor is it even wrong (albeit, it's radically unhealthy). It is, however, a very clear indicator of an immoderate, immoral will.

If, therefore, obesity is the outward sign of immoderation, then one only rightly cases to be overweight when immoderation becomes replaced by moderation, when immoral gluttony becomes replaced by mastery of the self (with respect to food and drink) and a rightly ordered will.

I once weighed about 305 lbs, about a year and a few months ago. I now weigh 191 lbs.

How did I do it, and why am I calling the thread "Aristotle's Diet"?

Aristotle tells us that in order to a virtue, we must do that which is virtuous. If you want to be brave, then do brave deeds. If you want to be chaste, then abstain from unchaste things. In this case, if you want to be moderate, then practice moderation.

First, figure out what your ideal weight is. This is pretty easy to, given a BMI calculator (yes, it's not entirely accurate for some people, but it's a decent guideline, I think). Here's the one that I use: BMI Calculator

Once you figured out your ideal weight, figure out how many calories someone of that ideal weight would consume daily, given the level of activity that you have. You can do this via a calorie calculator like this one: Calorie Calculator

Then, once you've figured it out, consume that number of calories a day.

Alternatively, if the calorie count is too low (because you are so incredibly obese), do this instead:

Figure out how many calories you require to keep yourself up, as you are, and then consume 500 calories less a day (to lose a pound a week) or 1000 calories (one pound is equal to 3500 calories) less a day (to lose 2 pounds a week).

More general advice:

It's a good idea to eat 3-5 meals a day (but the sum of all 3-5 should be equal to the total amount for the day). If you eat 2000 calories a day, eat a meal containing 700 calories, 2 means containing 200, and then a third meal containing 900. Eating more frequently increases your metabolic activity, this increases your caloric requirement, and this consequently will speed up your weight loss.

Work out 3 times a week for at least 30 minutes.

Stop drinking sugary soda, or if you must, drink less of them. A single 12 oz can of most sugar-based soft drinks have anywhere from 120-180 calories. They add up fast. Diet drinks are tasty nowadays, the ones with splenda stand very little chance of giving you cancer. Even if you don't like them at first, you'll like them eventually. It's an acquired taste, but you'll like it eventually.

Switch to whole wheat bread/rice and so forth and so on. They contain less calories, they have more fiber, and they taste better and have a better texture anyways.

Balance out your meat/fried food consumption with larger quanties of vegetables and fruit. Vegetables and fruits contain relatively fewer calories, given the quantity. An entire can of no-salt added Del Monte corn (I think) contains like 210 calories.

Don't forget to account for condiments.

Be wary of fast food and restaurants. I'm not saying that you shouldn't eat there, but if you do, you should at least try accurately to account for the caloric content. You can look up a lot of this stuff online. If you can't find it, be cautious. Restaurants add a lot of butter and whatnot to their food, and even foods that normally might seem ok are actually packed with calories that you wouldn't expect to be there.

Last but not least, be patient. You didn't put on all that weight in a couple months. Don't expect to lose it in a couple months. To lose 50 pounds, expect the process to take anywhere from half a year to a full year.

YouTube - Metallica - Master Of Puppets With lyrics

---------- Post added at 08:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:41 PM ----------

Ok! For some reason, the link I posted had messed up. I've fixed the OP.