A few months ago I started to notice that my clothes were all getting too tight. I was only slightly overweight, with a 26 BMI, but it was still embarrassing, uncomfortable, and unhealthy. I’ve been exercising all my life but for some reason no matter how hard I ran or walked or worked out, I was really having a lot of trouble burning off all that body fat.

I did a little research and tried some new techniques. In the last month, I’ve lost about 14 pounds, and my BMI is now in the green at 23, the lowest it’s been in years. This is what I did.

• I counted calories. For someone my age, I burn about 1800 calories a day just by sitting on my ass. In order to lose weight sustainably, I learned that I should probably eat about 1300 calories per day. That basically amounts to three modest meals per day. At first I just googled the food I was eating and listed the calorie amounts on a spreadsheet. Then I started using MyFitnessPal. (I also learned that I had some vitamin deficiencies thanks to this app.)

• I stopped eating seconds. After eating a modest meal, I immediately down a huge cup of water and then chew some gum. This instantly gets rid of my hunger. It can take up to twenty minutes for your body to figure out that it’s full, which is one reason people overeat. I’ve never been a heavy drinker but I lose any desire to consume alcohol when I do this.

• For exercise, I switched entirely to daily walking, setting my goal as ten thousand steps per day. This equates to about 500 calories. I mostly listened to Red Library during these walks and learned so much. If you’re lucky enough to have a good walking partner (as well as the time, energy, and privilege to walk), you can walk almost forever without even noticing.

• Sometimes when I feel hungry, I just drink water and then chew some gum. This does actually sometimes work. The body can confuse thirst for hunger. If I was starving and it wasn’t the right time to have a meal, I would just eat a shitload of baby carrots. These little fuckers have practically no calories but they take forever to chew and fill you right the fuck up. They also taste great and are healthy. Decaf coffee also works really well to suppress hunger.

• I started by trying to do a low-carb diet, but that was just way too hard and I gave up after a few days. I try to focus now on foods that are filling (with plenty of fiber) but low-calorie. I also noticed that I was slowing down as a runner when I cut out the carbs. I don’t know enough about running and nutrition, but I’ve noticed with my own body that eating something packed with carbs (like a burrito) makes running faster, easier, and more pleasant.

• edit: I forgot! Weigh yourself once a week. No more, no less. Your body can fluctuate in its weight by several pounds each day, so it takes a little longer to discover an overall trend.

• I think that’s it. Others feel free to add more techniques, question, or criticism.