Yesterday, I was feeling a bit down. I was up more pounds than I could believe, and was at my highest weight in two years. It was depressing to see the scale read exactly the same weight two days in a row despite my doing everything right the day before. I should have lost at least half a pound, or so I thought. Well, in thinking about the lack of progress after a day, I realized a few things.

First, there’s no way I could expect to see any real progress after just a single day of eating right. Second, I needed to remind myself of the advice I lay out on this blog week after week: I’m in this for the long game. I also thought about what I need to do to ensure I lose the weight as quickly as possible. The formula is as follows:

1. Eat Paleo food
2. Eat proper portions
3. Get enough sleep
4. Try to get some sort of exercise

Now, I’ve lost 130 lbs in a year before without a single step of exercise, so I know that losing weight doesn’t require it. However, among the first three, I realized that I didn’t get enough sleep the night before. I can’t stress enough how important proper sleep is for weight loss. Even if you do the right things, day after day, and week after week, unless you get enough sleep, you will be hampering your progress. Slowing it, at best, and halting it at worst. So, I set out to get enough sleep last night. The result? I lost over 5 lbs since yesterday morning’s weigh in.

Impossible? Not really. Considering all the food and drink I’ve been having for the past four days prior, it’s no wonder I was as bloated and holding on to water. The increased sugar in my diet made me hold on to a lot more water than usual, and I could actually see it in my face and in my skin. This morning, before I stepped onto the scale, I already knew I was going to weigh less. I didn’t expect five pounds less, but I knew it just from how my stomach looked. There was definition again, not just pudge.

Now, I’m back to where I will see a very dramatic decrease in the rate of loss: probably (hopefully) in the area of 2-3 lbs/week. I am perfectly fine with this. I also possess the key ingredient to make the progress: perseverance. I know that it’s going to take around 2-3 months for me to get back to where I want to be with my weight, and it’s okay. 2-3 months goes by far too quickly, and in that time, I won’t be suffering. I’ll be eating delicious Paleo foods, and I will be getting enough sleep. I’ll exercise, too, although I’m still waiting on a medical condition to clear up before I can really get back into it. But, as I’ve said many times, you lose weight in the kitchen and get strong in the gym, so since I’m primarily after weight loss right now, I know I can get it done.