This really is it. I've been overweight for years. Not anywhere near as bad as some of these cases, but I'm 5'11 and was 212 pounds at my heaviest, which was just a few months ago. But I've never had a lot of endurance or strength, and was always feeling pretty discouraged when trying to exercise to lose weight.

Then, a couple of months ago, I stopped trying to work off the weight and instead started watching my diet. I didn't count calories, or go on a meal plan, or do anything other than consciously try to eat less, and eat more protein and fewer carbs. I only made minor changes. Ate less pasta, ate more chicken. Ate one cookie instead of two. Ordered a burger and gave my friend the fries.

It's only been about two months, and now I'm 195 pounds and still making progress towards my goal of 180. And now, I have more confidence, and have actually started working out. I'm actually going to the gym again tonight.

I think one of the biggest obstacles to weight loss is that people try to make it intimidating. There's so much talk of work when it comes to losing weight, and it's discouraging. "Excerise for x amount of time, y times a week." "Eat this many calories." "Macros are everything." As someone who got fat due to laziness, that's a lot of work I wasn't willing to do.

Don't get me wrong, there is work in it, especially after making some progress. But giving up on the numbers, taking it slow, and making subtle, casual changes with more awareness of my diet has brought me much more success than going all-out.

Of course, this is all anecdotal and doesn't factor in the mental obstacles that come with obesity, but I figured it was worth sharing.