When Trying to Lose Weight, Gather the Low Hanging Fruit First

If I felt this badly at forty-five years of age how would I feel at fifty, sixty and beyond?

In 2019 I was seventy pounds overweight and clinically obese. My knees hurt, I was tired all the time, I struggled to climb stairs and I was genuinely fearful for my future. If I felt this badly at forty-five years of age how would I feel at fifty, sixty and beyond?

Growing up I had always been thin or just a normal weight. In my late teens and early twenties I would gain a few pounds over a holiday and lose them easily. It wasn’t until my late thirties and early forties that I began to struggle with my weight. Instead of being smart about it, I tried a couple of fad diets that let me lose twenty or so pounds before reverting to the bad habits I had picked up in adulthood and regained that same twenty pounds.

By 2019 I had a thrice weekly Doordash habit, drank Rockstar like it was going out of style and an Uber habit to the tune of about $50 a week.

By 2019 I had a thrice weekly Doordash habit, was drinking Rockstar like it was going out of style and an Uber habit to the tune of about $50 a week. Combine all that with a sedentary job and I was gaining dangerously. I decided to lose some weight, but was very uncertain how to go about it. Especially since I’d read numerous articles at that time claiming that weight loss was impossible.

My solution, gather the low hanging fruit first.

Gather the low hanging fruit first refers to a task that is easy to accomplish. If you think of orchard trees in the fall, they are heavy with fruit, and the limbs closest to the ground hang low.

To gather all the fruit, you’ll need a ladder and scissors; you’ll be climbing up and down, moving this heavy ladder all around. It’s hard work. But if you chose to simplify the task and focus only on the low hanging fruit it gets a lot easier. You just walk right up and take whatever is in reach.

Eventually, you’ll have to get that ladder out and climb up and down, but long before you have to do that, you’ll have gathered plenty of ripe, delicious fruit. Maybe even sold a bit at the farmer’s market.

This philosophy of completing the easy part first can be applied to any difficult and lengthy task.

This philosophy of completing the easy part first can be applied to any difficult and lengthy task, and it was an important part of how I went about approaching my weight loss journey back in 2019.

This was my low hanging fruit:

• Balance my diet
• Increase my daily activity

First I had to lock in on the kitchen:

• Restaurant meals were limited to no more than one per week
• To get a balanced diet I went back to the four basic food groups
• Started making a grocery list before shopping
• Got into the habit of keeping healthier snack options on hand like low fat Greek yogurt, kefir and fresh fruit

I also had to move more:

• Uber and Lyft were out, the only exception being inclement weather or if I were running late for work
• I would walk to and from bus stops or train stations
• Walk to and from work
• Get a minimum of 5k steps per day

My mother always said simplicity was the sign of a master and I chose to heed that advice when starting my weight loss journey. No complicated diet plan, no gym membership or intense workout routine.

I knew I wouldn’t stick to an intense workout routine starting out and honestly I couldn’t pay for a complicated diet plan if I wanted to. But my mother had raised me to eat healthy and be more active and I had gotten away from that in adulthood. It was time for me to get back to what she taught me. Balanced meals basically included a meat or protein, a whole grain, and a veggie. Snacks were typically fruit or dairy, sometimes both. Grapes and cheese, anyone?

In school we’d also learned the four basic food groups, meat, grains, fruits and veggies, and dairy. The recommendations were to eat from each of them daily: three servings of meat per day, five servings of fruits and or veggies, four servings of grain and three servings of dairy, if I remember correctly. Keep in mind I’m no expert but early on organizing my diet around these guidelines made it easy.

I also understood the importance of creating healthy habits that I would be able to maintain throughout my life.

Starting out I chose not to focus on weight loss. I wanted to lose weight, I came up in the 90s, so you can bet on that. But having tried and ultimately failed with fad diets I also understood the importance of creating healthy habits that I would be able to maintain throughout my life. So the first goal was to improve my overall health, stop gaining and just start living a healthy lifestyle. Once I had achieved that I would consider more involved or complex exercise goals along with a more finely tuned diet.

And it worked, I lost thirty pounds. Without counting a single calorie, worrying about the scale or doing a single workout I went from obese to simply overweight. My knees began to hurt less, my energy and overall sense of well-being improved, and I started to feel hopeful about the future rather than scared. I also grew my savings since I was no longer spending money on overpriced restaurant food and delivery fees.

Your low hanging fruit could be different from mine. Maybe it will be drinking less. Maybe it will be tackling sugar, caffeine addiction or fast food addiction. Maybe it will be getting your family to give you more support so you can start putting some of your energy into your health. Maybe it will be getting eight hours of sleep per night. Don’t live in a walk-able city? Move to one. Perhaps if you can’t move to a walk-able city you’ll move some place near hiking trails or maybe you’ll just buy a walking pad.

Whatever the case, if you are concerned about your health or your weight, gather the low hanging fruit of a healthy lifestyle and lay a foundation that will sustain good health for a lifetime.

Thanks for reading, I hope this article inspired you. If it did share some ways that you can improve your health and overall fitness today in the comments.