I've lost 228 Pounds lost in 12 months.

A question I'm asked incredibly often is 'Dude! What's your secret!' like there is some magical answer to losing weight. My dudes, I'm here to tell you there is no secret. Everyone's body is different, has different nutritional needs, and so on. I'm telling you, you can lose every ounce of weight you have through hard work and determination.

I have lost 215 pounds in 11 months. I had zero clue about nutrition. So clueless in fact, the first day of my diet I downloaded the myfitnesspal app and started from there. My only criteria for losing weight? A self- imposed 1600 calorie a day diet, and a proclamation to never eat a cheeseburger or slice of pizza again.

Please, keep in mind the day before my first day, I literally ate $80 in fast food. My last unhealthy meal took place on January 25th, 2012. Let me walk you through my last day of eating unhealthily. Be prepared. Also, if this turns in to a TL:DR, you can skip to the bold for the grand total, and continue from there.

Breakfast: As soon as I woke up I began to obsess on my first meal. So what'd I do? I hit Arby's, I ordered as follows: a number three, large-sized with curly fries. A number three is a Max Beef 'n Cheddar combo. On the side I ordered a Chicken Bacon Swiss sandwich, with a large jalapeño popper with ranch dipping sauce. Since I needed to even out all that salty goodness, I ordered an apple pastry for dessert. Grand Total: $18.47. I ordered the same thing from Arby's every time I'd order, and I'll never forget that number. 3,840 calories. For breakfast.

Kyle! Stop dude! You're ****ing with me! No, my dude, I'm not. Oh, and that's breakfast. Allow me to continue.

Lunch: Okay, bud, I had Arby's for breakfast, and I'll have it again for my first dinner, but I need to change it up for lunch. After all, variety is the spice of life, and me, being a connoisseur of the finest fast food has to offer, I was always a fan of variety. I decide to stop at Mcdonald's. I get a Double QP meal, large-sized. Since I'm hungry (and ashamed) and don't want the person who works here to know I'm ordering the massive amount of food for myself, I cover my tracks. I order a 20-piece McNugget Meal combo, large- sized of course, 'cause, "Dude who works at McDonald's, my 'friend' is outside, you don't think I'm going to eat this all by myself, do you?!" Oh, gotta get the hot mustard sauce for those nuggets, too. Can't forget the two-for-a-dollar apple pies, either--far too good of a deal to pass up. I don't remember the price, but I just figured out the calories: 3,330.

Snack time! Triple Whopper Combo, large--thanks, Burger King.Snack time, you've gotta keep it light. My dudes, 2,310 Calories.

Dinner: Repeat Arby's. 3,840.

In this time I also ate 4 King Size packages of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Total: 1,600 Calories.

So, when all was said and done, at the end of a typical day--and my last day before I began my diet--I averaged 14,920 calories a day.

When I went to sleep at the end of that day I had no idea that the next day I would start eating differently. I'll skip how I decided to start my diet in this entry and get to my first day of dieting.

The first day of my diet, I decided to adhere to a 1,600-calorie a day diet, thanks to no nutritional knowledge at all. I ate one fried chicken tender with barbecue sauce, and it cost me 330 calories. It's not even 9 am yet and I've used up a major portion of my calories. Uh Oh. This is going to be a long day. It certainly was. Keep in mind, I went from just shy of 15,000 calories a day...to 1,600. Probably dangerous. Definitely painful.

Eventually, I'd start experimenting with other foods rather than the garbage I had been accustomed to. I ate vegetables to maximize volume of food while minimizing calories, which is just one of the little dieting tricks I learned along the way.

After a while of logging all of my calories, I reconnected with the woman who would ultimately become the patron saint of my life, Lauren. It had been years since I had last spoken with her. Our reconnection revolved around the story I had written for the forums at joerogan.net, which chronicled my weight loss to that point (which is detailed here) It was a pretty emotional reconnection, we discussed the main thing that would bring us closer than we had ever been before: food. Our love of eating healthy, and feeling better about ourselves ended up being a magnetic force in a rekindling our friendship. It was specifically her love of vegetables that really inspired me. Let me tell you, Lauren is one out-of-this-world-woman, and her love of food is incredible. People who know her are truly blessed.

It was hugely due to this reconnection with Lauren that I started down an even healthier path. I decided to go mostly raw, but still indulged in the occasional grilled chicken breast. Lauren was able to guide me, give me recipes, and inspire me to succeed. I often wonder, had I not had this reconnection with Lauren, would I have been able to keep on this successful road for so long? I don't know. It was her love and enthusiasm for all things food and health that kept me inspired in the doldrums and mundane of my diet. I thank her in my mind daily. Sadly, as of this posting we've lost touch again. I'm still very much in love, but fate is determined to keep us apart.

So, what is my diet like now? It's mostly raw nuts, raw veggies, and chia seeds. My favorite item? Natural Peanut Butter (I love Koeze Cream-Nut, manufactured in Grand Rapids, MI. It's incredibly delicious, I don't know what they do differently--but it works!) I eat grilled chicken breast if I don't like how my Protein/Carb/Fat ratio for the day is looking. Recently I added hemp protein powder and unsweetened almond milk into the mix.

There is no secret weapon to losing weight. I've found the best attack plan is eating less of the right foods, and moving your *kitten* more. My knowledge of nutrition is still incredibly lacking, but I learn more every day and tweak my diet accordingly.

Thanks for reading. If I can clarify any thing I may have left out, or not elaborated on fully, feel free to post in the comment section and I will address it specifically there.

If you liked this story, I write deeper and more meaningfully at my blog not for profit, only for helping others, www.gainsthroughloss.com