This Man Lost 100 Pounds With 10 Realistic Changes Anyone Can Make

Have you been trying to lose weight for years but can't seem to make it stick? Jackson Desjardins is a fitness enthusiast whose goal is to help his followers to "build their Super Selves." In a new YouTube video, he discusses how he finally lost 100 pounds after struggling for years. "I'm just a normal guy who figured out exactly how to make this happen after years and years of failure," he says.

First, Look at Your Diet

"The first thing I want to talk about as far as how I did it is going to be diet," he says in the post. "When it comes down to diet, the only numerical term I want to mention is being in a calorie deficit. You've got a point where you're going to maintain, you get a point where you're going to put on weight, and you're going to lose weight if you're under that maintenance level. It's that simple. I'm not going to go into any other numbers. I'm not going to talk about macros. We're trying to keep it realistic and tangible here."

Just Stay in a Deficit But Eat Things You Like

"You've got to be in a deficit. It's that simple. So, be it large or small, you're going to be taking off weight, but it just might be faster or slower. If you do an aggressive deficit, you're going to lose fat a bit quicker. Granted, it's more difficult. You have to be able to sustain it. Remember that you're not going to be able to stick to something that you're not able to sustain. So you got to eat what you enjoy. I ate what I liked the entire time I was losing weight. When I was chronically dieting, I was eating things that I didn't like and that was a lot of the reason why I would binge. So I had to learn quickly that you've got to eat what you enjoy, eat it in moderation, and eat it intuitively," he says.

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Don't Use the Term Cheat Meals

"When we talk about cheat days and cheat meals, that's just a socially acceptable way of saying binging. I'm not going to support that. You shouldn't need cheat meals. If your friends are having pizza, have a slice of pizza. I mean, it's okay. It's okay to have pizza, it's okay to have cookies, have a bite of a damn cookie. Like it's okay. But you've got to remember your lifestyle, and you've got to go right back to what you're doing."

He Started by Doing Cardio

"The next point I will touch on is going to be exercise. So, for me, almost all of my exercise consisted of cardio. I was just so focused on weight loss that I didn't really care about weightlifting for me and for a lot of other people. I think focusing on one goal at a time is extremely powerful. So, to this day, have I gotten back into weightlifting since then? Absolutely. But during that time, I was strictly doing cardio and circuit training, and I was focused on keeping reps high if I was weightlifting. And I was mainly focusing on cardio," he says.

Find Cardio You Love

"The thing about cardio is you've gotta make sure that you are doing a cardio source that you enjoy. I love swimming and StairMaster, so I had to make sure that I was doing one of those things. I hate running, so I'm not going to run. I don't like a lot of other cardio sources, but that's okay."

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Find Your Why

"I want to touch on the points that differentiated this successful weight loss transformation versus all of the past four or five years that I've been trying to lose weight, but I've only been unsuccessful," he says. "Point number one is, what is your why? It seems really simple, but it's so drastically important that you establish what's pulling you to want to lose weight. Why do you want to do it? Once you can establish why you're doing what you're doing, and if that's important enough to you and you've got to find something that is that important to you, you will always be willing to get up at 5:30 or do whatever it takes in order to achieve what you want. Because once you establish your why, you've got a reason, baby."

Set Small Goals

"Point number two is going to be to set small goals," he says. "This is so drastically important because setting small goals is what keeps you focused. In many ways, it was established with my why."

Trust the Process

"Point number three is going to be, trust the process," he continues. "Once you develop exactly what you want to be eating in your exercise routine and making sure that it's all tangible and realistic, then it's, it's just a matter of making sure you're in a deficit and making sure that you're doing everything right and that just trusting that process will work is so huge because how are you going to stick to something that you're not totally sure is going to work? You've gotta trust the process here."

Understand It's Not a Diet, But a Lifestyle Change

"The fourth point I wanna make is that this is not a diet, but it's a lifestyle change," he says. "It's not a short-term effect. This is going to be a long-term effect. We're talking about habitual long-term effects here. We're trying to build new great habits, and you've got to enjoy yourself. You've got to make sure it's something that you can enjoy. So you can make it a habit. You've got to do cardio sources that you don't mind that you like to do. You've got to eat the foods that you enjoy, and that are healthy but that you like. This is drastically important."

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You Can't Think in Black-and-White

"The fifth point I want to make is going to be no black-and-white thinking. Black-and-white thinking is the killer of hopes and dreams in a lot of ways because you're either all in or you're all out. And let me tell you something: this is not perfection. You should not seek perfection with this plan. There's no such thing when it comes to most things in life. But when it comes to a fitness plan, you can't be seeking perfection here. You just can't. So you've got to make sure that you're doing what you enjoy. That's why this is going to be sustainable. You've got to make yourself able to have breaks." And if you enjoyed this article, take advantage of these 15 Quick Ways to Lose Body Fat Percentage in a Week.