At 27 years of age, I was an unsightly 240 pounds. When I saw myself in the mirror, I tried to focus on the positives. All I had to do was catch a glimpse of a recent picture and the hard reality of what I had become set in. I am over six feet tall, but at that point, I had never seen so much weight reflected on my scale. More importantly, I didn’t feel right.

Today, I clock in at 205 pounds. I’m at a comfortable weight and fitter than I have ever been. I owe most of this to the steel-willed determination of a crash diet that shaved 35 pounds off my frame in six months.

First things first: this diet is not for everyone, and a lot of people may even scoff at the healthiness behind it. I can tell you that at that point in my life, it worked for me. Sometimes drastic measures are needed to fix the pain in your life. If you have ever been unfortunate enough to suffer from weight issues, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.

Loved ones look at you differently. You take a good-natured jab at family gatherings that travel with you when you leave. You pop buttons on your favorite pants. In extreme cases, such as mine, it even contributes to the failure of your marriage.

You become something your spouse no longer appreciates. While that is not your fault and anyone who would leave you over a weight issue isn’t worth the worry, you can’t help but torture yourself with thoughts of what might have been.

Now, stop worrying and get a hold on yourself, soldier. Here’s what I did to take command of my weight.

First of all, I determined my daily caloric needs. At that time, my body required 2,563 calories a day for basic maintenance. You can find calorie calculators for free online that will give you the ballpark figure you need to be at for weight loss.

Once you have done this, you resolve yourself to coming in at 500 or more calories underneath the daily maintenance number. For me, that was 2,000 calories a day. The only way I knew how to do this at the time was by way of a one-meal-a-day plan. I knew I always overate when it came to sitting down for a meal. So rather than correct the behavior, I gave myself permission to do it.

One time a day, I would sit down to eat – before 6 p.m. – and pig out. It became easier to skip breakfast and lunch, because I enjoyed nothing more than a big meal after a hard day’s work. So that’s what I did. Often times, I’d eat my 2,000-calorie limit in one sitting. But once I was done, I was done.

I coupled in daily exercise of 30 minutes, and before long I was losing a pound a week. There were setbacks and difficult times in there, but they did not overcome my determination.

Today, I eat several smaller meals throughout the day to maintain a healthier metabolism. I credit the 2,000-calorie, one-meal-a-day plan with getting me to my target weight. Crash diets are not for everyone, but it worked for me.