If It's Worth Doing, It's Worth Doing Right

Now that my body is starting to show noticeable change, I am getting asked more and more lately what I am doing to lose my weight. My typical response "diet and exercise". It seems that most people are expecting a different answer, as if I invented some magical pill that is melting away my fat. I need to stop using the word "diet" in my response though, because I always follow it up with an explanation of how I am eating right.

The thing is, most people like the thought of being 50 pounds skinnier, and because of the huge movement towards "dieting" they assume that weight loss is achieved by following a "diet" which is typically associated with a "fad" diet. There is no magic weight loss pill. Some weight loss supplements or programs offer a guarantee to lose weight or your money back. If you start any weight loss regimen and hold onto it for a week or longer, you are pretty much guaranteed to lose weight. Juice diets, cabbage soup, cleans diets are excellent proof that your body holds onto waste. For the first week or so your body is cleansing, which is why you lose the ten pounds so quickly. We all have 10 pounds of waste in our system that can be cleansed by any sort of drastic diet change. It is not a magic trick. Making changes in your body will take a while, but you can't travel down the road without preparation.

If you really want to lose weight, find out what you should be eating prior to starting any sort of diet.
Recognize that what you NEED and what your body thinks it wants are two very different things. You NEED several servings of clean veggies and fruits daily. I say Veggies first because that is more important than fruit. Go to your favorite grocery store or farmer's market and pick out as MANY fresh veggie and fruit options that you can find. You will need to make a habit of going 2-3 times weekly because fresh fruit and veggies spoil rapidly, unlike the boxed foods we are all used to eating. Pick as many options as you can, that is so important! Even if Carrots are your favorite and you think you can eat them 6 meals a day 24 days a week, I PROMISE there will come a day when they sound terrible. By allowing yourself other options, you will minimize your desire to deviate from the meal plan.

Once you have your supply of fresh produce, it is time to pick some sort of lean protein. I personally like frozen chicken breast from Costco. If you are into fish, it is an ideal choice. Once again, get as many options as you can.

You should be having a small portion of lean protein along with 2 cups of fresh produce each meal.
The nice thing about produce is it is very low in calories, so you can basically eat what you want and it doesn't throw off your day. One thing to remember, always eat more volume of veggies than fruit, or at equal parts fruit and veggies. Your body still needs carbohydrates, just not nearly as much as you once were taught. If you remember the food guide pyramid, it suggested 8-10 servings of carbohydrates daily, that is way WAY off!.

I have found some excellent low carb, low calorie whole wheat tortillas at Trader Joe's that I always keep in the fridge. Some days I am in the mood for a chicken breast and some asparagus, other days I may choose to eat a chicken taco with lettuce, tomato, jalapeño, olive, yellow pepper, bell pepper, and some clean fresh made salsa. We personally removed bread from our shopping list so we don't overload on the carbs. Noodles is another place that some people have a tendency to over carb and over eat period. Look for low carb, natural options. If it's colorful, you are generally on the right path. Whole wheat, organic stuff is excellent and tastes the same!

Once you have the "staples" of your daily meal plan, you can mix it up. Eat what tasted good to you or you won't eat it!

When we got started in our whole foods eating, we literally threw out everything in our cupboards and fridge and started over. You NEED to be that serious. If you are reading this, I assume that you sincerely want to make a change in your life. I watched a movie last night, Home Run. It was an excellent movie about addiction. Believe it or not, your inability to lose the weight that you want to is an absolute addiction to food. I used to literally not be able to say NO to a drive thru. If I was the least bit hungry and I drove past a McDonald's I absolutely had to hit it. My wife used to make me lunch every day, but I would throw it away and get fast food. Your addiction needs to be taken as seriously as a cocaine addiction, absolutely serious!

For me, I knew that I didn't have the willpower to cook for myself every meal of the day, so I opted for smoothies for breakfast and lunch. At first, we did Body By Vi protein powder mixed with fresh fruit. That did help me lose a few pounds, but when I realized that I wasn't losing weight like I thought I should I made some adjustments, and fine tuned my smoothies until I got where I am today. My smoothies used to consist of 2 scoops of protein powder, 8 ounces of Almond Milk, and the rest fresh fruit. I had some veggies throughout the day, but not as much as I should have. Now I make 7 smoothies at a time, so we have enough for a full day, plus breakfast for the following day.

For 7 smoothies I juice 14 carrots, 14 celery sticks, 2 apples, 1 pear, 3 oranges (peel included), then I mix it with about 3 cups of baby Kale, 3 cups of water, 2 cups fresh pineapple, and 2 cups 3 berry blend from Costco. For my protein, I use Flaxseed which is excellent for helping curb cravings, and it makes you feel full longer. I drink a smoothie for breakfast around 8, then another one at around 10-11am, then my third I drink at lunch. The smoothies are around 250-300 calories each, so by eating them at 2 hour intervals I am constantly feeding my body nutrients that it craves. I really enjoy my smoothies, and that is critical with any diet choices that you make.

I am now down 36 pounds from about 3.5 months ago, and it feels great! Now that I am eating 95% whole foods, I find it difficult to eat the crap that I used to. If I try to eat a greasy hamburger, I literally get sick to my stomach. I feel sick, tired, I feel like I have the flu. I even get debilitating headaches when I choose to eat like crap. Sometimes when we go out with friends, I look at the menu and think "mmm that looks good" so I get it, but then I regret it later, that has taught me to pay attention to what I know my body actually needs, and not what it wants.

I am glad to answer questions if anyone has any, I am not perfect by any means. I struggle with my addiction each and every day, but I will tell you that it DOES get easier.

If you want to find out if you are a food addict, click here to take a quiz. 

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