1 year and 3 months, 146 pounds lost.

sandysaia wrote: »

Thanks for sharing this fantastic weight loss success story. Please if you have a chance can you please share what you eat on a typical day? For example for breakfast lunch and dinner?I want to eliminate meat and dairy from my diet as well.Except for eggs.I now weigh 328 lbs and your story was very motivating.Did you also juice or have smoothies? Thank you.

Sure!

Usually for breakfast I'll have either steel cut oats with a scoop of Orgain protein powder (I get the one that has 30g of protein per serving). Or I'll have 2-3 large poached eggs and two pieces of Ezekiel bread (or any kind of sprouted bread simply because it won't spike your blood sugar as fast). Sometimes if I'm in a rush, I'll just do a protein shake with almond milk (or any kind of plant based milk you like. I'd prefer Oat, but it's never at the market).

For lunch I'll do a protein shake after working out, sometimes with steamed frozen vegetables (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, anything I bought that week). Sometimes I'll do a protein shake and a sweet potato.

For dinner I change things up all the time. Last night I had portabello mushroom fajitas, the night before I had boiled eggs, sweet potatoes, vegetables, and brown jasmine rice. Before that it was lentils, rice and spinach. I'm one of those people that could eat just about anything lol Even if it might be a weird food combination, it doesn't bother me.

For snacks I'll do granny smith apples, kiwis, strawberries, watermelon, or any kind of fruit that is in season. I also pick up those frozen mixed berries you see in the freezer aisle. Blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, sometimes there are cherries. I throw those in a blender with some almond milk and a bit of PBFit powdered peanut butter and make a pretty low calorie smoothie that tastes really good IMO.

I'll also do air popped popcorn, though keep in mind that between the salt and the added carbs, you'll retain a bit more water. I always tend to weight more after eating popcorn because of the water retention, but it's a very filling, low calorie, high fiber snack. A little water weight doesn't bother me because as long as that body fat % is going down, the scale will eventually catch up.

This is true for a diet with a lot of slow carbohydrates like mine. You're not going to see drastic weight reduction in the first week or so like you would on a keto diet, simply because you aren't going to be dropping 10-20 pounds of water weight. But if you stay on it, and keep away from the temptations of fast food, and stick to the outer areas of the grocery store (save for the aisle with canned beans. I eat a lot of canned beans), you'll be good.

It took me 3 months of waking up in the middle of the night about to rush to Dairy Queen because I just had to have something! This kind of food is literally a drug that we've all gotten addicted to. And if you have binge eating disorder like I do, that drug turns into a chronic illness really fast.

If you find yourself in that middle of the night situation, ask yourself if this is worth pushing the reset button on the rehabilitation. Because once that three months is over, you don't get those cravings anymore. But you have to push through it however way you can. For three months, if you can have people not bring junk food in the house, and be mindful when you drive by the fast-food places, you can definitely do it.

I'm not gonna lie, food addiction is just as bad as any other. The first months on a 'cleaner' diet are going to drive you up the wall. You'll slip a few times, but don't beat yourself up either. Just focus on that goal. You won't be able to mentally see what you'll look like in 100 lbs lost when you look in the mirror, but try to picture yourself at a lower weight. Set reasonable goals you know you can hit each month. At over 300 pounds, it's very easy to lose 2-3 pounds a week, but as you get closer to your goal, the weight loss slows down. it's normal.

Once you start eating healthier, you'll notice your energy levels skyrocket. You'll start to want to do little things like walking, or doing a bit of resistance training. Then every week, as your body adapts to it, it will start to want to do more. You won't feel so bloated all the time, which makes you feel even more likely to want to exercise.

I can't stress 'set REASONABLE goals' enough. Don't listen to people who have diet advice where you can drop 10-15 pounds a week. Don't do crash diets! Take it slow. My Fitness Pal calculates your BMR, which will change as you continue to lose the weight. You don't have to do anything drastic to start either. Maybe take off a couple hundred calories from your BMR and eat that, you'll still lose weight, it'll just be slower, but at least you won't starve yourself with an unsustainable diet.

You want to find something that you can stick with for the rest of your life because it doesn't stop with losing weight. You still have to maintain that weight, and if you spent 2 years on keto and decide to start eating more balanced, your body is going to overreact (I'm not a fan of keto at all for many reasons) and you'll start gaining weight again.

This is everything I've learned over the year. Just be careful who you listen to, and above all, listen to YOUR body. What may work for me may not work for you, so you can change it up. As long as your diet is balanced, you're getting exercise, and you are living the healthiest and most sustainable life YOU can, you'll succeed. I'm rooting for you! If I can do it at almost 40 having been obese since early childhood, you can do it too. Anyone can! We just have to get off this hamster wheel called the Standard American Diet and push away everything we've been taught to believe about proper nutrition. It is actually so mind-blowingly simple that I get angry to think of all the years and money I've wasted, all the diet pills I've taken, when all I had to do was eat the foods we were meant to eat all along.

Keep away from calorie dense processed foods, frozen prepared meals, fast food, deep fried foods.
Eat more high fiber, plant-based (or lean animal-based. Chicken breast, salmon. Not gonna be preachy here) proteins, complex, slow-digesting carbohydrates that will give you energy throughout the day and not spike your insulin response, and keep it all balanced.

The biggest lie the fitness industry gave in the past was to be afraid of fats. Now it's love fats, be afraid of carbs, when really, a balanced diet of whole foods is all you need. I promise. Don't buy into any of the fads! You'll just end up hurting yourself in the long-run. Don't be impatient, lose the weight slowly, and tone your body. Build muscle as you lose fat and one day you'll look in the mirror and it will hit you out of nowhere. I still can't believe that I lost over 140 pounds. I've NEVER done that, and it was so simple but so hard to do at the same time.