It totally makes sense why the entire country goes on a diet at the beginning of the year. Not only because you have the entire “New Year, New You” thing going on, but after countless holiday parties and that big Thanksgiving meal (that may still be sitting in your colon) it is in the human body natural instinct to purge all the toxins out of its body. Now, that is my opinion but I am sure there is a doctor or dietician out there in the world that can support that statement. I strongly believe that we should detox twice a year. Meaning, go to a plant-based and all natural diet (be a vegan), drink only water and tea for 2 weeks. In this two week time period there may be some yoga and meditation involved or daily walks. Just something that will smack your body back into shape. It is also my opinion that we should eat what our body needs so that it can function at its optimum ability. We can still have some fatty foods (our body needs it from time to time) but our diet should be full of vegetables, fruits, legumes, and plenty of water.
If you look at this before an after picture, you can see a bit of a weight difference, right? Well my friends, that is about a 30 pound weight difference. Now let me be honest with you, I have gained half of that back but that is okay. Instead of choosing to look at myself as a loser and a total bum to society, I have chosen to look at it as a challenge to get back to where I was and become better. I felt great when I lost all that weight! I had more confidence, wore cuter clothes, felt better, and I had more energy. I didn’t do any crazy diet I just incorporated more vegetable, fruits, I juiced, and I workout out like it was my religion. Now I am starting all over again. This time, however, my fiance will be my partner, which makes it easier. Oh, by the way, I lost 30 pounds in about 5-6 months. If you are looking to lose weight, here are some things I did:
- I eliminated all fruit juices and fruit cocktail. I only drank water and unsweetened tea which I sweetened with Stevia. Juice has loads of sugar in them, which converts into fat. So, stop drinking that stuff. If you want orange juice squeeze it yourself. Sure it takes more time but its healthier for you. Also, get a juicer. Its worth the investment.
- I worked, out no less than, 4 times a week. I didn’t start doing Insanity or P90X, I started walking during my lunch breaks at work, taking the stairs, and going to the gym and doing some cardio and weight lifting. As I got comfortable and felt that exercising was a normal party of my lifestyle, I bumped it up to 5 days and I did do Insanity and other maximum cardio workouts. I made this a top priority.
- Whenever I wanted something sweet, I chewed gum to take away the urge. When we are craving something sweet or savory, its our mind that is telling us that we need it but we don’t. Trick the mind by eating a piece of fruit or chew gum. Almost always it works.
- I cooked with fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs. I think this is the biggest problem for people who wants to eat healthy. They think that their meals are going to consist of salads, boring baked chicken, and yogurt. That is definitely not true and over the next few weeks I will be creating healthy recipes to show you that your meals can be healthy and still packed with flavor. If you don’t consider yourself to be a good cook, then start by substituting your ingredients for healthier ones. Instead of white paste, switch to 100% pure wheat pasta. It might be in the natural food section but its better for you. Instead of vegetable oil, use olive oil. Making those substitutes will help.
- I still ate what I wanted. If I wanted a burger then I ate a burger. If I wanted cake then I ate cake. But I only allowed myself to eat those things if I felt I deserved it. Because I was seeing results, if I did eat those things I would split it with a friend, eliminate cheese, ketchup, and mayo from my burger or eat a veggie burger, or baked some potato wedges and ate them as fries. You have to just switch things around in your head and in your kitchen.
Don’t go into a serious crash diet and give yourself crazy expectations of working out everyday and only eating plant-based foods when you never really had that lifestyle. Slowly introduce those habits into your lifestyle so they can stick! Start off walking and then when you feel good do intervals of jogging and then walking; take your dogs for a longer walk or a hike; really try to make healthier food choice and give your taste buds and your mind time to adapt. Don’t stop eating something because it doesn’t taste good right away. Be patient with yourself you will grow to love it.
To help you get started here are some healthy recipes I have on my blog for you to try. We will do this together!
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Pan Seared Salmon with Citrus Sauce
Dessert
i also use to apply your trick. didn’t go through a hard diet routine. but i strictly avoid extra calorie. And used to eat vegetable ,juice and other healthy thing. this helped me a lot to lose my weight.