First of all, I'm really happy that finally what I am doing is working.
I started this year with the weight of 96kg, I'm 28M, 176cm (211lbs, 5' 10 for Americans). Now I'm at 92.2kg (202lbs): https://imgur.com/a/GW27TWE
I've just come back from visiting home during NYE where I gained a substantial amount of weight, and my first thought after coming back to my place was to figure it out and lose weight. My usual diet was always characterized with processed and preserved foods, eating out, sugar...etc. I wasn't particularly feeling the best, nor was I feeling at my worst. I was just "existing". My sleep was also all over the place and I kinda hated it.
In the first week of January, I listened to Allen Carr's audio book on how to lose weight, and I took home a few pieces of valuable advice (the book is very questionable, but nonetheless it contains some valuable advice). And I started adjusting my diet and eating habits accordingly and learnt a few key lessons.
1. The effect of foods on your body stay for 48 hours
I learnt that when you eat something, its effects (bloating, further hunger, energy, weight fluctuations...etc) remain with me for 48 hours. When I switched to my current diet (more on that later), it took me approx 48 hours to get a good night's sleep. When I ate KFC on January 13 and had that weight surge you can see it in the graph, it took me 48 hours to feel back to normal again and to also sleep well and see the bloating go away. I used to think that foods have an immediate and short-lasting effect on me, so this lesson was really important to wrap my head around because now I am definitely more patient with how I see my weight fluctuations and foods. Like if I eat a larger than normal volume of food the day before and my weight did not move or added a few grams since last weigh-in, I realize that the food I consumed the day before did not properly digest yet and it will take some time for it to finish. Same with sleep. When I eat not so healthy food, I find myself not sleeping well for the next 1 or 2 nights and then back to normal.
2. Processed and preserved food should be a very small and minor group of the foods you consume on daily basis (my diet)
With how wildly available processed and junk food are and with how much effort it takes to prepare healthy and whole foods and make them edible, I struggled deriving my calories from healthy ingredients. I was always drinking "FuzeTea" (it's your American Gatorade AFAIK), these sweetened "zero" drinks, I was always eating a bag of chips every day, high sugar chocolate and other processed junk and snacks. This was a critical component of my diet and I was borderline addicted. If you look at the graph as well, you can see how my progress slowed down on January 13 when I ate that KFC, and its effects were felt in other areas in my life as well, like sleeping and headaches...etc.
After reading Allen Carr's book and how much sense he made about eating more fruit and vegetables and making them the primary source of fuel, I decided to switch my diet to have 90% of my calories coming from pure plants. I went to the supermarket and grabbed of each kind of vegetables/fruit 4 pieces.
Now when I wake up I eat a banana, an apple, and an orange with a cup of coffee.
At lunch, I mildly fry pepper and eggplants in 1tbsp of olive oil then crack 3 eggs on them, add some spicy sauce and some spice, then cut fresh vegetable and pour it on the mixture and eat it with 2 whole-grain breads on the side. I sprinkle it with some spinach and voila. The result is almost a big bowl of vegetables. I took with me to work the other day and my colleagues were amazed and complimented me on my culinary skills lol. I love this meal, it makes me feel full and it gives me so much energy.
Later in the day I eat 150g of shelled peanuts, and I eat 2-3 low-sugar chocolate bars throughout the day to keep the binge eating tendencies at bay. I follow up a banana or an apply depending on how hungry I feel during the day. The recipe and what I mentioned changes day to day, sometimes I'd include sausages in the meal or eat other types of fruit like avocados or mango, but what's important is that anything that is highly processed or has +10g of sugar, I immediately pass. The chocolate bars have lower than 1g of sugar in them.
3. Divide your goal into smaller increments to make it easier to see progress and stick to plans
My goal weight is 75kg (165lbs) but just looking at that number crushes every bit of motivation I have left, and this was one of the reasons that made me quit in the past. I looked at my previous data and I look at how fast I lost/gained weight and based on that I'd put a goal that reflects it. I decided that for my first goal, I want to reach 92kg (200lbs) by the end of February (that's 4kg/8lbs difference in 2 months). And here I am beating myself to it and reaching 92kg a lot earlier than I expected. Was the weight loss fast? Sure. But do I feel drained or can't do it anymore like before? Absolutely not. Unlike before, I feel like I could still do it, and drawing nearer and nearer to 90kg makes me excited and makes me feel like 2025 is probably the year I'll go back to my normal weight.
My next goal is to reach 90kg in the next 2 months, and after that, I want to reach 87kg, then down to 85kg, then 82, and finally 80kg, see how I feel, then down to 76kg. I estimating 1.5 or 2 months in-between each goal, so this is a plan for the next 10 months or so.
4. Losing weight is a very slow process
Most of the days, I am really maintaining my weight and trying not to gain any, and you see that some days, even that was not always achievable, but the real weight loss happens when I go out for a walk. You see these drastic weight loss days where I go an entire 700g lighter? These are the days I walked more than 8k steps either by hanging out with friends, by going to the office, or going around my day with groceries and stuff. My life style is sedentary and do not move much, so when I eat my normal diet to not feel like I'm starving, I usually maintain my weight or lose just a tiny bit, but the real loss happens when I walk, and this is why it is such a slow and difficult process.
Anyways, I hope this helps people trying to figure it out. I write this post just to reflect on what I learnt and to keep myself in check and resume my work. I hope this all works out for the best, and I hope from the bottom of my heart that we all will eventually see the light of day and wake up to bodies that we cherish and appreciate.
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from loseit - Lose the Fat https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/1idifwp/january_results_and_reflections_celebrating_a/
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