The Fountain of Weight Loss

Due to the varying and sometimes misleading information about weight loss and healthy eating habits that is circulating around the internet, I will try my best to distribute my knowledge from my own personal experience as well as information I have researched about healthier food alternatives, lifestyle habits, and exercise. These three ways of living when combined create a balanced and healthy lifestyle. From the day I started my lifestyle change about 6 months ago I have lost a total of 100lbs+, and I’m still continuing to lose weight. Many people didn’t believe I could do it, but I believe I have found the fountain of weight loss.
   

The first thing you should do in order to reach a healthy weight is commit yourself. Write down your goal and hang it up somewhere where you will see it regularly. When you feel you are ready the first thing you should do is find a form of cardio exercise that seems interesting for you. A lot of gyms will allow you to try it out for free with day passes. There are many different activities you can do to keep you active, but I believe you should join a place where you are contributing your money that way the idea of your money being wasted will be solely because of your non motivation to not work out. Though you should be working out for yourself the idea of you paying money for a service will hopefully keep you on track for this reason also.

            There are many different types of exercise you can do to get in shape. You can try Karate, kick boxing, yoga, Zumba, and maybe even cycling classes to name a few. After awhile of doing the same motions your body will get accustomed to that exercise and will eventually hit a plateau and you will need to introduce a different motion exercise into your workout regimen. You don’t necessarily have to worry about this when performing classes that use different motions like karate, kickboxing, yoga and Zumba, but workouts that include running, using the elliptical, and cycling for example, which involve the same motion in the duration of the workout. For this case exercises like these should be rotated in a workout schedule. Just remember keep active at least 4 times a week for at least 30 minutes a day and you will be one step closer to your goal weight.

Now let’s discuss foods and how your meals should be eaten. If you’re a binge eater and have a bottomless pit of a stomach the first thing you should consider is to shrink your stomach. No I do not mean surgery or using that lap band shit, but in lowering your portions of the foods you consume. In order to shrink your stomach you will have to consume smaller portion meals throughout your day. Eating smaller meals over time will cause your stomach to shrink and in time cause you to feel full when you are done eating a smaller portion. When you eat massive amounts of food in one sitting and feel extremely full, and thus is causing your stomach to stretch, and when done over long periods of time will eventually cause you to eat more and more without feeling full. A good way to estimate an entire meal should be the size of your fist about 3 times. Though this varies try to slowly adjust to lower your total portions of a complete meal. Also drink a glass of water before you eat in order to help yourself feel fuller after your meal. After doing this for a while you will eventually find yourself full when consuming these smaller portion meals. Always eat when you’re truly hungry, if your body needs food do not deprive it, but try to differentiate a craving from the brain and hunger from the body. Doing this will help speed up your metabolism.

Here is a list of foods you can try:

Breakfast:

I prefer oat bran, steel cut oats, or the 10 grain cereal for the boost in fiber which helps me feel fuller longer, but dairy will also benefit you for the increased amount of protein along with fresh or frozen fruit.

Steel Cut Whole Oats with some fresh cinnamon powder

100% Oat bran cereal with some fresh cinnamon powder

Fat Free plain yogurt with fresh fruit

Fat Free cottage cheese with fresh fruit

Bobs Redmill 10 Grain Cereal ( I couldn’t find the same 10 grain ingredients in a generic cereal brand, so I listed the company name)

Fat free milk and fruit smoothie

Lunch:

These lunch ideas are encouraged more to be put in 100% whole wheat wraps so that you can receive a boost in carbohydrates for energy midday, and also by putting these foods in wraps easily helps you measure and portion control your lunch.

Tofu stir-fry or just in a salad form

Canned Tuna or Canned Salmon

99 percent fat free chicken breast

Cannellini Beans mixed with baby spinach and red wine vinegar

Dinner:

For dinner I believe it is best to have a light meal. That means eat enough not to feel full, but enough to leave you feeling satisfied from hunger. High protein low carbohydrate dinners should be the dinner’s main focus. By low carbohydrate I do not consider vegetables like spinach, carrots, pea’s broccoli, etc. By low carb I mean omitting carbs such as white rice, if possible omit brown rice too, pasta, and regular potatoes (yams & sweet potatoes are ok).

Fresh or Frozen Salmon, Tuna, Tilapia, Trout, Littleneck Clams, etc.

Cooked Tofu, 99 percent fat free chicken breast, and skinless turkey breast, etc.

A salad with beans or cottage cheese is also a healthier vegetarian option.

There are many different meal ideas you can create or simply modify to make into a healthier option. If you love rice or bread, you should consider trying a super-food called Quinoa. Quinoa cooks like traditional rice, but is a far healthier alternative do to the fact that it is gluten free and a good source of dietary fiber and is loaded with vitamins, which makes it easier for the body to digest.

Final Tips:

If you have trouble eating healthy because you lack the convenience of cooking every time you want to eat, then prepare your food well in advance. Prepare you meals up to a week in advance and place them into microwave safe containers in the fridge, and bring them to work with you. A microwave will be your best friend from now on.

I’m sure you’ve heard a lot of people say eat five small meals a day. While this is true, and helps aid in weight loss you can stick to the standard three main meals a day, and consider healthy fruit snacking in between as other meals then you will do OK. When I followed my method I was basically having 10-15 small meals a day. There’s never a bad time to reach for a carrot or a sweet fruit. Remember if you’re truly hunger then eat.

Put less on your plate. The less food you have in front of you the less you will be tempted to shove it down your throat.

Restaurants usually give you a meal that is made for two people. Try to decide before you eat how much you should really be eating.

Avoid food that will spike up your Glycemic Index such as, Honey, Table Sugar, and High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFC). Don’t be fooled some healthy meals hide these fat culprits under misleading labels. I have seen many 100% whole wheat products that contain HFC and loads of sugars and calories. Always make sure to read the ingredients and nutritional information. If you want sweet flavor try using cinnamon and/or vanilla flavor.

Avoid 100% whole wheat bread with Enriched Wheat Flour as the ingredient. If you see the word Enriched then don’t buy it. Enriched wheat bread loses the properties and benefits of 100% whole wheat because the grain is refined and manufactures place vitamins in the ingredients of the bread so that they can slap the word Enriched onto the ingredients. If you buy Enriched wheat bread then you are basically buying plain white bread which is loaded with tons of starch.

Avoid diet soda. Diet soda may look healthy because of no carbs, calories, sugar, and fat, but that is exactly why it is bad for you. Since it uses artificial sweetener your body cannot process it so it just passes through your digestive system. When you decide to have something healthy like let’s say an apple for example, you body over time will not fully digest the apple because it will associate its sweetness with the artificial sweetener, and will not process it completely. Basically artificial sweeteners confuse the chemical balance of the body; also aspartame is one molecule away from being plastic.

These are just a few of my insights from my weight loss experience. It’s always good to read more and more about different pros and cons on different types of foods. All in all if you want to lose weight and get in shape then it all depends on how motivated and committed you are to changing your life around. Good Luck on your weight loss journey, and just remember to eat when you are truly hungry.