The Final Push Round 2 Day 5 of Diet – 4 kg in 2 Weeks

I had a grapefruit for breakfast, but I recommend preparing your fruit in advance...I'm starting to get too much attention while I am cutting my fruit in the kitchen at work. On the other hand you might inspire some colleagues with your good example. Obviously I was hungry again shortly after the grapefruit so I had a Blevita Forest Berry to sustain me until lunch.

For lunch, I had a broccoli soup consisting of broccoli, 1 onion, 1 potato, 1 carrot and a little bouillon and spices. I then had 2 clementines for desert, but had to refill with some more Blevita (this time Gruyere taste) to last me until dinner.

For dinner I had a healthy salad (lettuce, cherry tomatoes, raw cabbage and some light French dressing) along with a bit of lean ham on the side. In the evening I was hungry again and I shared a honey melon with my boyfriend. I must admit I ate a lot more than my boyfriend...

Still, I am keeping my calorie budget every day and I am now at 61.8 kg. I might go a little softer over the weekend, I think I deserved it.

Select The Final Push Round 2 Day 4 of Diet – 4 kg in 2 Weeks

For breakfast I had two litchi, but we had a brunch organized by work. For once I was happy to have food allergies as it meant that I was not able to eat some of the tempting things that were not compliant to my diet. At the work brunch end ended up having a small fruit salad, which was absolutely delicious. As it was a buffé I could pick and choose what I wanted and it was not noticeable that the fruit salad was all I had, avoiding awkward social situations where you have to refuse kind offers.

I had an appointment at lunch time and forgot to bring my prepared lunch so I had no time to have a proper lunch so I made do with what I had and ate a make-shift lunch at my desk. It consisted of several snacks: a grapefruit, four clementines and a protein bar. I added the protein bar out of desperate hunger.  In the evening I had dinner with a friend who is also dieting. We had a salad consisting of lettuce and avocado, with some nice, lean bresaola on the side.

I'm starting to feel more hungry and suffering more. Motivation is more and more difficult, but I'm still on track. It helps seeing the results, but today I didn't lose anything. I didn't gain neither, but this is no time for slacking.

The Final Push Round 2 Day 3 of Diet – 4 kg in 2 Weeks

I may have felt frustrated yesterday, but when I woke up today it seemed all worth it. My weight this morning was 62,1 kg! This is 0,5 kg less than yesterday. If I keep this up, I can easily attain my goal in my set time. The problem is not only sticking with it, but your body also gets used to it after a while and you lose less fast...better make the most of this beginning and shock that body to shed some weight!

I didn't have time to have any real breakfast today, but I have stashed some Actimel at work (a drink yoghurt supposedly good for your immune system - again, it's my insurance). These are the tiniest little bottles of yoghurt (I think 100 ml) so you'd have to consume a pack of 6 in order to gain weight from them. However, this is also frustrating as it feels like you put nothing in your stomach. However, I had a coffee (without sugar) with that as well as some water and my stomach calmed down for a little while.

I didn't quite make it to lunch though and had a grapefruit before to silence the worst hunger. For lunch I had a simple salad, but I was hungry again after one hour so I had some cheese flavored blevita whole grain crackers.  I went to the gym after work and did 30 minutes of intense cardio. For dinner I had a carrot soup followed by a smaller portion of what I had yesterday; quinoa with mushrooms.

The Final Push Round 2 Day 2 of Diet – 4 kg in 2 Weeks

As little as I was suffering yesterday, my body decided to make up for it today. On the bright side, I weighed in at 62,6 kg this morning. This is a Tuesday and it was quite a change from last Friday's 64,5 kg. But that's the only positive thing I experienced on day two...

I woke up with an all-consuming hunger. My stomach actually hurt from hunger. I had my tea (supposedly slimming) and a drinkable yoghurt, this time not the healty kind. I had a nice stracciatella yoghurt left and did not have the willpower to forgo it this morning. Especially since my boyfriend so sweetly offered it to me before he left for work.

I tried keeping strong and not eating anything before lunch, but finally I had a few litchi. It helped against the noises my stomach was making as well as the worst of the excruciating hunger. As I share my office with another person, the noises were really too shameful to ignore...

For lunch I had a big sallad with the same light dressing from yesterday. A tad repetitive, but it's my favorite... However, I was starving after one hour so I had a mango. Later in the afternoon I had a banana half an hour before going to the gym. When I came home from the gym, which honestly wasn't that high performing, I was starving again so I had a mandarin and a few slices of pinapple. My boyfriend cooked quinoa for dinner and made it with mushrooms and the tiniest bit of chicken mixed through. It was delicious and even more tasty as my boyfriend did the mushrooms especially for me and had to create something else for him.

However, when I logged my meals, I was way, way over my calorie budget. For some reason Noom considered my mushrooms to be worth 580 calories. I guess with fried mushrooms they mean deep-fried in oil, because I can't believe that simply fried mushrooms would be that calorific. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. All in all, it was a bit of a frustrating day.

Day 2 is definitely the worst...you are still used to your old ways and not yet used to the healthy ways. It's a matter surviving.

The Final Push Round 2 Day 1 of Diet - 4 kg in 2 Weeks

After the holidays we all gain a little weight. Who has the discipline to say no to those wonderful meals and snacks for the holiday season? Eating is also a social thing, and what other time to be social? Point is; I gained back one kilo.

Anyway my goal was to lose 3 more kilo so what harm in starting another diet? This time I have only 4 kg to lose. The only problem is that I will do a training for work on the 10th of February onwards and this will mean dinners in restaurants...not very diet-friendly. Therefore, I've decided I need to lose 4 kg before the 20th of January...wish me luck.

I therefore started strong today, with a protein bar and a slimming tea (not sure I believe in teas that promise to help you lose weight, but it's more like insurance) for breakfast and a small salad for lunch. Here's a tip; don't buy those prepares salads in nice individual boxes. Those are usually overprices, less fresh and come with fatty dressings. I just get a bag of pre-cut salad at my local convenient store and prepare my salad at work. I either prepare a super-light vinaigrette consisting of lots of vinegar/lemon/lime juice and minimal olive oil with some spices, or buy a light dressing separately.

As the salad was very small, I also had a Activia yoghurt (I tried something new: you know the healthy drinkable yoghurt with vitamins) and I had some fruits ready for the afternoon as I hit the gym for an hour. I had a banana and a mandarin or two ready to go. As I had so few calories, I could allow myself a bit more for dinner as I was starving after my workout.

My boyfriend cooked a while grain risotto with lentils which fills you up nicely at the end of the day. I absolutely had some pineapple as dessert (and before because I couldn't wait for dinner). All in all I am satisfied with my effort and I didn't suffer much. I didn't spend the day feeling hungry but kept well under my calorie budget.

Sustainable Weight Loss: Small Pleasures a.k.a. Cutting Yourself a Break

I'm telling you to break the rules and cut yourself a break. No one is perfect and there is no way you can keep the perfect diet. Trying to be flawless is exactly what will make you weak in front of temptation.

Allow yourself a small pleasure. For the first week (after my horrible experience the first day), I allowed myself one little temptation each day. For example, I'd have a small piece of chocolate one day. But when I mean little temptation and small piece, I really mean miniscule, for example the chocolate would be just one square of chocolate. However, if I was a good girl and didn't have any sweets one day, I would add it up so I could have two sweets the day after. it's kind of cheating, I know, but if you're anything like me you'll never go higher than three sweets so it won't completely ruin that day's calorie budget anyway.

Portion size is key for this. I sometimes found this more difficult that refraining from sweets altogether, so remember to stay in control. When I got more settled in my good habits I would decrease the number of sweets allowed even further, but going cold turkey can be really difficult. For the worst addicts, like myself, you'll suffer from severe withdrawal symptoms. This little technique helped me to keep those at a bay and prevented me from losing my mind completely.

The Neverending Story and the Diet Cliché

As much as we hate to admit it, clichés often become cliché for a reason; it is common sense and useful.

Most nutritionists and weight loss coaches worldwide will agree on one thing; fruits and vegetables are good for losing some weight. I don't ignore diets like the Atkins diet where one should avoid carbs at all cost, but let's be honest, fruits and vegetables is the key to lose weight the healthy way.

Fruits or vegetables are both loved and hated. Some hate spinach, others don't like kiwis, we all have fruits or vegetables we dislike and cannot stand the sight of. I've tried to force myself in the past and eat the things I know I don't like, but this will never work. Although it may at times feel that way (at least to me), a goal of a diet is not to torture yourself.

Find healthy things you like and incorporate them into your diet. I experimented with different things for a while. Some of us grew up with healthy habits and know our fruits and vegetables very well and therefore also which ones we like or dislike. I on the other hand, started from scratch and found out what worked and what didn't.

I'm not huge on vegetables, but I decided to have some type of salad for lunch every day. However, I don't particularly enjoy snacking on vegetables as it just doesn't seem to hit the spot for me. I'm more into sugar than salt though, so if you like salty snacks vegetables might work better for you. I personally am now addicted to fruit and am able to replace my unhealthy sweets.

As you may already have read in my previous post, I also have food allergies that limit me in my choice. I wanted to eat as much raw food as possible, but I am allergic to many fruits in raw form. All the usual fruits such as apples, pears and plums (etc.) were not available to me as I would have to cook them before eating them. For a while I had mostly bananas and mandarins, sometimes switching it up with an orange or a melon, but it was very boring. That's when I got into more exotic fruits. Some I didn't even know how to eat, but you can ask a friend or search online. I now regularly eat mango, litchi and grapefruit. Normal grapefruit is a bit too bitter for me, but if you get the pink grapefruit it has a lovely sweet/sour/bitter taste which really peps you up.

Aside from being healthy, full of vitamins, and helping you to feel full, fruits are also perfect to replace those sweet snacks you take between meals. Bear in mind that even fruit contains calories, so don't overdo it. However, it's hard to eat the equivalent of the calorie content of a chocolate cookie in fruit; the quantity would be too big to be enjoyable.

Losing Weight Fast: The Big Secret - Stay Healthy

Here's my biggest secret to losing 5 kg in 4 weeks is really simple: go back to basics.

There's plenty of material out there about raw food diets. There are theories about processed and cooked food being unhealthy for us in a variety of ways. Cooking rarely improves the quality of food. Ok, I admit the taste is often better, but you lose a lot of vitamins when you cook your vegetables. Even with a pressure cooker, vitamins get lost in the process, even if it is less.

It makes sense to me to lose weight with raw food. Not only do you keep more vitamins, making it more healthy, but you will also keep more fiber, making you feel more full. Therefore, you eat less, get more vitamins, and feel more satisfied. The things you cannot eat raw usually have more calories (e.g. meat or even rice).

There are people who have made a lifestyle out of raw food. I personally am unable to go that far. I have to eat something cooked for dinner. I tried to eat raw even for dinner from time to time, but it was an exception rather than a rule. However, I tried to eat raw for all other meals of the day (note: trying is not always the same as achieving, but it's a good goal to strive towards).

A lot of people eat big, warm meals for lunch. I skipped this and went for cold, raw meals. I love salads, so most of the time I would eat some type of salad for lunch. Yes, I sometimes get hungry quickly, but I cannot resist snacking on something in the afternoon anyway, so I figured I might as well eat less and snack guilt-free in the afternoon. Obviously a healthy snack. Another advantage is that you no longer feel stuffed and tired after lunch.

I have as a general rule to eat as much raw food as possible. You'd be surprised how good that feels. A useful guideline to staying slim is to eat as much raw food as possible in order to lose more weight and gain more vitamins. For weight loss: when in doubt; go raw.

Losing Weight Fast: Purification - eating low-cal but healthy

Obviously you need to avoid all those things containing sugar and fat when wanting to lose weight. Everyone knows that sugar and fat makes you gain weight, so no more cookies, chocolate, junk food, pizzas, etc. However, I wanted to lose weight fast and be more healthy, so I took in one step further, I also avoided refined grains.

Another dangerous calorie source comes from potatoes. Potatoes are bad for weight loss as they are starchy and calorific. I love potatoes, but try to avoid it as much as possible. In addition, we often add oil and fatty sauces to our potatoes when we eat them, which makes them even worse for your weight. Honestly, I still love potatoes even boiled in water, but have a tiniest little bit, these are dangerous and add up to your calorie budget very rapidly.

Pasta is another hidden calorie giant. We know pasta is not ideal for weight loss, but once again it becomes even more obvious when you log your meals. The amount of calories you consume in comparison to the enjoyment is just not worth it. I enjoy as much pasta as the next, but is it worth eating only a carrot for the rest of the day?

Bread was no longer part of my diet during my . I love bread, but I sacrificed it in order to lose weight. I may have had two small slices of bread during the 4 weeks. These were consumed in the beginning of my diet when I had no idea how many calories were in there so I quit eating bread while I usually eat bread every day. This is where my application helped me out as well as it showed me just how many calories are in bread.

We try to fool ourselves with whole grain versions, but really these are still full of calories. Whole grain is obviously better than white bread as it makes you feel more full and I am sure there are fewer calories in there. However, pay attention when you log your food; even whole grain bread contains a great deal of calories. I realized that if I have a sandwhich for lunch (even whole grain), I will have to eat salad for dinner. As much as I love bread, that is just not worth it.

Rice is always considered a light alternative and allowed in most diets, but again it is more calorific than you realize. I had rice, but was very careful with the portion size. Brown rice again is better than white rice as it makes you feel more full, but don't overdo it. I would have rice with my meals as it is the best option compared to potatoes or pasta, but I would eat only half a handfull.

Sugar Substitute for the Sugar Addicts - a Spoonful of Sugar Makes theMedicine Go Down

I am a major sugar addict. Not only do I eat tons of sweets and cookies, I also drink soda and even add sugar in my tea and coffee. Therefore, my main priority was to cut down on sugar.

Soda is the most evil thing against your diet. It must be avoided like it's a question of life and death. There are so many calories in these and you don't feel full at all - it is the biggest threat to your diet. At the end of my diet, I decided to replace my soda with the "zero" version, but the best is to drink water.

The cookies and sweets are obvious temptations and need to be cut out completely from your diet. I satisfied my afternoon sweet tooth with a nice fruit such as mango or pinapple. Due to my allergies, I am limited to exotic fruits, but you can mix it up a bit more.

For my coffee and tea, I found a sugar replacement. I am now able to drink both of these without sugar or sugar replacement, making them completely calorie-free, but this is not easy to get used to. For tea, the choice is rather obvious in my eyes: honey. Don't put too much as there are still calories in there, but on the bright side these are calories that are burnt immediately and not stored in your body. For coffee it was more complicated as I found that honey changed the taste too much.

I tried different things, both natural and chemical. I hope I can help you find your alternative through my experiences. I personally shy away from chemical sweeteners, so these did not catch on. On top of that I find that they often have a very bitter aftertaste which I cannot get used to. I also tried Stevia, but I find that too has a strange aftertaste. Finally, I discovered Agave Syrup.

Agave syrup is a natural sugar with very little taste. It still changes the taste of your coffee, but it is minimal and acceptable. Agave syrup is much like honey as it is a natural sugar, but slightly more calorific so pay attention to the quantities. However, like honey, it will not be stored in your body. I also used Agave syrup when I needed a sweetener without any real taste, even in baking, but it might change the consistency a bit as it is a syrup instead of sugar crystals.

During my diet I try to avoid sugar as much as possible at all times, but sometimes things just taste horrible without any sweetening (especially if you are a sugar addict). You know the old saying "a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down". If you go too extreme on your diet, you won't be able to stick to it for very long, so I suggest finding a healthy alternative for your favorite weaknesses.