Sustainable Weight Loss: Taking the Weekend Off

My secret to staying on course was simple; I took the weekend off.

I found it much easier to stick to my diet when I was working. There are several reasons for that; you stay in a (good) routine, you have more distractions from food and you don't have as much time to go out for dinner (or any other meal). However, I would allow myself a lot more Friday-Sunday.

During the weekend, we like to go out for dinner and drinks sometimes. I would try to chose the lighter meals, but with an alcoholic drink your calorie intake increases rapidly.
Warning: drink alcohol with care.
As you are eating less, most likely you have a lower alcohol tolerance.

I had an interesting the experience the first weekend as I am used to be rather tolerant to alcohol...those days are over! If you are not prepared, you will be much more drunk than intended and - more importantly - suffering the next day.

Picking Up Where You Left Off a.k.a. Damage Control

I've failed. As much as I preach about keeping the weight off and staying healthy, I regained. I'm human and we all have certain periods in our life where we cannot focus completely on our well-being. I've had a stressful period with plenty of distractions, which caused me to feel like it was ok to slip back into old habits. As I was stressed and not feeling good mentally, I decided to make it visible physically.

The biggest problem is that the decisions you make do not quite go like that. If only this was our thought process then we at least made a conscious choice. A conscious choice can be changed if you are convinced of the reasons for change. However, much of this is very unconscious. I don't want to play the woman card here, but hormones play a role too and make it more difficult to suppress those cravings. Somehow we never crave celery during that time of the month...

I was feeling stressed and felt the need to comfort myself with food as I was no longer able to do it any other way. It doesn't help that I got a cold, which meant I wasn't able to go to the gym (still struggling with that by the way). The gym has become a good replacement to me for that rush you feel after finishing a tub of ice cream. In addition, I usually have more energy after a nice workout than after eating a tub of ice cream. However, I was prevented from my workouts due to my physical condition, making me reach for the ice cream again (my favorite is Caramel/Vanilla with caramel bits in it...yum!). Of course approximately two weeks of this will leave its traces.

I've gained back 2 kilo. After all my hard work and effort, being so happy in my "new skin", I gained 2 kilo back...for what? For a bit of stress? That doesn't seem worth it??

And it's not, yet we always succumb.

You could say that 2 kilo is not much and I'll admit it won't make a huge difference, but once you start paying attention to your health and weight you'll notice even small changes. It was in combination with having to stop going to the gym, which of course also changes your appearance.

This means I'll be having another go at a small diet for this week. The problem is that I have organized dinners with work, so it is more difficult to control what I eat. I have my birthday on the 21st so I will clearly not be dieting that day. Say what you want about a healthier lifestyle, but everyone deserves a slice of cake on their birthday.

Update: Keeping the Weight Off

I have a confession to make...I gained back more or less 1 kg.

The hardest part about losing weight is keeping it off. I can manage the discipline when I have a clear deadline, but in order to keep your weight it would require a permanent lifestyle change.

I'm lucky as for me it is usually sufficient to do regular exercise in order to keep my weight stable. I will not manage to lose the weight with exercise, but it will keep me at a stable level. I have been paying a bit more attention that I used to before my diet (i.e. I'm still having some unhealthy snacks or an alcoholic drink now and again, but I won't have them on a daily basis anymore - I now see it as a luxury), but I haven't been putting any real effort into keeping my weight stable. In my mind, the goal was reached and the job was done.

If only it were that simple.

I may have only gained back 1 kg but it really hasn't been a very long time. So it's time to get back on track and realize that sugar is evil. It's really, really tasty, but that's part of why it's evil. i will continue to do regular exercise, but I might have to put some more effort into my dietary habits. It's important not to lose sight of the goal.

In addition, my goal was not just to lose weight (ok, I must admit it was the major thing), but to have a healthier lifestyle. A healthy lifestyle does not include a beer and a bag of chips in front of the TV. Nor does it include chocolate as a self-rewarding system for everything and nothing I do on a daily basis. It's important to keep at it and not get weak or lazy just because you've reached your goal weight. You won't be able to keep it that way.

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

I won't say it was an immaculate success as I am 60,3 kg today, but I think I got pretty damn close.

I managed to go from 64 kg to 60,3 kg in two weeks without starving myself.

I am very proud of myself. I lost the necessary weight, I lost the weight fast and I stayed healthy. In fact, aside from the occasional cranky day or strong craving, I was feeling better. I had more energy after lunch because I was having a lighter meal. Instead of eating a big heavy meal I was having salad, which kept me going until my afternoon snack. I will continue with this habit as I simply feel better this way.

I don't suffer from a slow metabolism nor from any hormonal imbalance and I am sure this could make things more difficult. However, I am far from an expert on dieting and had no experience in the field. Therefore, if I can do it, anyone can. Technology is now a great help and guided me along the way, but the key is to eat as healthy as possible and as much raw fruit and vegetables as possible.

With modern technology, you can have access to an equivalent to a nutritionist in your pocket, for free. I say let's take advantage of that and improve our lifestyle.

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

I am sorry, I had an extremely stressful week at work and was not able to update on my daily progress. It is now Wednesday of week 2 and I will give a short summary of what happened since last Friday.

However, I was able to stay on target, despite the fact that I am an emotional eater and the only way I know how to deal with stress is to eat...I am giving myself a little pat on the back for that.

I have been eating in much the same style as last week; many smaller meals. I continue to log in Noom in order to keep track of what I eat. However, I have had to cut down on sports due to lack of time. I'm coming home late only to continue working. I only went to the gym yesterday, but I did make the most out of it with a 25 minute intense cardio followed by an intense muscle-building group course.

I am now at 60.5 kg and getting closer to my goal. I have only 0.5 kg to go until Friday, but it is getting more and more difficult to keep my sugar cravings at bay. It doesn't help that I didn't have time to do grocery shopping so I am out of fruit. Well, except dried fruit...definitely containing calories...

Nonetheless, I have 2 days left to get those last 0.5 kg off. Friday and Saturday evening I have plans to go out for drinks with friends so I will not be able to keep my calorie budget...

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.

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.

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.