Health and Fitness advice from an ex-fatty

So I guess when you lose 70 pounds people want to know how, I really don't understand why, but I get the question A LOT! So, what I am going to tell you is probably one of the most secretive diets out there b/c. . . well b/c it is NOT a diet. I do not believe in dieting. Diet means what you eat so its a really silly word to use anyway when referring to what you did to lose weight, "I dieted" ... oh, ok, you ate? 



So anyways thats a pet-peeve of mine I guess. What I want to tell people in this post is I balanced my eating life aka diet, and began to get active. What I mean by balancing my diet is I simply restrained, restricted, enjoyed, indulged. You hear so much about well I counted calories (are you kidding me? That is SOOOOOO time consuming I stopped after one meal) or I quit eating carbs (really? no fruit? no whole grains?) or my favorite I limited my fat (REALLY?? That is sooooo like last year) Ok, ok all of those are great and for sure can help you lose weight, but here are my issues with them. 

When you count calories, it really is such a hard process and you begin to not think about what calories you are taking in, all you are concerned with is how MANY you are taking in. Too many calories does lead to weight gain, but there are so many amazingly healthy foods that are high in calories, and not to mention a TON (especially now a days, all those 100 calorie snacks) of awful foods pretty low in calories. What makes a food high in calories? It is simply the grams of fat, each gram of fat contains 9 calories whereas a gram of protein or a gram of carbohydrates only have 4 calories. I believe this is where the famous limiting my fat intake came from. 

People starting realizing high-fat food was very high calories. So what you need to know is there are good fats and bad fats which I think we do all realize this. Eat the AVOCADOS the FISH the NUTS, these are high calorie good-for-you foods! Even dairy is good I understand there is bad fat in dairy but there are sooo many great things in dairy that help your metabolism (which is what helps you burn calories)! 

Ok, now the carbs! This is definitely a newer thing and one I tend to agree with more so then not. Limiting your carbs FOR SURE makes you lose a lot of weight and actually you lose it very fast, but heres the down side, as soon as you begin introducing more carbs into your diet after not eating very many YOU GAIN QUICKLY! AHHHHH!!! NO GOOD! What you need to do with carbs is after a certain time in the day you can no longer eat carbs, my rule was 2 pm. The reason being, carbs are what fuel your body and if you do not use this fuel, well then by golly it turns into that jiggle you do every thing on earth to hide (oh no.... OH YES) Yes, that is right fat doesn't turn to fat CARBS do! So if you stop eating carbs at a certain time it gives your body enough time in the day to burn them all off before you hit the hay and arn't so active. Also the carbs you eat are very very very important! I said I stopped eating carbs after 2pm that doesn't mean at 10 am I was woofing down some cake and ice cream. No no no, you eat BROWN carbs and fruit NO WHITE carbs. These are refined and quickly turn into fat if not used right away (so basically only eat these if you're about to run a marathon) brown carbs are low glycemic which means they take a long time to break down and give you a lot longer to use the energy they provide your body, not to mention they have fiber which is awesome for getting rid of waste in your body and keeping you "regular" if you know what I am saying ;)

So basically these are the rules I followed I didn't care how many calories I took in necessarily but I cared what type of calories I was consuming. I wanted calories that worked with my body not against it. I stopped consuming carbs by 2pm. I went to the gym! The balance I really had was I ate what I wanted on the weekends. Why you ask? Well to trick my metabolism. You see if you eat the same stuff over and over and you do the same work out over and over, your body becomes accustomed to this and  then it becomes super hard to shed the weight. 

I always tried to trick my body by one day eating a bazillion calories from not so great foods, this would REV my metabolism up a lot b/c the body is saying to the brain "Oh dear Lord she is going back to her old ways we better start working hard to keep her from getting so large she has to be lifted by a crane!" Then the next day I would limit my calories A LOT and eat very minimal and very healthy and the body was like "dang we are doing good" and before you know it that crazy revved up metabolism is burning those small amount of calories faster then you can go to the gym! It really does work.

 So if you are stuck and feel like wow I am trying so hard and not losing 1 lb well then try being really bad for a bit then kick it into EXTREME gear! Also I changed my work outs as much as possible. I did cardio a lot, but also some palates, weight lifting, yoga. Change it up! Ok so that is what I am sharing now. I will be posting more health and fitness tips randomly so keep an eye out!

love love love!