October 5th I weighed 238 lbs. I now weigh 186 lbs. I've lost over 50 lbs, my wife has lost over 70. I've tried losing weight before and failed. It was hard. But this time it has been easy!
WHY IS IT EASY?
1. No exercise is required!!!
2. It's a new life style, not a diet so you're not waiting for it to end.
3. With this new life-style, your taste buds literally change!
WHAT IS IT?
You ready??!! Here it comes! The answer is:
1. Eat less than 6 teaspoons of added sugar a day. (No-sugar advocates are nuts! But still lovely people.)
2. Only eat whole wheat bread, noodles, etc. Only eat whole grain rice and whatever else is grainy.
3. Don't snack between lunch and dinner. Don't snack between dinner and breakfast.
HOW DO YOU DO IT
First, you need this. I hear people say "I could never do that, I love sugar too much." Which brings us to another reason this is easy: YOU LOVE SUGAR TOO MUCH BECAUSE YOU'RE ADDICTED TO IT. And you have just left the Matrix.
For me this started with watching the documentary Fed Up. Feel free to ignore the political side of it and focus on the nutrition. My wife and I are living proof that it is spot on. Eat less that 6 teaspoons of added sugar a day and you must realize that processed foods are to be avoided! White bread, tortillas, pasta noodles, "multi-grain", white rice and other things of the sort process in your body the same way sugar does. In Fed Up they say, "A bowl of Corn Flakes with no sugar is the same as a bowl of sugar with no Corn Flakes." Watch the movie.
STUFF THAT'S NOT IN THE MOVIE
For us, breakfast is the biggest meal of the day. It's the most important. I usually eat breakfast at 7AM, lunch between 10am and noon. And then I eat dinner at 6pm. No snacks in-between. And our dinners are salad based! Meaning salad is the main course. Sometimes we'll have small pieces of chicken or pepperoni mixed in. But we fill up mainly on salad.
Avoiding snacking between lunch and dinner then between dinner and breakfast is key!
STARTING
No this is not 100% easy without any effort. You do have to practice self control. But compared to what I have tried it is very very easy. After dinner is when my snacking tendencies are strongest. The first two weeks it was a real challenge not to snack on something sweet and sugary after dinner. At first I would just eat a teaspoon of peanut butter to satisfy that itch. The peanut butter we had at the time had 4 grams(1 teaspoon) of sugar per teaspoon. Again, the goal is to eat less that 6 teaspoons(24 grams) of sugar a day. Eventually I graduated from the teaspoon of peanut butter and have absolutely no snacks before or after dinner. Eating just salads at first was hard, but your taste buds do change.
The key in the beginning is to overcome sugar cravings. My sugar cravings calmed down a lot after the first week because we were 100% with this new lifestyle. We didn't work our way into it. We just started. Fresh foods, lots of vegetables and fruits. Yum. Yum.
I've mentioned a few foods I like to eat and I'll do another blog post that goes into more detail but I will mention that the thing that has helped me the most with this transition has been apples. For me, apples are the best fruit for helping you feel full. And as my taste buds started to change apples became my favorite food. At first I said, "Ok, I'll eat an apple." But now it's my favorite food. I always eat one with breakfast and dinner. All food tastes way better when your not eating too much sugar.
EXCEPTIONS
At Thanksgiving I had pie. But it was too sweet for me so I had a small piece. On Christmas Eve we went to a party at my wife's uncle's house where there was an amazing selection of food. About half of the items available were pastries and the other half were things like soups, sandwiches, mozzarella sticks and some other amazing things. I pigged out on all of it. I was beyond stuffed at the end. The next day on Christmas I pigged out a little and the day after. But after that it was back to normal. But I probably wouldn't have tried that in the first month. Because in the first month you're still adapting and changing. I'd suggest not making an big exception like that for at least the first month.
CONCLUSION
I could probably go on some more but this post is long enough. I'll followup with a post that's more about what we're eating. Also, this isn't the only way to lose weight. It's just the way that we have found that is easiest (and doesn't require exercise!!!!!!!!!). I will eventually start to exercise but not until I'm at my final weight. I have a co-worker who has lost about the same amount of weight in about the same amount of time through a program his personal trainer has given him. If you have any question feel free to comment.
WHY IS IT EASY?
1. No exercise is required!!!
2. It's a new life style, not a diet so you're not waiting for it to end.
3. With this new life-style, your taste buds literally change!
WHAT IS IT?
You ready??!! Here it comes! The answer is:
1. Eat less than 6 teaspoons of added sugar a day. (No-sugar advocates are nuts! But still lovely people.)
2. Only eat whole wheat bread, noodles, etc. Only eat whole grain rice and whatever else is grainy.
3. Don't snack between lunch and dinner. Don't snack between dinner and breakfast.
HOW DO YOU DO IT
First, you need this. I hear people say "I could never do that, I love sugar too much." Which brings us to another reason this is easy: YOU LOVE SUGAR TOO MUCH BECAUSE YOU'RE ADDICTED TO IT. And you have just left the Matrix.
For me this started with watching the documentary Fed Up. Feel free to ignore the political side of it and focus on the nutrition. My wife and I are living proof that it is spot on. Eat less that 6 teaspoons of added sugar a day and you must realize that processed foods are to be avoided! White bread, tortillas, pasta noodles, "multi-grain", white rice and other things of the sort process in your body the same way sugar does. In Fed Up they say, "A bowl of Corn Flakes with no sugar is the same as a bowl of sugar with no Corn Flakes." Watch the movie.
STUFF THAT'S NOT IN THE MOVIE
For us, breakfast is the biggest meal of the day. It's the most important. I usually eat breakfast at 7AM, lunch between 10am and noon. And then I eat dinner at 6pm. No snacks in-between. And our dinners are salad based! Meaning salad is the main course. Sometimes we'll have small pieces of chicken or pepperoni mixed in. But we fill up mainly on salad.
Avoiding snacking between lunch and dinner then between dinner and breakfast is key!
STARTING
No this is not 100% easy without any effort. You do have to practice self control. But compared to what I have tried it is very very easy. After dinner is when my snacking tendencies are strongest. The first two weeks it was a real challenge not to snack on something sweet and sugary after dinner. At first I would just eat a teaspoon of peanut butter to satisfy that itch. The peanut butter we had at the time had 4 grams(1 teaspoon) of sugar per teaspoon. Again, the goal is to eat less that 6 teaspoons(24 grams) of sugar a day. Eventually I graduated from the teaspoon of peanut butter and have absolutely no snacks before or after dinner. Eating just salads at first was hard, but your taste buds do change.
The key in the beginning is to overcome sugar cravings. My sugar cravings calmed down a lot after the first week because we were 100% with this new lifestyle. We didn't work our way into it. We just started. Fresh foods, lots of vegetables and fruits. Yum. Yum.
I've mentioned a few foods I like to eat and I'll do another blog post that goes into more detail but I will mention that the thing that has helped me the most with this transition has been apples. For me, apples are the best fruit for helping you feel full. And as my taste buds started to change apples became my favorite food. At first I said, "Ok, I'll eat an apple." But now it's my favorite food. I always eat one with breakfast and dinner. All food tastes way better when your not eating too much sugar.
EXCEPTIONS
At Thanksgiving I had pie. But it was too sweet for me so I had a small piece. On Christmas Eve we went to a party at my wife's uncle's house where there was an amazing selection of food. About half of the items available were pastries and the other half were things like soups, sandwiches, mozzarella sticks and some other amazing things. I pigged out on all of it. I was beyond stuffed at the end. The next day on Christmas I pigged out a little and the day after. But after that it was back to normal. But I probably wouldn't have tried that in the first month. Because in the first month you're still adapting and changing. I'd suggest not making an big exception like that for at least the first month.
CONCLUSION
I could probably go on some more but this post is long enough. I'll followup with a post that's more about what we're eating. Also, this isn't the only way to lose weight. It's just the way that we have found that is easiest (and doesn't require exercise!!!!!!!!!). I will eventually start to exercise but not until I'm at my final weight. I have a co-worker who has lost about the same amount of weight in about the same amount of time through a program his personal trainer has given him. If you have any question feel free to comment.