FOCUS, PATIENCE, POSITIVITY When I was at my heaviest weight I was weighing 76kg and I definitely felt it! Being so unhappy with my body made me feel super depressed and unmotivated all the time. I felt sick, lazy, suffered fatigue, stomach problems and bloating. This was definitely not the way I wanted to live.
Seriously.. it happened like this.. One random day I woke up and decided it was time to change my life for the better! I thought to myself ‘I’m young with nothing stopping me from getting what and where I want to be’.
My first step was the sorting out my mindset. Everyone has different ways of self motivating and strategies to focus on reaching a goal. Believing in myself was the most important thing to get me from day to day. One of the best ways to keep me motivated was setting my backgrounds to inspiring photos, not only body shots but inspiring and motivational quotes. I am a huge believer in the power of positive thinking and that negative thoughts will only hold you back from where you want to go in life.
Stay focused, be positive and it is extremely important to be patient. Remember that losing weight, changing from normal habits and adjusting to a new lifestyle doesn’t happen over night but I can promise you it is well worth the wait!
Hot chips, pizza, chocolate, burgers, cake, McDonalds and ice-cream. My old faves. Sounds good to some? Tastes good to a lot of people too but eating these foods had such a terrible effect on my body. It was time for me to say bye-bye to fatty, oily and sugar overloaded foods.
Clearing bad foods out of the house was the easiest way to avoid the temptation of eating them.
To kickstart my new lifestyle I made my first priority my diet. What you eat is so much more important than just focusing on exercising. Make your body your temple.
The better you fuel your body, the better you will feel and the better your body will perform!
Eating healthier can be as simple as changing the bad stuff to the good stuff.
Bad fats -> Natural good fats
Simple Carbs -> Complex carbs
Soft Drink & Alcohol -> Water, green tea, almond milk
Full fat dairy-> Low or no fat dairy products
The list goes on and on..
My diet consisted of healthy fats (salmon, fish & nuts), lean proteins (chicken breast & turkey mince) and complex carbs (oats, rice, sweet potato).
I found it important to cut most sugars out of my diet including eating a lot of fruit. Of course fruit is so good for you, but remember fruit is a simple carb - sugar.
I get a lot of questions about what I ate to lose weight and the truth is I never had a diet plan. I kept my diet as clean as possible and made sure I gave myself the right nutrients from good foods. I ate and still eat 6 meals a day - this plays a huge role in keeping your metabolism going. Skipping meals will only send your body into starvation mode which will make your body store the fat you eat.
I will give you a basic overview of options for Breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks that I ate throughout my weight loss journey.
Breakfasts: Zero fat natural greek yoghurt with strawberries, oats with sugar free maple syrup, low carb toast with avocado, egg white omelettes, almond milk protein smoothies.
Lunch: Chicken, turkey or tuna with salads, brown rice or stir-fry.
Dinner: Salmon, turkey or chicken with green vegetables and roast pumpkin.
Snacks: Nuts (not too many), low fat cottage cheese, thin rice or corn cakes, berries, low carb protein shakes, green tea.
Help the cravings: Sugar free jelly, sugar free lollies, piece of coles simply dark chocolate.
What I avoided: Eating a HUGE amount of carbs (bread, rice, etc), too much foods with a lot of fat, sauces full of sugar and/or fat, full fat dairy products.
Drinking heaps of water is also very very important! This also helps bloating. Try to drink 2-3L min.
I also found it important to have one cheat meal once a week to keep myself sane. This can also stop you from wanting to binge and over eat. My favourite cheat meal was sushi, ice-cream or a nice restaurant meal.
When I started to exercise I didn’t have access to a gym so I started off doing exercise at home. I would do lunges and walk, jog or ride for 45-60mins four times a week.
After a year of living my new life style of healthier eating and exercising, I was feeling so amazing and full of energy! I had lost roughly 12kg which I am soooo proud of!
- If you are wanting to lose weight quicker, be sure to seek professional advice.
Joining the gym after this was the next step to reaching my goal figure and I continued to lose weight until I reached my current weigh of 59kg!
My current fitness program is 4 days a week resistance training in gym to build lean muscle and 30 minutes cardio on my days not at gym.
Currently my goal is to lose fat and build lean muscle. I am on an IIFYM (if it fits your macros) diet and I am definitely enjoying the way of flexible dieting.
My diet has been professionally created to suit my needs for how I train and what my body needs.
As I don’t have a set diet, you can find out the different healthy foods I eat in the recipe section of our blog!
Have questions?
Please remember I am not a nutritionist or a qualified professional in health or fitness. This blog is about diet and exercise that helped me lose weight. This may not work or have the same outcome for you. I understand we are all different so please see a health professional before making changes to your diet and exercise to reach the best results for your body.
