I have struggled with obesity all my adult life. Anything over 192 pounds for me is considered obese. I am 5' 7" tall with what I consider a medium build frame. I don't have big bones...lol. My ideal weight is 150 pounds, which is what I weighed in this photo from 2017...
Me in 2017 at 150 Pounds
The interesting this is that just 6 months earlier on February 21, 2017, I weighed 215 pounds!!! By May 10th, just 10 weeks later, my weight was down to 158 Pounds! Yes, I lost 5 true pounds of weight each week for 10 weeks! By June 25th, my weight hit a low of 145.0 pounds. How did I do it? I starved myself and tried to walk as much as I could. My constant neck pain makes it difficult for me to walk sometimes, but I was able to walk enough to burn some calories. Most of all, which is extremely rare, I had an uncommon determination to do this. As many people can relate, I was in love with a woman and wanted to impress her. Sadly, she still rejected me and broke my heart anyway. But that was her decision alone. She lost out on a great guy who really genuinely loved her.
I kept the weight off throughout 2017 and 2018, but hadn't learned about proper eating habits yet. So I was eating a very restrictive diet of my favorite processed foods, and I was struggling and frustrated. By 2019 I was beginning to gain my weight back, failing to eat properly. I wish I had known then what I know now. So by 2020 I had gained all my weight back, weighing in at 208 pounds! Ouch! I was depressed and felt like a failure. I had a horrible doctor who was paranoid when I lost weight, saying he was worried, but then criticized me when I gained my weight back, not helping me at all. What a lousy doctor!
For the entire year of 2020 I tried fifty times at least to lose weight, but couldn't lose an ounce. I was so frustrated that I was able to lose 70 pounds in just 4 months in 2017, but now couldn't lose a single pound in a year! What had changed? I lost my motivation. Losing weight by starving yourself is the worst way to try to lose weight. When I lost 70 pounds in 2017, I was eating only 500 calories per day. When I felt a craving, I listened to my favorite music to motivate me. Since I love music, it is a powerful force on me. And then I would get out of the house and walk around Home Depot, the mall or along the ocean to get my mind off of eating. I drank LOTS of Japanese Green Tea, which I had read burns belly fat.
Okay, in 2020 I had had enough of my jerk doctor, and threatened to report the clinic for emotional abuse, because now my doctor was being horribly insensitive, calling me "obese." What a jerk! I didn't even say goodbye to him, after 8 years of tolerating his abuse! I don't regret that one bit. The Risk Assessment Department at the SDA Guam Clinic on the island of Guam made the decision to get rid of Dr. Miyagi. Good buy to bad rubbish!
I was assigned a new doctor, Dr. Timothy Arnott. This man was a blessing! Dr. Arnott didn't criticize me for being obese, he told me to watch a helpful YouTube video titled: "The Game Changers." Dr. Arnott did something that no other doctor ever cared enough to do, he inspired me to move toward eating a vegetarian diet, and showed me how. Here is his website (note that Dr. Arnott is a Seventh-Day Adventist, and I DON'T necessarily sanction or agree with his religious beliefs shown on his website, in the Bible Study drop-down area. I believe that SDA's are not born-again believers, but they are sweet and good people). I am sharing this webpage for it's health benefit information, which is invaluable. I highly encourage you to download Dr. Arnott's free handouts. They are invaluable, showing you exactly what to eat and not to eat to lose weight!
In 2021 I began eating a 75 vegetarian diet, but included some baked fish and chicken. I greatly cut back on red meats, and for several weeks didn't eat any red meat, to see how it would affect my blood tests. As a result, my triglycerides dropped from around 260 down to 112. My bad cholesterol (also over 200) greatly improved, but was still about 140 from eating fish and chicken. But the blood tests clearly showed how eating healthier foods greatly improves one's health. My weight over 5 months dropped from about 202 pounds down to 177 pounds. At this lower weight, my blood glucose tested at 5.2 mg/dl, which is perfect! To be transparent, Dr. Sten Ekberg doesn't like The Game Changers video. But despite critics, it cannot be denied that eating a mostly vegetarian style diet is good sense. I actually agree with Dr. Ekberg that eating some meat is good for our health, which is what I do. So I am an omnivore.
Okay, without further ado, the best way that I have found to lose weight, which is what I am doing now and it is working, is the same weight I lost weight in 2021. I ATE FOOD to lose weight! That sounds like a contradictory statement, but it really works. They key is to eat the right foods. I lost about 25 pounds in 5 months by eating something small every 3 hours. That is so important to do! I always failed in the year of 2020 at trying to stop eating to lose weight. My cravings were too strong and I binged every time by the end of the day. What I did in 2017 is EXTREMELY hard to do. Less than 5% of people have that kind of will power. I lost it after 2017. But I have learned that a better, and the best way to lose weight, is to eat a healthy diet.
Today for breakfast (which is what I do every day) I used my Nutri-Ninja to mix 2 Tablespoons of flaxseeds (I get mine from Walmart near the cooking oils area). Flaxseeds are high in fiber, minerals and Omega 3 acids. I also mixed 1 red apple today. I added cold water, a handful of almonds and quinoa, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 2 small mandarin oranges. That is a very healthy drink to start my day. Sometimes I'll add different color grapes (green, red or purple). I change the mix around to add variety and different nutrients to my diet. But I always include an apple a day and 1 or 2 Tablespoons of whole flaxseeds.
For lunch today I ate a big salad. I bought a large bowl at Walmart to make my big salads. I take 1 entire Romain heart of lettuce. I then dice and add 1 or 2 dill pickles, some tamed jalapenos in a jar, some roasted red bell peppers in ajar. I also liberally sprinkled on my salad a mix of chia, hemp and flax seeds from a big quart-sized container that I bought at Walmart. When I eat a can of sardines, in extra virgin olive oil, as I did today, I pour the leftover oil over my salad. Olive oil is good for your body, but limit it to 1 Tablespoon per day, because just 1 Tablespoon has 120 calories.
I feel full. I do count my daily calories, which I aim for 1,000 to 1,500 total. That causes me to lose 1 to 2 pounds of wright per week, and it is SUSTAINABLE (because I am eating and enjoying my meals). I also drank a second smoothie today, in which I mixed 1 raw egg (yoke and all), 1 teaspoon of nutmeg, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 cup of almond milk (I like sweetened), 1 cup of mineral water, 1 scoop of vanilla isolate whey protein (I bought mine at GNC). It tastes like eggnog!
An important thing to help me lose weight is to make sure that I eat a HIGH PROTEIN diet. Protein helps the body feel full longer, helps to lose weight, preserves muscle tissue, raises metabolism, and uses (burns) 40% of it's own content to digest. You need protein. Some other healthy sources of protein in beans, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt (regular yogurt has too much sugar), brown eggs (high protein content makes them brown), fish, chicken, beef and quinoa (pronounced KEEN-WAH). I add quinoa to my smoothie mixes in the Nutri-Ninja (I bought my 1,100 watt unit from Amazon and I love it).
CONSISTENCY is the key to losing weight over time. By the way, I didn't go walking or exercise at all to lose 25 pounds over 5 months in 2021. When I starved myself in 2017, I was going stir crazy in the house and had to go walking to keep my sanity...lol. But in 2021, I was satisfied in my belly and just stayed home while losing weight. This is a slower way to lose weight, but a sure way! Best of all, it is very sustainable (meaning you can keep doing it easily for the rest of your life). I have learned that whatever I eat today, I will crave tomorrow. So if I eat corn dogs, burgers, pizza and deep fried foods (which I love), I will crave them tomorrow and I WILL GAIN WEIGHT.
I hate to admit this, but at times when I was struggling between eating healthy and eating processed foods, the healthy foods couldn't even compare. I ended up eating all the processed foods, and sadly, literally throwing all the healthy foods (lettuce, tomatoes, grapes, apples and other veggies into the garbage can when they spoiled after week of sitting). That is how much I have struggled with eating properly. That is how powerfully addictive junk food is! So, there is no magic cure to lose weight. You will find umpteen LYING websites that will LIE TO YOU, advertising that you can eat anything you want, and as much as you want, and still lose weight if you give them your money to learn their secret. I wish our U.S and state governments would prosecute those con artists for blatant false advertising!!! They need to also prosecute Pat Robertson and his fraudulent 700 Club, who persistently have made THOUSANDS of false claims of divine healing on national TV, which can easily be proven false by any honest medical professional.
To lose weight, you have to have some degree of will power (not to tolerate hunger pains, but to simply eat the right foods). I can eat whenever I feel hungry and still lose weight, if I will eat only certain low-calorie density foods. Here is a list of foods that I eat when I get hungry, to lose weight:
- pickles (a whole jar is only 5 calories. I try to always put pickles on my salads)
- eggs (I ate 5 fried eggs and a ribeye steak the other day, which didn't raise my glucose even 1 point. When I tested my blood sugar 2 hours later, it went from 123 mg/dl down to 121 mg/dl. I actually dropped 2 points). I like brown eggs from cage-less, free range (free to run and play) raised, happy chickens. Some people run from anything fried, but I fry my eggs on medium heat in either flaxseed oil, ghee or real butter (never margarine).
- cottage cheese (it is very low in calories and high in protein.
- Greek yogurt
- whole grain crackers topped with lots of mild salsa and some guacamole mix. A whole container of Mexican salsa only contains 75 calories.
- fruit and vegetable smoothies (I buy bags of pre-cut smoothie veggies and fruits at Walmart in the frozen health section. Each big bag contain 4 small separately sealed bags. One bag makes one smoothie, which has 150 calories each Good stuff! I get hungry late at night, so this is when I drink my smoothie, which makes me feel full.
- a big Romain lettuce salad (topped with olives, jalapenos from a jar, fresh mushrooms, carrots, grape tomatoes, roasted red peppers from a jar, 1 teaspoon of olive oil, I love adding 1 teaspoon of toasted sesame oil over my salad, et cetera. Good stuff! I eat the salad very slowly sitting at my small portable table, while watching TV.
- sliced chicken or turkey breast. A 1/2 pound container of either has only 400 calories.
- drink 3 to 4 bottles of mineral water per day (I get mine, Dasani, from Walmart of other local stores. I haven't drank tap water from the sink for the past 18 years. I don't trust tap water. You don't know what lurches out of all those buried pipes from the water company, and all the toxic chemicals that they add to get it to you! On Guam the tap water smelled so bad, that you could tell the pipes were filled with rust and rot!!!
- old-fashioned oatmeal (a great source of fiber and minerals). Never buy instant, which is processed and quickly digests into the body, making you feel hungry sooner. Old-fashioned oatmeal is less processed, which is why it takes longer to cook, but it makes you feel full longer (because whole grain takes longer to digest).
- Ezekiel bread (it is flourless whole grain bread found in the freezer at Walmart. Great stuff! I like to BBQ a beef burger, and then eat it on Ezekiel bread with 1 slice of sharp cheddar cheese (no ketchup or mustard). I often use only 1 slice of Ezekiel bread, cutting it in half into two triangles. This lets me enjoy the succulent BBQ ground beef and it is an entirely different experience than eating a normal processed bun loaded with condiments. I have really started enjoying the beef by itself. I do use plenty of seasonings! When losing weight, you SHOULD make extensive use of seasonings.
- ribeye steak (but not every day). Beef is high in calories and raises bad cholesterol, so once in a while is best. Eating steak is okay if you eat smaller portions (8 ounce or less).
- dark chocolate (only 70% cocoa or higher, and no more than 2 squares per day)
- sweet potatoes (each medium sized potato only has 112 calories and is low glycemic, unlike regular potatoes which are high glycemic. A great way to lose weight!)
- Unsweetened Green Tea (helps burn body fat. I buy it a case at a time at Asian stores)
- pork skins (they won't raise your glucose level, and add 35 grams per bag of protein to your diet. Not the healthiest, but if you need some kind of snack, I like these.)
- Hardened cheese (parmesan, Gouda, swiss, cheddar; but only eat them in limited quantities)
- Avocados (I buy small Haas avocados by the bag. I try to eat one per day, which are loaded with vitamins and fiber. Sometimes I'll dice them and add to my daily salad)
- shrimp and seafood (really great for losing weight, high in protein, low in calories but filling)
- beans (this should really be first on the list, because beans are superfood! Beans are very high in protein and fiber, unlike meats which are high in protein but have ZERO fiber. Beans WILL help you to lose weight. I try to eat 2/3 cup 4 times a week, dry measure, which produces 3 cups when cooked for each meal. I buy bags of 15 variety beans at Walmart)
That is a list of what I am mostly eating now to lose weight, and I am, slowly but surely. When I moved from Guam to Pensacola in July of 2021, I weighed 177 pounds. But I had a rough time for several months, surviving out of a suitcase in a rundown hotel, and I became depressed, eating fast foods. So I gained 30 pounds! I am determined now to continue doing the preceding diet until I get down between 150 to 175 pounds, and stay there this time. The culprit every time I lose weight is eating excessive refined CARBOHYDRATES!!! In other words, processed foods! Anything that comes in a box (pizza, corndogs, TV dinners) are considered processed (with a few exceptions).
Anyway, I like to share the things I learn with others, just in case you are also trying to improve your health. If you are overweight and fail every time to lose weight, the best thing you can do to get started is just start eating healthy. The most important thing, to me, is to make sure to start off each and every day by eating something very healthy. I start each day off with a red apple and some whole flaxseeds in my Nutri-Ninja, mixed with cold water. I might add a little cinnamon, pecans, quinoa, et cetera. I usually like to eat one small avocado too.
By eating healthy in the morning, I am much less likely to throw a pizza in the oven for lunch. I do reward myself once a week with pizza. Use your favorite foods as a reward for eating healthy. If you're like me, your favorite foods will never be the healthy foods...lol. I'm sorry, but a Tombstone pizza will always appeal to me more than a bowl of oatmeal. This is where discipline comes into the picture. It requires some discipline to lose weight, to make yourself eat foods you really don't prefer over the bad one's that you do. But the very good news is that you don't need to go hungry or starve yourself to lose weight, you simply need to eat healthy foods that are low to medium calorie density.
So, in summary, the best way to lose weight is slow and steady, by eating a healthy variety of highly nutritional foods. Slow and steady wins the race, said the tortoise.
