Recently, I started working with a nutritionist to get healthier and eat better. I never understood why I remained overweight even though I ate so little. I always figured that the less I ate, the more weight I could lose.
Boy, was I wrong…
Three weeks ago I met with a nutritionist (a very expensive one!) so we could work out a plan that would get me on appropriate health levels for my height. As of the moment, I am slightly on the overweight scale and need to lose fat weight while gaining muscle weight.
I’ve tried many different diets and plans in the past, but I quickly got discouraged by them all… My life has been a see-saw battle of weight gain and weight loss. Sometimes I’m fit and feel good about myself, other times I feel overweight and make myself feel guilty because of it. But I’ve never been “thin”. Even at my fittest level (when I had abs forming), I was still called chubby by others. It hurt because we live in a stupid society where “chubby” is considered an insult, and after losing 20 kilos (44 lbs) and feeling so good about myself, to be told ‘it’s not good enough’ is heartbreaking.
This is me after a 20kg weight loss – I wrote about my exercises here
I’m 29 now, and I’ve reached a point where I’m less interested in the ‘looks’ side or the ‘judgement’ side and more interested in reaching a healthy lifestyle. Enter the expensive nutritionist.
We built a 5-6 month plan that I need to follow to the letter. After a few tests, we saw that I buen about 2000 calories a day when I’m mildly active (i.e. walking around at most). My current “diet” consists of eating about 1430 calories but you know what?? It’s an INTENSE amount of food.
I find myself cooking ALL DAY LONG to reach the amount of food I need to eat.
This is my current food intake for the day:
Breakfast:
- One 100ml yogurt
- One fruit (banana, apple, peach, etc)
Lunch:
- One big salad consisting of five different, full vegetables of my choice or 450 grams of green beans
- 200 grams of chicken breasts or 3 cups of chickpeas or 100 grams of tofu or 1 can of tuna
- 1 tbsp of olive oil
Mid-day snack:
- Two slices of whole wheat bread
- Two tablespoons of avocado
- 25 grams of cheese with 5% fat or lower
Dinner:
- 1 salad consisting of 3 different, full vegetables of my choice
- 200 grams of chicken breasts or 3 cups of chickpeas or 100 grams of tofu or 1 can of tuna (alternate with lunch)
- 100 grams of whole wheat rice or 100 grams of quinoa or 100 grams of lentils
- 1 egg
- 12 almonds or 10 olives
All this amount of food adds up to ONLY 1430 calories.
Now think of 1 slice of pizza – on its own, it can have 400 calories! What this all comes down to is food choices: either I could have 1 measly slice of pizza and not feel full or eat EVERYTHING listed in my huge dinner list above and be satisfied for the next few hours.
This is why we gain weight, people… we are eating less food but packed with more calories. We’re never satisfied because the volume of food is not enough!
I’m on week three and I’ve steadily lost about 3 kilos (6.6 lbs). Of course, I combine this huge food intake with cardio 3x a week + gym 3x a week. But the change in my body is insane… I can feel the clothes getting loser, I can feel my energy increasing, I can feel myself feeling better.
Do you put thought into your food choices? Have you changed your eating habits towards healthier options? Share with me below!
Thanks to nixxphotography from freedigitalphotos.net for the featured photo.
