How I Lost Weight Eating Real Food {More Than Ever!}
How I lost weight eating real food – more than ever! Find out the five easy lifestyle changes to lose weight that you can do, too.
Thank you for all your wonderful comments and feedback toĀ my weighty issue! When IĀ decided to do a series here on AOC about weight loss and real food, it was because of this – if I can help even one person get healthy and feel better by my story and tips, it’s beyond worth sharing my struggles. As hard as those are sometimes to tell.
This series will consist of the real, doable steps I took that you can, too, to get to your healthy weight eating delicious whole foods. But first, the pants.
Before I go any further, I want to share about the pants I used for the “big pants” in the series banner. These are a sporty pair of pants from the Gap that I’ve had for a number of years. After my daughter saw these pictures she said, “Yeah, but those were loose on you before, weren’t they?”
Um, no. When I bought these pants they were on the edge of my size, if you know what I mean. I should’ve bought a large, but was so happy to fit into a medium (hello, GAP, this is a medium?), that I bought them, even though they were snug.
Which became tight after washing. So I hung them to dry (classic technique to help your tight clothes fit looser), and then would have to do some deep knee bends after putting them on to stretch them a bit further. But I was always uncomfortable in them, because I knew they were tight.
We took a number of pictures to try and illustrate how baggy these pants are on me now, but it just doesn’t show up very well. Take my word for it – there’s a lot of fabric there.Ā And realizing how big these pants are now confirmed to me that this time I’ve reached a new milestone – this is real weight loss, that works in real life, with real food.
Oh yeah, these fit much better. Except that pose is so.not.me. Brian just thinks “after” poses should look like this, ha!
This is more me. It shows off my “pear” shape more, but it is what it is. I think it also shows that I’m normal – nowhere near the realm of too skinny. Just right for me and where my body wants to be – when it’s being fed real food.
Sure wish I had known that years ago!
How I Lost Weight Eating Real Food
Here are 5 lifestyle-changing things I did – and continue to do – to help me be at my best weight ever:
- Cut portions in half. Everything, even fruits and vegetables, in order to get out of that “all-you-can-eat” mentality. I will do another post with more detail and showing what these portions look like (which you can now read here), but suffice it to say that my portion sizes had crept up over the years and needed to be cut back. It just seemed the most simpleĀ for me to tell myself to halve everything. I’d already tried diets where you write things down, weigh, and measure your food. These things haven’t beenĀ sustainable for me. But eating half a hamburger or only one slice of pizza? Easy. And it’s still easy two years later. But I’m not going to lie –Ā eating smaller portions is a lifestyle change that you have to be diligent aboutĀ because TV, magazines, blogs, and restaurants constantly skew the portions to bigger amounts.
- Eat real, whole foods. I cook with butter, bacon, coconut oil and olive oil – a glance at AOC’s recipe index will give you more of an idea how we eat. I’ve moved to more and more whole foods over the life of this blog, including whole milk and cream, cheeses, and eggs (of course, vegetables and fruits are part of this, too, but that’s not the different part!) and I lost weight eating these foods. That didn’t change. BUT- I was eating these foods a year ago when I was at a weight I wasn’t comfortable with, so this alone won’t help you lose weight. My point is, real food should be one part of a healthy, sustainable, weight loss plan. Weird, processed, fake, or nutritionally light “diet”foods should not.
- Limit carbs and focus on protein. Not Atkins, South Beach, or “paleo,” but when a choice of food needs to be made, I go for a protein. Nuts have become my go-to snack instead of crackers or toast. Half an apple alone never satisfied me in the past, but one with a tablespoon of nut butter will. I don’t care about the buns on hamburgers, so it’s easy for me to use a lettuce leaf instead. We don’t eat a lot of pasta, and when we do, I try to have more sauce than noodles. I make sure I eat the protein and vegetable in a meal first, so if I get full, it’s the carb I’ll leave. But when I do want the carb, I eat it (but just half!). I find that the protein and good fat fills and satisfies me, so I don’t need to overload on carbs.
- Cut down on sweets. Well…duh. This one is typical, I guess. Except that I didn’t cut sugar out altogether. We still end our meals with a piece of dark chocolate. Some nights we have a few chocolate chips (about 1/8 cup measured out) when we’re watching TV and once a week we have ice cream (often homemade with real cream- and no machine). I’ve never gone to someone’s house and refused dessert saying, “sorry, I’m dieting.” I have a very small portion and then I’m satisfied. See what I mean about real life, real food, and really sustainable?
- Use easy “rules” and tricks. I’ve developed some habits that work for me- things I either really thought about or that have developed over the last year and work well towards losing weight and keeping it off.
In fact, I believe that adopting these techniques (or similar ones that work for you) are so important to making healthy lifestyle changes that are sustainable that I’m going into detail in the next installment of Losing Weight With Real, Whole Foods: Tips, Tricks, and Techniques to Help You Lose Weight.
In the meantime…thoughts? Do you agree with the five lifestyle changes that helped me lose weight with real food or disagree? What would you add to the list that has worked for you?
Read the other articles in the series on Losing Weight with Real, Whole Foods:
- A Weighty IssueĀ – My history with weight and body image
- Tips, Tricks, and Techniques For Weight Loss
- More Tips, Tricks, and Techniques For Weight Loss
- Portion Control: Real Life, Real Food
- Is Exercise Necessary For Weight Loss?
- A Simple, Easy Workout {+ Printable}
This is great! I have done a similar thing at age 65 and lost about 15 pounds which I am maintaining and feeling good about! I have always eaten whole foods, but focusing on protein, cutting down on carbs and especially sugar, not shying away from fats (our bodies need it!), concentrating on lots of veggies, and intermittent fasting have been lifestyle changes that work for me. I also walk regularly and do some strength exercises. I always gain a little over the holidays but know it will come off when I get back to my routine!
I agree with this plan, though we have been so conditioned to avoid full fat milk and cream etc. due to the risk of higher cholesterol that I canāt seem to make the switch from fat free comfortably. Anyone else concerned in this regard? I do have to watch my cholesterol. Iām over 65.
Here’s a good article on this, Pam: https://time.com/collection/guide-to-weight-loss/4279538/low-fat-milk-vs-whole-milk/
I especially agree with this quote from the article: “[It’s] one more piece of evidence showing that we really need to stop making recommendations about food based on theories about one nutrient in food. Itās crucial at this time to understand that itās about food as a whole, and not about single nutrients.ā
Hope that’s helpful!
Thank you for the article, Jamie! Amazing to read!
First, Iām 77 years old. Mother of 4 children (2 of which are step-children that we raised), grandmother of 6 and great grandmother of 4-so far. I weighed 98 lbs in high school & was NOT skinny (Iām 5ā tall). After my second pregnancy, I weighed 130 lbs. I played volleyball 2 nights a week. I ate anything & everything I could get my hands on. Slowly, my weight crept to 180 lbs. I did Whole30 and lost 40 lbs. I still somewhat follow the guidelines & have lost another 10 lbs. after stopping volleyball. I would like to lose 10 more. Iām somewhat lactose intolerant (canāt drink milk, but can eat yogurt & cheese). I cannot tolerate the ātolā artificial sweeteners at all. I prefer real proteins, fats, veggies & sugar. My motto: everything in moderation. I was taught to visually weigh foods (palm of hand, tip of thumb etc), which has helped to eat correct portions.
That’s a great tip to use visuals like that to weigh and measure foods, Marge! Thanks for your input. š
Yes! That sounds just like me, Susan – gaining a bit around the holidays and then getting back on track.
That’s one of the reasons it’s lasted so long for me – if I thought I couldn’t have my favorite holiday treats (in moderation), then I’d toss in the towel.š
I do some fasting and regular strength and walking, too – basically whatever I need to do to feel strong and maintain a healthy weight.
Hello Jami,
I agree with your weight loss program. I could have written my story and it would have sounded like yours. I am age 79 and at an annual doctor visit was told that I had type 2 diabetes. I refused to have that. So, I went home with a goal of 25 lb weight loss. I stopped eating anything white, like sugar, rice, flour. I stopped all sugar. I did, however, eat a few sugar free candy pieces, one a day. That helped me stop eating sugar. It was very hard but in 3 months, I lost 17 pounds, eating just like you explained in your article. I also took Shaklee Glucose Regulation Complex. I was checked in 3 months and had a great check up. I am no longer in the Type2 diabetic range. I eat the super foods every day with lots of protein and great vegetables. I eat few carbs. I still want to loose more weight so I am still on my journey to reach that 25 lb loss goal. Your plan really works.
What an encouraging story, Diane!
And I absolutely love your refusal to just keep going on – wow, good for you!
Hi Jami! I love this weight loss series and keep coming back to reread it as a refresher every so often. Eating good, real foods in smaller portions is the only diet that I can actually be excited about and not feel deprived. This time as I was rereading, I found myself wondering what kind of dark chocolate you like. There are so many kinds at the store and the few I’ve tried vary a lot in taste, so I’m curious… can you share your favorite(s)?
Oh – and do you use whole milk, skim, or something in between with your granola?
Whole milk all the way! I grew up on skim, and used 1% and 2% most of my adult life until learning about whole foods and good fats. I switched to whole and noticed not one difference in my weight, but I was enjoying the food (and coffee/tea!) more and felt fuller for longer.
It’s my preference, but definitely experiment with what works for you.š
I’m going to try it! I think it would be much more tasty with the granola. Thanks!
I’m so glad this is still helpful for you, Dawn!
We really like Trader Joe’s big 72% dark chocolate bar – we cut them up and keep them in a jar to have after meals.
We’ve tried lots of kinds over the years and now we’re used to darker chocolate so we stick with things in the 70% range. We have found 80%+ is just too bitter even for us, ha!
Oh, I’m glad you said so. For a while I was trying to make myself like the 85% dark, but it wasn’t really working! I’ve heard people say that it isn’t really dark if it’s not at least 80%, but I”ve gotta believe that there’s still some benefit to the 72%, which is much more palatable. I’ll have to try that Trader Joes one. Thanks!
Yes! There’s no point in it if you don’t enjoy it. š