✋🏾 5 Things That Helped Me Lose 6.5KG

I stepped on my scale this morning and to my delight, it read 103.00 Kilograms. On the first day of making DTube videos - at the start of this month - I weighed in at about 109.5 Kilograms. So, that’s 6.5 Kg down in a matter of 5 weeks!

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I look in the mirror and can finally see the difference. My face is smaller (narrower), thanks to less inflated cheeks. The Santa belly is also mostly gone now, even though there’s still a bit to go here and there. You can probably see these changes by looking at my first few videos on DTube :)

Yes, I’ve now moved to the difficult part when the weight doesn’t drop easily anymore. It may even go up to reflect the increased muscle mass, but I’m up for it. It’s going to be a struggle to get under that 100Kg threshold, but I’m kind of enjoying the challenge.

The main adjustment I’ve made to achieve the weight loss, is watching what I eat. Like many people have pointed out, nutrition is key when trying to lose weight. Exercise is great, but it’s function is more to keep us young and strong physically and mentally. That is why you have so many people that are actually extremely fit, but are overweight and vice-versa.

Talking of nutrition, all I’ve done is cut out, as much as I can, the harmful stuff. The number one culprit is sugar. The second the processed, refined grain. Thus, my mouth came nowhere near things like bread, cake, rice, pasta or potatoes in the last month. You can call it a less-strict version of the low-carb / keto thing everyone is doing these days.

Sadly, the aforementioned forbidden food items are the ingredients in my favourite foods; cheese on toast ❤️, chips❣️, Victoria sponge cake 😍, and so on.

Apart from changing what I was eating, I also changed how. There is a huge psychological hurdle to scale when adjusting diet. For example, a lot of hunger is really thirst. The perceived portion size of the meal in front of you usually contributes to how full you think you are after eating it. Below are some of the things that helped.

Portion control

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please excuse my unkempt stove surface :)

This is a classic no-brainer. Reducing the sheer volume of food I was eating helped reduce the amount of excess calories my body had to store away as fat in my abdomen. However, I made sure not to starve myself, because I didn’t want to switch my body into starvation mode. That’s bad.

To help portion control, I used smaller bowls, plates, and even pots and pans. Have you ever experienced that in a restaurant that uses oversized plates to serve food? The portion always looks tiny, until you’re halfway through the meal and think, ‘ah, actually I’m getting full’.

Less food looks like more food on a smaller plate. 🤘🏾

Kale Chips

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Who needs a mouse, when you've got kale chips?

Like many of you on here, I spend a lot of time in front of my computer typing way, or editing video. This is the perfect scenario to get the munchies and snack away. Before I started with the weight loss thing, I would snack on potato crisps, shortbread and cake! While there’s nothing wrong with the occasional bag of crisps or a bite of a good cake, when you do it virtually everyday, it becomes a problem.

I have replaced those with crispy dried kale leaves, which are healthy and taste surprisingly good. They are very lightly flavoured with salt and pepper. Very lightly.

Coffee

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Oh coffee, I adore you

Well, nothing has changed here. I had coffee before the regime started, and I have coffee now. Ok, so I have reduced the volume of coffee I drink, but the overall volume of fluid has gone up - augmented by tea and plain water. However, my mug of coffee is a great comfort to me as I sit typing on my computer - no matter what time of the day. It is especially desired in these winter months.

Vegetable Juice

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Doesn't taste that great, but I'm used to it now :)

To ensure I’m still getting all my vital minerals and vitamins, I drink a glass of juice once every two days or so. The juice is usually about 80% vegetables and 20% fruits and others. The fruits are usually lemons / limes, oranges or berries. I am highly conscious of the high sugar content of juiced fruits so I keep that to a minimum. Besides, I also eat whole fruits like plums and tomatoes. Yes, tomatoes are fruits :) 🍅

Healthy cup cakes

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Not as good as the real thing, but not bad ;)

These are kind of experimental, but they are home made healthy cupcakes. The ingredients are always different, but the general idea is the same. They’re based on coconut, almonds, chia seeds, dates and other such fancy foodie ingredients that don’t spike my blood sugar. I also only eat them once in a while, just to get the feeling that I’m eating cake. To be honest, even thought they do taste good, they are NOTHING compared to the real thing. I have never found anything healthy that tastes as good as a lemon drizzle or carrot cake. I don’t think there ever will be.

I must mention also, that I do shadow boxing and skipping (jump-rope) for cardio, and I walk long distances for physical activity. One has to have a holistic approach to these things.

If you have any tips for me, let’s hear them in the comments. Many thanks 🙏🏿

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Peace and Love ✌🏿
Adé

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