Dying to be Skinny

So some of you may not know this...but my whole teenage life, I weighed about 118lbs. When I took on a sedentary position at a medical office, I gained 25lbs in the first year. After that, it has been a steady 10lb increase every year. Top that off with getting married, having babies....you could only imagine the absolute horror on my face when I stepped on the scale during the last week of pregnancy with my second son.

204 pounds.

I always used to joke that if i ever hit 200lbs, I would kill myself. Sounds a bit much, I know. I never meant it literally. But I did think that at my height and build, 200 looks an awful lot like Violet Beauregard from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. See photo below for an almost exact depiction...

Okay, so not exactly like this.... as I'm not blue.

Anyways, after I delivered my son in January 2016 - and was back down to about 180lbs - I promised myself that during my 1 year maternity leave, I would get down to a healthy weight of 135lbs. I had I had a game plan. This had to work! It's fool proof!

It is now the September, and I am currently weighing in at 184lbs. Way to go me...
So the NEW goal is to get down to 150lbs before I returned to work in January (lol).

So what is it going to take to get to my new goal weight? I've done fad diets before, and none of them worked. Mainly because I would binge eat by lunch while only 2 days in... I needed to try something different this time. What has always worked for many people that doesn't necessarily need a butt load of exercise? Because, lets be honest...I had to Google the word exercise for spelling purposes.

Should I do the ABC diet? 2,4,6,8? So many anorexic diets to choose from....but it what elze?? Oh, I know...Counting calories!

I set out a goal for myself to consume no more than 500 calories a day. DONT EXIT THE PAGE YET! 500 VERY large and filling calories! If I ate more than that, I had to get on my air stepper and work off the surplus. The first day was not so bad, because I think seeing myself in a photo during labor day weekend had me feeling way too determined to want to eat anything anyways.

Here's how my first week went:

Starting weight 184lbs

September 6 - 182.5
September 7 - 180.2
September 8 - 179.5
September 9 - 178.8
September 10 - 177.6
September 11 - 176.8
September 12 - 175.8
Total Lost: 8.2 lbs

Now I gotta be honest, the following weekend I ate like a piglet at 2 family events. The morning after those 2 days, I was up 3lbs. But I thought to myself....not bad at all...I expected to put it ALL back on, so this was a bonus. Needless to say, my motivation was there.

Game Plan:

I would eat any and everything I wanted so long as it stayed within my caloric limits. If I couldn't add it up on MyFitnessPal, I was not going to eat it. And here is where this blog comes into play. I had to find new and creative ways of making big meals (cause I am always hungry) that would stay within that target range, and help me lose weight. This was not as hard as I thought at all.

Now because I CAN eat anything I want, I don't feel as restricted, which always made me binge eat shortly after I gave up. If I want to eat a cookie, I can have it. But that means I'm giving up 70 calories of my daily allowance. Will it satisfy me? Probably not. Will it satisfy the craving so I don't binge eat later? Absolutely. This is what makes this diet different. You don't have to restrict. Eat whatever. Just count everything!

There are no other rules other than...stay within the 500 calorie limit!

Now I know many of you will comment on how this is very unhealthy and leads to anorexia and blah blah blah. But listen, to each their own. Its a great jump start to your weight loss journey even if you only did it for 2 days or 1 week! For me, this was a great head start and definitely has me motivated and ready to lose the rest of this excess I've weight. Now I can't guarantee I will stay eating 500 calories. But maybe once a week in addition to exercise and a a restricted diet.

Now if you are an avid fad-diet-trier (you like that one?), or ABC diet lover, then these recipes should be a God send to you, seeing as to how your family will be amazed at how much you're eating, all the while keeping your calories super low. a HUGE salad of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and onions has practically no calories. Top it with your protein of choice and low cal dressing, and you've got a meal that looks like it should be 500 and up, but its really about 200-250 calories! Don't make stupid choices. I find the bigger the meal (fill it with low calorie veggies and protein) will be ridiculously filling.

Don't forget to chug at least 2 liters of water throughout the day!

So stay tuned, and don't forget to subscribe! Because I will be sharing with you some super low cal recipes that you may not find on pinterest. I know my photos aren't professional, and the meals may not be GOURMET. But hey, it beats eating a celery stick and a bag of skittles for the day and praying to lose weight and not be hungry. =)