Fat Loss
Eliza Inspired Me to Shed 50 Pounds in 5 Months
Here is what I learned about losing stubborn belly fat with five easy and actionable tips
Here I am with a new and powerful story.
This story has manifested by what I learned from an exciting and helpful piece posted by Dr Mehmet Yildiz in February 2021.
When I read this game-changing story, “Eliza Shed 30 Pounds in Six Months with Two Tips: And Never Gained Them Again”, I immediately got attracted to Eliza. Eliza’s journey resonated with me. I decided to follow her path.
I am much older than Eliza, but she seems to be wiser than me considering her fabulous progress and inspiration.
Like many stressful professionals, I struggled with fat loss for a long time. Indeed, too long! Like most of us, I’ve tried many diets. I lost a bit of weight with those diets but gained them back in no time. I’ve always felt like a moron after gaining weight. It was a waste of time and effort giving me empty feelings.
Genuinely, I have admired and even envied Eliza’s goals and persistence. But I don’t have a coach like Adrian. And honesty, I don’t want one either. I hate people telling me what to do.
This was the only thing that I did not like in Eliza’s approach. It is good for her but not for me. Thank you. Besides, I am much older than her and can follow the fat-loss recipe by myself. She gave me the success recipe, and I am thankful and grateful for it 🙏.
I am not into biohacking or those fancy futuristic things, but I follow stories posted to Euphoria by Dr Mehmet Yildiz who is a long time mentor to me.
Some of his articles have challenged my beliefs and changed my perceptions. Perhaps, I fancy the empowering ideas in those stories. Each story gives me new viewpoints. But I don’t have the vitality and enviable discipline of Dr MY.
I achieved my goals with inspiration and motivation from his insightful articles. Losing 50 pounds in such a short time makes me very happy.
Frankly, I had known all those things that Eliza mentioned before from my recent attempts but my beliefs always delayed me. Now, I feel obliged to share a couple of stupid beliefs that caused me to delay my success.
My wrong beliefs and assumptions
I stupidly believed and assumed that frequent meals would help me lose fat. This sounded so good, but apparently, was one of the culprits for my bulging belly, big butt, and love handles, fortunately have gone now. Thank God! And more thanks to Eliza for inspiration.
While I feel so stupid in believing this big lie, I am grateful that this crazy idea was debunked by caring people. Hopefully, innocent people won’t buy this myth anymore. Cutting snacks was the best thing I did for my well-being.
The other belief was meditation. I believed meditation was only for religious folks. I am far from being religious so never pursue that path.
Eliza inspired me in this journey reminding of me the story of Roger Bannister. As soon as Eliza broke this conceptual record, my friends and I achieved it too.
I feel the urge to share what I did exactly.
My regime has a slight variation to Eliza’s approach.
Actions that I took for this achievement
Action 1 — I cut snacks and ate only two meals a day
Eliza and Dr MY eat one meal a day, but OMAD does not suit my lifestyle. So, I eat two meals. I have a family. Kids need breakfast.
If I don’t eat, children won’t eat either. In addition, I love my veggie omelette in the morning. I can never have enough of it, especially with organic butter. I can eat fatty omelettes every day. With due respect to Dr MY, breakfast is an important meal to me.
We also eat dinner together. It is the only family time in this crazy world. I don’t like going to bed with an empty stomach. I tried skipping dinner a few times but lost my sleep.
Following the advice from Eliza, the only meal I could sacrifice was lunch. So, I eat my breakfast at 7 AM and have my dinner at 7 PM. I don’t eat anything in between. But have a few cups of coffee and tea with no sugar and milk before 4 PM.
This simple and easy meal sacrifice gives me 12 hours of fasting window during the day. I don’t eat and drink anything after 8 PM except water.
I assume this fasting window helped me keep my blood sugar and insulin under control. I experienced very mild ketosis but I am not fussing about it either. Most likely I reached a fat-adapted state as I don’t feel hungry during my fasting times.
Action 2 — I reduced carbs but increased healthy fats and proteins.
No more croissants, doughnuts, and ice cream desserts in my life!
I have a sweet tooth, but they are all gone now. I used to eat one or two croissants in my breakfast, three doughnuts at lunch, and a plate of dessert at dinner.
I still love ice cream so am now learning to do the popular keto one. The new recipe my friend gave me sounds good. It required butter, gelatine, egg yolks, cinnamon, and stevia as ingredients. I will keep you informed of my progress. Believe me, if I can give up desserts, most likely anyone else can.
So my new diet is close to ketogenic and paleo but not there yet. Like Eliza, I eat lots of colourful veggies with fish, chicken, or steak for dinner.
The only addition is eating butter. Like Eliza, I tripled my fat intake. Our neighbours give us free organic butter and eggs from their farm as I give free tutoring to their kids. I am fortunate and grateful for this opportunity.
Action 3 — I exercise a little with joy every day.
Perhaps this is another variation to Eliza’s regime.
I don’t go to the gym as I have no time for it. Besides, I hate it. Seriously the gym is not my cup of tea. Greasy machines, loud music, arrogant folks… Yuk!
I love music, dancing, and Pilates. I usually dance in front of the TV, and now, I can dance on the trampoline. I started dancing, carrying a few pounds of weight to strengthen my arm muscles.
Interestingly, I also learned to do a few push-ups. My arms are getting stronger. This pragmatic travel workout regime of Dr MY is so cool. These ten-minute workouts are easy and helpful. I’ve no more excuses for not doing physical activities.
Action 4 — I meditate 20 minutes daily.
Meditation is big for me now. Mindfulness has become a lifestyle. After introducing meditation to my life, I act more mindfully. I have even become more compassionate to my demanding kids.
Neglecting meditation was a mistake caused by stupid and ridiculous beliefs, as mentioned before. I thought meditation was a religious activity. I respect religious people but don’t do religion.
Good to know meditation has nothing to do with religion. It exceedingly helped me in this fat loss journey. Besides, my mood got better. I feel less stressed and more relaxed nowadays. Eliza was right about this.
Action 5 — I sleep at least 8 hours.
I was an idiot sacrificing my sleep because of my work and social events. I regret it much because I constantly felt hungry, stressed, and craved sweets when I did not sleep enough. Lack of quality sleep was the biggest culprit for my weight gain.
To compensate for my sleep deprivation, I used to drink several cups of strong coffee. But, unfortunately, too much caffeine affected my sleep quality. Most likely, I gained so much weight because of sleep deprivation for many years. Possibly my cortisol levels were hitting the roof.
For the last five months after reducing caffeine intake, I sleep like a baby. I don’t nap. I tried napping a few times at weekends, but it did not work for me. I know it works for others. Meditation helps me feel rested when I do not sleep enough.
That’s it really — no more secrets.
Honestly, none of these is secrets per se. We all know them. But our assumptions and wrong beliefs delay our success.
What is next for me and why?
I don’t want to lose more fat. I am at my ideal weight now. My goal is to maintain this fat percentage and keep my lean muscles.
I used to feel sluggish and exhausted a lot but I learned to address common causes of fatigue and got practical tips to boost my energy quickly, naturally, and sustainably.
Like anyone else, I like a defined body but I’m not into six or eight pack abs. It is too much effort for me in this age. I am happy with my recent one pack.
My ultimate goal is longevity, perhaps to live another twenty years. Using this abundant knowledge given to us by science, I want to increase my lifespan as much as possible.
As advised by Dr MY, I got my genes checked. There is a possibility to be a centenarian considering my ancestors. Keeping fingers crossed ! I learned about the importance of autophagy and will practice the techniques to initiate it. Hopefully 12 hour fasting, sauna, and cold showers will help to active my the SIRT2 genes.
Oddly enough, I now believe that autophagy and SIRT2 genes can improve my immunity by removing toxins from the body. It is my desire to improve cardiovascular health, keep my teeth healthy with no gum disease, prevent cancer, and delay Alzheimer’s risks. These debilitating diseases make me fear a lot.
Hopefully, these techniques will help me get rid of excess skin in my belly too. So I read this inspiring article by Dr MY with great interest on how he got rid of his loose skin after significant fat loss. The ideas in his article look challenging to me, but they seem to be doable. So I will give them a go. Hopefully, these loose skins will disappear in a few years. I am not in a hurry.
Regarding longevity, I have started joining the community sauna already. Hopefully I will find out ways to activate my longevity genes. In addition, I take gelatine, use epsom salts baths, and even ordered activated charcoal tablets to improve my gut health. I don’t want to have a leaky gut.
I have a business, enjoy working as a freelancer and an entrepreneur. So, I pay attention to my mental health, physical health and fitness by investing my time, money, and effort. However, I don’t take supplements but read a lot about the benefits of N-Acetyl Cysteine. I may as well ask my doctor whether it would suit my lifestyle.
After achieving my fat-loss goals that improved my health significantly, I am more open-minded than ever. I want to end my story with five actionable tips that helped me lose 50 pounds in five months in my senior years.
Takeaways
Assuming you are a healthy person with no metabolic issues:
1 — Cut snacks and initially try to eliminate one of the meals if it suits your lifestyle.
2 — Reduce carbs and increase healthy fat and protein if this approach suits your lifestyle (of course get advice from your healthcare professional).
3 — Do your favourite exercises with fun.
4 — Start meditating for at least 15 minutes a day.
5 — Invest in quality sleep seven to nine hours a day
Nothing new really in this list, is there? Possibly the only things are cutting snacks, reducing carbs a bit, and mediating. If I can do it, many people can too.
The biggest lesson for me was “Fat Loss Has Nothing To Do With Calories: Our hormones have the final say for fat burning.”. I learned Why Fat Loss Has Nothing to Do With Calories.
Here is an update from Eliza explaining why she undertook this regime.
Here are helpful fat loss stories I enjoyed
Three Tips to Eliminate Insulin Resistance and Shrink Waistline
Rewire the Brain to Melt Unwanted Belly Fat Preventing Obesity
Losing Fat by Understanding the Intricacies of Six Major Hormones
Three Hormonal Factors Preventing Fat Loss & Practical Tips to Solve Them
How a Single-Mum Reversed Her Obesity and Built up a Unicorn Business
Three Practical Tips to Become Fat-Adapted and Shorten Waistline
How Alberto Melted His Potbelly & Doubled Testosterone in a Year
The More Nutritious Fat Consumed the More Belly Fat Got Burned
This is my transformation and re-entry to a new world. I’d love to hear yours too. Thank you for reading my story.
This story is not health advice. I shared my personal experience for information purposes. If you have health issues preventing you from fat loss, please consult your healthcare professionals.
I am an editor of ILLUMINATION-Curated publication hosting high quality, engaging, and eclectic stories. If you are interested to contribute this vibrant publication, you may send a request via this weblink.
