CUT THE CARBS TO NORMALIZE YOUR SUGAR
Weight Loss — How I Lost 50 Pounds & Kept It off with a Low-Carb Diet.
Light exercise and weight loss can keep you healthier with less stress.
In an article by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Obesity Is Common, Serious, and Costly, they warn that obesity is prevalent in 39.8 percent of Americans, and obesity leads to diabetes, stroke and heart disease, which are three of the leading causes of early mortality.
Weight loss is as much mental as it is diet and exercise. You should prepare for weight loss the same way you train for a race — a marathon, not a sprint.
Set a Realistic Weightloss Goal with a Target Weight Date
First, you’ll need to set a realistic goal. Pick a target weight and a date that you would like to meet that goal.
Second, break your goal down into smaller chunks that are easy to measure.
I set a goal to go from 240 down to 180, but even thinking about losing 60 pounds seemed too difficult. Therefore, I would advise a 7 to 10-day goal instead.
Then, make sure you have the proper tools for success. Plan your menu before you shop for the week. With a list, chances are you won’t buy a lot of things that are not on your diet.
Stay on Track
Keep an accurate bathroom scale handy and use it every morning before you start eating and drinking. It’s a good feeling to look at your scale and know you are making progress.
However, keep in mind that you will have days where you don’t lose, or you might even gain a pound or two. It happens to everyone.
Use a Low-Carb or Keto Diet, Coupled with TRE or Intermittent Fasting, to Continue Weight Loss and Eat Healthier
Yes, there is a difference between the low carb and Keto Diet, so look online and decide which one that’s best for you. Some prefer to mix in Intermittent Fasting or ten-hour restrictive (TRE) three days a week. The TRE is what it sounds like; you can only eat for ten hours per day.
Use the Ten-Hour Time Restricted-Eating (TRE) Plan to Improve CV Disease, Diabetes, & Stroke
Many Americans start eating between 6 and 7 am with their daily morning coffee and continue to eat for the next 15–18 hours, with many snacks during that timeframe, often ending with a bedtime snack.
A study conducted by the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases at UC San Diego and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies shows that using a 10-hour TRE plan can help you to lose a substantial amount of weight and enhance your overall quality of life.
Say you start at 7 am, you cannot eat anymore after 5 pm, you cannot eat until 7 am again. So, many push their first meal further into the day so they can have a social dinner or enjoy happy hour (because there are lots of low carb beers now). If you start at 9 am you can eat until 7 pm.
Why Low Carb or Keto?
I use a low carb diet and occasional intermittent fasting. I use intermittent fasting occasionally when I am having a difficult time reaching a weight goal. But, I prefer low carb because I am never hungry. One of the most difficult things about dieting is being hungry all the time.
When I was getting ready to have disk decompression surgery, I discovered my A1C was high, and diabetes runs in my family, so it was an easy decision for me to do away with carbs.
Great Recipes & Meals
Another thing I like about a low carb diet (Keto too) is I don’t have to worry about counting calories. I can go out to dinner with family or friends, and still eat a lot, just cut out the carbs. I can have a big steak, veggies, and a family-sized salad, minus the baked, fried, or mashed potatoes and gravy.
With a low carb or Keto diet (the difference is that Keto looks at net carbs and is a little more complicated), you must leave out the sugar, pasta, potatoes, rice, and other high starch items off your plate.
Most of the time, I like an omelet. There are so many things you can do with an omelet. At home, I make pizza omelets. I squirt a little pizza sauce, lots of mozzarella cheese, and pepperoni, or a meat lover’s pizza omelet.
Search the web to find the one right for your needs. I really love this diet because I can eat a lot and not go around hungry! Make sure to eat lots of low carb vegetables with every meal to keep your colon clean. Too much meat and cheese can bind you up, and that’s not good.
Salads & “Bread”
However, meat and cheese salads are great. I really like Blackened Chicken and Avocado. Plus, I make the Harvest Cobb Salad pictured above two or three times a week. There is so much goodness in a Cobb Salad. Boiled eggs, avocado, grilled chicken (if I’m in a hurry, I pick up some “Chooks to Go” at the grocery store), bacon, apples, nuts, and more.
But you can find bunches of low carb or Keto recipes online. This is a good source for 30 Quick Low-Carb Recipes.
If you’re like me, one of the hardest things to give up was bread, try this 4 Ingredient Low-Carb Cloud Bread Recipe.
Another bread replacement to consider is a Keto Chaffle. Some people say it’s too eggy, but what do they know? You can make it with just two ingredients, cheddar cheese, and eggs and pour it onto a waffle iron or add crumbled bacon or diced jalapeno.
My absolute favorite is a Philly Cheesesteak Chaffle! OMG! But yeah, I make a mean Reuben Chaffle too. I use a lot of thin-sliced Pastrami, Swiss cheese, Sour Kraut, and a little Thousand Island Dressing.
Let Exercise Help You Reach Your Weight Loss Goals
I start my day with stretching and a liter of water while I am doing my 45-minute walk on the treadmill to wash out the toxins before I even have my coffee.
I got this idea from the Berkey article, Drink Water First Thing in the Morning! Here’s [Are] 10 Amazing Benefits You Get. Besides the immediate benefit of rehydrating after six or eight hours of sleep, all those toxins in your body get rinsed out.
I begin my day with some light stretching and then walk for 45 minutes. I end my day the same way with a 45-minute walk. I also started with 10 or 12 light push-ups with my hands against the wall and a few crunches throughout the day to tone my muscles as I lost weight.
I just recently bought a Sit-Stand Desk Converter. Hopefully, that will help as well. As writers everywhere know, we sit way too much, a standing desk is an excellent option and helps with blood circulation.
Weight loss has never been this easy! Many areas even have low carb and Keto meals you can get delivered. However, talk to your doctor or nutritionist before you start any new weight loss program.
References:
2. https://www.webmd.com/diabetes/qa/what-are-ketones
3. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/6-ways-to-do-intermittent-fasting
4. https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html
5. https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJM199710023371407
6. https://damndelicious.net/2014/09/22/harvest-cobb-salad/print/
7. https://greenandketo.com/easy-keto-chaffle-recipe
About Me
Stephen Dalton is a retired US Army First Sergeant with a degree in journalism from the University of Maryland and a Certified US English Chicago Manual of Style Editor. He is a freelance journalist currently living in the Philippines.
You can see his portfolio here. Email [email protected]
