Weight Loss Motivation Monday III -Guest Blogger

This week's guest blogger ,Victoria, author of the blog Sweet Healthy Living ,shares how over the course of 1 year she lost 30 pounds following a whole food vegan diet.

 Be sure to visit Victoria's website which has a wealth of information about Vegan nutrition and weight loss and lots of recipes with step by step photos. 


This is Victoria's Story and Weight Loss Motivation

Hello everyone! Let me introduce myself, my name is Victoria and I blog over at www.sweethealthyliving.com.

 I am 20 years old and am passionate about health and fitness. I also love to cook healthy, vegan food for friends and family. I am a certified personal trainer and am studying to become a plant based nutritional advisor.


                                    Chestnut Loaf   

My passion for nutrition and fitness started at around the age of 12, when I began to struggle with my weight. I tried every new diet I came across, hoping that each one would be the magic answer to my weight problem. I did not give up though, until I found what worked. My dream is to coach others in accomplishing their weight loss and fitness goals through what I have experienced and have seen work for others.

Before Picture

                                                

 Although I was never extremely overweight, at my heaviest, I weighed 30 pounds more than I do now and had around 30% body fat. I have successfully kept that weight off for 4 years and my new goal is to gain more muscle!

In these pictures, I was not at my heaviest. I had already lost about 10 pounds, but was struggling with the additional 20 pounds. 

Struggle

Tried "every" Diet

As I mentioned before, I have tried every “diet” I could find. I went from high protein/high fat, low carb diet to a raw diet and everything in between, trying to find the “answer.”

In the end, what proved to be the most beneficial, was a mostly fruit and vegetable, plant based diet. Eating foods that were high nutrient and low calorie left me more satisfied even when eating less.

Success

Once I figured out what worked for me, it took me about a year to loose 30 pounds. For weight loss, I believe that slow and steady wins the race.
It is the direction that matters, not the speed!

I honestly believe that more than 2-4 pounds of fat loss a month is not very sustainable. Granted you can easily loose lots of pounds of water in a very short time. Each pound of fat contain approximately 3500 calories. Cutting more than 500 calories a day from your diet may be too extreme.  

Here are some tips that helped me loose the weight and keep it off!

1.     Loosing weight is as much mental as it is physical.

a.      Loosing weight takes discipline and commitment. We need to teach ourselves not to use food as a form of comfort and checking in every time we eat and asking ourselves, “am I really hungry?” or “am I just eating out of habit, boredom or the need to suppress a feeling?”

2.     Focus on adding more nutrient dense foods into your diet, rather than just focusing on subtracting calories from your diet.

a.      If you eat MORE fruits and vegetables, you will naturally eat LESS processed foods. Focus on vegetables and include a large salad with lunch and dinner. Fill up in this order: vegetables, fruits, beans, grains, nuts/seeds, meat/processed food. For instance, for breakfast, start with fruit, for lunch and dinner start with a salad or steamed vegetables.

b.     Fruit is also a good option if you want a dessert after your meal.

c.     Limit/remove processed oils in your diet (even olive oil). Nuts, seeds and avocados are a much healthier and satisfying alternative, although these foods should still be limited when trying to loose weight.

3.     Eat slowly, chew well and stop when satisfied

a.      Retrain yourself not to eat until full. It takes a bit of time, but it can be done! Remind yourself that you can eat again when you get hungry and the next meal is not too far off!

4.     Start your day with exercise.

a.      Exercising first thing in the morning gets it “out of the way.” If for some reason you can’t exercise first thing in the morning, by all means do it later, but make sure you set aside a time for exercise.

b.     Commit to at least 20 minutes of exercise a day that elevates your heart rate.

5.     Try not to snack and wait until your next meal. Sometimes all you need is some water to hold you over.

6.     Remember that it will get easier! Change can be hard. Once you get a momentum on a more healthy lifestyle, it will seem effortless.

7.     If you choose to weigh yourself, weigh yourself at the same time of day no more than once a week, with little to no clothes on.

8.     Keep tempting foods out of the house. If you know you can not say “no” to certain foods, don’t have them in the house!

9.  Patience!  
a.      Lasting weight loss takes time. There is no “quick fix.” It took me a year to loose about 30 pounds.

Tip: A book I would highly recommend to anyone wanting to loose weight and/or gain health is Eat to Live by Dr Joel Fuhrman.


I hope these pointers are helpful!

Come visit me at www.sweethealthyliving.comfor healthy, vegan recipes and exercise advice!
                                                 Two of my vegan recipes

                     
                                              www.sweethealthyliving.com
         

                                                                                       Chestnut Loaf   

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Victoria, Your blog is an amazing wealth of vegan nutritional knowledge  . Thank you so much for sharing your weight loss journey and ideas with us .

I am still looking for 3 more guest bloggers for this 8 week weight loss motivation series.

If you are a reader or  blogger who would like to be a guest blogger at the end of May or in June  to share your experience and journey, please contact Judee at vegyid2@yahoo.com

Guest bloggers can share tips, recipes, their experience, other websites that are inspirational, their daily mean plan etc.  Looking forward to hearing from you.

I have linked this recipe to the following blog carnivals: 

Sunday    Monday  Tuesday   Wednesday    Thursday  Friday
Seasonal Celebration Sunday Savory Sundays; Every Day Sisters Sharing Sundays; Your Recipe, My Kitchen Seasonal Sundays at The Tablescaper,  Sunday Night Soup Nighthttp    Under the Table and Dreaming , DIY Showoff , Nifty Thrifty Things, Homemaker on a Dime , Embellishing Life, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, DIY Home Sweet Home, Blissful Domestic,The Sweet Talk Shop My 1929Charmer
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