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Monday, May 7, 2012

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   




__________________________________________________________________________________
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: 

21 comments:

  1. I very much enjoyed your guest post. Thanks for sharing this and the loaf on My Meatless Mondays.

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  2. Thank you so much for these helpful hints. I have heard most of them before but to see them in a list like that and the reasoning behind them makes it all seem so much more do-able. My favorite line was the one that said something about it's the direction not the pace. That will be my new mantra. :D Thanks for sharing your blog post on BeColorful this week.
    pam

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  3. Oh Vicky!! I'd have never thought you went through a weight loss like that :)!!
    It's great :) fruits, veggies plus some nuts/seeds are the best we can eat :) everyone should try it and see for themselves :))
    Big hugs for you!! And congrats :)

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  4. Vicky,
    Thank you so much for your guestpost. I especially love your tips. It is so true that it is mental. You really have to change your mindset and attitude toward food. And your tip to choose nutrient dense food like veggies, fruits, beans, etc really helps me. When I get full on healthy food , I feel satisfied. and Exercise is essential. Again, Victoria this was such a great post and so helpful. Thanks so much

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  5. Vicky,
    You ROCK!
    These are such great tips - You look fantastic!

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  6. great post! I enjoyed the photos and info. I've been leaning toward a vegan diet but haven't gone fully over...it started when I had to go off dairy and gluten...we still consume eggs and some meat but slowly encorporating more vegan meals per week and realizing you don't have to have meat to have a meal

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  7. I enjoyed reading this guest post and 'meeting' Vicky. Although I could not commit to a totally vegan or vegetarian diet, I am always interested in learning more about a plant based diet, and Vicky's blog and recipes look delicious. Congratulations on your weight loss and on maintaining it too, Vicky! I like what you said about it not being the speed that counts, but rather the direction. That is so true!

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  8. I completely agree with you that slow and steady is the best way to lose weight. Fast weight loss makes me really nervous.

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  9. Great tips!! I checked out your blog too and your recipes look delish.

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  10. What an inspiring story--with interesting recipes, as well! Thanks for linking this to Food on Fridays!

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  11. great post, I have been trying to lose weight and I always seem to get stuck. Going to go visit her site right now. Stopping by from the wow me wednesday link party

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  12. This is amazing! I am not vegan but have been including more vegan meals into my diet and find that my body digests it better. Tons of tips that I can use. Loved the guest post.

    Maria
    The Fitness Girl Kitchen

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  13. Inspiring stuff.
    For a bit of light relief, you might enjoy this Cartoon

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  14. Thanks for sharing this with the real food community at Whole Food Wednesdays. I think many of us can appreciate your struggle since so many of us have had similar issues. Thanks for the inspiration.

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  15. Thank you for sharing this feel good story about your journey to weight loss. Well done! Your tips are useful too-Thanks for coming to Natural Mother's “Seasonal Celebration Sunday.” I would love to see you again next week!! Rebecca x

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  16. This is the favorite post for the week so it will be featured today :) Thanks for joining Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop. Hope you'll join us again.

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  17. Really a great post.I liked it and i will share it with others too.

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  18. Drink water. Your body is composed of about 60% water. Every job in your body happens in a fluid environment. For example, this fluid is used in digestion and absorption of food, circulation and transportation of nutrients (blood and lymph), production of saliva, and regulation of body temperature. It is also used to keep your muscles, joints and skin lubricated. It protects your organs and tissues. Water helps eliminate toxins (through breath, sweat, urine, and feces). It also helps you have regular bowel movements.

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  19. An interesting discussion is definitely worth comment.
    I do believe that you need to write more about this issue, it may not be
    a taboo matter but typically folks don't talk about such topics. To the next! Best wishes!!

    my weblog ... Pure GCE

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  20. I had such a great time reading your article. I enjoy each & every bit of it. It was really informative. I feel strongly about it and got knowledge more on this subject. The tips are really very nice and help us in getting rid of extra fats and weight.

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