Thursday, February 3, 2011

Karen's Diet

Ok, a lot of you have asked me what I actually did to lose 48 kg's. So I thought I'd share a few of the foods I have have enjoyed over the last 9 or 10 months.

To begin with though, I really feel I need to mention that I am in NO WAY a weight loss professional, The diet I chose to follow isn't entirely what the 'professionals' would recommend, so if you decide to follow what I did, you need to be aware of that.

I chose to lose the weight the fastest way possible. I was 50 kg's overweight, and I didn't want my weight to take 2 years to come off, I wanted it FAST. So I set myself a calorie limit of around 900 calories a day ( again, be aware that this is less than the weight loss professionals recommend) I bought a calorie counter book, and went from there.

I have been on just about every diet known to man, and then some, so I took bits and pieces from each, and kind of formulated my own plan... One really good diet I was on once upon a time was 'ultra lite' It was a very low calorie, low carb diet, and I started my weight loss by following along with their plan to a degree. Then as the months went on, I changed things around to suit me.

I have chosen to avoid most carbs, especially pasta, bread, rice, potatoes, and most cereals other than porridge, and cruskit biscuits.

A typical day for me would go something like this:

Breakfast: 4 cruskit biscuits ( the light, lower fat ones) topped with low fat packaged turkey breast and about 100 grams of flavoured cottage cheese. ( I like the chive and onion one, and the gherkin one isn't too bad either) I would love to say i don't drink coffee, but, umm, I do have 1 cup in the morning, with saccharine, and skim milk. If I'm still hungry, some days I will have a low fat fruit yoghurt too. ( I buy the nestle diet brand)

or:I will sometimes have porridge for breakfast as a change, about 1 cup, cooked, with skim milk. But do prefer the cottage cheese and cruskits, as its a good source of protein. sometimes I will have 2 eggs for a change also. Just remember not to have the toast with them :)


Lunch: about 100 g of a low fat protein source. Chicken breast, turkey, fish, tuna, prawns, egg.....I try to avoid processed deli meat as much as possible. with a salad of lettuce, cucumber, tomato, onion, mushrooms, carrot. (any salad veggies are OK) I dont use salad dressing as most of them are full of fat, but sometimes will have a tiny bit of 97% fat free mayonaise. balsamic vinegar is a good dressing when trying to lose weight, but I dont like it :)

Dinner: again, I would have about 100g serve of protein. steak, fish, etc, with around 100-150 g veggies, or salad. again remembering to avoid the high carb ones such as potato. I also try to avoid sauces and gravies, as these are high in calories.

Snacks: I try to keep these to a minimum. But if I really want something, or am feeling like my blood glucose is a bit low, I will have a little tub of weight watchers fruit, of a tub of yoghurt. Another favorite is stewed apple, I don't add sugar when cooking it, I use 'sprite' DIET lemonade ( make sure its the diet one) too cook my apple in. I give me the sweetness I sometimes crave, without any of the calories. yum !! and for an extra treat, I will have a little bit of 'nestle' diet yoghurt on the top....

SO WHAT DID KAREN EAT?

If I am out, and have nothing with me to eat, I will have a "Subway" wrap, with one of the 6g of fat or less fillings. I would probably do this once a week. :)

Drink: usually I just drink water. ( I try to have 2.5 ltrs per day) But sometimes, I will have a 'coke zero' a bit of a treat. Oh, and my coffee in the morning :)

Ok, thats enough info for now... Hopefully I have answered some of your questions. There's nothing magical about this diet, unfortunately, I wish there was. Some days its hard not eating the foods I love. Some days I get so tired of fish and salad :) But, I want to be thin, and healthy, and finally realised, this is the only way I can do that. My heath is more important that a chocolate bar, or an icecream :)

I will be back in the next little while to share some of my recipes with you all. Take care my friends,

Karen

9 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing your diet with us Karen. You said you wanted to lose the weight quickly as you had a large amount to lose. I am wondering if you have any trouble with excess skin? This is one of my fears now with losing weight. :o) Thanks

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  2. Hi Cassandra.....

    hmmm, SKIN :( I do have some ummmm saggy bits... mainly on my tummy, BUT, having said that, I dont know how much of it is from losing weight, and how much is from having 5 kids, and 3 ceasarians ????

    My skin on alot of my body went a bit dry and sort of loose, but that seems to have sprung back now LOL... I am 43 tho, and dont expect that I will look like a 20 yar old (unfortunately) so all in all, not too unhappy... and I would take the loose tummy over 50 kg any day :) I do take a good multi vitamin daily, aldo omega 3 fish oil ( which is sposed o help skin? ) Nerrida is the vitamin guru, maybe she knows of something to take to help with skinas you lose weight ??? Id be interested to know too :)

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  3. My best suggestion is a fish oil supplements called EFA (by Metagenics) or one called EFA/DHA by Bioceuticals. Both of these are 'practitioner strength' so you'll need to get them at a health food store and may need to get the resident Naturopath to subscribe them (new goverment regs. require this but not all stores are strict about it). Also Bioceuticals have a Vitamin E capsule - also great for skin & elasticity.

    Best solution - sorry girls - toning excercises as you lose the weight.

    Try Zumba - its good for toning.

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  4. Oh, btw, I never recommend Blackmores. Several years ago thet were sprung for down-sizing the strength of ingredients in Echinacea, so that customers would need to buy more). They've never re-gained my trust and I don't believe they are one of the best brands anyway - too low strength and over-the-counter.

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  5. Thanks for sharing Karen, I especially like the cooked apple in diet sprite idea, sounds like something I would enjoy!

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  6. Its yum Bec.... but I forgot to say, I put a little bit of cinnamon in it too while its cooking :)

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  7. Just a little note (sorry Karen) but diet colas are actually a lot worse than regular ones - they not only contain aspartame (which taken long term will basically kill you)as well as acid-forming properties, which can destroy your colon and other digestive organs, and are very addictive, but they have also been shown to cause greater weight gain than regular colas. Here's a link if you want to read more...http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20050613/drink-more-diet-soda-gain-more-weight

    The best drink of all is alkaline water - google it and see.

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  8. Thanks for sharing Karen, and for all the advice Nerrida :o)

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  9. hi Karen I was wonder when did u start this diet and how long did it take?I'm 25 have 2 children and put on alot of weight during my pregnancies I am currently obese weighing in at 113kg and am wanting to get down to 65kg so I'm wanting what you did I am trying to do this in 11months also well that's my deadline to hit my goal weight

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