What I ate to lose 20 lbs

A recent picture of my mom and me

In the past, when I saw someone had lost weight I was curious how they did it. What did they eat? What exercise routines did they do? So I thought it may be helpful to share my experiences and what I ate the last couple months.

In a prior post I talked about how I think meditation created a drive for me to consume healthier food. I definitely think there is a link between meditation and wanting to be healthier, so please also read that blog post: https://www.laurenspirituality.com/post/we-are-what-we-eat

It's important to note that I'm not much of a cook. For most of my 20s and early 30s I lived off restaurants and Starbucks, thus I think my new routine is pretty doable. Below is what I ate the last couple months to lose 20 pounds:

For breakfast, I have a green shake. For the green shake, I put ice, a couple handfuls of spinach, half an avocado, half an apple, a scoop of vanilla protein powder, and half water, half milk into a blender. It tastes really good to me and I get an energy boost.

My green shake

The protein powder I use is called Truvani. I get it at whole foods. Below is a picture of it. I've tried different protein powders and this one tastes the best to me. (link here)

Protein powder

For lunch, I eat an egg, broccoli, and chicken sausage bowl. I have two pans and I put butter in both. In one pan I put a bunch of chopped broccoli and frozen pre-cooked chicken maple sausage. In another pan I put 2-3 whisked eggs and scramble them. Once it's all cooked, I put them in a bowl together and add cheese on top. Below are pictures of how it looks and the sausage I buy from Whole Foods.

Egg sausage bowl

Chicken Sausage

For snack, I eat tuna on crackers, sliced cheese with fig jam, or a protein bar. For my protein bar, I really like IQ bars. I like the Wild blueberry flavor. They are soft, chewy, and have nuts in them. Link here.

IQ Bar

For dinner, my family usually eats salmon or chicken, a vegetable, and rice or noodles. I personally don't eat a lot of noodles but when I do, I eat a small serving. Our dinner typically looks like below:

When we go out to eat, we eat from places that are fairly healthy. My kids and I eat at our gym cafe every week and I get a rice chicken bowl there. Below is what it looks like:

Gym cafe salad bowl

I think it's important for me to share that I was born with pre-diabetes, which means I've always had issues with blood sugar. Throughout my life, I would go through times in the day where my blood sugar would drop quickly and I was starving and sometimes shaky. Then if I ate too many carbohydrates, my blood sugar would get really high and I would feel sweaty and have trouble sleeping. It took me way too long to figure this out, but better late than never right?! For me, I need protein and healthy fats like avocados, chicken, and tuna in every meal to stabilize my blood sugar. I can live my life without diabetes medication but I have to maintain a healthy diet. Based on this meal plan I shared above, I don't have any blood sugar issues.

I do want to say that I cut out alcohol eight years ago so that's been out of my system for a while. Looking back, I can see that I used alcohol to suppress my feelings. I talk openly about that because I think a lot of people do this, and it's important to discuss this in our society. Once I stopped drinking alcohol, it felt a little weird at first going to social occasions where other people were drinking, but I got over that within maybe a couple months. I don't even think about it anymore. I also don't go to social situations that I really don't want to go to, or I go for a short time which also helps.

The other thing is that I also cut out two pharmaceutical medications I was taking while I started to eat healthier. I was taking an oral birth control that I found out was totally blocking my hormones, which was causing exhaustion and lack of deep sleep. I cut that out and felt so much better. I also cut out the allergy medication, Claritin. I used to take it for allergies and headaches, but perhaps eating healthier and exercising negated the need for it, I'm honestly not sure. In regards to medications, everyone should use their own discernment, intuition, and support from their doctors to figure out what is right for them. I'm just sharing what happened with me. Now I'm totally off any pharmaceutical medications.

As for caffeine, I've been a huge caffeine drinker since college but it really wasn't great for me because it often affected my blood sugar. When I started to eat healthier the last couple months, I naturally stopped drinking it over time. When I finally cut it out, I'll admit that it was a little hard in the mornings because I missed that warm latte or energy boost. This just took time for me to get on a different routine. I used to think I really needed caffeine to get my day started but if I want something in the morning, I drink my green shake and feel great. I definitely don't miss the addiction to caffeine. I really hated feeling like I was dependent on it and if I didn't drink it, I felt awful. This is a personal decision and I understand why people like coffee.

In regards to sugar, I don't buy ice cream, cookies, or sugary foods unless it's a birthday. I do buy high quality chocolate which I noticed is not addicting. I only need one and I'm good. I also don't buy highly processed foods or foods that have dyes. Highly processed foods are actually very addictive. I looked online and found that academic studies confirm that ultra-processed foods are indeed addictive. It says, "Hundreds of scientific studies provide strong evidence that ultra-processed foods are linked to health problems. The science is particularly strong linking ultra-processed foods to cancer, Type 2 diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, and depression." It also says the following, "Brands like Nestlé, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Frito-Lay, Kraft Heinz, and Kellogg’s are among the world’s largest manufacturers of ultra-processed foods." (reference here)

As for exercise, I was running a bit before I got onto this healthy food routine but my running really picked up once I started eating healthier. I could tell I had more energy to exercise. I run almost everyday now. I would like to get into using weights as well but I do have three children that will be home this summer and a preschooler that is not in full-time school yet. Thus, for me, putting my shoes on and running with my dog for 30 minutes is best at this point in my hectic life.

Interestingly, my weight loss also coincided with a focus on self-love. I started focusing on self-love around the same time I started meditating a couple years ago, but it really takes time to develop unconditional self-love. It's important to actually say outloud, "I love myself unconditionally". This truly work wonders. This topic is also linked to being aware of our thoughts and thinking kind thoughts with ourselves. We often have negative thoughts or spinning thoughts without even realizing it. It's really important to focus on being aware of our thoughts and meditation helps with that. When I first started meditating, I only started with a few minutes and it became longer over time.

I will say that I think the weight loss industry and celebrity culture has been a real problem for humanity. Just because someone is skinny doesn't mean they feel good and they are truly living in joy. It's important to remember that. This blog post isn't only about losing weight, my main point here is that I lost weight as a result of meditating, focusing on positive affirmations, and self-love. I never had the goal to go out and lose weight, I actually never even focused on that as a goal. My goal was to quiet my mind and live in joy everyday. I just happened to lose weight.

I've gone up and down with my weight throughout my life, but this way that I lost weight felt more natural and long-term. I realized the importance of what I put in my body, how it affected my energy, and the way I felt on a daily basis. The process that worked for me was starting with meditation, positive affirmations, quieting my thoughts, and clearing out old belief systems. I started to love myself unconditionally, and over time, my body craved healthier food and exercise. As a result of this process, I lost weight.