I ate a burger and it felt so gooooood¹. Drank some grape soda just to keep it hoooood.
Yep. I did both of these things in the last few days. I even went to a Coldstone Creamery and sated by innermost cake batter ice cream desires. And honestly, I have no remorse. My scale didn’t even hold any of it against me or on me (227.6 pounds). I feel great actually. You know why? Because my change in eating habits is more about the lifestyle and less about the diet. Let me explain.
When a lot of people say diet, they mean a regimented plan to help them lose weight over some period of time. They don’t intend for that to be the way they eat for the rest of their lives…or even the rest of the year depending on when they started. Diet, to them, is a short term solution to a long term problem. Diet also deals with one part of the bigger picture. It’s about what they eat or don’t eat. It doesn’t include their workouts, their spending habits, or their mental and emotional well-being. This is where lifestyle comes in.
When I started drinking green smoothies and eating more veggies, it wasn’t just something I wanted to do until I could take my shirt off in the pool. It was part of a bigger lifestyle change to obtain this thing called freedom. Part of that freedom is being able to eat the food I enjoy without carrying the guilt monkey on my back or walking the Diabetes dog. Freedom of afterthoughts and medication isn’t something that should be far-fetched for a 29 year old.
What else have I done with the food aspect of my lifestyle? I’ve cut out just about all bread. To put it in context, that burger I ate was the first bread I’d consumed in over a week. I’ve also slowed my roll on pasta, chips, and beer. Lunches have been salads and leftovers. Dinners have been absolutely delicious². Here are a couple examples:
Fish (tilapia) taco w/ red cabbage shell/wrap, salsa & sour cream, mexican corn & cooked carrots.
Sizzled chicken meat (breast), mexican corn w/ rice, and broccoli.
Clearly I’ve got some work to do on how I take these food pics, but yo…mad tasty. And the best part? This isn’t a diet! This won’t stop at any particular weight. This will keep going no matter what. It’s part of the overall lifestyle.
Eating healthy (or healthier) now? If so, what are some of your favorite dishes to prepare? If not, what are the biggest challenges you’re facing that are stopping you from changing this aspect of your lifestyle?
NomNomNom,
¹I did experience slight stomach discomfort within 1.5 hours of consuming said burger meat.
²I don’t claim full meal preparation. I am heavily assisted by Natural McBoobookins. With that said, I will be watching unfollows and unsubscribes to take note of those that had dreams of me coming out the computer screen and marrying them.
I lost nearly 50 pounds since January and most of it was changing lifestyle and not changing diet at all. I still eat exactly what I want but I eat like a normal human now. By that I mean I eat only when I’m hungry and no matter what I’m eating I force myself to only eat half and then re-evaluate whether or not I’m actually hungry or not to eat the other half. 99% of the time I’m not. I usually eat whatever I had for lunch for dinner and my calorie consumption was knocked down nearly a third.
Good looking over there slimster!
That re-evaluation thing is what still gets me. My stomach (the organ itself) has gotten smaller I think. I’m full off less good and my cravings have tapered a bit…well, until just now. Suddenly I wanna go in the freezer for this ice cream.lol.
But yo, congrats on the progress. Glad to hear you’ve adapted the lifestyle mantra.
!!! I find that eating til I’m sated and not “full” has left a whole lot on my plate….
MORE FOR LATER!!!
Congratulations!!!
Really enjoying these posts, they speak to where I’ve been or where I am right now in life. I’m still trying to get in the habit of preparing dinner when I get home. I’m usually tired and hungry and just grab some crackers or bread and cheese to hold me over and then end up snacking or eating too late at night. I have green smoothies down pack, now I need to find the secret to quick and healthy dinners. Got tips?
Cook 2 or 3 times a week! I make a big pot of brown rice. steam veggies and one or 2 different types of protein dishes and keep everything in the fridge. That way I just come home and heat and eat.
TG has the idea. That really is key. You gotta have cook nights and then just ride the wave for a few days. And I can’t express how important it is to mix it up with dishes. Once you tire of the same meals, that’s when Hood chinese food starts looking like a change.lol
Welcome to the healthy eating club! As I said above, I usually cook a few times a week, because who has time to cook after they come home from work? I barely wash my makeup off,lol. Im big on making things in bulk and putting it in Tupperware. I always have steamed veggies and brown rice in the fridge. I make beans or lentils , tofu , sometimes fish in bulk usually early on Saturday morning and try to vary up the flavor (curry, stirfry, etc so I dont feel like Im eating the same thing every day. I also take some of this food for lunch too!
Can’t say anything about the makeup, but I can rock with the rest of what you’re saying. Hope to see you in the mix here more often!
” more about the lifestyle and less about the diet ” That’s an excellent title that everyone on a weight loss journey should take in consideration.
Now that I lost a lot of pounds, my stomach is no longer the same , I can’t eat food that contains gluten and lactose and whenever I eat too much, I get sick. So that is definitely a new lifestyle for me and I love it.
Eating healthy (or healthier) now? yes, but not all the time.
If so, what are some of your favorite dishes to prepare? I love green beans with some meat, salad and salmon with broccoli.
what is ” Natural McBoobookins ” ? I assume it’s your girlfriend but what is it exactly ? ( i am not american so … )
You guessed right.lol. I like to use nontraditional names for simple stuff.
I love this post! I think that’s probably where I have been going wrong; I eat relatively healthy for the most part; but I think I don’t eat right. So although I am consuming good things; I am not seeing the nutritional value in any of it because 1) I get home too late at night that I dont want to eat at all; so there goes one meal skipped or if I eat it’s like crackers and peanut butter. 2) I eat lunch while working and they say that’s the most unhealthy habit to have because then you don’t focus on whats in front of you and you scarf down your food quickly…leaving you feeling hungry later.
I will take some of the advice I’ve read on here and try to apply it to my life now. I am in serious need of losing about 50 lbs…I think i’ve been doing it all wrong though. Thanks so much for this!
Natural Mcboobookins?
*unsubs*
*unfollows*
*deletes trsj, uptown mag AND sbm from favorites*
Eff Slim, eff trsj & sbm as a blog & a crew….
Hmph!
Somebody out there is doing that riiiiight now. I can get behind this lifestyle change. I think its important that you give yourself a break and allow yourself the treats sometimes for sanity’s sake. For us we did the 80/20 thing. Ate right 80% of the time and the rest we ate what we wanted. *thinks* We should go back to that.
Just cracked up at that series of disappointed events. Sad thing is…someone somewhere is doing that.lol. I like the 80/20. Good rule to go by.
This comment made me lol for real.
Congrats on the mind change and eating changes sir. I just started the same process myself, and I was pretty much where you were. Mine is a bit much to deal with because my wife is a world class baker, seriously. But stay on your mission bruh, it’s reall worth it.
Where are the green smoothie recipes? TG is so right, you have to cook a few nights a week or in my case 2 nights and stretch those meals throughout the week.
I was working in education for the last year and a half and gained 23 lbs. I was like WTF?!?
i knew I had to make some changes and I did. I’ve since left and have stopped buying lunch 3-4 days a week and limited it to 2 days and cook meals 2x a week that I can transform into other dishes. Ex: pork tenderloin, rice, and broccoli. Two days later I made a pork tenderloin stir fry with broccoli, snow peas, carrots, peppers, and mushrooms. I left my last job mid April and since then I’ve lost 12lbs
I’ve always been interested in smoothies and fruit frozen goodness. Jamba Juice was my weakness when I lived in NYC. Anywho, anyone with healthy smoothie receipes please post a link
I’ll have to do a smoothie post with a couple combos I use. Thanks for the reminder.
It’s amazing what a job can do if one isn’t uber cautious. Congrats on the 12 pound drop.
Yea work can definitely cause weight gain. My previous coworkers were hardcore snackers and always brought tons of BS to put in the break room. Cookies, pies, chips, ice cream… We had an oven and ninjas used to bring logs of choc chip cookies to work o-O. Between the snacks and living in the burbs of CT and having to drive everywhere i’m amazed it was only 23lbs.
Holla 4 your booski being on the healthy train. My dude is actually trying to gain about 20lbs *kicks wall because of jealousy* so we bring our own food to each other’s apts.
The quest for a healthier life is why I made a few million decisions recently..
Now, I love food TOO MUCH to “diet” in the traditional sense.. My diet has turned into a lifestyle.. I’d rather adjust the foods I eat and taper back the bad stuff so I don’t deprive myself..
I recently started drinking a juice/smoothie/shake for breakfast instead of the huge meal I used to make.. I started working out 2x a day.. It’s almost mandatory to be beach ready when you live 3 miles from the beach.. I’m glad you have someone eating healthy with you tho.. cuz moms will bring home Wendys fries when I’m trying to eat a salad… That’s just rude..
Target has tilapia and salmon in these packs.. I cook all of them individually in pieces of foil (with veggies) and eat for the week.. It’s helped me out a lot..
Congrats on your lifestyle change!!! I remember your tweets bout chinese food…
I definitely feel you. My dude left a huge bag of spicy Doritos at my apt. I was like nah boo you can’t leave that kinda temptation at my place. Why is he trying to tempt me lol
Slim if you do get the urge for bread hit up the frozen food section of Whole Foods and find Ezekiel Bread (my daughter calls it Jesus bread..lol). Its the healthiest bread you can possible eat. Its a very hearty bread to so you”ll be full.
I am feeling you with the lifestyle change, but I realized that I envisioned your haters as this woman from Boondocks. “Shoot…Slim always talking ’bout readin’ books and eating right. He get on my nerves!”
I’m loving it, though.
Cracked up watching this video clip. I forgot about this.lol
I’m good for an obscure reference. You know how I do.
Aww, I feel ashamed. My diet (eating routine) is horrible. I eat when, where, and how I want. I’m tiny with a fast metabolism (sp). However, I do workout… it puts me in a happy place.
LOL @ “[...] I will be watching unfollows and unsubscribes to take note of those that had dreams of me coming out the computer screen and marrying them.”
Classic!
I fix a lot of stir fry type dishes. very quick and easy, full of veggies and I can eat leftovers for lunch. I’ve been only eating whole wheat pasta and brown rice for a few years now but I’m cutting back on my carbs so I’ve been just doing protein and veggies lately. I also started utilizing my crock pot more. fixed some banging jerk chicken in there recently.
I also cook salmon several A LOT. its easily my favorite fish and I love coming up with different ways to season/serve it. I kinda rotate between salmon, chicken, shrimp, and other fish and the occasional steak and pork but I’ve cut back on those two tremendously. I reserve my red meat intake usually for burgers and steak eating out.
i just realized it says sizzled chicken meat. lmaooooo.
so negro.
good post.
Good post, n-word!
Yeah thats the wave im on right now. I want to eat healthy as the norm. Healthy eating should be trend and not blip. At the same time, I dont believe in clean eating 100% because I want to enjoy those bad foods too. It aint about guilt or anything, yhe thing is that they should be treats and not staples of your diet.
I been doing my part to eat healthier, but it’s not as easy when you split groceries in half and half to side to the middle. I do eat yogurt with fruits in the am and try to eat smaller portions of food at night. When I move (or get a girlfriend…) my eating habits will go under a drastic overhaul. More smoothies (green…red..purple…whatever) more fish (pause) and just a better overall pallet of food.
I’m lowkey excited about the change in my diet too. Good shit bro.
I’ve been eating healthier of late as well. For a specific purpose, but isn’t that always the way? There is usually a catalyst for a concerted effort to make a change.
Regardless of the why, kudos for doing it, but mostly for sharing it.
Tips I’ve learned along the way:
Frozen veggies are cheaper, last longer than fresh and are just as nutritious
Drinks like v8 fruit/veggie fusion is great for when you cant eat as well as you’d like
Dried fruit is also a great transportable option
Surround yourself! I have snacks in my purse, ready at the front door to grab on my way out, in my work drawer and of course at home.
I don’t cheat myself, I treat myself!
Keep us posted and keep going!
Ps: yeah, about those pics doe… It’s all about the angles. If you have instagram, check me out and learn something! Lollllll
Appreciate the message! And yeah, I need to step my dried fruit and angles game up.lol. I think I’ll start posting pics somewhere along the way. It only adds to the story. Glad to see people are finding this helpful…or at the very least remotely interesting.lol