I’m Brittany and I lost 125 pounds by eating whole foods at home! In January 2017 I felt like I needed to be more diligent in my food preparation for my family. I am easily overwhelmed and 2015/2016 were rough years for us. I relied heavily on takeout and processed prepackaged meals.
I needed help managing our diets but didn’t know where to begin.
This is a how-to guide of sorts, something I wish I would have had when I began this process and something I hope helps you!
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1. CLEAN OUT THE CUPBOARDS
Getting rid of temptation is key to success in this process. The first step was cleansing my kitchen. I got rid of the cookies, chips, soft drinks, processed freezer meals, candy, cereal, and any and all junk. If it’s not in the house, I can’t eat it.
It’s important to get everyone on board with this step, including your children. For your young ones, you can turn it into a game with a lesson. Have them search labels for things like monosodium glutamate (MSG), high fructose corn syrup, aspartame, carrageenan, yellow dye #5 (any dyes really).
Once found, Google the ingredients. Read aloud what those ingredients mean and what the side effects are.
Although my children can’t quite read yet, they can tell me (and others) about the dangers of processed sugars and how they can negatively affect our bodies. We discuss the ingredients in food and how some food can make us healthy and strong while other food can make us unhealthy and harm us.
2. RESTOCK
Planning is key.
Once your pantry has been overhauled, it’s time to shop! I use a Meal Planner called Plan To Eat.It’s similar to pinterest. You can find recipes online and import them into your meal planner. Once you’ve gathered enough recipes, you can drag and drop them into your calendar withinPlan To Eatand it will make grocery lists for you!
To read more about what I’m eating, click here.
3. EAT FAT BURNING FOODS
There are three things that I try to work in to every single meal: fiber, protein, and healthy fats. These three things are key to assisting your body in getting rid of stubborn fat.
Fiberhelps detoxify your body and cleanse your colon. It also keeps you feeling fuller longer.
Ex. Chia seeds, Flax Seeds, Hemp Seeds, Leafy Greens, Almonds, Black Berries
Proteinhelps maintain and increase muscle tissue. Healthy muscle tissue burns fat and encourages your metabolism to keep working.
Ex. Eggs, Chicken, Wild Caught Salmon, Nuts, Bone Broth, Collagen Peptides
Healthy fathelps your cells absorb vitamins and nutrients and aids in the weight loss process. A gram of fat produces twice the amount of energy of a gram of carbohydrates or protein.
Ex. Organic Extra Virgin Coconut oil, Avocado Oil, Avocados, Nuts
*Bonus*
Herbs contain compounds that help you get rid of body fat and reduce inflammation.
Ex. Turmeric, Cayenne Pepper, Ginger, Basil, Garlic, Rosemary
To read more about what that looks like practically, start here.
To take a peek inside of my pantry, go here.
4. AVOID SUGAR, GRAINS, AND DAIRY
Your body stores sugar, dairy, and conventionally processed grains as body fat. Not only do these three hinder you from losing weight but they can lead to leaky gut syndrome, bacteria and yeast overgrowth, autoimmune issues, and inflammation.
5. REWIRE YOUR BRAIN
Begin practicing mindful eating. I am an emotional eater, so this was a big one for me! Instead of eating for pleasure or out of necessity, I would chose a couple days a week where I planned meals around food that would give me the best performance for the activities planned that day.
Because I’m a mom with young children that doesn’t drink coffee, eating high energy foods helps me keep up with my littles and be the best mom I can be.
Keeping emotions from dictating what I consume was a form discipline I had never enacted over myself. Momentary sacrifice is worth the end result.Don’t sacrifice what you want most in the long run for what you want right now in the moment!
6. WRITE IT ALL DOWN
The majority of us don’t realize how much food we’re actually consuming. The human stomach is only supposed to be the size of a clenched fist. That’s why the body does better with 5-6 small meals a day instead of 2-3 large ones.
Most of us in America have stretched out our stomachs so that it takes a lot more to fill them and feel full. Did you know that over 200,000 people in America have weight loss surgery every year? The surgeries are designed to shrink the stomach, forcing patients to eat smaller portions.
Unfortunately most patients find that weight loss is not about altering the body it’s about altering your thinking. If you don’t break the physiological hold that food has on you, you can alter your body however you like but you’ll end up in the same place every time.
It’s so important to track what you’re eating. I have a Daily Calendar that I track all of my food and water consumption on. I did this for 6 solid months before I felt that I was able to be accountable without it.
7.Accountability
This is very important, maybe the most important. Breaking addiction is hard, it’s even harder without help. When I made the choice to make over my lifestyle I knew that the more I kept it to myself the easier it would be to go back to old habits
I had to expose myself. I had to say the hard words “I’m addicted to food. I have a problem. I can’t control myself.” I had to go to my closest friends and family members and ask for their help. I needed their support and quite frankly I needed them to be strong for me when I couldn’t be.
I had to tell my husband that I needed him to watch me because I know myself, I know that I sneak food. I needed him to tell me “No, you can not eat that. No, you can not go back for seconds.” I needed him to call me out.
The first time he told me “no” it stung so bad. My gut reaction was anger followed closely by humiliation. And then I had to ask myself why it made me so angry?
His response was perfect, “Babe, I love you too much to let you hate yourself tomorrow morning because you ate this when you really didn’t want to.”
I can’t stress enough how important community and accountability is during this process. To help I created a Facebook Community Page where we can encourage one another on our journeys, go here.
8. INTERMITTENT FASTING
Fasting is a principal that has been used for thousands of years. It is a valuable tool for burning fat fast. I came across intermittent fasting incidentally. I found myself doing it unintentionally a couple times a week. It just felt good to give my body a break.
I practice intermittent fasting once or twice a week. It sounds scary but all it means is choosing a six hour window during the day where you consume your meals. The rest of the day you fast in order to give your body time to rest and cleanse. This diverts energy, normally used to break down food, to your organs instead. It also releases more human growth hormone, which aids in the weight loss process.
9. GO TO BED!
There’s a draw for me to stay up late every night. My kids are asleep, the house is nice and quite, I finally have a moment to myself! But I’ve found the later I stay up, the more I want to snack. I tend to be much more successful when I go to bed at 10pm. I lose more weight, I’m more well rested, and I’m not (as) cranky when my kids wake me up between 6am and 7.
Dr. Axe says, “Every hour of sleep you get before midnight can count as double the amount of rest you get after.”
If you’re getting less than seven hours of sleep a night, you may be causing your body to store an increased amount of body fat. Getting eight hours or more ofqualitysleep during the night helps your body burn fat rather than store it.
10. TRY SOMETHING NEW
I was the picky kid growing up, the one who only ate chicken nuggets and ketchup. I was a menace.
Being an adventurous eater just isn’t in my nature. If you’re like me I want to encourage you to give the foods you don’t like another try throughout this process. We have a new rule in our house, you can’t say you don’t like a food until you’ve tried it nine times.
Over the last six months I’ve noticed that my tastes have changed. Foods I formerly couldn’t stand have become some of my favorites; onions, tomatoes, pickles, peppers, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, kale, cabbage, just to name a few. I have also gained the courage to try new things!
It’s never too late to retrain your pallet!
For a look at what supplements I take and the vitamins I give to my kiddos, click here!
