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Tips And Tricks To Start A Ketogenic Diet:

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The BEST Ways To Lose Weight

Losing weight or managing weight can be a short lived dream or a lifestyle, depending on YOU. I’ve struggled with losing weight for many years before actually having a successful weight loss journey. I had to come to terms with myself about a lot of things in my life because I was my biggest enemy. I eventually started to take an interest in my body in terms of my health. Before I was able to concentrate on becoming healthy, I had to mentally adjust the way I viewed many things. It started with accepting the fact I had a problem. Once that problem was acknowledged, I became determined to change. Once my mind was made up to make that change and start living healthy, I just needed to be consistent. Check out my other article titled “3 Things I Had To “ACQUIRE” In Order To Lose Weight.” This article goes into more detail of how acceptance, determination and consistency got me on the right path. Outside of my mentality, I have found the best ways for losing weight for myself.

Having A Healthy Diet

A healthy diet seems like common sense, right? But what I have found is, the type of diet needed for successful weight loss may differ for each individual. If you are familiar with my journey thus far, you should know I have loss well over 150 pounds on the keto diet. The keto diet was easy for me and it really motivated me to continue. With this being said, a healthy diet should be tailored to an individuals preference. In addition, everything is not for everyone and everyone’s journey will be different. In contrast, if an individual feel as though something that is working for others may work for them and it will keep them consistent with the process, I say GO FOR IT! Losing weight became a simple process for me because eating a healthy diet brought me excitement. I didn’t dread the fact of eating healthy. Instead, I was excited to try new recipes by substituting unhealthy food options with healthier food options. Prior to the start of my healthy diet, I never really enjoyed grocery shopping. It wasn’t until I started searching for healthier ingredients that made grocery shopping fun for me. I was always happy to look for new items to try. Overall, a healthy diet is one of the best ways to lose weight. Finding a diet that you enjoy and that will help you be consistent will bring you success with losing weight.

Having A Workout Plan

Having a workout plan is just as important as having a healthy diet. The difference between the diet and the workout plan is the workout plan needs to constantly change. During my journey, my workout plans always varied. In the beginning, I was doing lots of cardio. After losing over 100 pounds, I began to focus on strength training. Cardio was fun because it kept me moving. My favorite type of cardio was and still is bike riding and jump roping. The good thing about cardio is, I was burning calories as I did my cardio routine. Strength training is different. Strength training consist of a lot of controlled movements. It took days for my muscles to recover after a strength training. However, I was burning calories days after my strength training sessions, even when I wasn’t doing strength training. This means I was burning more calories from strength training than I was from cardio. From my personal experience, I got a better result from strength training. But, strength training and cardio were both needed for my weight loss. Overtime, my muscles were getting bigger and my body was getting used to my workouts which often caused me to plateau. Although my diet remained the same, I had to constantly switch up my workouts to break my plateau for continuous growth. This being the reason why its important for a workout plan to constantly change. With my health being my priority, my workout plans became my hobby. A consistent workout schedule is definitely one of the best ways to lose weight.

Having Patience

Having patience is easier said than done in a world of “quick fixes.” Nothing happened overnight for me and in the beginning, I was a little impatient. I was constantly stepping on the scale and getting anxious to get to my goal weight. This behavior took me on a short lived downward spiral because I started to lose interest. Once my interest was gone, I lost my consistency and my motivation. See, my mental health really fueled my physical health. How I was feeling dictated my actions. My weight loss started getting better when I started being patient. Instead of thinking what my body would like in six (6) months from now, I started focusing on the foods I was eating during the day. Once I started concentrating on my journey one day at a time, I started to become motivated and determined again. I knew the weight would come off if I stay consistent with my diet and workout plan. Once I was tired of giving up myself, my lifestyle completely change. Patience is a major factor for weight loss.

Thank You

I would like to personally thank you for taking the time to visit this site and reading the content. My goal is to talk about my personal experience with losing a drastic amount of weight, naturally. My intentions are to help, educate and motivate. If you enjoy the content found here, feel free to donate or subscribe to my email list. Again, thank you for taking time to stop by. Good day to you.

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How exactly does “FAT” leave your body?

Understanding how fat leaves the body was never really a concern of mine. All I focused on was shedding the pounds. However, in my opinion, I believe the more you understand, the more patience and acceptance you will acquire. In addition, I also understood the changes my body was going through and why these changes were happening. When researching how fat leaves the body, I discovered that it leaves the body in the form of carbon dioxide and water. I found this to be very interesting because I started to realize the versatility of the body. Let’s get into it:

Carbon Dioxide

This one was hard for me to believe, AT FIRST. However, after countless hours of research, I found this to be extremely interesting. One-way fat leaves the body is in the form of carbon dioxide. What exactly does that mean? It’s simple, you’re BREATHING out fat. According to researchers, 84% of fat is exhaled through carbon dioxide. Taking a deeper look into how fat is exhaled through carbon dioxide, I found that the fat breaks down in many ways during the fat burning process. According to scientist, the atoms that fats are made of remains in the body after the fat burning process. Most of these remains are exhaled from the body as carbon dioxide.

Water

Yup, you read right! Another way fat is leaving the body is in the form of water. Water leaves the body in many different forms. These forms consist of urine, feces, sweat, tears or other bodily fluids. So, while 84% of fat is leaving the body as carbon dioxide, the remaining 16% becomes water.

The Takeaway

Most of the fat we lose is being exhaled through carbon dioxide. The more carbon dioxide you exhale, the more fat you’re getting rid of. Therefore, to exhale more carbon dioxide, one must work their muscles more. By doing cardiovascular exercises and / or strength training, your body is increasing the carbon dioxide you’re exhaling. Everything we put in our body goes to our bloodstream and organs. The more physical activity you add to your lifestyle, more fat cells are broken down into carbon dioxide and water to be released from the body. In addition, it was found that a person loses at least 200 grams of carbon dioxide in their sleep.

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Hitting A Fitness PLATEAU…What to DO!?

First know, this is NOT a bad thing!

In my time, I’ve hit a plateau here and there. Before actually understanding what a plateau is and the cause of it, plateaus would discourage me. See, I used to be obsessed with the scale. I would often rate my level of success on whether I’ve lost weight or not. When I didn’t shed any pounds, I felt like I was failing myself. However, I quickly came to realize plateaus are NORMAL! It really took me some time to understand how amazing our bodies are and how they’re capable of adapting. I view fitness plateaus as being our body’s way of talking to us.

What exactly is a Fitness PLATEAU?

In regards to fitness, a plateau is a decrease in noticeable results from your fitness efforts. I quickly noticed little to no results after following the same workout routine overtime. Once my body adapted to a specific exercise, that exercise did not benefit me as much. So for me, this was devastating at first. I was discouraged and felt like giving up. But after spending hours researching and talking to fitness guru’s, I quickly learned I had to change what I was doing. The term I like to use is “shock” the body. I learned that if I wanted to see different results, I had to start doing something different.

This is why I NO LONGER hit fitness plateaus! 💪🏽

I’ve gotten into the habit of switching up my workouts every week. Whereas before, I would do the same workout for months at a time. I also now dedicate different days to different parts of my body. Before, everything I was doing was always total body workouts. I have certain days dedicated to working on my upper body and certain days dedicated to my lower body. I still repeat this cycle til this day.

However, I never do the same workouts longer than a WEEK! For a quick example, I would do lunges and squats for my lower body workout days and bicep curls and tricep extensions for my upper body workout days. I would finish my week doing the same exercises on alternating days.

The following week, I would NOT do lunges and squats for my lower body workout days. Instead, I’ll do something different like donkey kicks and leg raises. The same applies to my upper body. Because I did bicep curls and tricep extensions on my upper body workout days of the prior week, I would utilize different exercises for my upper body for the new week.

Now, this isn’t to say that I never repeat the same exercises. I eventually repeat exercises, I just do not spend more than a week at a time on one set of exercises. In reality, I’m constantly hitting my body with new workouts which has given me amazing results!

Normally, I would choose at least 6 exercises to do for my lower body workout days and 6 exercises to do for my upper body workout days. In addition, I do not focus on sets. I do A LOT of reps until my body tells me I need a break. I’ll take a break and come back to A LOT of reps of a different exercise. I repeat this cycle throughout my workout. I hope you’ve enjoy this blog. Please feel free to like or comment below. STAY HAPPY AND HEALTHY!

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How to Lose Weight FAST

This was often a question I wanted an answer to! Prior to my successful weight loss, I was looking for any and every quick fix known to man. I’ve tried detox teas, many different diets, smoothies, different work out programs, buying expensive workout clothing, you name it! The only things I’ve never tried were weight loss pills or tablets claiming to help you lose weight. Besides that, I’ve made plenty attempts to lose weight fast prior to actually losing my weight! Now, people wonder if it’s really possible to lose weight fast. In my personal opinion, it ABSOLUTELY is! I’ve actually written an article explaining how I lost 15 pounds my FIRST WEEK! Please understand, I worked HARD that first week and I was extremely dedicated! The difference between quick results and delayed results was the level of my determination to lose weight in a given time.

It’s IMPORTANT to know:

Everything may not work for everyone! The detox teas, the many different diets, the smoothies, all the different work out programs and even buying expensive workout clothing didn’t help me lose weight. It is very easy for someone to promote a product that will help you lose weight but won’t explain how to be successful at it! For me specifically, I had to acquire three things first before losing weight and those three things were all “MENTAL.” Once I accepted I was unhealthy and I needed to change my life, I gained a determination to make it happen! Once I was determined to live a healthier lifestyle, I became consistent with my diet along with a workout plan.

How I Lost Over 150 Pounds

I finally found a diet that I really enjoyed! That diet is the Keto diet. Starting out, I was very strict with my diet and made sure I was not over eating carbohydrates. Along with the keto diet, I was doing cardio exercises 5 days a week! My first week of the keto diet and cardio workouts helped me get rid of 15 pounds in 7 days. However, now that I lost so much weight, I can only DREAM of losing another 15 pounds in a week. There are many different factors that can also hinder a person from losing weight which is why you have to find what works for you! I can attest to this, when I was heavier and had more weight to loose, I lost more weight in shorter periods of time than I do now. Now that I am fit, my goal has changed from losing weight to building and sustaining muscle.

The TRUTH is:

Losing weight became easy for me over time! With anything, you have to be CONSISTENT! Just think about it; if you stick to a healthy diet and workout plan for a week without cheating yourself, you would lose weight quicker than you would if you didn’t stick to a healthy diet and workout plan. I’ve searched for a “quick fix” for years before I realized I had to just start living healthy. If you want a change, give yourself at least 8 weeks of clean eating and exercising. At the end of those 8 weeks, you’ll probably amaze yourself if you haven’t cheated yourself or made decisions that may have hindered the success of your weight loss.

Accept that healthy weight loss is associated with a healthy lifestyle. Become determined to lose weight and be consistent with your diet and workout plan. Anything is possible if you KEEP GOING!

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Strength Training vs. Cardio

Which do I prefer?

During my personal experience with both strength training and cardio, I find them both to be essential aspects of a healthy lifestyle. In a sense, I sort of feel like strength training and cardio works hand in hand. For me personally, I enjoy both. However, the results my body got after doing cardio were different than the results my body got from the strength training. In this article, I want to point out those differences.

Let’s start with the CARDIO:

Cardio was definitely my go-to training style when I weighed over 350 pounds. I knew I needed to lose weight and I wanted to see my weight drop on the scale. With a keto style diet and a cardio training program in place, the pounds started melting away like butter! There are many benefits of cardio and countless reasons why cardio is important! I was feeling good and I was looking great! My first week of changing my lifestyle, I lost 15 pounds. With cardio being my main training program, I lost the majority of my weight In less than two years.

During this time, I was not doing much strength training. “Strength training equals weight gain,” was conditioned in my mind. Knowing I wanted to lose weight and not gain it, I did very little to no strength training. When I speak of strength training, I’m mainly referring to specific muscle group training such as lunges, squats, lifting weights etc.

“Before understanding how the body really works, I always knew muscle weighs the same as fat. What I did NOT know was muscle takes up LESS space than fat. So a person weighing 200 pounds with a higher body muscle percentage would look smaller and leaner than a person weighing 200 pounds with a higher body fat percentage.”

Overtime, I started to love the way I was looking and I felt amazing from the result I did receive from doing only cardio. It wasn’t until I was invited to a pool party that I realized I still had work to do. I was excited about losing weight and wearing a bikini for the first time ever. When I purchased the bikini and wore it, I really focused on the way my body looked outside of clothes. The way my naked body looked was never a concern for me and I never really took into account the way I felt about my naked body.

What became of a concern for me was the loose skin from my weight loss. I had loose skin everywhere and honestly, I did not like it. At one point, I became a little discouraged and actually picked up a few pounds. Prior to this minor weight gain, my body was small and in my opinion, my skin looked saggy. I did not have the shape definition I wanted. It was at this point I realized, it’s time to tackle the strength training!

Next up: What STRENGTH TRAINING Has Done For Me:

Strength training has become my new “normal.” However, I still do cardio as part of my workout routine, but just not as much as I do strength training. Strength training not only lowered my risk of injury but it also helped with my joint flexibility! I began my strength training program when I picked up weight after feeling discouraged about my loose skin. I gained 12 pounds and noticed some of my loose skin started to look a little firm. I knew this was a problem. The problem is, when I lost weight and gain the weight back, I was adding fat back to my body which decreases the chance of my skin naturally firming. I knew I did not want “fat” to be the reason I had a firm looking body so I focused on building muscle.

With strength training, I definitely did not see results as quick as I did with my cardio program. It actually took about 5 – 8 weeks before I really started seeing a difference. The main benefit of strength training that I appreciate is the fact of muscle burning more calories over time than cardio! With cardio, I was burning calories while performing the cardio exercise; whereas with strength training, I would burn calories over a course of a couple of days. During my strength training workouts, my muscles would burn! I knew this was a result of unused muscles finally being used and torn. After my workouts, I would drink a protein shake and two hours later, I would eat a meal that was high in protein and carbohydrates from vegetables.

The two days following my workout, I was unable to move around a lot because my body was so sore. The soreness I was feeling were my muscles repairing themselves from the workout that caused them to tear. However, I noticed the more I SLEPT, the more my muscles would grow and I would experience less soreness! With that being said, it is very important to rest your body so your muscle can repair and grow. I kept up this routine and noticed my body shaping and becoming very muscular and toned looking. I still had some loose skin, but I did not have as much loose skin as I did prior to starting this workout program. I was eventually able to wear my bikini and feel confident in it!

In My Opinion:

Cardio helped me lose the majority of my weight and strength training helped my muscles grow and gave me the body I desired! Cardio and strength training both have their own benefits and are both important for anyone’s health. Both types of workout programs should be incorporated in a workout routine somehow, along with a healthy diet.

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