I figured I had a problem and various ways to solve it, but nothing really stuck. You can read the uphill battle here and here. Calories in versus calories out. Simple enough right? No. So what could I have been doing so wrong that never really worked?

I found a program called the 17 Day Diet. This really restarted my metabolism. It has 4 cycles that last 17 days each. The first cycle strips all the “bad” food out. You stay with in your calories and eat mainly protein and veggies. No sugar or carbs. Cycle 2 you can start adding carbs back in but only before 2 pm. Cycle 3 you add a little bit more and Cycle 4 you maintain or back pedal to Cycle 1. You can read about it more here.

I’m not on that diet now, but it showed me that I was consuming way too many carbs and not enough nutrients. I’m not anti-carb at all. But the amount that you can eat in carbs, you can eat triple it in protein and veggies. You feel more full and get more nutrients in your belly.

After doing that diet and losing 10 pounds, (2-3 months or 2 rounds of Cycle 1-3) I wanted to get back to a normal lifestyle. I went back to tracking my calories at My Fitness Pal. This is a great site with an app for phones. Plus it’s free! It has a lot of food listed plus Israeli products I keep in the house. You do have to double check items you add because it is user based and mistakes can be made.

I was consuming less naturally. I ate less sugar and carbs. I packed on proteins and veggies. I undid countless years of bad information. Information from our own government. From when I was born look how different our “food pyramid” has changed.

I still don’t agree with our current food pyramid but it is much better then before. If you have a chance to read, there is an amazing article on the NY Times about dieting and problems with media skewing peoples perspective on diet and lifestyle.
Check it out here. It’s a long read but really worth it.

Since I have a sedentary job, I have to make sure I get my 30 minutes of activity time. I can easily go 24 hours a day and barely leave my office chair/couch/bed. So I try to go to the gym as much as I can. What I do is 30 minutes on the elliptical. (I can’t stand running) Then I do 10 minutes of strength training. I try to do this 3-5x week. Some weeks are better then others, but I am trying.

Here is a photo comparing my face from 2002 -2013.

The final round and the solution to all my diet plans was below the surface. I was making a lot of my food. I stopped buying anything that was microwaveable or easily ready to eat. It was annoying at first, but with apps like Epicurious and Big Oven. I always had something different for dinner. Breakfast and lunch were my enemies because I wasn’t home for them. I had to rely on the cafeteria at work or outside. You never know exactly how much oil or extra ingredients they put in your food. I could always pack my lunch, and sometimes I did. But sometimes I didn’t have the time. Or I wanted a fresh meal. So what do you do then?

When I started cutting the crap out of my diet, there was one thing I never got rid of.
Splenda was the bane of my existence. I used it in everything. I would have 3 cups of coffee a day and add 3 packets of splenda to each coffee. Why would I need something that sweet? I would also eat fruit and sprinkle Splenda onto my fruit. Think of what your body is doing? Sweet with fake sweet? This was my ultimate problem. The reason why I was hungry all the time. My body was being ruined by this chemical. You can read all about it here.

I thought I would miss Splenda and not like just using one teaspoon of sugar (brown). When I stopped, I didn’t miss it. Now I know what coffee really tastes like! I then thought to myself what other crap could I be eating that’s chemical? I started my research and found the NON-GMO Project. Give this site a good read.

What Is GMO?

My mind was blown on the amount of crap I was putting in my system. Thank god my vices were usually when I was away from home. In my home I only had to swap out butter (it was low fat with a bunch of fillers) and my pancake syrup (where the first ingredient was high fructose corn syrup) This research led me to an app called Fooducate.

This is a sample of “good” food VS “bad” food. Click to see bigger.

What I love about this app is that it shows if the product has GMOs, too much salt or sugar in a single serving, etc… It also gives you alternative foods to choose from!
The knowledge I got was amazing. That even words like “natural” is different from “organic”. See here. It’s interesting how many companies bend the rules with out breaking them. Even “health conscious” products like Kashi, had pink slime in their products. Remember pink slime?

Now, I don’t stare at the calories and fat, but now the ingredients. If there was something I couldn’t pronounce, I do not buy it.

Conclusion?

I feel fucking fantastic.

Those hunger pains have vanished. My body doesn’t ache. And making food got even more adventurous. Currently I am at a healthy weight, but now I am not filling my body with “fillers”, chemicals, and junk. Everyone’s weight loss journey is different. Remember Kristin Jackson at My Fit Decision? She’s a vegetarian who works out 6x week, sometimes even 2 hours a day. That lifestyle won’t work for me but it damn worked for her. It’s all about being educated and learning what works for your life.

Do you have your own personal story to share? Your own high and lows? I would love to here from you. Express yourself in the comments below!