How I Lost 20lbs | simple tips to lose weight
– This was me on October 2021. I had just given birth
to my son a month prior. And despite me being the
heaviest weight I'd ever been, I was pretty comfortable
with the way I looked. I knew eventually I would wanna get back to my pre-pregnancy weight, but I knew I didn't wanna go
down that same cycle of dieting that I always found myself under. It would always start with phase one. My diet plan was not very chill. It was a lot of nos,
like no rice, no bread, no pasta, no noodles, no
sugar, no ice cream, no cakes. It was only gonna be salads
and chicken and vegetables. Once my diet started, I would be a very quote, unquote "good." I would just be exercising
every single day and I'd be sticking to my meal plan.
By the end of the week, I am feeling good, I'm seeing
some progress, I'm on a roll. But that's when Friday night rolls in. So I would find myself
partying every single weekend. And even though I was pounding
skinny minis all night, it would still take a huge toll on me. And the next day, I would be
just completely destroyed, just a shell of myself. And I would always think
that the cure to my hangover would be Domino's, kalbi, a corn dog, thinking that it's gonna help me. But I end up just feeling
more (bleep) about myself. And this leads us to the final phase. At this point, I already
had a bad first meal so I might as well treat myself
to another and another one. And then that conveniently
leads us back to phase one. So this was generally the cycle that I caught myself in until now.
This is my body now after 16 months and I am very proud to say
that I did not crash diet, I didn't fall under this cycle,
this spell that I used to. Instead, I just followed these guidelines that I'm out to share with you to get gently back into shape
physically and also mentally. So first I wanna stress the
importance of mental health because these are some
photos of me back in 2019. I was technically like the
lowest weight I had ever been, but I was still incredibly
insecure with the way I looked. It was just like always
like a work in progress. But therapy throughout the
years has definitely helped me become more compassionate
with myself and my body image. This is where I wanna thank BetterHelp for sponsoring today's video. So BetterHelp is a service with over 25,000 licensed
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10% off your first month using my link BetterHelp.com/Jenn. That Better H-E-L-P. I will leave that link
in the description box and you could also scan
the QR code right here. Very fancy. I just wanted to make a
little quick disclaimer letting you guys know
that I did not follow any of these diet tips I'm about to say until after I finished breastfeeding, meaning that I did not modify my diet or watched what I ate
while I was breastfeeding.
I had full range on eating
everything that my heart desired. I began with collecting some data. I calculated my TDEE which stands for Total
Daily Energy Expenditure. Now, this is gonna vary wildly depending on each person
because we are all different. But according to my body stats, I would only need around 1500
to 1600 calories every day. Now my TDEE is lower because I am petite. I'm only 5'1", so I
technically need less calories than someone who is like 6'4". I know numbers can be
very triggering to some but I just needed an objective number so I could establish a healthy goal. In order for me to maintain my weight, I would need to eat around
like 1600 calories a day.
But if I wanted to lose weight, I would just need to eat
slightly under this consistently. If I ate more than this amount,
then I would gain weight. Now, this gives me some boundaries
for my weight loss goals. And before you get
carried away being like, oh, if my TDEE is 1500, then I'm only gonna have
1000 calories a day. This, my friends, is not sustainable. This is how you, yo-yo your weight. I just slashed maybe like 100
calories to 50 calories a day. And it wasn't super strict about it, like looking at all the nutrition facts.
Instead, I would just be like, hey, maybe today I won't
splash milk in my coffee. Or maybe instead of ketchup,
I would just have hot sauce. Like it would just be very small tweaks to work around that
like 1500 calorie mark. And with this gradual process,
then the weight comes off. This is the classic equation
of calories in, calories out. So I have observed a pattern where I enjoy eating
large meals all at once. I've tried eating like the small amounts and like peck throughout the day, but that just does not work for me. I'm like a volume eater. So this is where intermittent fasting has just benefited me immensely. I have 1500 calories for my TDEE, so it made sense for me to
eat two large meals in a day and maybe a snack. So I fasted five days out of the week and my window is like
a 16 hour fast window. So my last meal would be at 6:00 PM and my first meal would be
at like 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM. And there are tons of
studies that are coming out that show how beneficial
intermittent fasting is. It helps promote weight
loss, particularly fat loss, liver health, cognitive
health, longevity and more.
I will leave like my favorite video about intermittent fasting
in the description box by Dr. Andrew Huberman. He is incredible. This has just been like the easiest way for me to eat the foods that I want while losing and maintaining my physique. I think it's important to
focus on eating whole foods that you genuinely enjoy the taste of. Now whole foods are ones that don't have a huge ingredient list. Like an apple is just an apple. If you are thinking, ugh, whole foods are so bland and boring, you guys are completely dismissing an entire rich category filled with delicious, nutritious foods.
Like for example, broccoli. Broccoli is just an outstanding vegetable. And I think now I have like
a few recipes on rotation that I just know is just
filled with goodness, which is awesome. I will also leave a link to like what I eat in a week video in the cards if you need some recipe ideas. And when I'm prepping my meals,
I always think about adding. For example, let's say I'm
eating some mac and cheese. Instead of just having it
with the noodles and cheese, I will add broccoli,
peas, chicken, a protein, and then I'll also have like
mixed greens on the side. If I'm having ramen, I will
add bok choy, spinach, an egg. Let's say I'm making burgers. I will load that sucker up
with lettuce and tomatoes. Like at this point in my life, I will eat pretty much everything but I will just throw a
bunch of vegetables at it. And it kind of shifts my perspective into a place of abundance
rather than scarcity. You know what I mean? Instead of saying like,
oh, I can't have pizza.
I'll just say I'll have pizza and I'll also have a big salad with it. My next tip is to not
demonize whole foods. I know that there's a lot of people that really get in the weeds with macros and calorie counting and I do think that's important to an extent. But if you are like shaming
yourself for eating a avocado or adding too much olive oil
to your salad or your meals, I think it's time to kind of
be more gentle on yourself.
Like, this is me speaking to my old self, because I would use like olive oil spray and I would just eat like
a slither of a avocado because I thought it was
too high in calories. But now I'm understanding
that these are good fats and they're actually good for me and they keep me satiated for longer. Like I would not beat yourself
over eating too much fruit or eating too many avocados. Like literally no one got obese from eating too many avocados. It's the processed (bleep) that's gonna make you gain weight. And processed foods are the ones with just like a lot of ingredients.
Like the processed foods are all the foods that are located in the
center of the grocery store. All the whole foods are
located on the exterior aisles. I think the only tip I have for exercise is to find a form of
movement that you enjoy and just be consistent with it. My exercise preferences
are all over the place. I love Pilates, I love walking, running, hiking, strength training, yoga. It's a blend of everything. 'Cause I do believe that
variety is the spice for life. Right now, my heavy phase is
weight lifting twice a week, yoga twice a week and then hiking or running one time a week. And I find that this has
been just like a nice way for me to stay active and get my movement. I wanna touch on some setbacks. Let's say you eat a bag of
chips or you have some cake. Now is not the time to just
continue to ruin your diet because you had just one indulgent thing.
This is something that
I call the (bleep) lever which is a lever I
would pull all the time. Since I already had an naughty meal, I might as well just have a naughty day. This piece of advice that I heard recently just completely changed
my perspective on this. They used this analogy. Let's say you're driving a car and one of the tire blows out. You wouldn't go outside and
slash all three of the tires.
Any sane person would
just fix the broken tire and then proceed. So the next time you have
a treat or indulgent meal, just work on fixing that tire and then for your next meal, eat something delicious
and nutritious and move on. My final tip is that slow
and steady wins the race. Anytime that I've lost
weight and I've kept it off, it's been through a very gradual process. And anytime I went on
something too restrictive or I was like crash dieting, then my weight would just, yo-yo. I would like gain back
that weight so quickly and maybe even a little bit more. Like this whole process took me 16 months to
get to this weight now and I'm feeling good and happy with myself and I think that is what
really matters in the end. It's like how you feel in your body and that confidence will exude out. So this concludes my weight loss pillars. I hope you find them helpful
and good luck with everything. I will see you guys in my next one.
Thank you for watching. Bye..
