My kick start to weight loss (food)

Ever tried this? If not, I encourage you to try it and see how quickly you lose your appetite or second guess what you're eating if you're struggling with weight loss. I can't possibly preach to you how easy it is to eat clean because I myself have had some struggles in the past 2 weeks staying on track. I went from having one cheat day to eating whatever I wanted everyday. The only thing I can primarily stress to you is how important it is to eat clean during your weight loss journey. If you're serious about changing your body you have to be equally as serious, if not more, about what you feed your body. What I did to kick start my weight loss journey a year ago was eat raw for 3 weeks straight without any cheat days. My diet consisted of only raw foods and nothing cooked. This means that I only ate fruits, salads, shakes, and nuts.  For breakfast I made smoothies. For lunch I had a fruit salad or just fruits and for dinner I made huge salads with my own home made dressing. My nuts were snacks for in between meals. I often changed it up so that I wouldn't get bored with my meals. Once I finished with my raw food diet, I saw food differently and I found that my relationship with it had changed. As I slowly introduced some of the foods back into my diet (healthier choices), everything tasted either too salty or too sweet and my cravings disappeared ( I used to have serious cravings for dairy and candy).
 What happened? My pallet changed and my body adjusted. Felt like my whole body had been reset because not only had my taste and cravings changed but also my energy increased and another added benefit was the loss of water weight (10 lbs).  

This change in diet may be drastic for many so there are other ways to still kick start your weight loss. Notice when I went raw, I eliminated most things because they weren't part of my new diet. For those 3 weeks, I had no dairy, starch, and meat. You could do the same by eliminating those foods for a certain period of time. This could be a great way to start learning how to eat less processed foods and come up with healthier substitutes for the things you indulged in that weren't so healthy.

Starting April 1st, I will be going back to the basics and eliminating those 3 mentioned above for the entire month and incorporate a vigorous workout regime to lose more body fat. You're more than welcome to join in, regardless of what your goals may be. You can contact me for detailed instruction on my personal plan or just for added support. Good luck on your journey should you choose to begin!

TODAY: (03/2013) 131 lbs. & 26% body fat                                 BEFORE:  (07/2011) 153 lbs. & 35% body fat
 
I initially lost an overall of 27 lbs. in a year ( from summer 2011 to summer 2012 through diet and exercise) and was able to maintain my weight of 126 lbs. to up until a month ago, when I went from 126 lbs.  to 131 lbs. by losing fat and gaining muscle. The number on the scale is no longer a target of mine, my focus is more on toning.  
I've also chopped all my hair off once more since 2011 :-)


FYI: 
If you don't know what 35% body fat is like, it is the same as carrying 48 lbs. of FAT. That means out of 153 lbs., 48 of that was pure fat. Although 153 lbs. is not the same as being over 200 lbs., I was still considered overweight/borderline obese because of my height, weight, lean mass vs. body fat percentage. Weight loss is a great goal to have but never lose sight of the  ultimate goal,  which ought to be your overall wellness and fitness, and for this reason, I will personally ALWAYS advocate health first over losing weight.
                                                                                
                                                                                  Body Fat Percentage Chart:

Keep in mind the word "acceptable" should really be replaced with "overweight" because even common sense will tell you that you don't go from being acceptable to obese, skipping overweight. The average American today is overweight so the classification has been modified as "acceptable."  This should just be another reason why you should strive to be better than average because sometimes "average" doesn't quite cut it.