Looking for a healthier lifestyle

Madilyn

Madilyn

New member
Hello dear people, another newbie here.

I've struggled with non so ideal eating habits since my teenage years and I am looking for ways to achieve a healthier lifestyle and lose some of the weight that I've put on over the last couple of years. I have never been overweight but I have been steadily putting on weight for years now and BMI wise I'm almost overweight. I don't give much value to unreliable tools like BMI, just using it here to give you an idea of where I stand weight wise. I simply don't feel content in my body, I feel bloated and squishy and out of proportion and I'm sick of constantly filling my body with heaps of sugary foods that only have the bare minimum of nutritional value.

The improvements that I am looking to make are:
- more unprocessed food
- no more sweets instead of proper meals
- eating consciously instead of mindlessly munching on stuff while doing other things
- cutting back on carbs
- less frequent eating

These are my plans for a start, I'm looking to gradually incorporate changes and improvements because I know I don't do well with extremes, so this seems safer.

I am also currently looking into intermittent fasting (8/16) and plant based diets.

Hoping to find some advice, support and nice people here. :)
 
Keto and Intermittent Fasting zero in on the same strategy... keeping your insulin level low enough to allow your digestive system a chance at getting to stored fat for energy. Keto tries to keep it low through severely reducing carbs 24/7 while IF achieves that state by simply giving your system a break from having to digest food for at least a few hours each day. this also has a secondary effect of possibly triggering states of apoptosis and autophagy... cell repair which occurs during even short fasting states.

one thing i could suggest if you are getting into IF... when i started this practice my biggest challenge was stopping my eating day after "dinner" and not extending it into the evening. i started with a simple 12/12, but quickly dialed that down to 16/8 after about a week. in time i was often doing 20/4 days... practically OMAD (one meal a day). at this time i was dropping about 2-2.5 lbs/ week for nearly 4 months. bottom line is, get into it slowly... even a 14/10 day will be effective if you have to do that every so often.

i am still on an IF diet after nearly a year now. frankly i've stopped considering it a diet anymore... this is now what i call normal. maybe 2-3 days/ month i will abandon the practice, but i have to admit, now even given the chance to overindulge, i rarely do. your attack on processed foods and added sugar is definitely a positive step, too.

good luck.

by the way.... i used to term IF fasting hours as 8/16 or 6/18, too, but i have noticed the majority of people use the opposite notation of hours as 16/8 or 18/6... makes sense seeing it's called intermittent fasting and not intermittent eating... :)
 
by the way... Keto coffee is a misnomer... it should more correctly be termed "coffee flavored fat calories". no disrespect meant, but let's call it what it really is.
 
Hey Madelyn, welcome!

It sounds like you have already chosen some good objectives, they will help you get your eating and weight loss under control. My suggestion to you is to start a diary and post your food and progress daily. That was suggested to me when I first started and its been a big help. You will get advice and support from some very wise and experienced members. Flyer is an example, he is one of those wise senior members here.

Best of luck to you!
 
Hi, I love your plan for weight loss! We need to value our bodies today and make it healthy to prevent us from getting sick. Weight loss is never an easy matter, you need to be disciplined on what you are eating and exercise regularly. I believe that you can do it, dear. If you are looking for some tips and products on weight loss, here is the link, (spam link removed)
 
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Hi and welcome!

All your goals sound great! Can I give you one common sense piece of advice? I honestly prefer that over a current fad / diet plan any day.

I think you should try to spend some time menu / meal planning, ideally prior to doing your grocery shopping.

A lot of times when we're eating too many processed foods, or snacking too much, it's because it's a quick way to eat. We don't have the time after work to figure out what to make for dinner. So even if a healthy option appeals to us, we might not feel like seeing if we have everything we need to make it, or we might find out we're a couple of ingredients short, etc... So we end up eating what's convenient, which very often is processed food.

However, if you do a weekly meal plan and buy what you need, then you can plan out some healthier meals that a quick to prepare, and you won't have to waste any energy "thinking" about what to make for that meal... you'll just make it and eat it.

Even if you only add 1-2 dinners a week that way, that's progress, right? Imagine if you do that, plus you figure out a few healthier snacks to keep stocked... or even maybe a couple of 2 or 3 ingredient snacks you can easily make (a smoothie, a dried fruit snack, etc). Whatever suits your tastes.

Just plan out the foods that fit those goals you mentioned above, and shop for them.

Hope that helps!
 
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