weight loss journey – Baby T's Fashion Diaries

October 29, 2021October 29, 2021

I’m not on a diet, but I made changes.

First, I’m not on a diet. I don’t have any food restrictions, and this time I’m not forcing myself to eat a certain calorie limit (to the point it became unhealthy). This time I wanted to get to a healthy weight by having a healthy relationship ship with food that I could maintain…. AND keep a healthy mindset.

So this time I made small changes to my normal food intake for the better. The goal was to eat more nutritious food, food that is going to keep me full till my next meal, food that is going to fuel my body for workouts and gaining muscle!

Here are some of the substitutions and additions I made:

1. VEGGIES!!!

I mean I’m sure we all know that we should be eatting vegetables, it’s part of the four main food groups. All dieticians and doctors advise to eat them. But that didn’t mean that I did before…yikes.

What I wish I knew was how to make veggies delicious: Saute them in olive oil, boil them and ADD spices!!

I mean chicken on its own is super boring, it’s really how you cook and spice it up that makes it good. The same is true with vegetables. It took me a lot of trial and error to figure out what I liked. But you can get there too. Plus it’s a low calorie addition to a meal. I fill up my huge plates completely now.

2. High Protein Foods

I love meat, like my body craves it as a snack. Often times we will have bologna, hot dogs, or left over chicken in the fridge that I munch on like a snack. The way other people do with sweets haha.

I also knew that if I was going to be VERY active I needed enough protein in my diet to help maintain and repair tissue. What I also read is that protein helps reduce cravings and late night snacking (this is where I really struggled before). I would eat highly processed, fatty foods before bed and a lot of it. Since changing my diet, I don’t do that as often (mainly when I didn’t eat right in the day or my period)! This could also be why I crave meat? Since a high protein food helps satiate me rather than a big bag of chips 🤯

Some high protein foods that I eat on the regular are: bread (specific kinds), Greek yogurt, eggs, fish (salmon), broccoli, and peas!

2. Substitutions

Another thing I did was make substitions of staples in my meals. That doesn’t mean that I replaced one food for another, but that I found more nutritious options to replace my existing.

Bread. I have bread everyday, probably with about half my meals. And the thought of giving up bread made me sad, so I could never sustain the keto diet. So I replaced my brown dempsters bread with stonemill sourdough rye mulitgrain bread. It has slightly less carbs and sugars. This could be the reason I feel full longer with this bread as sugar is linked to increased appetite.

Eggs. I eat eggs every morning, but I wanted to reduce fat and increase protein so I replaced one egg with two-four egg whites. Which is less or equal the amount of calories but more nutrition!

Rice. I used to eat minute rice because I was all about convenience. Now I have switched to basmati golden rice. The amount of calories per portion is alot better and you feel more satiated.

Milk. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m lactose intolerant like most first nations peoples. I completely cut out cheese, that was hard, because my gut just can’t take it anymore. On occasion I still have fast food with cheese. And my body usually isn’t very happy. But I still want milk for my coffee, so I substituted almond milk. Way less calories for the punch.

The point of this is I made small changes overtime. I don’t do a diet because I know myself, I won’t be able to sustain it and I won’t be happy. I’m making lifestyle changes for the future!

Lastly it’s about balance, previously I was preaching calories in and calories out mythology for losing weight. This method works but it can be a breeding ground for eatting disorders and obsessive behavior.

Now I calculate what my caloric intake should be on this website: https://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html

I instead eat within the range or sometimes over. No big deal! I’m not trying to stay below a specific number, 1200 calories before or even 900 at my worst 🤦‍♀️, and actually slowing my metabolism. I eat anywhere between 1450 calories to 2100 (+). And I make sure that in those calories I’m getting the nutrition I need. I feel like I’m one step close to tracking my macros (haha) I’ll eventually do the research and figure that out 😂

So eatting better and eatting more now…and guess what my body composition has never been better and I’m happier during the process!

November 1, 2020November 1, 2020

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Get off the scale: it’s pure fuckery.

So I’ve been sitting on this blog post for awhile. I have been noticing changes to my body composition, as I was putting on muscle but the scale wasn’t moving. Let’s talk about that!

Since I have been sharing my fitness journey online, mostly instagram stories, people started to mention that they are noticing changes to my body as well. That told me that people may be ready for this post.

This is my second fitness journey, the first was quite awhile ago and my goal was to lose weight. I broke down weight loss to its bare basics that caloric deficit = weight loss… no matter the nutrition or the loss of muscle along the way. I just wanted to see the scale shrink.

I didn’t want to land in that obsessive behavior again this time on my fitness journey, so I did a lot more research on nutrition and started incorporating small healthy changes to my diet [more on this later]. My goal this time was to be toned, and gain muscle mass.

I started this journey midst the pandemic, because like I alot of people I gained a pandemic 15 pounds. The road wasn’t easy, and I fell off a lot of times. I am an emotional eatter and being stuck at home during a tumultuous time just meant that I was a couch potatoe and ate a bunch of junk . So instead of getting upset that I couldn’t get that under control, I decided to make my goal consistent workouts. So the first few months, I just focused on getting my workout in and working on bettering my form and getting stronger. I would celebrate every day I got up and moved even if I ate bad.

My nutrition was maybe like 50/50 for eating healthy and then days of Mcdonalds/pizza/chips etc. But I built myself consistently to become quite active, even working out twice a day. The extra calories actually became effective for building muscle.

Once I started seeing changes in my body and abilities in my workouts, I stepped on the scale. Absolutely no change….nothing. that was very disheartening but I was perplexed and decided to check my measurements. There it was…my body was changing, inches were being lost but the scale wasn’t moving. I was turning my fat to muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat.

Weight comparison: left 162 and right 171

Just take a peak at these two photos. The left is 162 at the beginning of the year pre-pandemic weight gain. The right is 171 after turning fat into muscle. This was absolutely shocking to me, my measurements were close to before my weight gain but I was ten pounds heavier!! If I just focused on the scale, I would have took a deep dive into depression because I wasn’t seeing results.

But my experience with tracking my weight via scale only and tracking without has taught me the scale is pure fuckery… for the following reasons.

1. Muscle Mass – muscle weighs more than fat. And just because the scale isn’t moving, doesn’t mean you are not showing results as per the photo above.

2. Natural fluctuations – your body naturally varies weight during the day and month. This would throw me for a loop when I was obsessively tracking it daily. You weigh more at night. After a salty or bad meal you’ll see weight gain that will be gone in a day or two. And for women, we gain during our time of the month. I gain two pounds and two inches of bloat around my waist. If I didn’t know this, I could see it being very disheartening for someone tracking their weight only by scale.

3. Mental Health- as I have been demonstrating above…the scale can have negative effects on your mental health and it can become an obsession or even throw your whole day off. Don’t step on the scale. Keep moving towards your goals daily. Its much better to track your results once you start to notice change, as a mood booster that your hard work is paying off. If you dont see results on the scale – check some things i mentioned: are your clothes fitting better? Your measurements better? Have you had a bad meal? Are you carrying bloat? This ALL matters and factors into how you should respond to that number.

With all that being said, some of you have come for the result comparison photos. So here they are!!

Weight loss: 178 to 171 [7 pounds]

Arms: from 13 inches to 12

Chest: no change

Waist: 35 inches to 34

Hips: 44.5 inches to 45 [gained some booty muscle]

Thighs: 26 inches to 24

I’m so proud of how far I’ve come..especially since I didn’t take it all on at once. I just focused on being active even if I couldn’t get my eating under control during a stressful time. The workouts helped with my moods as well. Win win!!

Now that I have my workouts down, I have decided to start my “cut.” Meaning that I will be shedding off the fat around the muscle I have built. This means that my next two months will be focusing on my nutrition. Nutritious meals at least 5/7 days of week. And I will be changing up my workouts as well. No more two a days with weights and cardio, instead it will be a single HIT insanity workout.

Check back in a couple months with me. See if I have been able to stick to nutritious meals, which admittedly will be hard for me. See if I am able to stick to the Insanity Workout program, because historically I haven’t been able to. This will be a true test for me…these next few months.

I would really appreciate any support and encouragement!

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January 1, 2020January 1, 2020

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Breaking Point: Weight loss

Not my first rodeo

They say you have to hit rock bottom before you change a behaviour or start a change in lifestyle. This isn’t the first time that I started a weight loss journey. The first time, I believe I was 21, and decided enough was enough.

My rock bottom at that point in my life was that I couldn’t wear the clothes I wanted to wear anymore. In addition, I stumbled upon some articles discussing BMI and its broad indication of whether you are at an unhealthy weight or not. Now i know that BMI is actually not very accurate, as it does not take into account the amount of muscle on the body but at that time when I received a BMI that was overweight – I knew I had to do something about it.

Breaking Point in my 30s

It’s very interesting in hind sight what was my breaking point in my thirties compared to my breaking point in my twenties. It really shows a different mind-set. I kept putting on the pounds specifically in my 30th year, and I was very self aware of this fact, but was “helpless” to do anything about it. I would just constantly complain to my man “I really need to lose weight,” “I need to start working out,” “we have to stop ordering junk food, if I ask for it – tell me no!”

I tried the previous breaking point mind sets to get myself motivated, you can’t fit any of your wardrobe! But I got super comfortable in just stretchy jeans and an over-sized sweater and was loving the fact that I didn’t have to care about my outfit. What about checking my BMI? Nope…that didn’t work either. I knew that my BMI said that I was overweight, but I could also see the outlines of the muscles that I have built over the years still peaking through the buildup of fat. This gave me false confidence that it wasn’t as bad as the numbers say… PLUS I had gotten alot more confident in my own skin since I hit my 30s. Evidenced by the fact that I was more willing to show off my body at it’s heaviest even compared to when I was at my smallest. There is a sense of self assurance that comes with maturity.

I needed a new motivation to get started! I tried, you need to get healthy as it’s only going to get harder as you age. Nothing. I tried, setting specific goals for myself. But then I just got all caught up in the numbers and felt myself going through an emotional rollercoaster because the weight wasn’t coming off like it did in my 20s. Nope- Scratch that idea. So then what’s going to make it happen?! It was actually the realization that I was uncomfortable in my own body which seems contradictive to the point that I just made above that I had more confidence. But, it wasn’t uncomfortable in my own skin on an emotional level. But I wasn’t comfortable in my own skin physically. BOOM. That hit it home for me. Why am I carrying around this extra weight when I can’t move the way I want. Even when I sit down, my rolls in my stomach will dictate my comfort level.

My breaking point was almost like that feeling you have when you get a cold, and you can’t remember what it felt like when you weren’t sick and had constant sinus pressure and a cough that hasn’t taken over your life. I had that same feeling…I couldn’t remember what it felt like to be fit. When I could run/jump/hike at a high pace with ease without feeling out of breath. When the endorphins of a workout would wash over your body. The ease of which you would fall asleep and wake up feeling refreshed! The confidence in your body not at an aesthetic level but a confidence in its movement, that it had your back with whatever you needed to do. When sitting on the couch had nothing to do with how your stomach felt….

How I got started

So now that i had the motivation, the driving force of the reason I’m doing this. I created a goal for myself, small ones so I didn’t feel overwhelmed. And this time, I didn’t want them to be about my weight in terms of numbers. Instead I wanted to focus on the numbers that matter, what is my daily intake for healthy food choices. Am i getting enough nutrition? Am I keeping my calories in check? Am I burning enough calories throughout the day to burn fat? These were the numbers I would focus on this time, whether they came off fast or slow. Progress is Progress.

Follow Along

That being sad, I thought it would be cool to story/blog my way through this weightloss journey. As most fitness people only detail their journey AFTER success. Instead I wanted to showcase a transparent look from start to continued process [there is no end to a healthy lifestyle]. You can follow my blog here for upcoming detailed posts, or you can follow my day to day on my instagram.