How I Lost 40 Pounds: From Paleo to Plant-Based & Everything in Between
Since July 2015 I have lost 40 pounds, going from 205 lbs to 165 lbs, and have maintained it for almost a year. After yo-yo dieting for the better part of my adult life, finally losing the weight and taking control of my body was extremely liberating and empowering. Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation out there regarding weight loss and it leaves many people as confused and frustrated as I once was. The below video covers my journey, but per usual when it comes to this topic, I ended up going into some rants about the diet industry and plant-based community...SO I'm happy that I can now write this blog that will hopefully lay everything out in a simple and more-focused manner (although the video is still good to watch if you're into ranting and raving 😊 )
I am going to break this blog post down into a few subsections because there were many different facets to my weight loss journey and all of them played a part to get me to where I am now.
Below you will find:
What method I used to lose weight
What I ate to lose weight
My issues with the plant-based community
How I'm maintaining my weight loss and
How to take control and start your own journey
...in that order! Let's get started.
Calories in vs. Calories Out
Yes, calories in vs. calories out (CICO) was the main method I used to lose weight and is still the method I use today to maintain my weight loss. Don't run away just yet! I know, calorie counting tends to have a bad rap and is seen as something that could lead to obsessive tracking, extreme restriction, and even an eating disorder. I have first hand experience with this, having struggled with using tools like MyFitnessPal to overly restrict my food intake in college because I thought it was the easiest way to lose weight. Seriously, I remember days of only eating 300 or 400 calories and thinking that was a normal thing to do, it was bad! The thing is, I was obsessed with losing weight in general and had zero background information on weight loss or proper nutrition. Calorie counting was not the reason I crash dieted, I was already doing that, it was just another tool I used to further a sick mindset that I ultimately had to seek help for. I would have had unhealthy eating habits with or without the ability to track my intake and I in no way blame calorie tracking for that period of my life. Coming from that background I can confidently say that with the correct mindset (thanks, therapy!) and some knowledge on how calorie counting works, it proved to be an amazing tool and is the only thing that has given me consistent and sustainable results.
Counting calories is not about restriction, in fact, counting calories actually allows for a lot of flexibility in your diet. What CICO is about is eating the right amount of food for your body, activity level, and goals. You can use CICO not only to lose weight (eat in a deficit) but also to maintain it (eat at maintenance) or even to gain it (eat in a surplus) in a controlled manner.
CICO allowed me to have that venti latte, a glass (or two) of wine, ice cream, bread, and pasta, while still consistently losing weight.
All I had to do was track it and make sure these foods fit into my calorie goals for that day. Am I going out to dinner tonight with friends? Okay I'll have a lighter lunch to compensate for that. Is it a holiday weekend? No problem, I'll just eat at maintenance for the next dew days instead of in a deficit. For the first time in my life I felt like I was actually in control of my diet and I no longer felt guilty about eating the things I loved because I knew with some planning I could fit it into my plan.
Not convinced? Check out this guy who went on a "Twinkie Diet" and still lost weight because he was in a calorie deficit. Which brings me to my next point, just because you can eat anything you want in a calorie deficit, doesn't necessarily mean you should. If your goal is overall health then what you're putting in your body is just as important as how much you're putting in your body.
Plant-Based vs. Paleo
The initial reason I started to lose weight in 2015 was because I picked up Crossfit. By simply going from almost completely sedentary to working my ass off 3-4 times a week, I dropped ~10 lbs without really paying attention to what I was eating. But, as many of us do, I soon learned that you really can't out-exercise your diet. After a three month weight loss plateau I decided to join my Crossfit gym's paleo challenge. I had tried (and failed) at paleo many times before, which should've been a red flag, but I thought maybe this time will be different. I had some moderate success, losing another 8 lbs, but I finally had to face the fact that I hated the paleo diet. I could not wrap my head around why I was not allowed to have beans and even white potatoes but was encouraged to eat a lot of red meat. "Isn't this supposed to be bad for you?" I would think as I had my fifth bacon and eggs breakfast in a row for that week. Hell, even fruit is a bit demonized in the paleo community. FRUIT!! Yes, the nutrient-dense, fibrous, an-apple-a-day-keeps-the-doctor-away, fruit. Growing up I was always told to eat my fruits and veggies and now I had a community that glamorized bacon but cautioned against the sugar and carbs in fruit?
Something just never added up for me.
Not only was it a mental challenge, but I also felt pretty awful. After nearly every meal I felt tired, bloated, and like I needed to take a nap. Because of that and my grocery bill sky rocketing, I knew that once the challenge was over I needed to find a different diet.
And thus, I was introduced to the whole-foods, plant-based (WFPB) community in December 2015. In my search for a better diet I did come across the ethical reasons for being vegan and I will say that I am an ethical vegan first, but I also know that eating a mostly WFPB diet instead of vegan junk food is what aligns with my overall health and fitness goals. The switch to WFPB was so much easier than I was anticipating because I was no longer afraid to eat the foods I loved like beans, whole grains, potatoes, fruit, peanut butter, oatmeal, etc. It also added a variety to my meals that I just didn't have with the normal, meat and veggie dishes from my paleo days.
I felt an almost immediate difference in my general well being after only a few weeks of a WFPB diet. A year and a half later and my skin is 90% clearer than it was before, my digestive system is so regular the average American would think there was something wrong with me, I have more focus and energy, I have no problems meeting my micronutrient goals, and I have continued steady progress in the gym (yes, without meat!)
This is not to say that others don't have success with paleo, or keto, or low-carb, but I know many people who, like me, find those diets difficult to follow long-term. Additionally, there is a lot of science out there that backs a WFPB diet being the best for overall health and to prevent disease (check out The China Study or How Not to Die if you want to learn more on that.)
I did drop a few more pounds in the first few months of this diet switch, but around 185 lbs I, again, plateaued. Even though I was feeling a lot better, I still wanted to see more weight loss. After seeing so many lean vegans online who claimed the weight just disappeared when they cut out meat and diary, I was disappointed and frustrated with my own results.
And so began my issues with the plant-based community.
Eating Until Satisfied Doesn't Work
Okay, I should rephrase that, eating until satisfied when you are inhibited with a lifetime of bad food habits, no knowledge of proper portions, and no sense of your hunger cues, doesn't work. If it did, you probably wouldn't be overweight in the first place. And this is what frustrates me with the WFPB community. Even the prominent doctors in this space encourage people to just "eat until their full" without acknowledging that many of us no longer can distinguish between what full and completely stuffed means. I see so many posts every day in these WFPB groups of people who have been eating this diet for months with no noticeable weight loss, or even sometimes weight gain, and they have reached a point of frustration and completely giving up. The worst part about this is then other people will chime in and tell them to cut out oils, nuts, salt, anything that has been processed at all, etc. Not only is this not helpful advice, but it is leading people to failure. People already make such a drastic lifestyle change by cutting out animal products, telling them to restrict even more of the food they can or cannot eat is only going to end up in more stress, more frustration, and ultimately, it won't be sustainable. And don't even bother mentioning calorie counting in these groups unless you want a lecture on how plant-foods magically don't make you gain weight. Isn't it amazing how some foods just defy all laws of Thermodynamics??
But I digress. My point is is that although yes, for some people just eating when they're hungry and until they're full works, but for the majority of people who have struggled with weight loss, it won't.
If you've been on a WFPB diet and don't understand why you aren't having the drastic weight loss results of others, chances are you need to look at how much plant-food you are eating. Yes, it is difficult to overeat vegetables, but is it not difficult to overeat rice, beans, avocado, nuts, etc. Combining CICO with a WFPB diet was the key that unlocked sustainable, consistent weight loss and better health for me after 10 years of failed yo-yo dieting.
I start counting calories in April 2016 at 185 lbs and by the end of July 2016 I was down 20 lbs to165. That is an average weight loss of ~1.667 lbs a week compared to losing the first 20 lbs over nine months with sporadic periods of loss followed by long periods of plateaus. The 1.667 lbs per week figure also doesn't surprise me because I calculated my deficit so I would lose 1.5 lbs a week. Ain't it neat how science works??
I Lost Weight, Now What?
The one part of weight loss that is rarely addressed is what happens after the weight comes off. Do you go back to eating how you did before? Or are you destined to a lifetime of salads and weighing out everything you put in your mouth?
Well, it's more of a happy medium.
I found that tracking my food diligently every day for nearly four months basically retaught me what portion sizes looked like so it was easier for me to start to eyeball things. After reaching 165 lbs I decided to take a weight loss break which lasted until this past March. During those nine months I loosely tracked my calories and fluctuated between 165 and 170 lbs. I tried to use MyFitnessPal to track about 1-2 days a week, but in all honestly, there were month-long periods I went without checking. This worked because I didn't go back to how I used to eat. In maintenance I ate basically the same type of meals as I did when I was losing, I simply added in more healthy fats (avocados, peanut butter) and condiments (Just Mayo is life) to make up for the calorie deficit I was in before. I still have my occasional indulgences, but for the most part my eating didn't change that drastically. That's why making gradual, sustainable lifestyle changes worked and all those crash diets didn't. I still ate food I loved when losing, just less of it. And I still eat food I love now, just not in excess.
The great thing about CICO is that even now, if I notice that maybe I'm slipping in my eating habits and that my pants are starting to get a little tight, all I have to do is start counting again to get back on track. It's been over a year since I started calorie counting and I can 100% say that I can see this method of "tracking when I need to" working for me in the long-term. I am so used to it that it is no more trouble to me than checking what my bank account balance is.
How to Start CICO
So, is this sounding easy? Something you want to get into? Even if by this point you're not convinced that CICO works, why not just try it? If you are like me, then chances are you've already tried all the diets out there, what's one more?
This Reddit "QuickStart Guide" from the r/LoseIt community is the exact document I used to get myself started. If you've never been on Reddit before (I hadn't either) you may think it's not a site for you. I can't speak for all the subreddits, but the r/LoseIt community is for anyone who wants to lose weight. It contains people from all different walks of life, is super supportive, and is filled with more CICO success stories.
In short, you are going to need to figure out how many calories you need to eat for your weight loss goals (1-1.5 lbs/week is my suggested starting point) and then diligently track what you eat in an app like MyFitnessPal. Many people who say they tried CICO and that it didn't work are people who were probably underestimating what they were eating and might have excluded things like coffee or beer. So, make sure you are honest in your tracking and that you track everything. Also, you're going to have to actually measure out your food. I personally like to use a food scale because it is more accurate, but it is not a requirement. It may seem like overkill, but it will be super helpful in the beginning to make sure you've set an accurate calorie goal.
The linked QuickStart Guide provides all the tools you will need to get started. Make sure you take some "before" photos and measure yourself if you can (waist, hips, thighs, arms, and chest.) I also like to weigh myself because I think it is an important piece of information in knowing where I am at. I know weight can fluctuate depending on water retention, muscle swelling, and all sorts of things. For the best results, weight yourself in the morning, after going to the bathroom, before eating or drinking anything, and naked (or in the same clothing each time.) It's also helpful to use an app like HappyScale so you can focus on the overall trend and not the daily fluctuations. If you're being accurate in your tracking, then you should start seeing progress in the first month.
And that's my story! If you want to add me on MyFitnessPal for motivation and meal ideas, my username is crpare814. At the moment I am trying to build some more muscle definition and get my weight down to 155 lbs, so I'm back in a deficit!
Have you struggled with weight loss? Did you find success or have you experienced the same frustrations? I would love to hear your stories below! I'm not a doctor but I will also try to answer any questions, thoughts, or concerns!
Until next time...
xo
Courtney
