- 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.
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I will leave that link in the description box
and you could also scan the QR code right here.
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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.