Christi Lukasiak: Hello. Welcome back to my channel. My name
is Christi Lukasiak. You may know me as Christi from Dance Moms or Dance Mom Christi, or Chloe's
mom or Clara's mom. But today I'm just Christi. I am actually really excited about this video
today, because it's something that you have been requesting for, oh God, over a year now,
maybe even couple of years. Today, I am going to share my weight loss journey with you or
secrets of my weight loss or how I lost weight, but really it's not supposed to be follow
this plan and you can lose weight too, because obviously everyone is different. I'm not a
doctor. I know. I could have fooled you, right? But I'm not a doctor. And I can't be recommending,
this will work for you, but I just wanted to kind of tell you my story of where I am
in my weight loss journey and what worked for me.
Christi Lukasiak: So take it for what it's worth. I'm just sharing
my story. And if you have questions, I'd love to hear them in the comments. Let me catch
you up to why I even decided to kind of go on this journey, if you will. I have been
lucky enough that most of my life I have been on the thinner side. That's just my natural
build. However, I do fluctuate my weight quite a bit. Sometimes I eat like a literal monster
where if somebody saw me... I'm very afraid that if there's a hidden camera, that it would
repulse people, sometimes when I eat, because I'm starving, sometimes. I will be honest.
There are some days that I just eat whatever I want and do whatever I want, and don't really
exercise a whole lot. Like during the filming of Dance Moms, we sat a lot.
Christi Lukasiak: We ate a lot. We drank a lot, and I could
see my weight going up when I watched the show, and the progression through the seasons.
And then it was really hard because I would see these comments online about how disgusting
I was and how fat and I was repulsive, and I looked like miss piggy, and just some really
awful hate. Yeah, I had a little weight on me, but I just thought it was very cruel.
It just kind of put it into perspective, if I was being looked at as obese, I can only
imagine how other people maybe struggle with their own body identities, just their self
image, because of comments people make online. But more than anything, I think I left Dance
Moms and I was really going through a period of pretty severe depression.
Christi Lukasiak: We could get into this where I'm like, well,
I was living with regret and I was bitter and I was this and that, but that's another
video for a different day. Basically, I was not in a good head space. So I was eating
my feelings a lot, a lot of emotional eating. And I got to the point where one day I was
walking up the stairs and I literally could not carry a load of laundry upstairs without
getting winded. And then I was like, okay, I need to lose weight. This was back in 2017.
I took a really dramatic or intense or controversial approach to losing weight back then. I actually
did the HCG diet, which is, you're basically injecting a hormone into yourself every day.
And you're restricting your calorie intake to like 500 calories. I was being monitored
by a nurse practitioner.
Christi Lukasiak: I'll be the first to tell you, did I lose
weight? Yeah. Was it effective? Yeah. Was it healthy? No. So I would absolutely tell
people that was one of the hardest things I've ever done and probably one of the least
healthy, because I really think that it screwed up my metabolism. So I lost a bunch of weight.
I really started exercising. I got in shape and I felt like I looked like the best version
of myself. I look back now. Yeah, I was thin, but I started to look a little like... I don't
know, exorexic. It was a little too much, but I kind of got more comfortable in the
next couple of years and I was just eating at leisure, blah, blah, blah. I wasn't back
to my heaviest point, but I was definitely gaining weight. Last year...
Christi Lukasiak: And it happened to just correlate kind of
with COVID, weirdly enough. So about two to three... Probably about two months before
COVID, I did a lot of research online and I found a dietician. I think he's a dietician,
in Santa Monica that lots and lots and lots of celebs use, but his name is Dr. Goglia.
I will link it for you. This is not sponsored. I'm just telling you my journey. I went to
him, and what was interesting about him is he actually got a blood test and he determined
what type of metabolism I had. You can either be protein efficient, carbohydrate efficient.
And basically what he did at that point is he tailored a nutrition plan to my body type.
My family and I went to Disney world and I had decided when I came back from Disney,
this was in March, that I was going to start this new eating plan.
Christi Lukasiak: And it just so happened to correlate exactly
with when we went into quarantine. Actually I think I started my new eating plan the week
before. It actually made it a lot easier because I was at home and I was cooking all the time.
And I'm going to take you through a day of what I eat now, just to kind of tell you...
But basically the biggest thing about the whole way that I approach food now is I eat
very healthy, very clean. It's pretty much gluten and dairy free, but it's not as restrictive
as that sounds, because there's definitely a journey to get to that place. I began by
cutting out a little bit, instead of using a flour tortilla, I used a corn tortillas,
different replacements at the beginning and it gradually eased me into the way I eat now.
Christi Lukasiak: One of the big things in this giant is you
need to keep your metabolism burning throughout the day. I think a lot of times people starve
themselves, thinking like, oh, I'm losing weight. But actually what that does is it
shuts down your metabolism. And then it stores fat thinking that it's in survival mode. I
eat three meals during the day, as well as, oh, one, two, three, four different snacks.
So I'm literally eating every two hours. There are points where I'm like, I cannot eat anymore.
And I will substitute, like sometimes dinner I'll swap out and have a protein shake just
because I simply can't eat anymore. I am too full. And I can eat at the beginning of the
day. Mornings are hardest for me. I'm starving in the morning. So basically I'm going to
take you through a day of how I eat.
Christi Lukasiak: I eat... I wake up, I have tea, I use almond
milk. I use stevia. So I'm not using sugars. And then for breakfast, I'm either having
a protein shake, which, it's so good. I love it. It's like my favorite thing in the world,
which I will show you the recipe because I think it's fabulous. Or I have eggs and avocado,
but I really prefer personally the protein shake. And then later in the morning I will
have a fruit and then I have lunch, which is basically a protein and all the veggies
I want to eat. And then in the afternoon, I have a snack depending on where I am for
the week. Sometimes I will have like a fat and sugar. It's almost like these little things
they're called splits. They're like peanut butter and jelly. It's kind of like, it tastes
like an uncrustable without bread, or I will have a piece of fruit with peanut butter.
Christi Lukasiak: And then I also have a fat later in the day.
So maybe a hard boil day or avocado slices. And then for dinner, I will have more protein
and veggies. And then at night about a half an hour before bed, I will have something
fruity, a piece of fruit obviously, or a fruit sorbet. Basically, because that spikes your
metabolism or... Yeah. Spikes your metabolism. And then 30 minutes later, you kind of have
a sugar crash and it makes you sleep better. So I know I've talked a lot, but again, this
has been something that you guys have asked about forever. So I am going to take you now
through my day and share with you, what I eat. All right, you ready? Okay. Please, excuse
me, as I wake up and take you through my day.
Christi Lukasiak: Good morning. We are on my journey of things
I eat in a day. When I wake up, I usually take a few minutes to have a cup of tea. And
when I'm eating well, I usually just have a black tea with a little bit of almond milk.
And I only use stevia. I don't use other artificial sweeteners, honey or sugar, so I'm going to
start off having some tea. And honestly it's a really pretty early, so I will be back with
breakfast. I'm going to sit for a few minutes and let my brain relax because, look, I just
woke up, obviously. I have, usually, maybe two or three cups of tea in the morning, spread
out over the morning. And so I'm going to enjoy that. And then I will share with you
for breakfast. I didn't get to show you making of the smoothies because Mark actually did
it.
Christi Lukasiak: He did. He did. He did. So I have... God,
I'm still crazy looking. Let me turn this way. I have shared a million times, what's
in my smoothie, but basically this one is... What is it? Black cherries, strawberries,
crunchy almond butter, protein powder, a little bit of water, a little bit of ice. Anything
else? Flaxseed. Yum. Let me just say so, this is one of my favorite parts of the way that
my eating plan is, is I actually really love the shake and I'm super hungry in the morning
all the time. That is where it gets me. Some people eat at night, I'm a morning eater.
I'm like, oh my God, I wake up out of bed and I'm starving. And that's kind of where
sometimes I will fall off of my healthy eating plan. And so I look forward to drinking the
shake or smoothie or whatever you're calling it.
Christi Lukasiak: So then I'm not starving the rest of the morning.
And then I don't eat bad and fall off the wagon and then make excuses that I'm going
to start tomorrow. So it is a good, good thing to start my day with this. Look how yummy
that is. It is so yummy. I forgot to mention that sometimes I will eat in the morning.
As long as you're eating protein... This is a sugar. I definitely eat a lot of fruit,
but sometimes I'll have eggs and avocado for breakfast and a half a piece of fruit, but
I actually really prefer the shake. This one's really thick. I need to let that melt first.
Okay. So it is about two hours after breakfast and time for my mid morning snack. Yes. I
have a lot of spray butter. Don't judge. Mid morning snack is usually... No, it's not even
usually. It's always a fruit and today I'm having a kiwi.
Christi Lukasiak: So I'm eating a kiwi today. So I always have
a fruit about two hours after breakfast and then I'll be back for lunch. Well, it's lunchtime.
And one thing I forgot to mention throughout the day, is I drink a ton of water. I know
I said that in my little intro, but I literally drink water throughout the entire day. This
big tumbler, I think it's... Well, it's bigger than eight. I want to say it's 16. I drink
at least five or six of these a day, if not more, which I know sounds like a ton, but
I actually drink a lot of water. I'm a natural water drinker. And for lunch, I have a protein
as well as all the vegetables I can eat. I'm sorry. My cat is making me nutty today. So
yeah, protein. Usually it's like a fish, something lighter. I don't eat a ton of red meat.
Christi Lukasiak: I'm more of a seafood eater, which... Yes.
I know there was that documentary. Now I feel really bad about eating seafood. But today
I think I'm going to make some chicken, maybe a salad. I don't know. I need to look around
and see what I have. I didn't really plan this out very much. But another thing I do
a ton is I will do a tomato salad with just a little bit of garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper.
It's really good. Sometimes I'll throw in an avocado. So it's kind of like... Well,
I guess I would eat onion and jalapeno. I don't eat cilantro, but I was going to say,
it's kind of like having a guacamole without the chips, which sounds gross, but it's actually
really good. And I don't eat cilantro because it tastes like soap to me. Do you know about
that?
Christi Lukasiak: Yes. So I'm one of those unfortunate people
who it tastes like. So let me see what I'm having for lunch and I'll let you know. Okay.
So I don't usually eat pre-made frozen food. I do a lot of fresh foods, but I'm not really
in the mood to cook now for lunch and dinner. I just don't like to cook. And I found shrimp
stir fry from Trader Joe's. So this is perfect because it's fry, vegetables and shrimp. Look
at me. It's like a little food miracle. So this is actually what I'm going to eat for
lunch because it doesn't have any... Yeah, it's totally fine. It's frozen shrimp, frozen
shrimp, stir fried vegetables, a little olive oil. Totally, totally allowed. It is now time
for snack number one. Now, snack number one in the afternoon. So it's about two hours
since I had lunch and now I'm going to have a fat and a sugar.
Christi Lukasiak: So the fat is actually peanut butter and the
sugar is a banana. Sometimes I eat little split packs. They actually taste like an uncrustable
sandwich without the bread, because that's like a sugar and a fat. So right now I am
having some peanut butter and a banana. So, that'll be my first snack. Okay. I will admit,
I'm kind of late for my snack. I don't feel like eating another snack. Now, it's around
what? 05:30 or so. So it's maybe an hour and a half. I'll eat dinner around seven ish.
If I forced myself to eat, I don't like dinner. That is who I am as a person. I don't like
dinner. So this part of the day is kind of a struggle for me because I don't like to
eat a lot at the end of the day. I'm a morning eater. So it kind of kills me, but it is time
now for a protein, which I'm going to have an egg.
Christi Lukasiak: It's a hard-boiled egg, by the way. And look,
here's my salt shaker. It looks like a trash can at Disney world. Isn't that funny? This
is the fantasy land trash can. So I'm going to have a hard boil day. Other days I'll have
an avocado or a little bit of tomato and avocado, but today just a boring egg. So I'm going
to force myself to eat this and figure out what I'm having for dinner. It's dinner time.
So I think I am just going to make a chicken salad. So the chicken salad that I really
like, I use baby spring mix. And then I do toasted pecan on top and I am going to cook
up some chicken breasts. And if I have any peaches, I might grill some peaches for there.
And then I make a champagne vinegar at dressing, which just a little bit of grape seed oil,
champagne, vinegar, a little bit of mustard, honey and salt.
Christi Lukasiak: That's really it. I mix it up and it's a delicious
dressing. It's pretty healthy. And so I'm just going to have a big salad for dinner.
There are a lot of nights that I really just want to have another shake at night. So then
right before bed, the last thing I do is I have a piece of fruit about 30 minutes before
bed, or a little bit of sorbet, or you can also have a cup of tea with some honey in
it because that spikes your blood sugar and then you fall asleep and you sleep very soundly.
So that's it. That's everything I'm going to eat in today's day. And that is pretty
much how I lost weight. So I eat a ton, way more than I ever have. And it's weird because
I lost way more weight than I ever did. So there's got to be something to it.
Christi Lukasiak: I think it's the water. Okay. Well that is
pretty much it for this video. I hope that you enjoyed. Please drop any questions or
comments that you have, down below. Again, I just want to say that I am not a doctor,
nutritionist, none of the above. I can't say this works for you. I need to have every disclaimer
out there. I'm just telling you what worked for me. And what I shared today was simply
my diet. I will come back and do another video, when I talk about what my week looks like
as far as physical fitness or exercise, or even just physical activity, because I can't
ever tell somebody, oh, I'm a fitness guru, because I am not. Well, I hope you enjoyed
this video. Please make sure that you are subscribed to this channel. Turn on post notifications.
Follow me on Instagram and I will see you next week. Okay. Have a good one. Bye.