Yes, the only change I made was my diet. I havent done any exercise the whole time, except working (I am a salesclerk in a pet shop). Before I lost weight I was just eating the wrong things at the wrong time. I didnt have myself a proper breakfast and in fact didnt eat that much during the day, and in the evenings I was just face down in junkfood and candy. I drank a lot of sugar sodas, and seldom had myself a glass of water. I nearly never ate vegtables and seldom fruits. My meals often consisted of only meat, oven fries and creamsauce, no vegetables.
Now I have changed nearly everything with my diet. I follow a food-program that was invented in Denmark in the 80´s, and is very popular in north-europe, specially the scandinavian countries. It works similar like weightwatchers, but instead of points, there is a fixed amount of food for women, and other for men and other for teenagers and another for children. I am not promoting that program or anything, but the results of the food-program are awesome. Everyone that follows this food-program actually lose weight, including me
The food-program allows nearly every category of food, except everything with sugar, and thats why I find it so easy to follow, because I actually can make a choice what I will eat, it just has to be the same food category, instead of eating the same things every day, every week.
Back to the topic: What do I eat? I basically eat several categories of food in fixed amounts everyday. That means that I will eat a fixed amount of fruits, a fixed amount of vegetables, a fixed amount of bread, fixed amount of meat.... etc. I weigh everything I eat, and I used to write it down in a standard food diary, but havent done that in a while, since I know the program so well. I have 3 meals pr. day, with fixed amounts in every category, and I have 3 fruits and a milk product portion that I can use as I want during the day, plus if I am very hungry I can have vegetables (some are with a fixed amount, and I can eat as much as I want of things like cucumbers, asparagus and salads). I have to eat everything that my food-program says has to be consumed every day, because it seems that if the portions are lower then people dont lose weight. And that also goes for the fat portion (0.7 oz of fats or oils every day, it its "light" fat then double that amount). I know from my own experience that if I dont eat my fat portion, then I dont lose any weight. Here is my typical day:
Breakfast: 1-2 oz of bread, (if I only 1 oz of bread, then I have instead 0.9 oz of cheese (11-30% fat) or 2.6 oz of cheese 11% or lower in fat, or 1 egg or 1 oz of cereals (the cereal max 3 times a week).
little bit of light-spread (50% fat or lower), 0.5 oz of marmelade only made with fruits (no added sugar),
1 fruit (I can also use some of my milk portion at breakfast, like having a yoghurt with the fruit cut into it).
Lunch: 1-2 oz of bread (If I have 2 oz of bread then I will leave out one fruit instead). A bit of light spread. 10-15 oz of vegetables, 3-4.2 oz of meat or fish or / 2 eggs (max 4 eggs pr weekd) or / 5.2 oz of cheese less then 11 % fat or / 1.7 oz of cheese 11-30% (max 5 times a week) or / 5.2 oz of beans. You can also just use a small portions of everything or some of those protein sources together as you like (like making eggs with some meat or fish and cheese). Plus all this I can use my milk product portions to make for. ex. cold sour-cream sauce etc.
Dinner: 4.2-6 oz of meat/fish... or any protein source listed above (in higher portions). 10-15 oz of vegetables.
Additional I consume every day:
- A milk product portion that is: 17.6 oz of milk products with less then 5% fat or 8.8 oz of milk products with 5-10% fat. (I can have both less then 5% and 5-10% in the same day, I just calculate the portions of each).
- 0.7 oz of fats or oils, and I am supposed to use only 0.17 oz to fry food with. It is recommended to eat only the healthy oils, like plant oil, but I use butter as well, and it hasnt hurt my weightloss.
- 4 dozes of fruit (I obligated to eat one of those at breakfast). 1 doze of fruit is for. ex. middlesized apple/pear/orange or 5.2 oz of blueberries or 3.5 oz of strawberries or 1/2 middle sized banana etc. All fruits are allowed. I can exchange 1 fruit everyday and eat instead of 1 oz bread or (cooked!) 3.9 oz of potatoes or 2.6 oz of pasta/rice/cous-cous etc.
- I have additional portion of things that include for ex. stock or ketchup or soyasauce or flour or cacao powder etc. My daily portion of those things are 0.5 oz, but I can use the portion as I want inside the week. That is I can save up my daily portion and use it all in one day (for ex. if I want to bake a cake). The organization that have this food-program also produce their own brand of food that is made according to this food-program. I use my additional portion often in the icecream they make. A 4.4 oz portion of the icecream makes for 2 oz of additional things, plus it is 1/4 of the milk portion and 1/3 of the fat portion. To eat their vanilla icecream (that by the way tastes fantastic) with strawberries or blueberries, or with a cooked apple with cinnamon, is such a treat that I dont understand how I can lose all that weight by eating such a delicious thing.
Well thats how I eat every day. I wont be surprised that you will be amazed on the size of the portions I eat, but in fact I think its the portions that make the difference, because by eating so much (and still be low in calories) makes your metabolism really speed up, and that is probably also one of the reason why people on this program dont have to exercise to lose weight. In fact you are eating in order to lose weight, sounds absurd, but hey I must be doing something right, Right?