The "diet" (which has become a lifestyle, a way of eating I will continue with the exception of adding back those fruits and some veggies that I avoided during active weight loss) is called CodeRed and it's the ONLY thing that has worked for me to lose weight.
Over the years I've tried:
- Exercising like crazy (yeah I got stronger but zero weight loss with this. I kept it up thinking that I was gaining muscle and losing fat but the cellulite told the truth about what was really happening)
- Cutting out white sugars and corn syrups (the weight loss with this, 5 pounds +/- in the end was insignificant).
- Weight Watchers (It started out working okay with approximately 5 pounds of loss but I hate all the calculations to the point where I found myself cheating and eventually just falling off and gaining the weight back).
- Getting a personal trainer at my gym who encouraged me to do a 30 minute exercise circuit every day to lose weight and THIS DID NOT WORK! Yeah it's super healthy to exercise but i was seeking weight loss.
- Keto.....I ate WAY too much cheese and also some crap that was allowed and did lose some weight but there's so much varying information out there about this diet that I think overall I got sidetracked, confused and bummed out trying to figure out what was legitimate. Plus Keto did not speak to my eating and snacking habits which CodeRed addresses and for the first time in my 44 years of life I do not snack. And I don't miss it. I know it sounds weird, but I am very full at every meal (2-3 meals a day) which takes care of my desire to snack. Back when I was eating rice cakes and chips etc. I was snacking throughout the day because I was always a little hungry.
CodeRed is the reason I have lost 17 pounds to date, with 9 pounds to go to reach my goal weight which is what I weighed the day I got married. This program promotes eating a veggie, a protein and a fat at every meal and this is what has worked for me and I am still kind of shocked at having lost all this weight. The weight has burdened me over the years psychologically, emotionally and physically. Now I have a bag full of all my pants and jeans that don't fit anymore I'm donating to a thrift store, but I also keep adding to it!
As I sit here I am wondering what my purpose is in writing this post....to promote CodeRed? YES!!! ....to share about cutting out ALL sugars? YES!!! ....to inspire my readers? YES!!!!!
The ONLY sweet things I eat now are berries. Pure fat is allowed on this diet so I whip up heavy cream and add vanilla extract and put this divine whipped cream on my berries and add macadamia nuts or cashews and sometimes sprinkle unsweetened shredded coconut on top. This is THE thing that has allowed me to not go completely crazy giving up all the carbs and sugars I was eating on a regular basis. What's great is that this is not a snack or dessert. It IS the meal. The berries are the "veggie" the cream is the fat and the nuts are the protein. It's incredibly filling, satiating and now a regular meal that I look forward to more than anything.
I plan to start writing on this blog regularly again so stay tuned!
