As I had mentioned, I made some serious diet changes when I started my weight loss journey. I dropped my caloric intake down to 800 calories a day for the first three months. I didn’t tell anyone because I knew that I’d get a lot of negative reactions. I talked to my doctor who told me that 800 calories was the minimum number of calories needed per day without causing your body more harm than good.
Dinner was the only real meal that I would eat. I’d eat in the evenings around 6-7pm.
Dinner consists of protein and vegetables.
The protein sources consisting of:
- 6oz of chicken/ turkey (no skin, no fat)
- 5-7oz of canned tuna or chicken
- Fresh fish.
Vegetables (two vegetables or one and a salad):
- There is a trick to vegetables; some can be eaten in larger quantities than others. Here’s what I learned doing some internet research:
o Fresh vegetables you don’t have to measure out:
Cabbage Cauliflower
Celery Cucumber
Lettuce Mushrooms
Spinach Green Peppers
o Fresh vegetables with appropriate quantities
Asparagus (10-12 spears) Green beans (1 cup)
Broccoli (1 large branch) Onion (3 inch wedge)
Carrots (2 large) Tomato (1 large)
o Canned vegetables (1 cup worth) – I bought Del Monte, try to choose a low salt/no salt option if available
Spinach Asparagus
Carrots Green beans
Zucchini Mixed Vegetables
- Salad with low calorie dressing – I’m a huge fan of the spritzer salad dressings that are only 10 calories a squirt
o A typical salad would consist of three large leaves of romaine lettuce, 5 thinly sliced cucumber slices, and a slice of tomato if you’d like
Pretty much every night for dinner I ate a plain chicken breast that I cooked on my George Foreman grill with one of those single service Green Giant microwavable green beans with almonds. I didn’t eat the almonds. I cut up a red onion and cooked it on the George Foreman at the same time. I used the fat free spray butter to prevent them from sticking. No seasonings. Definitely no salt. I did eat shrimp sometimes but I found the chicken to be more filling. I would eat salad 3-4 times a week. I am the type of person who will stick with eating one thing until I get sick of it, so this diet was pretty easy for me to stick to.
Try not to consume more than 2500 mg of sodium a day.
It is vital that you drink at least 64 ounces of fluid a day – CALORIE FREE fluid. Water is obviously preferred, you can add crystal light or kool-aid provided they are sugar free and calorie free. Diet soda is ok, however, it does cause bloating and there is a good amount of sodium in it so you have to be careful.
The REALITY!
You’re going to be STARVING for the first week. You’ll probably be a huge bitch – I was! But I also lost 5 lbs. When I was down 5 lbs in one week, I thought to myself, maybe it’s not that bad.
The second week, it will get a little easier. By the third week, it was pretty much normal.
REMEMBER:
This is just what I did. It worked for me. It may not work for you. Everyone is different. I'm simply sharing what I learned through my own reasearch. I recommend you do additional research to see if there are better alternatives for you.
View My Diet Tips and Tricks to help make the first couple days a little easier!
View My Diet Tips and Tricks to help make the first couple days a little easier!
