Currently down to 247lbs from 293 back in May, hoping to hit 243 before end of year to make it officially 50lbs lost in 2025. Want to get under 220 eventually.
Switched to eating way more beans and lentils
eating mostly beans seems to have made my appetite manageable. I still eat dairy and eggs often, also eat meat on cheat meal days, once or twice a month.
Highly recommend the following recipes from https://www.rainbowplantlife.com
- hummus (skip the drizzle part)
- shepherd's pie (brown lentils)
- red lentil curry (mix with roasted vegetables)
- butternut squash lentil curry (I roast the butternut squash, onion and garlic )
- sweet potato lentil curry (I bake the sweet potato separately too)
- lentil bolognese italian
- fried tofu
- tastes good with this Chili Sesame Peanut Sauce (add at the last 30 seconds so it doesn't burn)
Baked beans for dessert, Recipe here
Healthy, Filling Peanut flavored Ice Cream recipe using a Ninja Creami machine, click here
Also make home made 50% whole wheat sourdough bread weekly. Rounds out any amino acid deficits from the bean/lentils.
Exercise
Zone 2 workouts in the morning (easy biking, brisk walking) for 1 hour while fasted or before eating carbs/fat. (protein ok). Zone 2 means you can still talk, but don't want to talk for long or you'll get out of breath.
I did way more biking this year, but tweak your bike setup to handle your weight, read more here
Find an indoor exercise option for bad weather days (no excuses when it's too hot, too cold, too wet, too sunny, too windy, etc)
Do the zone 2 workouts 6 days per week, 1 rest day.
Check your weight and BP daily
My weight loss plan was to lose 2lbs/week. Mostly worked, got stuck around 258 from end of September to early November. Made some diet tweaks to get things going again.
The tracking is keeping me motivated.
Side Note: Tracking weight helped me to eventually figure out that after super long, hard rides (>3 hours), I'd retain 2lbs of water for a couple days. My body was retaining water to help with muscle recovery. It had nothing to do with diet/salt. Read more here after opening, scroll down below the map.
That's it for the short version. you can keep reading here if you want more info weight loss strategies
