I'm pretty much following this food pyramid now
Ironically, I didn't know this pyramid existed before finding it on youtube, a little after Christmas
2025, about 6 months after I started my new diet regimen. But it summarizes the changes I made nicely.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks0hHmkXXuo
click on the image below to expand it for better viewing,
Switched to eating way more beans and lentils
eating mostly bean and lentil based dishes seems to have made my appetite manageable (finally!). More fiber helps me feel full longer. I wrote how to cook beans/lentils in your Instant Pot, click here.
I've cut way back on rice, pasta, refined flour and manufactured processed food. First, it was healthy, home made rolled oats based cookies to replace store bought, and then eventually fruit instead of cookies. Give yourself time.
Anyway, I highly recommend the following recipes, most are from https://www.rainbowplantlife.com
- hummus (skip the drizzle part)
- shepherd's pie (brown lentils)
- lentil bolognese italian
- for the following curries/soups, I use a slotted spoon to save a few scoops of textured pieces, and then I just puree the rest. I prefer creamy soups
- tastes good with this Chili Sesame Peanut Sauce (add at the last 30 seconds so it doesn't burn, or after plating) . Sometimes I have tofu with Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce too. Tasty!
- black bean patty recipe , with this Southwest sauce I've found a grid style potato masher helps if you mash about half the beans and mix again before forming the patties.
Sometimes I make these Baked Beans for dessert, Recipe here I usually have a 1/2 cup portion for dessert. Lasts me and Jacqui a week quite often. dessert after lunch and dinner too.
Healthy, Filling Peanut flavored Ice Cream recipe click here. It actually has a lot of navy beans in it.
Instead of soda, I make a liter of plain seltzer water via our SodaStream, and then add 1-1.5 ounces of the sour mix below. I typically drink about 4 liters per day, in total that's still half the sugar in a 12 ounce can of coke.
Whiskey
Sour Mix recipe: using a 4 cup pyrex measuring pitcher, stir 1/2 cup
of sugar into 1 cup boiling water until dissolved, then add 1 cup of
lime juice and 1 cup of lemon juice. Mix and store in fridge. A batch of mix usually
lasts me a week and a half . I use the big bottles of Real Lemon and
Real Lime from BJ's.
Last but not least, I make two loaves of home made 50% whole wheat sourdough bread weekly. Rounds out any amino acid deficits from eating mostly bean/lentils, and the sourdough yeast improves digestion. I have a half/full slice 2-3 times a day, usually with BJ's wellsley brand natural peanut butter. https://amybakesbread.com/half-whole-wheat-sourdough-artisan-bread/
Snacking
- dark chocolate covered almonds from BJ's (wellsley branded)
- roasted, unsalted peanuts in the shell (the shell will slow you down)
- wasabi coated almonds (the salt/spices will slow you down)
- a peeled and cored apple or a grapefruit
- home made, sharp cheddar cheese crisps
- search online for recipe, i pat with paper towel to help get rid of the oil after baking
- a slice of 100% sourdough rye I make with a thin schmear of Nutella and a couple pecans on top
- VERY much like a cookie, but way more fiber
- click here for rye recipe
- Dates (not for general snacking)
- super calorie dense, but I use them when I'm close to bonking post workout
- they pack well when doing outdoors stuff
- 2-3 max per day, each one is 50 calories. a whole apple is <100
Exercise
Zone
2 workouts in the morning (easy biking, brisk walking) for 1 hour
while fasted or before eating carbs/fat. Zone 2
means you can still talk, but you don't want to talk for long or you'll get
out of breath. Depending on age, that's like 120-135 bpm on your heart rate monitor.
Limiting your effort to zone 2 also means your body can convert your fat stores to glucose via gluconeogenesis fast enough to keep your muscles fed and happy. You'll keep more of your muscle mass as you lose weight, which is important for keeping your BMR, basal metabolic rate, high as possible.
Side note: I've never been a morning person. I could only make these changes because I'm retired and don't have kids. I often workout around 9a.m. now after just having a soy milk protein smoothie. So....yeah. Sorry if my advice isn't helpful at all. I understand. It wouldn't have worked for me when I was doing the 8-5, Monday-Friday grind.
Do the zone 2 workouts 6 days per week and take 1 rest day per week. Did I mention being unhelpful? It's a lot of time I know. Watching TV while walking the treadmill counts though.
Find indoor exercise options for bad weather days (no excuses when
it's too hot, too cold, too wet, too sunny, too windy, etc)
As your weight nears your goal, that's a good time to add intense exercise occasionally, but make sure you eat about 100-200 calories of carbs per hour when you do it. Glucose fuels your heart and muscles, take care of them! Your body can't convert fat to glucose fast enough at zone 3 or higher.
Check your weight and BP daily
Daily weight checks keep me on track. When I stop weighing myself, I find it super hard to step on the scale again. It's like a dread that slowly builds whenever I stop weighing myself. I get fat and happy over Winter, and eventually work up the nerve to do my annual Spring weigh-in/freakout. Denial is a helluva drug. So for me, falling out of the daily habit causes more anxiety than just checking every morning. Do whatever keeps you healthy and less stressed IMHO.
I think what also helps is having a weight goal that's realistic. My plan is a new max weight of 220lbs(100kg), while really shooting for mid to lower 210's. That will give me a comfortable "enjoy your life" buffer. BMI says my max weight should be 190. Not going to happen.... let me just add a firm, NO! Also, I'm getting older, so having an extra 10-20 lbs is good for when I inevitably get sick or have an age-related health issue. So I think the, "Don't weigh yourself daily!!!" advice you see online is more for folks trying to get to a weight that's much, much harder to achieve and maintain.
My last advice is to make weighing yourself convenient. My scale is in the kitchen where I can't ignore it. I weigh myself while still wearing my sleep clothes first thing in the morning. I'll occasionally do a differential (el bucko vs clothed), so I can do the math in my head to know the "real weight". Usually when my sleep outfit changes, Winter vs Summer, etc.
I record it all in this Google Spreadsheet
Side Note: Tracking weight helped me to eventually figure out that after super long, hard rides (>2 hours), I'd retain nearly 2lbs of water for a couple days no matter how healthy I ate. My body was retaining water to help with muscle recovery. Who knew? Also raises my BP a little too. Makes sense
Like this example below. I was super annoyed to weigh in a pound heavier the day after doing a super hard bike ride chasing my friend on his new ebike on my regular fat bike. I went to bed hungry. I ate a healthy hummus wrap instead of giving in to a beer and pizza craving, but STILL woke up a pound heavier the next day. Then about 2 days later, that weight disappeared, and I ended up weighing a half pound less.
I blather on more here too weight loss strategies
B
