How I lost 25 kg in 100 days

A few years ago I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and fibromyalgia that has been debilitating and life changing. Aside from the fact that it took over a year for a diagnosis, I felt like I was shaken when I walked around with the amount of medication I was on. In addition to becoming inactive after years of regular exercise, I was taking medications that contributed to my excessive weight gain.

Over time I gained an excess of 55lbs, over a quarter of my total body weight, it was depressing and uncomfortable to say the least and it didn’t look like I would lose any of it anytime soon. After looking at some photos from a vacation with friends, I made the decision that something had to change and the weight had to come off.

I am going to qualify this article by letting everyone know that I am not a dietitian or nutritionist and have no experience on the subject of diet. I’m just going to tell you what worked for me, in a remarkably short space of time. The only reason I’m writing this article is because my doctor was so amazed that he told me recently that he needed people to know my secret. I’m here to tell you that there are no secrets, just a little common sense and a pinch of willpower.

I realized that to lose weight I had to combine a diet change with at least some exercise. You have to understand that with my condition, exercise is not an easy thing to achieve. The main symptoms of my condition include fatigue and pain, which restricts my ability to do any physical activity. Both of these facts limit the amount and frequency of any exercise I can do, but I didn’t let that stop me from doing what I could.

I started by walking around 1 km per day. That was my limit, as I would come home from walking and collapse in bed for at least an hour in recovery. However, as time went by, I managed to slowly increase the distance I was walking to about 4 km, which took me about 45 minutes. I would do my best to achieve these walks at least 5 days a week. I had the benefit of an active 25kg American Staff pup to pace and push me so I would say the walks were reasonably brisk in nature.

The only thing I did to achieve weight loss was change my diet. I tried cutting out complex carbs, although I was still eating small portions at some meals. I even indulged in the weird chocolate treat on occasion. You don’t have to completely eliminate the simple pleasures of life.

I usually had breakfast around 9:00 am before my hikes and it consisted of the same thing every day throughout the diet period. It was really simple and consisted of a cup of plain Swiss formula muesli with a cup of high calcium, low fat milk. If I found myself foraging for food between meals, I wouldn’t starve, I would treat myself to an apple or something similar to overcome my hunger.

Despite the cravings, I stuck to the plan and rarely ate again until around 1:30 pm Lunch was again the same meal for the entire term. One thing is for sure, this was a boring diet and you can get tired of eating the same thing, but when it works like this, it’s easy to stick to the plan. I had spinach and arugula salad with half an avocado, a cup of chicken breast, a quarter cup of shredded cheddar cheese, and a diced tomato with a tablespoon of ranch dressing. This was all topped off with a soft poached egg which makes this salad perfect. I promise you, it’s actually very good and it was easy to prepare so it was never hard to keep up the willpower.

The bit of variety in my diet came with dinner, and this is where I had most of my daily carbohydrate intake. Three out of seven nights a week I ate Thai curry, usually chicken or lamb with vegetables. The nice thing about a curry is that you can make a big batch and freeze multiple servings for later in the week. I always made it with light coconut milk and restricted the rice to about a half cup. If you are interested in my recipe for the curry, please let me know via the website and I will be happy to send you a copy.

Other dinner options basically boiled down to a lean piece of Scottish loin or steak (200g max) with steamed vegetables (no potatoes). Simple and nice goal! I also enjoyed a slice of Atlantic or Tasmanian salmon (200 grams max) with steamed vegetables or a serving of the salad I made for lunch.

Ok, variety wasn’t on the menu, but you get used to it in no time and it’s easy to stick with the schedule. For the first four weeks I lost on average about 1 kg per week and then suddenly around the fifth week the kilos started to drop. By the end of 13 I had lost 25 kg in total and was back to the weight I was before I was diagnosed. Since then, I have managed to keep the weight off simply by being sensible and avoiding complex carbohydrates like those found in cakes and cookies. The secret is to keep it simple and it will work. If you want more information or recipes of the diet plan that worked for me, feel free to write me on the website and I will reply to you as soon as possible.

So there you have it…it’s that simple and you don’t need any expensive weight loss products to be successful. If you find this useful and it works for you too, then all I ask is that you consider supporting a struggling new author. Best of luck, I hope this can work for you as well as it did for me.