My Weight Loss Journey

In this post I’ll let you in on my “secrets” to weight loss. 70lb over a year to be exact. And that’s as a woman over 40 with a chronic illness, on steroids for said illness, while still really enjoying food. 3 basic changes are what got me there. I also ate more, not less. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? I know.

The Hardest Part of Starting a Diet

Summary

I lost 70lb over 1 year with a few changes to my diet, mainly eating more plants, protein and sourdough and I’m sharing my journey here.

If you’d like to read about my approach, how I arrived at it, the non-negotiables about food that I wanted to keep in my life and the bits I adapted, read on.

Find Your “Why”

I’ve been through 3 major weight loss periods in my life, with the last one being the easiest funny enough, even though it was the highest amount of weight I lost.
There were two things I noticed every single time and now use to my advantage whenever I feel the scales creeping up a little too high or my pants getting a bit tighter than I like:

• The first two days are the hardest. Meaning my body wants to insist, especially in the evenings, that we need more snacks and they got to be sugary and/or fatty. But once I’ve stayed firm those two evenings my mind and body adjust and settle in, with the cravings stopping entirely.
• It’s a Mindset shift. Going from “I’m indulging maybe a bit too much” to, “I want my pants to fit properly” requires a switch in my brain and really wanting it. And you might or might not be at that point. Be kind to yourself. Don’t beat yourself up over any of it, as that just triggers more frustration munchies.

For me the switch comes at different points. At the worst it was me being unable to sleep properly as my knees were hurting too badly. At other times it’s simply not wanting to buy new pants. I’m lazy like that.
The trick is finding yours.

What is your core motivation?

What benefit will you gain when you lose that weight?

Don’t Lose Weight for Anyone Else

Back in time, when I was gaining weight for the first time, I remember the horrible comments I got, the guys that went on dates with me and then asked if I shouldn’t be eating salad instead of main course I ordered. First I was shocked, then I slept over it, told the guy in no uncertain terms what I think and that I won’t see him anymore because of his behaviour. He had the audacity to be surprised, and I felt so much better about myself. I honored who I am. Not who someone else wanted me to be.

However, it kept bugging me, so I went on my first weight loss journey. Just about 30lb, but still noticeable.

But then, after being where I thought I “should” be, I wondered with every guy I met if he’d have liked me at my old weight.
So even getting to my “ideal” weight and having all those admiring comments did most certainly make me happy but rather had me feel objectified.

And so I gained all the lost weight back, feeling frustrated with the world.
Then I started losing it again, while I had a boyfriend for 7 years. And what did he say?
“I don’t feel good about you losing so much weight, because now you can get better men than me.”
The heck? It’s all about our value for them, about us making ourselves smaller or bigger in size, so they can feel better about themselves!

Am I still frustrated with the world and how women are treated in it in general? Absolutely!
But at some point I realised it’s not about how others see me, but how I feel in my skin.

I asked myself:

• Am I limiting myself in the things I can and want to do? That was a clear yes, as I had problems getting on a horse from the ground. Sure, part of that is arthritis, but less weight makes it much more manageable!
• Can I wear the clothes I want to wear without having to shop for expensive and often ill-fitting plus sizes? I could not. Going clothes shopping was torture!
• Do I feel really good about what I’m eating? Do I enjoy all of it fully? Also a no. Sometimes I was just munching for distraction. (I still do occasionally, but found better choices like popcorn and carrots).

Note:
All these questions are about me and how I feel.
Not about how anyone else might judge me. And I think that is the key to it. It’s about you.
Nobody else has a say in it.

The Biggest Lie They Tell You

The biggest underlying lie that so many “diets” tell you, is that you lose weight once and that’s it.

But it never is. If you go back to eating the way you did before your diet, you’ll gain it back.

So the main secret to successfully losing weight and keeping it off is, to find a way of eating that works for you, not some super strict diet plan that leaves you craving your favorite foods.

I found mine and shared it here.

Before and After

This is the part where I post pictures of the weight loss, isn’t it?

Oh dear…and that’s with me really preferring to be behind the camera, not in front.
Plus I always have either face or body pictures, as I most certainly don’t let anyone else take them. But here we go!

Just in case you wonder: I never took these for sharing, so they look far from professional. I just wanted to document the progress for myself.

Before

Halfway

After

How this can help you to loose weight

Does this sound familiar?

If you read this, you have probably read a million diet manuals on “If you just cut out (insert a huge food group here) you’ll magically lose weight!”.

Yeah, so did I. And while I never went on a strict diet, which I realise sounds really strange in the context of this post, I did try Keto for about a month (got sick of my beloved cheese really quickly!), went on wildly restrictive other diets when I was younger like the 800 calories per day one I found in a magazine back then (for exactly 3 days, because I essentially couldn’t do my job anymore without either forgetting what I was even doing or bursting into hangry tears!) and god knows how many other adventures.

And I lost about 30lb once before yet gained it back over just a year. So while that was a short term success, it clearly wasn’t sustainable.

Note:

I have absolutely no intention of body shaming anyone. I know how it feels to be on the receiving end and it’s horrible. So if you feel good in your body, that’s marvellous and I’m the last person to judge you for it. You are fabulous as you are!
Just enjoy my recipes because they taste great!

But for me it was adding a lot of pain to my already hurting joints, the threat of having to take medication to lower my cholesterol and my knees popping out of their joints even while I was sleeping at night (ouch!), so I had to change something to feel better in my body!

I’m also neither a nutritionist nor doctor but simply sharing my experience and what I found in many books (written by doctors) to be a realistic and sustainable way to lose weight.

Please consult with your GP before making big changes.

What worked to lose weight sustainably

Spoiler alert: This is no magic weight loss pill.

Instead I inspected the parts of my diet I enjoyed and looked at what healthier habits can replace them with that I still enjoy, while making swaps I can keep up long term.

Note:
I can’t give you a one-size-fits-all recipe, there are bits you’ll have to closely look at your own habits and see what you would like to keep and what you can replace.

So how did this look for me?

What I wanted to keep:

• My passion for food. Trying out new recipes that feel like a party in my mouth gives me joy. I had absolutely no intention of losing that.
• I enjoy eating until I feel full. I didn’t want to live mini-meal to snack to next mini-meal
• Working full time, I did not want to cook every single day, but rather prepare a batch of food about twice a week and be done with it
• Dessert. No, really. I insist on eating something sweet at least once a day. Often at the end of the day
• Eating a bigger meal in the afternoon/evening, when I have time to enjoy it
• Snacks with Netflix. Unapologetically.

Sounds like a tall order, eh? Especially with all the diet advice out there!

What did I need to change?

After reading the books in the box below, I had at least a rough idea what might work.

Fibre Fuelled was probably the one I took most out of, as it talked about gut health, how plants keep you full despite having very low calories and all their other benefits. I never went full vegan, as I don’t feel I want to cut out a whole food group, but I really enjoy trying out vegan dishes!

The Books I read at the start of my journey:

Fiber Fuelled

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Eat to Live

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Obesity Code

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Then I started logging what I ate on MyFitnesspal, seeing what nutritional profile my preferred diet has and what makes sense to change.

What I found out while tracking my food

• I was eating way too little protein
• Decidedly too many carbs, even for a non-Keto lifestyle. I mean look, I’m German. We traditionally eat bread both for breakfast and dinner and often as side for lunch too!
• I was eating plants, but not enough to make a difference.

That last point proved to be the key to losing weight effectively.

Why Is eating more plants so important?

Because plants have a much lower calorie to weight ratio than most other foods. If you use them fresh, not processed, meaning they have all the fibre to keep you full, yet, because the body doesn’t break it down, it won’t stay with you.

Eating a huge bowl of plants with some delicious dressing or sauce and a few flavor additions is great way to satisfy your hunger. Just make sure they are well seasoned and maybe cooked in different ways, bringing out the best in each one.

Plus they help to keep your gut healthy!
How would yours look?

How did I implement my insights?

Eating more Plants

The first and most important change I made was, to try and add plants in some shape or form to every single meal I ate. Yup. Every. Single. One.

I started with my main meal for the day, which I usually prepared on the weekend, by looking up some sort of recipe idea I wanted to make, then up the veggie content until I had at least 5 different ones included. Often more.

You can see how delicious this method is in most of my main courses, like my rather popular Vegan Tom Kha Soup, which will have you licking out the bowl once you try it.

Looking for comfort food? Give this Vegan Taco Casserole a go.

Or maybe the Salad way to enjoy Duck Pancakes!

To any breakfast, even if I was eating bread, I added some snackable veggies like carrots, cherry tomatoes, sweet mini peppers and usually at least one fruit.

Like this typical Snack plate I was munching on:

Any sweet dish/dessert I modified to add at the very minimum 1 fruit, but mostly 2-3.

All these veggies and fruit meant, that I simply felt full after eating them and didn’t feel the need for a huge amount of carbs. I still ate them. Just not as many.

Oh and I changed from a LOT of olive oil in sauces and dressings to a more nut based sauce/dressing approach (Like this Cashew Ranch Dressing ), which came from the Nutritarian diet idea. That proved to be both beneficial and delicious and remains the way I enjoy most of my salads.

And even desserts like this Protein Chocolate Mousse Pie!

This was the key to losing weight and while I’m not as strict on the above points anymore, I still easily pivot back to them when I feel my weight creeping up.

I added more protein

I addition to all the benefits I mention in this post on why I add protein, it keeps me satisfied for longer than carbs (have you ever felt hungry shortly after eating a bowl of pasta? Yeah, me too.) and gives my body the needed nutrition to build more muscle. And more muscle burns more calories.

If you saw some of my recipes, you might notice I eat very little meat and often create vegan dishes.
This has two reasons: My GP found fairly high cholesterol when I was overweight, so I cut out nearly all processed meats. This reduced it considerably.

But not in form of Meat

I’m also simply not the biggest fan of meat, which meant I had to get my protein elsewhere.
Those of you who adore pulses will find that fairly easy. I just didn’t back then (it’s changing thankfully!).
Looking into protein shakes, I gotta admit drinking my calories just didn’t sit right with me! I was never a fan of sweet beverages except my coffee, so suddenly drinking two or so a day didn’t do it for me.
Instead I started including protein in my desserts. I mean sure, what else would you do, if you have a really sweet tooth?

That proved to be the second major puzzle piece, as it meant I was able to reduce the sugar in my desserts drastically, with the protein powder including sweetener already, and anything sweet left me more satisfied than before due to the protein.

Some of my favourite Protein desserts are this Banoffee Protein Mousse Pie. It has date caramel and a crunchy almond crust, making it utterly more-ish!

Or this Protein Rice Pudding, which doubles as breakfast. Pick one of 4 different versions.

So I killed 2 birds with one stone essentially. Though please don’t throw stones at birds!

I kept eating bread, but changed how

By making my own sourdough bread, I could not just control the flavor (which I much prefer to yeast bread btw) but also adapt what flour I was adding. I adjusted most recipes to include at least part whole wheat flour to add even more fibre to my diet.
Sourdough also has the helpful side effect of raising your blood sugar much slower, meaning you don’t get hunger pangs after a short while.

My alltime favourite of sourdough breads is the German Rye Beer Bread, which is no knead and can just be briefly mixed together in the evening, then baked the next morning.

And I started to combine both sourdough and protein, creating recipes like the most popular ones on this site:

Sourdough Protein Pancakes with whole wheat

And these Sourdough Blueberry Muffins with Protein

These 3 major changes in my diet lead to the loss of 70lb over a year and, eventually, to creating this blog. I figured if it helped me, it might help you too!

One additional change

Could you lose weight just with the diet changes above? Absolutely!

Did that go fast enough for my taste? Absolutely not.

So I added some exercise. Ugh. Did I hate it at the start!
I mean look, I’m in chronic pain from my arthritis. If not for weekly injections with biologics, that supress big parts of my immune system, I’d be in the wheelchair.

And don’t get me wrong, the start was rough. Because of the crazy pain in my knees I couldn’t just get on a mat and start, but instead literally started on my bed following some very gentle Pilates videos on YouTube for 15 minutes at a time. Then was slowly able to expand that, get onto a (doubled up) yoga mat in my spare bedroom, follow longer and more intense videos all the way to getting a proper home gym for resistance training.

That’s after I realised that the main bit I hated about going to the gym was the “going to”. I just did not want to waste the time of driving back and forth, let alone wait for equipment to be free!

Huge shout out to Cailin from MVMT with Cailin btw, whose videos I followed for all my Pilates sessions and still do. They are absolutely fabulous if you have no idea what you are doing and aren’t very fit (yet) with explanations, modifications and reasonable pace that allowed me to follow along without getting my limbs into knots!

You know what I didn’t do?

It might be surprising, but I never did any cardio training! Not once.
I know, sounds weird to many of us who were taught it burns calories and we should all do it.
But here is another thing I learned while reading about exercise, weight loss and resistance training and listening to countless podcasts on the topic: Doing any training, trains your body to get better at it. Logical, right?

So with cardio, your body gets better at running/walking/swimming or whatever it is you do as cardio training. Getting better in this case means “more efficient”. Sounds great at first glance, doesn’t it? I mean sure, being able to run longer can be motivating. But to do that, your body tries to use less energy to do the job, so it can do it better.And what uses a lot of energy? Muscles!

So longterm, if you do a lot of cardio, you body will get rid of muscle and you need to run more and more to burn the same amount of calories!
Not a great way to lose weight, is it now? Doing more and more for less results? Yeah, not me. I’m lazy!

Instead I add a bit more weight during training over time, which feels like the same amount of effort, the better I get, build muscle and burn more calories.

Fabulous, now I can eat more! Goal achieved. 😀

The Biggest Reward?

After about 18 years being utterly unable to get on a horse from the ground, I was “brushed off” by the one I was riding walking under a low fallen tree (no, that’s not the reward! That’s me being a bit of a numpty and not calculating correctly) and wondering if I now had to walk all the way back home myself. No fun! We were on a darn mountain!
So I decided to give the getting on from the ground a try, preparing for horrible pain in my knees. But much to my surprise, one bounce and I was magically on the horse. At least that’s how it felt. I honestly couldn’t believe it! My muscles and joints were actually working as intended!

Don’t get me wrong, I do still have joint pain. But there is no comparison to before and I was able to get off the steroids I had been taking for 17 years. Which of course now helps me to keep my weight. But I lost it while I was still on them, which is proof that you can!

By now I fulfilled my biggest dream and finally got my own horse again. A very young quarter horse mare named “Kachina”. And that would never have been in reach without all the changes and weight loss above.

Because of the horse riding, I did gain a few pounds back quite targeted in the end, as I constantly felt my sitting bones rather painfully when going for trail rides. But since then my weight is pretty stable. And if it isn’t, because I went a little overboard with my recipe trying? I just go back to the approach above and lose it pretty quickly.

So I can finally do what I love without too much pain.
Btw above is Kachina, below is “Whiskey”, a lovely horse I got to ride at a Natural Horsemanship clinic.

One additional Tip

Losing weight is a mindset. I know you probably heard that a lot, but what does it mean?

Unless you really decide you want to do this and “flip the switch” in your mind, you won’t stay on track.

There is willpower and creating new pathways in the brain involved in making changes and our brain just loves habits and feeling comfortable.

This means starting something new will always feel a little uncomfortable at first. You just have to do it anyway. And decide every day again to keep doing it.

And if you skip a day? Then you start again the day after.

Find things to reward yourself. Ideally non-food related. Though I totally admit I do reward myself with protein desserts in the evenings. 😉

And if you really want to eat something? Eat it!
There is absolutely no point in resisting when your body noisily demands something very specific. Just balance things with the changes above and you will notice a difference.

My reason to create this blog is to help you achieve the same

And because I firmly believe that you just have to find a way to enjoy eating healthier, not less, I created this blog to share my experiences and discoveries of better for you recipes with you.

Do I sometimes create recipes to just be a treat? Absolutely.
But nearly every single one will include either sourdough, protein or lots of plants and more wholesome ingredients.

Now I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

What have you tried?
What worked, what didn’t?
Where do your intentions fail on reality?
What kind of recipes would you love to see more of?