I had been a husky child up till 13 when I slimmed down. High school I was skinny.
I began putting on weight when I was about 19/20 working various physical jobs and eating three square per day.
In also took to cycling at least 10 miles per day - mostly commuting to work round trip. This grew to more and eventually I got to 178 lbs at my height of 6'1 - 6'2. My family was worried about my weight but I was lean and agile like you wouldn't believe.
I went to work as a sales rep for a large software company and it was out of control. At my heaviest, I was 240 and feeling horrible and tired. I was at the doctor all the time. So I started cycling again and got down to 220. That didn't feel much better. My knees were hurting.
When I left that job at 30, I immdiately lost 15 pounds. My weight fluctuated from 30 to 33 between 210 and 220.
Just before last Thanksgiving, my body began screaming at me due to my stress level. My grandmother passed away and my girlfriend of 9 years and I split up for what seemed like it would for good. My body had had enough of this and forced me to eat right and excercise. Which I am doing.
My diet consisted of the most hearty salads you will ever see.
My "diet salad" is this:
Big clamshell of actual salad greens (lettuce has no nutritional value)
Marinated artichoke hearts (I buy the big containers at Costco)
Middle Eastern stuffed Grape Leaves in olive oil and lemon juice
Mushrooms - marinated or raw
String beans, fava beans, red beans
Ground up raw cashews and dried mango (chop them up fine in a blender)
one whole cucumber
There are several dressings I make which I can provide recipes for
For protein - either one of the following but not a large portion - a few cuts unless its fish:
Lamb with salt pepper and lemon juice
Chuck steak - salt and pepper or my ginger dressing I make from scratch
Marinated herring fillets (among the best sources of protein ever put on Earth)
Chicken - though I don't like chicken
Theres other things I'll eat to but if you want to lose weight and keep your body prepped for excercies the above will help.
Also, most things I cook I use sesame seed oil for instead of most other oils. It is very healthy and has a great flavor.
Lastly, I do not go anywhere near fast food - nothing, none of it. It is poison. I read ingredients and will not eat anything that is overly processed.
Eat as fresh and local as possible. It doesn't take long to make these things, it just takes some adjustment and provisioning.
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