Weight Loss Meal Plan for Women
Jillian Michaels has never shied away from having an unpopular opinion when it comes to anything health, wellness, or fitness related. She is always the first skeptic of any get-thin-quick diets or workouts, and has an incredibly no-BS way of expressing her viewpoints. Now, in a new interview with Women’s Health UK, the former Biggest Loser coach takes aim at the politically correct body positive movement that has been sweeping the wellness world over the last few years, claiming that it may be putting people’s health and lives at risk. “I think we’re politically correct to the point of endangering people,” she told the magazine as part of their January/February issue featuring her on the cover. She points out that she doesn’t encourage excluding anyone and that shaming anyone for their weight is definitely wrong. “Yes, we want to be inclusive of everyone (and respect that) everyone comes in all different shapes and sizes. That nobody should ever be body shamed or fat shamed or excluded and that everyone is equally deserving and should feel equally valuable.” RELATED: Jillian Michaels Isn’t the Only One Who Hates Keto—These 5 Other Experts Say Ditch the Diet However, she worries that encouraging people that excess weight is desirable is more potentially harmful than anything else. “Obesity in itself is not something that should be glamorized,” she continued. “But we’ve become so politically correct that no one wants to say it.” Michaels also added that she doesn’t believe that the return of the Biggest Loser this January is going to be welcomed with open arms. "I think the world has shifted to a place where that format and messaging is considered fat shaming," she shared. "But it isn’t, and it’s not meant to be. Now we’ve gone so far in the opposite direction." RELATED: Jillian Michaels on What Aging Means to Her: "I’m a Very Different Person Than I Was at 34 and 24" Many people expressed outrage over Michaels’ comments, including body positivity advocate Jameela Jamil. “Elitist ignorance from a renowned long time bully of fat people. Don’t just shame and blame,” The Good Place star shared in a series of tweets. “Cheap food, which most can afford is full of hormones and sugars. Many work too many jobs to have time/money to work out. There’s PCOS, Insulin resistance, Medication side effects.. etc.” “Just existing, or even DARING to post a nice picture of yourself feeling beautiful and sexy isn’t glamorizing ANYTHING,” she continued. “It’s just existing and loving yourself. Not a crime. Not a threat to anyone. Shame and erasure doesn’t work. If it did, we’d be a *very* thin world by now.” This isn’t the first time Michaels has ruffled feathers with her controversial opinions. She has lashed out at the high-fat, low-carb keto diet (favored by celebrities such as Kourtney Kardashian, Jenna Jameson, and Al Roker) a number of times, calling it a “bad plan” for “a million reasons.” “I don’t understand. Like, why would anyone think this is a good idea?” Michaels said in a video for Women’s Health. “Don’t do keto,” she continued “How much time do I have? And I’m not allowed to swear? Yes, keto is a diet fad. The reason that keto has been getting so much attention is because it helps significantly to manage your insulin levels. Very high insulin, very bad thing.” She continued to explain that the reason people lose weight on the diet, is because they are basically starving themselves by depriving their bodies of nutrients. Instead, Michaels encourages a healthy, balanced diet. “You don’t eat processed sugar, you don’t eat processed grains, and to make a very long story short: avoid the keto diet,” she added. “Common sense. Balanced diet is key.” To get our top stories delivered to your inbox, sign up for the Healthy Living newsletter via Weight Loss - Health.com https://ift.tt/2sfIG1F
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Jenna Jameson has been one of the biggest advocates of the keto diet. The 45-year-old self-proclaimed “keto queen”first started the diet nearly two years ago, meticulously detailing her drastic transformation on social media. However, in recent months her Instagram account has been relatively keto-free. On Thursday, she revealed to fans why: Because she is back on the carb wagon—and she’s gained 20 pounds. She also confessed that she isn’t sure if she will return to the restrictive diet, because it is too hard to maintain. “Confession. I’ve gained 20 pounds. Ugh. I decided to take a break from #keto and live my best carby life,” Jameson said in her Instagram caption. “The weight came back fast and furious,” she admitted. “I know a lot of people are quitting keto because it’s hard to maintain and after a year and a half I concur. Not sure if I’m going to go back full force or just calorie count. What are your thoughts?” Since starting keto after giving birth to daughter Batel Lu in March 2018, Jameson has shed around 80 pounds. In addition to frequent before-and-after photos showcasing her progress, she has also filled her feed with lots of keto recipes, tips, and exercises that helped her get back into shape. Jameson wasn't the onlycelebrity who has endorsed the keto diet. Kourtney Kardashian, Halle Berry, and Vanessa Hudgens are among the many famous faces who claim keto did their body good. But while many claim the restrictive way of eating has helped them shed tons of weight, many health experts have spoken out against it—including Jillian Michaels. RELATED: 7 Dangers of Going Keto “Your cells, your macro molecules, are literally made up of protein, fat, carbohydrates, nucleic acids. When you do not eat one of the three macro nutrients — those three things I just mentioned — you’re starving yourselves,” she previously fumed. “Those macro nutrients serve a very important purpose for your overall health and wellbeing. Each and every one of them.” Instead, Michaels maintains eating a balanced, healthy, and sustainable diet is the key to long-term weight loss. “You don’t eat processed sugar, you don’t eat processed grains, and to make a very long story short: avoid the keto diet,” she said. “Common sense. Balanced diet is key.” Others like Health contributing nutrition editor Cynthia Sass, RD, aren’t totally opposed to keto, but point out that it isn’t realistic for most people. RELATED: This Couple Has Been on the Keto Diet for 6 Years. Here’s How They Stick to It “Intermittent fasting and keto are both big commitments that will impact your social life, and for many people are not sustainable long term,” Sass previously said. “If a method of losing weight feels like a struggle and does not make you feel well both physically and emotionally, it's not right for you, no matter how popular it is.” In January 2019, U.S. News and World Report released their annual rankings of the best overall diets along with the best diets for specific goals or criteria. While the Mediterranean Diet, followed by the DASH Diet and the Flexitarian Diet, were found to be the best diets, keto was ranked one of the worst, again, pointing to its lack of sustainability. “We have basically no evidence that this diet is consistent with human health over time,” panelist David Katz, MD, director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center said at the time. “All of the evidence we have points toward a plant-predominant diet with an emphasis on vegetables, whole grains, fruits, nuts, and seeds—all of the very things that the ketogenic diet avoids.” So could Jameson ditching the keto diet be the beginning of the end for the keto craze? Only time will tell, but props to her for listening to her body and doing what she feels is best for it. To get our top stories delivered to your inbox, sign up for the Healthy Living newsletter via Weight Loss - Health.com https://ift.tt/2rXGE6l Whole30 Cofounder Melissa Urban On How a Better Relationship With Food Can Improve Mental Health11/13/2019 Even though Whole30 started as an eating plan, there’s much more than just food on your blog, podcast, and Instagram feed. Was that a conscious choice? It’s been a natural evolution, stemming from my own experience. Developing a healthy relationship with food and my body spilled over into other areas of my life, helping me tackle trauma, process stressful life events, develop self-care practices, and dive deeper into the issues my community also struggles with. RELATED: I Just Finished Whole30 and Lived to Tell the Tale—Here’s How I Made It Through You’ve been very open about your recovery from drug addiction and other challenges, including single parenting and mental health issues. How come? The best way I know to remove the stigma that often surrounds these issues is by dragging conversations into the light and giving them the respect, compassion, and support they deserve. By sharing openly, I hope to show people they don’t have to be ashamed and that seeking help is strong and brave. You see Whole30 as a gateway to bigger things for people who practice it. What do you mean by that? A person’s relationship with food is foundational to every other area of their life. If you feel like you’re in control of your food—not in an overly rigid, disordered way, but in an empowered, “I know I’m feeding myself well as an act of self-care” way—the confidence and energy that brings will spill over into every area of your life. RELATED: This Cancer Survivor Really Wants You to Eat Your Greens—So She Created a Supplement How can exercise and yoga impact people’s lives? Any activity that involves moving your body can remind you of your power and give you something to focus on that isn’t just weight- or size-related. Can you lift more? Can you do it faster? Can you hold the pose longer? Can you enjoy the process and not just the results? Yoga in particular can be transformational—it teaches you that you are capable of so much more than you gave yourself credit for. What do you think is missing when we talk about wellness? Mental health is often omitted from the equation, and I am a big believer in therapy. There are some things that are just too big to unpack by yourself—and no amount of keto meals or CrossFit sessions is going to take the place of getting in touch with our feelings and processing past hurts. Read more stories about innovative and inspirational women, check out our Wellness Warriors series Your latest cookbook, Whole30 Friends & Family, is about how to practice Whole30 during social occasions like holidays and parties. Why was that important to you? Even with all the resources we offer and recipes available, people still said it was hard to socialize on the program. We want you to be social on the Whole30 and prove to yourself that you can still have fun, make memories, and celebrate traditions even without cake on your plate or wine in your glass. And that’s a life lesson that sticks. It helps people entertain, host, or attend social events in a way that feels effortless. To get our top stories delivered to your inbox, sign up for the Healthy Living newsletter via Weight Loss - Health.com https://ift.tt/2NM9gYJ Let’s face it, we all want the Jennifer Aniston glow. Does this woman ever not look like she’s just walked out of a wellness retreat? Clearly, she knows a thing or two about health and well-being, and she’s finally sharing some of her secrets. In an interview with UK magazine Radio Times during the promo trail for her new Apple TV+ show The Morning Show, Aniston revealed that she’s a big fan of intermittent fasting, particularly a version called the 16:8 diet. “I do intermittent fasting, so no food in the morning. I noticed a big difference in going without solid food for 16 hours,” she said, per CNBC. RELATED: Is Celery Juice Healthy? Here's What a Nutritionist Thinks Aniston’s preferred way of intermittent fasting limits her eating time window to eight hours per day, while fasting for the other 16 hours, Tanya B. Freirich, MS, RD, New York-based nutritionist and registered dietitian for Sweet Nova, tells Health. Other types of intermittent fasting diets include the 5:2 diet, which involves fasting for two nonconsecutive days each week and eating without restrictions on the other five days. There's also the OMAD—or one meal a day—diet. Intermittent fasting has become increasingly popular, and it's easy to see why. For starters, there's no prescribed calorie limit, which means no crunching numbers and relying on calorie counting guides before eating. But what else is involved in the 16:8 eating plan and similar fasts, and are they actually safe? Here's what nutrition experts have to say. Does the 16:8 intermittent fast diet actually work?As far as the benefits of intermittent fasting go, one study found that it helped people lose a “modest” amount of weight and also lowered their blood pressure. “It’s suspected that the reason it helps people lose weight is that eating within an eight-hour window simply limits the total amount of calories consumed in a day,” New York-based nutritionist Lauren Harris-Pincus, RD, tells Health. “But ultimately, the only way to lose weight is to create a caloric deficit where you consume fewer calories than you expend.” RELATED: What to Know About the Snake Diet, an Extreme Fasting Plan for Weight Loss Is the 16:8 diet good for you?Some advocates of the 16:8 diet claim it helps control blood sugar levels and boost brain function, but there’s little scientific evidence to back these up. And if you don’t stick to nutritious food during the eight-hour window, any positive effects are quickly negated. In other words, 16 hours of fasting doesn’t compensate for eight hours of stuffing your face with junk food. For the best results, you should be careful about your choice of eating window. According to Freirich, it should start early in the day, preferably no later than about 10 a.m., and finish early in the evening. “This allows for the energy you consume during your eating window to serve your activities throughout the day, plus it’s in line with our natural circadian rhythms, presuming you wake up around 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.,” she explains. If you choose a much later eating window, say 4 p.m. to 12 a.m, you could actually see weight gain, she warns. Wait... is celery allowed during fasting? Doesn’t it have some calories?Aniston also told Radio Times that she likes to start her day with a celery juice around 9 a.m., which some fasting purists might not agree with. (Typically, intermittent fasting permits nothing but water, tea, or coffee for the entire 16-hour fasting period). “There are no super specific rules to intermittent fasting, however, having anything with calories like celery juice is technically not fasting,” confirms Harris-Pincus. But hey, it’s not as if Aniston’s having soda for breakfast. And she’s not the only one to extol the virtues of celery juice—it seems like every social media influencer is celebrating the green stuff right now. Any magical health benefits of celery juice are exaggerated “beyond the fact [that] it’s a vegetable,” says Harris-Pincus. Yet if it works for you, go for it. “I always tell clients that if they like celery juice, then have some,” she adds. “Make half of your food volume fruits and veggies, and you’re good to go.” RELATED: What Is Alternate-Day Fasting, and Is It Even Safe? Here's What Nutritionists Have to Say Is there anyone who shouldn’t do intermittent fasting?The 16:8 diet isn’t suitable for everyone. Freirich doesn't advise it for people with diabetes or problems with low blood pressure or low blood sugar, as well as children, athletes, and pregnant women. “These groups of people need food more consistently throughout the day or have high energy needs that are difficult to meet with time constraints,” she explains. Are there any side effects to be aware of?Intermittent fasting shouldn’t come with any nasty side effects, but—like all restrictive eating plans—it’s important to not let it take over your life. “Sometimes people shy away from social events because they interfere with the timing of the fast,” Harris-Pincus says. “I never recommend letting an eating behavior determine your interaction with friends, family, or coworkers.” It’s also important to pay attention to exercise in relation to fasting. Harris-Pincus warns against exercising while fasting or waiting several hours after exercising to eat your first meal. “You want to feed those muscles and replenish carbohydrate stores after an intense workout,” she says. To get more nutrition and diet tips delivered to your inbox, sign up for the Balanced Bites newsletter via Weight Loss - Health.com https://ift.tt/2qGUqK3 I thought I’d heard it all, but the Snake Diet is a new one on me. The diet is a twist on the current popularity of fasting, and its extreme nature is raising a lot of red flags for health professionals like me. Here’s the lowdown on what the plan entails, and why I strongly recommend skipping it. What is the Snake Diet?While the Snake Diet is marketed as a lifestyle, it’s not at all optimal or sustainable, in my opinion. The program promotes what the creator, Cole Robinson (who is admittedly not a health professional), refers to as "proactive eating." He defines this as narrowing your eating to an “intentional and deliberate” window of time, which in this case is one to two hours, according to the plan’s website. RELATED: What Is the Noom Diet? A Nutritionist Explains It’s unclear if this is one to two hours per day total, as the protocol advises followers to stop eating, drink "Snake Juice" (more on this below), and continue to fast for as long as you feel good. The initial phase involves eating supper, and then completing a full 48-hour fast, while only consuming Snake Juice and remaining inactive. A 72-hour fast is advised as the next step. Testing your urine via keto strips is also recommended, as the program is designed to trigger ketosis (the goal of the super popular keto diet). Exactly what to eat when you restart eating isn’t laid out, but followers are encouraged to keep meals simple, be consistent, and not gorge—which may be difficult to do after not eating anything for two to three days at a time. The Snake Juice allowed during the fasting hours is an electrolyte drink that hasn’t been researched for safety. It sells on amazon for $39.99 for 30 packets. Up to three packets per day are recommended. Health risks of the Snake DietThe obvious goal of this plan is fast weight loss, but it’s also important to consider how this method could affect physical and emotional health short-term, and if any weight lost this way can be maintained. RELATED: 7 Dangers of Going Keto The diet’s creator correctly states that when you eat more food than your body can readily burn or use, the excess is stored away. That’s true, but you do not need to starve yourself to this extreme to prevent a calorie surplus. Doing so deprives your body of vital nutrients that influence your health, including the health of your immune system. He also incorrectly states that obese people only need saltwater to meet their needs, because fat stores provide all the nutrition required. The fact is, anyone can become malnourished if they’re missing an adequate amount of vital nutrients day after day, which are not all found in stored body fat. So it is possible to be simultaneously nutrient-deprived and obese. As far as ketosis, it’s also important to not push the limits. The biggest risk is the potential for ketoacidosis, a state when ketosis goes too far. When excess ketones build up in the body, blood becomes acidic. Severe ketoacidosis can lead to coma, or even death, and acidosis in general can trigger bad breath, headaches, dizziness, muscle cramps, constipation, and bone-density loss. Rapid weight loss can also increase the risk of gallstones. Finally, you will lose lean weight in addition to body fat while fasting. Within one or two days of not eating, your body will deplete its glycogen, which is the carbohydrate reserve socked away in muscle and liver. At this point, your energy needs will be met by breaking down stored fat, but that’s not all. Your body will also break down lean tissue, which includes both muscle mass and organ cells. Even if you have lots of body fat left to burn, you can still harm your body and health, as muscles and organs are weakened. RELATED: The Longevity Diet: What to Eat So You Live Longer and Healthier The Snake Diet may be dangerousWhat all of this points to is that fasting and other methods of rapid weight loss should be medically supervised. An extreme diet such as this can be risky for anyone, but particularly for those with pre-existing medical conditions that need to be carefully managed, such as diabetes and heart disease, or digestive, and kidney issues. Because there is no clinical research on the Snake Diet, there is very little to go on in terms of its true effectiveness and safety. Robinson is critical of what he calls mainstream health professionals, and he is as extreme as the plan itself. In his loud, profane-riddled YouTube videos, he refers to viewers as "fatties" and spouts a lot of unconventional and sometimes flat-out incorrect or dangerous advice. Much of what the diet’s creator advocates is based on oversimplifications and a lack of understanding of how the human body works. While he may wholeheartedly believe what he’s saying, he doesn’t have the proper training to understand why much of what he advises isn’t accurate. I also worry about the psychological ramifications of the Snake Diet. Apart from the bullying language Robinson uses, his approach may result in eating phobias that can progress to serious disordered eating patterns. Humans are not snakes, and we shouldn’t be mimicking their eating patterns. It’s true that there are some benefits to time-restricted eating and certain methods of fasting. But this not research-based approach takes it too far, and extreme weight-loss methods rarely result in sustained results. Research shows that within two years, more than half of weight lost is regained, and by five years, more than 80% is regained. Weight loss that lasts requires a lifestyle that can be maintained—one that supports physical, emotional, and social well-being. That’s not impossible, and it most definitely does not call for such an extreme approach. Bottom lineThis plan has a lot of fans and defenders, with rhetoric that feeds distrust of science and health professionals. The reality is, health professionals truly want to help people lose weight safely and successfully, and this diet is not the way to accomplish either. Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD, is Health's contributing nutrition editor, a New York Times best-selling author, and a consultant for the New York Yankees. To get more nutrition and diet tips delivered to your inbox, sign up for the Balanced Bites newsletter via Weight Loss - Health.com https://ift.tt/35y00OL When Jessica Simpson took to Instagram to announce that she lost 100 pounds in the six months after giving birth to her daughter Birdie Mae, her followers flocked to the comments section to ask exactly what she did to drop the pounds. In a recent interview, Simpson’s trainer, Harley Pasternak, gave fans the answer they were looking for. Pasternak told People the 39-year-old former pop star made diet changes based on his book The Body Reset Diet. “It’s three meals and two snacks a day, and each meal has protein, fiber and fat, and snacks are protein and fiber or protein and fat,” he said, explaining the gist of the diet. “It’s about balancing in a way that doesn’t make it painful or too much of a departure from your life before that.” But, when you dig a little deeper into Pasternak’s Body Reset Diet, what exactly does it entail—and can it really help you lose weight like it helped Simpson? Here’s the lowdown on how it’s structured, and what to be aware of before you give it a try. RELATED: Jessica Simpson Lost 100 Pounds in 6 Months After Giving Birth—Is That Healthy? What is the Body Reset Diet?The diet is broken up into three phases. The first lasts five days, and you’re directed to eat five times a day and consume only smoothies and snacks—specifically three smoothies and two snacks. The smoothies are made from a combo of a liquid base (dairy or non-dairy milk, or water), protein (from a powder or plain non-fat Greek yogurt), healthy fat (from nuts, seeds, or avocado), and high fiber carbs (from fruit and/or veggies). There are plenty of smoothie recipes in the book. As for snacks, there are several to pick from, like low-fat popcorn; celery sticks with almond butter, or a pear with sliced turkey. The snacks have guidelines around calorie, fiber, and protein content, which are outlined in the book. All of the snacks should be about 150 calories and contain at least 5 grams each of fiber and protein and less than 10 grams of sugar. Phase one also involves light exercise—walking only (no boot camp classes or other hard core workouts), at a minimum of 10,000 steps daily. During phase two, on days six through 10, you drink two smoothies, and eat one solid meal plus two snacks per day. Meals include salads, sandwiches, soups, stir fries, and other simple dishes. Meal prep is encouraged, and recipes are provided. You also add a five minute at-home, no-equipment workout three days a week, in addition to the 10,000 steps. In phase three, days 11 through 15, smoothies are limited to one per day, plus two meals and two snacks. The workouts also ramp up a bit. Beyond day 15, the book includes “rest of your life” advice (which sounds similar to the diet Simpson followed). In this advice, Pasternak advocates continuing to eat five times a day—specifically one smoothie, two snacks, and two solid meals—with two “free” splurge meals per week, which may include some alcohol. The 10,000 steps a day is advised seven days a week for life, along with brief resistance training sessions five days a week. RELATED: What Is the Ayurvedic Diet—and Can It Help You Lose Weight? Can the Body Reset Diet help you lose weight?We unfortunately can't say for certain if the Body Reset Diet will help you lose weight. Pasternak doesn't have data on the results, either short term or long term, and it ultimately depends on someone's starting weight, previous diet, age, and other factors. In the long term, you’re encouraged to do many of the things you’ve probably heard about from other weight loss plans, including planning ahead, eating more slowly and mindfully, and sticking to a schedule, all of which is solid weight-loss advice. The Body Reset Diet isn’t a drastic or fad diet. It encourages making healthy choices and developing lifestyle habits. In a nutshell, it takes many solid eating and exercise recommendations and puts them into a concrete, easy to understand structure. The book is straightforward, the strategy is easy to follow, and the advice is reasonable and actionable long term. RELATED: The Zero Carb Diet May Be a Simple Way to Lose Weight—But Is It Safe? What are the downsides of the Body Reset Diet?The book was first published in 2013, and some of the recommendations seem dated compared to newer nutrition science and trends. For example, artificial sweeteners are allowed, and the plan encourages low-fat and fat-free foods, eggs without the yolk, and some more processed products, like deli turkey, crackers, and pita. Current nutrition thinking is focused on whole rather than processed foods and quality fat over total fat. And while there are options for vegans, vegetarians, and those who follow a gluten-free or dairy-free diet, they aren’t readily tagged. You’ll have to look through the recipes, and you may need to make substitutions based on the diet you personally follow. For example, if you’re vegan you could make some of chicken broth soups with vegetable broth instead. The plan also requires calorie counting or tracking. Many of my clients find this to be cumbersome or even stressful. But because the Body Reset Diet involves eating five times a day, it would be important to monitor calories to prevent over-consuming if you decide to follow this plan. In my experience, the more meals, the higher the chances are that you may overdo it on the calories, even just a bit, which can add up to enough of a surplus to stall weight loss. RELATED: Can the Coffee Diet Really Help With Weight Loss—and Is It Safe? Should you try the Body Reset Diet?Nutrition is always evolving, which makes following a book like this from a specific date a challenge. While the structure of this plan, a balanced diet and regularly times meals, holds up, if you decide to try it, go for updated versions of foods within certain categories, like grass-fed if you eat dairy, pasture-raised whole eggs for egg eaters, no artificial sweeteners, and simple, clean ingredient packaged foods. Also, consider ditching the beef, upping seafood if you eat it, and cranking up the number of plant based meals. Finally, it’s unclear how much weight you might lose in 15 days on this plan—or even how much weight you’ll lose in six months, like Simpson. But one thing is certain: losing weight and keeping it off does require finding a strategy you can really stick with, and one that makes you feel well both physically and emotionally. Whether that’s this exact plan, or your own modification, in the long run, healthy, sane, and sustainable always wins out over fast and furious. Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD, is Health's contributing nutrition editor, a New York Times best-selling author, and a nutrition consultant for the New York Yankees. To get more nutrition and diet tips delivered to your inbox, sign up for the Balanced Bites newsletter via Weight Loss - Health.com https://ift.tt/2mspjjo Jessica Simpson took to Instagram Tuesday to announce that she's lost 100 pounds in six months, after giving birth to her daughter Birdie Mae in March. The 39-year-old former pop star (and current businesswoman) shared the news along with two photos of herself in a black dress cinched at the waist with a belt. One of the images shows her holding her holding her Birdie Mae. "6 months. 100 pounds down (Yes, I tipped the scales at 240 )," Jessica wrote in the caption. "My first trip away from #BIRDIEMAE and emotional for many reasons, but so proud to feel like myself again. Even when it felt impossible, I chose to work harder. " Clearly, dropping 100 pounds in six months sounds pretty remarkable—and Jessica's followers chimed in to ask what exactly she did to lose the weight (seriously–most of the comments are asking her how she did it). Jessica didn't divulge how she lost the weight (or at what rate), but it begs the question: Is it healthy to lose that much weight in such a short amount of time? RELATED: 8 Unexpected Ways Your Body Might Change After You Have a Baby The short, totally underwhelming answer: It depends. Take Jessica's recent pregnancy, for instance: She mentioned her highest weight was 240, which means that some of those pounds that she eventually lost would have been the baby, placenta, fluids, and blood volume, says Cynthia Sass, Health contributing nutrition editor. Whether or not Jessica breastfed could've also played a role in her weight loss. Breastfeeding burns extra calories (about 300 to 500 a day, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health), which helps speed up weight loss in postpartum women. According to the US National Library of Medicine, a division of the National Institutes of Health, it's healthy for postpartum women to lose about a pound and a half a week, and most women return to their pre-pregnancy weight by six to 12 months after delivery. RELATED: 10 Reasons Breastfeeding Is Good for You Postpartum weight loss aside, healthy weight loss in general takes place gradually, typically at a rate of one to two pounds per week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—that's because, per the CDC, healthy weight loss isn't about a diet or a program, it's about lifestyle changes that can last long-term through healthy eating and exercise habits. Jessica opened up about changing her fitness and food routine to lose her pregnancy weight in a July interview with People. "I am working really hard right now," she said. "It's not easy at all, but I am determined to feel good. I have been doing a lot of walking—getting my steps in not only burns calories but it also helps me clear my head and get focused." She also said she made changes to her diet. "I am eating healthy too—I discovered I really like cauliflower. Who knew it could be a substitute for almost anything?!" she said. So, while there's not enough information about how Jessica lost weight to determine whether it was entirely healthy or not, it still serves as a reminder that everyone loses weight differently (especially after giving birth) and that there are a lot of other factors that come ito play when it comes to weight loss. To get our top stories delivered to your inbox, sign up for the Healthy Living newsletter via Weight Loss - Health.com https://ift.tt/2ljqbGR In 2015, I stepped on the scale for the first time in years and was shocked to see the number staring back at me. At 5 feet 5 inches, I weighed 275 pounds. And it wasn't just my physical health that was suffering; I was also utterly depressed, had no self-esteem, and was headed down a path of total self-destruction. That number on the scale motivated me to take control of my life and my health. Over the next year and a half, I underwent gastric sleeve surgery (a permanent procedure where doctors drastically reduce the size of your stomach), hired a trainer, and lost 175 pounds-something I've maintained for the past two and a half years. RELATED: Mom Shares Photo of How the Keto Diet Transformed Her Body After Pregnancy I'm not going to lie: I'm damn proud of my hard work, dedication, and commitment to regaining my health. That's why I've shared my progress on social media: to help others who might be in my shoes. While I get a plethora of positive and heartwarming messages, I receive a lot of negativity as well-mainly surrounding the fact that I've had weight-loss surgery and plastic surgery. Just the other day, for instance, I had someone write explicit body-shaming comments on over 200 of my posts. That's right: 200. The common theme? That I'm a "total phony" and don't have the right to show before-and-after pictures because I took the "easy way out" through my surgeries. RELATED: This Woman Lost 185 Pounds In One Year By Cutting Back On Added Sugars and Carbs But here's the thing: There is no easy way out when it comes to extreme weight loss. Yes, I've had surgery-which is something I'm very transparent about. But I, like most women who undergo these kinds of procedures, learned the hard way that surgery only works if you do. From my gastric sleeve procedure, I lost 60 pounds in two months. Not because I changed my lifestyle, but because I had to go on a liquid diet for about three weeks before the surgery and for three weeks post-op. News flash: Any person who does that (regardless of their size!) is going to lose a considerable amount of weight. RELATED: 10 Foods to Eat More of if You're Trying to Lose Weight, According to Nutritionists What most people don't know, however, is that once I was able to eat normally again, I gained almost all of that weight back because I didn't make any changes to my lifestyle or eating habits. Sure, I couldn't go and binge on my normal portion sizes (because my new, smaller stomach wouldn't let me), but I still found new and creative ways to eat my feelings. Within the next two months, I regained 45 pounds and was basically back at square one. It was humiliating. Even though I could only eat about four ounces of food at a time, I was still gaining weight. How? Well, what some people don't know is that even after gastric sleeve surgery, there are still some foods that can "slide past" your sleeve. While I couldn't eat a lot of bread, fried chicken, steak, and other high-volume foods, junk food like chips, popcorn, frappuccinos, and sugary drinks "slid" right past my sleeve. RELATED: Influencer Shares How She Used the Keto Diet to Lose the 50 Lbs. She Gained During Pregnancy Regaining so much weight even after weight-loss surgery finally made me realize how desperately I needed to change my horrible relationship with food. I sought out a trainer and nutritionist who understood my situation, and it was through him that I learned how to choose what I want most versus what I want now. I had to learn that when I "messed up" (because we all mess up) it didn't have to become a pattern and that I could get right back on track. Like any other person going through extreme weight loss (surgery or not), I had to practice those things every single day to finally lose all the weight and keep it off. Along the way, I've gotten a tummy tuck and breast augmentation-but not only for aesthetic reasons. I had a lot of loose skin in those areas that kept getting infected. If I really wanted to restore my body to its original shape, I could undergo four or five more surgeries to remove loose skin around my butt, legs, and arms, but I'm perfectly okay having that extra skin as a reminder of what I've been through. RELATED: This Fitness Coach Shared a Bare-Naked Photo After Losing 100 Pounds At the end of the day, weight-loss surgery is only a tool that works if you put in the effort. I know the work, blood, sweat, and tears that went behind my transformation. By no means was it as simple as saying, "I had three surgeries and look at me now!" It was a complete and total evolution of my mindset, my approach to healthy eating and fitness, and my desire to be healthy and strong. Today, I follow a strict ketogenic diet, spend half an hour at the gym five or six times a week, and live a pretty active lifestyle overall. I've maintained my 175-pound weight loss for over two years. But still, every day has its ups and down. I have to watch what I put into my mouth because if I slip up for an extended amount of time, I know I'd gain all the weight back pretty easily. RELATED: Woman Who Lost 350 Lbs.—and Was Still Body Shamed—Is Getting Skin Removal Surgery on Her Legs Without that weight-loss surgery, I would have never regained the weight, never hit rock bottom, and never made the changes I desperately needed to regain my health. Even with the surgeries, the road was painful and difficult and will continue to be for the rest of my life. So for all you haters out there: I did not "take the easy way out." I fought to be where I am today and that's something I refuse to be ashamed of. To get our top stories delivered to your inbox, sign up for the Healthy Living newsletter This article originally appeared on Shape.com via Weight Loss - Health.com https://ift.tt/2Zv0KES Losing pregnancy weight is never something a mom should feel compelled to do. But for women who do want to drop pounds, the key is finding a plan that fits into that hectic new mother lifestyle. For blogger and influencer Amber Fillerup Clark, that plan is keto. Clark, who gave birth to her third child earlier this year, recently wrote about her keto experience on Instagram. In her post, she included two side-by-side images: one showing her body at nine months pregnant, the other at six months postpartum. She tells Health that she first tried the keto diet after her second child, daughter Rosie, was born. She decided to go back on it after having daughter Frankie in February. Her husband, David, has done keto on and off for about 10 years, she says. He always told her how great keto made him feel, but she was still skeptical about trying the trendy high-fat, low-carb plan. "I am the type of person that if I’m going to have a cookie I’m gonna have a few," she wrote on Instagram. (David is also on Instagram chronicling his keto journey and the meal plan he created.) RELATED: These Stunning 7 Photos Celebrate the Beauty of Women's Postpartum Bodies When she tried it the first time, she quickly understood why David was hooked. "I felt like it was a really good diet for me because it didn't restrict the amount of calories I could take in," Clark says. "Calories are really important for nursing, and they're also important for how I eat—I like to feel full. I don't like to feel like I'm depriving myself." For her second go-around on keto, Clark says she likes that she can snack on the diet (her top snacks are nuts, string cheese, and pepperoni). Keto has also helped her cut back on her sugar intake. "I feel like I have so much more energy," she says. It's even eased her sweet tooth. Instead of eating several cookies at a time, "now when I eat sugar on a cheat day, after half a cookie I'm like, 'Gosh, that's so rich,'" she explains. Cheat days (which some keto dieters allow themselves) are important for Clark. She usually has them on Saturdays, when she's most likely to go out with friends. "I don't want to be the person who can't eat anything on the menu," she says. RELATED: 8 Unexpected Ways Your Body Might Change After You Have a Baby When she and David eat at home, they stick to their favorite keto-friendly meals. Breakfast means cauliflower, egg, sausage, and cheese casserole or grain-free granola with almond milk and strawberries. For lunch, they love chicken tortilla or broccoli and cheddar soup. When dinnertime rolls around, they whip up spaghetti squash with chicken or a low-carb sauce, or chicken with broccoli and cheese sauce. Although Clark has found success with keto, the plan isn't for everyone. Many find it too restrictive, and some people end up with unpleasant side effects. It's also more of a lifestyle, which can be hard to sustain long-term. Still, Clark says she plans to stay on keto, though she knows she'll go through periods where she lets herself be more flexible with her diet, like when she's traveling. "When I did keto the first time, I probably would have said that I wasn't going to stay on it, but now that we have a routine and all of our go-to recipes, I really do hope to stick with it." To get more nutrition and diet tips delivered to your inbox, sign up for the Balanced Bites newsletter. via Weight Loss - Health.com https://ift.tt/2ZxRdNi Influencer Shares How She Used the Keto Diet to Lose the 50 Lbs. She Gained During Pregnancy9/3/2019 Six months after giving birth, one influencer is seeing major results, which she credits to the keto diet. Amber Fillerup Clark, a blogger who also runs a hair extension business, gave birth to her third child, daughter Frankie, in February. Over the half a year since Frankie arrived, Clark has followed the high-fat, high-protein and low-carb diet to lose the 50 lbs. she gained during her pregnancy. RELATED: Your Ultimate Keto Diet Grocery List The mom of three showed off her results on Instagram. “I know it is so cliché to say but geez how crazy are our bodies?! It’s amazing,” Clark wrote. “I wanted to post these progress pictures because where I saw the most changes was when I started doing keto with my hubby.” Clark said that her husband David has followed the keto diet for over nine years — long before it became the trendy diet with celebrity fans like Jenna Jameson and Kourtney Kardashian — but she wasn’t sure if it was the right plan for her. RELATED: This Woman Lost 185 Pounds In One Year By Cutting Back On Added Sugars and Carbs “I am the type of person that if I’m going to have a cookie I’m gonna have a few and during my pregnancy I ate pretty much what I felt like while trying to make healthy choices.. but I have a maaaajor sweet tooth,” she said. “I gained 50 lbs. with each of my pregnancies. So that has been the biggest change for me with keto is 1. Feeling so good being off carbs and sugar and 2. Seeing the most results to lose the baby weight I put on — just to feel strong and healthy.” RELATED: 7 Keto Brunch Ideas to Try This Weekend Clark said, after questions from followers, that she is still breastfeeding her daughter. “Yes I’m still nursing!” she said. “[Frankie] drinks only breast milk — I nurse 90 percent of the time and the other 10 percent she gets breast milk from a bottle from David while I’m at work.” RELATED: 10 Keto-Friendly Vegetables You Should Eat More Of And Clark added that she and her husband are fans of the somewhat controversial diet. “I know it’s not for everyone, but it works for us,” she said. Earlier this year, a few celebrities took sides over the keto diet after trainer Jillian Michaels called it a “bad plan” that deprives dieters of essential nutrients. Her comments angered Al Roker and Andy Cohen, who are both fans of the plan. “My point is, what works for you, works for you,” Roker said on Today in January. “There’s science on both sides that says it’s not a great idea and science that says it is a good idea. I think it’s up to people — with their doctor, with their medical professional — [to make their own decision].” To get our top stories delivered to your inbox, sign up for the Healthy Living newsletter via Weight Loss - Health.com https://ift.tt/2NPKTK6 |
AuthorFor it to be successful, an eating plan needs to purposive and easy to incorporate in to the daily routines of a person. Weight loss is a process, and when you possess a complete lot to lose, normally it takes years to achieve a healthy weight. When you shouldn't automatically assume Fat Watchers is giving diverse or better diet assistance than your doc, having access to weight damage buddies to help keep you on the right track and motivated is definitely a big advantage of programs like Pounds Watchers, regarding to Elizabeth Ward, a registered author and dietitian of MyPlate for Moms. Being over weight in just a matter of 10-20 pounds is not really an issue to possess a strict diet program. ArchivesNo Archives Categories |