Real Food Weight Loss

Image:  FreeDigitalPhotos.net/Sattva

In June, I posted about losing weight with a traditional foods diet. At that point my family had been slowly working up to a full real food diet.  I had easily lost 14 pounds within the first two months of eating real food. I was never hungry, didn't count calories or fat grams, and never monitored portion sizes.  I'm happy to say that I've gone on to lose 21 more pounds since June and still eat what I want, when I want.

I have about 30 pounds to lose until I reach a healthy weight, but frankly, I will stop losing weight when my body stops losing weight.  By that I mean I will continue to eat when my appetite dictates and eat as much as it takes to feel satisfied.  I will not count calories or fat or practice portion control.  I will listen to my body and follow it's innate wisdom.

There is one caveat--the food I eat must be real food, or my weight will increase and my health will decrease.  Fortunately, once I released myself from the grips of processed, industrialized foods, I no longer craved those foods that were making me fat and sick.

I have sweet treats every week.  I eat my favorite foods daily.  It couldn't be simpler.

Image:  FreeDigitalPhotos.net/Piyato

I believe that weight loss is more about what you eat than how much you eat.  The good news is that you can --and should--eat rich, nutrient-dense foods to achieve weight loss.  In with the butter and out with the canola oil!  More bacon and no tofu!  Put raw cream and maple syrup in your coffee and throw away the non-dairy creamer!

I will always love to prepare and eat food.  I have not suffered one moment in this real food way of life.  I have watched the weight melt away and my health issues disappear.

I hope my story will encourage others to experience the same!

UPDATE (April 7, 2013):  This post was written 6 months ago when I had a total weight loss of about 35 pounds.  Since then total weight loss has become 43 pounds.  I have not consciously or purposefully 'dieted' at any point in the last year and I have yet to implement any type of scheduled or planned exercise into my practice of a healthy lifestyle.  It has been incredible over this past year to watch my body change and to see curves and muscles that I had forgotten I'd ever had!  I had to step on the scale for the purpose of writing this update, but frankly, I don't think about weighing myself until I notice that my pants are looser and I'm curious to see if I'd dropped another pound or two.

I have found freedom from the scale, from dieting and from self-loathing through a real food diet!

I still have about 10 pounds to lose before I will be in the "normal weight range" in terms of my BMI, but I don't put much stock in that number.  I plan to continue to eat real food, have a naturally active lifestyle and love my body at the weight that it decides to settle into as I nourish it through real food and a mindful and present-in-the-moment way of life.