Diet Update

I never really did an update of my 17 Day Diet and how it went. Well, my goal was to lose 15 pounds. If you read my initial post on the 17 Day Diet, you would know that I have a really hard time losing weight. Before starting the diet, I ate healthy and exercised like crazy and was still only able to lose 12 pounds in 1 year. That's right. It took me ONE WHOLE YEAR to lose 12 freaking pounds. So I decided to try this diet. What have I got to lose? 

Well, one year has passed and let me tell you. That diet was amazing! I wish I took pictures of the results before and after 17 days to show you. In the first phase of the diet, I was able to lose 10 pounds. My goal was to lose 15. It was hard the first couple of days of the diet because my body was adjusting. But after that, it was easy for me. I guess it's because I'm not a picky eater. It was much harder on my BF and he complained A LOT. And I would not let him cheat at all, which made him complain even more, which made it harder on me (to hear his whining). Other than that, it was pretty easy. 

Since I still needed to lose another 5 pounds, I continued on to phase 2 of the diet. And I was able to lose those 5 pounds easily within the first few days of that phase. I love this diet because I got to eat constantly, yet I was still able to lose the weight. Also, I hardly even had to exercise at all. During the first 2 phases of the diet, you don't really need to exercise that much. I just did a leisurely 30 minute walk every day. That was it. Easy. 

Once I got to my goal weight, I've just been maintaining it. To maintain my weight, I eat healthy meals during the week from the suggestion of the diet plan. I get to splurge on the weekends so it doesn't feel like I'm missing out on anything. There are a few staple food items that I feel have contributed to helping me maintain my weight, which I suggest you should also add to your diet if you haven't already done so. 

Greek Yogurt:

I eat Greek Yogurt every morning (except for weekends). It was a big part of the 17 Day Diet and I have continued to eat it ever since. I usually buy Fage but I'm pretty sure any brand will do. The reason why I get this brand is because they sell the container (pictured) at Cost for under $5 and I buy multiple containers each time I go. I believe it's the calcium in the yogurt that may be helping with the weight loss. I'm not an expert so I don't know for sure. 

Frozen Berries:

I eat these frozen berries with my yogurt every morning. I buy them frozen because they last a long time and you don't have to worry about them going bad after a few days. Also, I like to add it to my yogurt frozen and leave it out for about half an hour. What happens is the berries will melt and their juices come out which will be mixed into the yogurt, giving it flavor. This way, you don't have to add any sugar or anything else to make it taste good. I guess the berries have a lot of fiber to them that helps with weight loss and maintaining your weight. If you don't have time to let it sit out, you can make it ahead of time by putting it in to-go containers and leaving it in the refrigerator for when you are ready to eat it. I always buy this from Costco. It is very cost effective and tastes great.

Sometimes I will get bored and want to change it up a bit, especially during blueberry season so I eat my yogurt with about 1/4 cup of granola cereal and blueberries. Like this:

Then mix it up:

Looks disgusting but tastes so good!

And eat it!

Read my post on the 17 Day Diet here.