Diet vlog | how to start a diet, what I do to lose weight [00]
Hi~Welcome to my first diet vlog :’) Recently, I gained some weight back, so I need to go on a diet again. The first thing I do when I start a diet is to weigh myself after waking up. In the morning, after going to the bathroom, on an empty stomach. Then, I enter my weight into a weight tracking app. I like to use Libra. It’s important to use an app with a trend line so you can see your real progress. I already lost 7kg, but I need to lose 8kg more to reach my goal weight. On the first day, I also take my measurements to track a different kind of progress. I measure my neck, arms, bust, waist, hips, lower hips (widest part), thighs, and calves. If you don’t like to weigh yourself, this is another way you can see progress. I write my measurements in a chart and track them once a month. I also take “before” photos and videos so I can compare them later.
This is my least favorite part, because I don’t feel good when I see myself in the mirror. But I am going to work hard for good results, so I use this feeling as motivation. I love myself as I am today, but I will work hard to become a better version of myself. Once that is done, I start my daily diet routine.
Let me show you what it looks like. Diet or not, every day after I wake up, I drink half a liter of water. I also take probiotics to help digestion and for many other health benefits. Throughout the day, I try to drink between 1.5 and 2 liters of water. On the first day, I sit down to write out my diet and exercise plan. I am going to follow the same plan I used before, but I need to make some improvements.
To prevent gaining back weight, I want a slower and more sustainable plan. My plan has 3 main parts: intermittent fasting, a calorie deficit, and exercise. Here, you can pause the video to see the details of my plan. But I will tell you more details as the video goes on. My plan is just what I will try to do, but if I can’t do everything every day, it’s okay. I will just do my best to eat healthy, lose fat, gain muscle, and be more active. For exercise, my main goal is to be more active during the day. First, I want to do yoga every day, in the morning when I’m usually less active. I also want to do knee rehabilitation exercises every day in the morning, too. I want my knee to get better so I can do more workouts without feeling pain.
I do intermittent fasting every day, so I don’t eat until 12pm. Before 12, I only drink water and black coffee (without any kind of milk or sugar). During the day, I eat 3 meals: brunch, an afternoon snack, and dinner. Today I’m having whole grain toast with cream cheese, egg, sriracha, and tomatoes. To be in a calorie deficit, I use an app to help me easily track the calories in my food. I like to use Cronometer, but I also used Lose It and MyFitnessPal in the past. I calculate my TDEE at “light activity” and I try to be in a 300-500 calorie deficit every day. When I’m losing weight, I take vitamins every day. Because I eat less nutrients than usual, this is important. For exercise, I also want to work on my upper body strength. I will practice doing pull-ups on the bar 4 to 5 times a week.
If I’m at home or in the office, I usually get hungry a couple hours after my first meal. So at around 3pm, I have a small afternoon snack. I eat a small snack so I can have a bigger dinner later. Today, I’m making oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, raisins, and almond milk. I weigh all the ingredients (except cinnamon) because they are all calorie-dense. I already got used to weighing foods when I first started to lose weight. It’s easy to miscalculate portions of oatmeal, dried fruits, and sugar, so weighing is important. For my diet, I prefer to eat smaller portions of food that I find delicious. It’s important to feel satisfied so you can lose weight healthily over time. Another thing that’s very important is water. I usually don’t drink a lot of water, so I’m trying to drink 1.5 to 2 liters of water every day. For exercise, one of my main goals is to gain some muscle. This is so I can look better, and also because muscle burns more calories.
My goal is to do 4 to 5 strength training workouts every week. I will do arms, legs, and abs with dumbbells, resistance bands, or just my bodyweight. Today, I’m doing leg exercises I’m familiar with using a 5kg dumbbell. I’m wearing my knee braces to prevent knee pain during squats and lunges. I’m also doing crunches, penguin toe taps, and 5kg Russian twists for abs today. When I’m done, I do some stretching.
The main part of my exercise routine is going on the stationary bike. For me, going on the bike is the easiest and fastest way to burn calories. My goal is to go on the bike for 5 hours every week at a moderate pace. If I keep a good pace for those 5 hours, I can burn around 2000 calories. I love my stationary bike because I can pedal while I watch YouTube or Netflix. But today, I only did 30 minutes… Still, it’s only the first day, so I’m happy I tried to do everything on my plan.
Like I said, my plan is my goal, but if I can’t do everything every day, it’s okay. I will keep working hard so I can improve and do better every day. Mindset is the most important, so try to stay positive every day. Dinner is always the biggest meal of the day for me. Today, I’m eating a quinoa bowl with zucchini, cabbage, chicken breast, and chili pepper. I added sriracha, 10g of Kewpie mayo, and sesame seeds on top.
I often eat this kind of dinner with rice or quinoa and chicken breast because it’s very filling. Because I don’t eat anything after dinner, I have to feel satisfied. Today, I ate healthy and delicious foods, and now I feel both satisfied and full. After 8pm, I only drink water or calorie-free herbal tea. One last thing I do is keep a calendar with all the diet information. I track my weight, my menstrual cycle, and the exercises I did. This helps me stay on track, identify patterns, and see what works best. And that is everything I do to start a diet. This is what works for me, so maybe it will not work for you, and that’s okay.
I hope you find this video useful, and I thank you for watching until the end 🙂 I will upload weekly diet vlogs with my process, so please look forward to them!.
