Day 13: 3 Simple Ways to Eliminate Processed Foods for Weight Loss

Day 13 Slim Down Challenge. 13 days has passed so quickly!  I'm so happy today that I finally push myself out from my comfort zone. I start working out again after a long break. Actually the first real workout I did this year. Remember I mentioned last time that we moved to a new place because of my husband's job. We have been living here for 5 months but I just discovered a walking park yesterday. I'm actually looking for some fun outdoor activities for the kids and this is how we found out about this park. Who knows, exercising together as a family is a great bonding experience.

Today's slim down challenge is about nixing the processed food. Processed foods are basically food that has been altered from its natural state like canned and frozen fruits and vegetables. Breakfast cereals and instant noodles are another prime example of processed foods fall under junk food category. To be honest, these two tops my meal option list. We all know it. Processed foods are usually high in sugar and contain all sort of artificial ingredient. Excess consume of sugar is seriously harmful to our health and can block our weight loss goals. But when you have nothing in the fridge, it's very easy to reach one.

30 Day Slim Down Challenge

30 DAY SLIM DOWN CHALLENGE

Day 1 - Put the blame
Day 2 - Set S.M.A.R.T. goals
Day 3 - Ditched added sugar
Day 4 - Avoid refined carbs
Day 5 - Put down the drink
Day 6 - Plan 1 splurge
Day 7 - Allow spontaneous indulgence
Day 8 - Keep grains in check
Day 9 - Eat only when hungry
Day 10 - Go for a walk
Day 11 - Never skip breakfast
Day 12 - Say NO to junkfood
Day 13 - Nix processed foods
Day 14 - Shop for whole foods
Day 15 - Meal prep
Day 16 - Reorganize your fridge
Day 17 - Keep a food journal Day
18 - Ramp up protein intake
Day 19 - Veggies / fruit on every plate
Day 20 - Know your healthy fats
Day 21 - Keep portions in check
Day 22 - Track total calories
Day 23 - Eat at the table
Day 24 - Eliminate distraction
Day 25 - Slow down
Day 26 - Downsize dinnerware
Day 27 - Bust out the scale
Day 28 - Reduce sodium
Day 29 - Sleep 7+ hours
Day 30 - Cut 100 calories 

What exactly you can do to eliminate processed foods for weight loss? 

Ok, I pick these three tips I found on wikihow, am excited to see what happen in the next 2 weeks if I cut out processed foods from my diet.

1 - Write up a meal plan
I think this is a very important part. Proper meal planning will help us ensure the meals meet our nutritional need. We might be tempted to grab fast foods if we don't plan our on-the-go meals ahead of time.

2 - Clean up our kitchen
Go through our kitchen and throw out any processed foods we can find,  Read the ingredient label on the packaged foods to get information about what's in the food, any additives, preservatives or flavorings.

3 - Purchase and eat whole fruits and vegetables
Restock our kitchen with healthy foods. Focus on fresh fruits and vegetables like apples, bananas, or tomatoes. Fruits and vegetables are nutritious foods that contain essential vitamins, minerals, fiber and antioxidants. Avoid highly processed fruits and vegetables like canned fruit in syrup.

Your turn: What's the one processed food you can't live without?

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Day 4: Failing at Weight Loss, Do You Start Over or Just Move On?

Day 4 Slim Down Challenge today. I didn't post Day 3 yesterday, well it was Sunday and I usually don't blog on Sunday. #familytime

I am feeling less motivated today.

My progress was maybe only 3 out of 10? Husband is working outstation for a week from today. I just feel like lazing around since today is also school off day, celebrating 'qingming'. No need to send and pick up children from school. No need to welcome husband home from work and a little mess is also okay. So it's definitely my lazy day today. I didn't workout and diet is off-track a bit.

Actually the hubs going outstation is the best time for me to focus on my diet because I don't have to cook fancy fussy meals. I never forced to cook for my husband, well maybe I'm lucky my husband is not picky when comes to food but ya know I still feel guilty when I don't prepared him proper dinner. You probably know the saying, 'the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.' So I mean when he's out of town for business, it's like cooking 'off-duty' for me. I just basically made a simple and easy meals for the children. There's no way to impress the kids with complicated meals, you know children taste is sometimes different than adult. Good food, feeling full and it's fine already. I'm afraid that if they cannot finish their food it will be always me who became their trashcan - to avoid waste! (Read, diet ruin) So that's it. Simple and zero-waste food for the kids. When I don't have to cook fancy meals that also means food temptation is in control.

30 Day Slim Down Challenge

30 DAY SLIM DOWN CHALLENGE

Day 1 - Put the blame
Day 2 - Set S.M.A.R.T. goals
Day 3 - Ditched added sugar
Day 4 - Avoid refined carbs
Day 5 - Put down the drink
Day 6 - Plan 1 splurge
Day 7 - Allow spontaneous indulgence
Day 8 - Keep grains in check
Day 9 - Eat only when hungry
Day 10 - Go for a walk
Day 11 - Never skip breakfast
Day 12 - Say NO to junkfood
Day 13 - Nix processed foods
Day 14 - Shop for whole foods
Day 15 - Meal prep
Day 16 - Reorganize your fridge
Day 17 - Keep a food journal Day
18 - Ramp up protein intake
Day 19 - Veggies / fruit on every plate
Day 20 - Know your healthy fats
Day 21 - Keep portions in check
Day 22 - Track total calories
Day 23 - Eat at the table
Day 24 - Eliminate distraction
Day 25 - Slow down
Day 26 - Downsize dinnerware
Day 27 - Bust out the scale
Day 28 - Reduce sodium
Day 29 - Sleep 7+ hours
Day 30 - Cut 100 calories 

Back to the topic. Today suppose to be good but it happen to be a less than productive day for me. Question is, when you fail your weight loss plan are you starting over from Day 1 the next day or you just move on with the plan?

Perfectionist Dieter
I used to go back to Day 1 whenever I fall off my diet. For example, I plan to do a sugar detox for 10 days but fail halfway. Say, on the 5th day. So I call it cancel and go back to Day 1. I want to follow the rules exactly. I think it's normal for anyone because we believe we'll be successful in melting off unwanted pounds if we do so. Perfectionist dieter detected! It actually feel exhausted to start over everytime you failed. 'I start over tomorrow,' or 'I start over next Monday.' This makes me feel like today or this week is my "last meal", I can eat whatever I want because it's the last time I'm going to eat those food. Tomorrow I'll be strict again. Or next Monday, I'll be strict again. Then when I slightly derailed, I am likely to want to give up for the day and "start again tomorrow" or "start over on Monday" and I end up repeating the same situation over and over.

Perfectionism ruining my weight loss effort. I am done! Sometimes our diet plan or weight loss plan is not as perfect as we want it but it's totally okay. The key is progress not perfection. Now whenever I messed up my diet, I'll try as best as I can to begin eating right at the next meal, not waiting until a certain day to begin. The next meal is a time to refresh, to begin eating wholesome foods again. I promise when I made weight loss mistakes, I'll reflect on how this happened, why this happened, and what I can do in the future to prevent it.

Your turn: Are you a perfectionist dieter? What do you do when you mess up your diet? Are you starting over at a certain day, or are you simply dust yourself off and move on? Discuss in the comments.

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Day 2 Slim Down Challenge: Five SMART Goals for Weight Loss

Day 2 Slim Down Challenge today. To be honest, I am a bit worried if I can't finish this. But just what people always said, there's no try, JUST DO IT.

I am doing a NO CARB, NO SUGAR DIET for 30 days. Okay first for anyone who concerned, cutting out carbs from your diet is completely safe, according to Dr. Mike Roussell, a nutritional consultant and the author of Dr. Mike's 7 Step Weight Loss Plan and the 6 Pillars of Nutrition. Your body function very well without carbs by either making the sugars it needs or finding alternate energy sources. For example, when you drastically reduce or eliminate carbs from your diet, your body is able to make sugar to store as glycogen. If you wanted to completely cut out carbs, power your body with fats, improve your health, and exercise at a high level.

Second thing I'd like to share here, I have not failed. Yes, I had crackers and instant coffee for breakfast this morning which I suppose not to take during this Slim Down Challenge but but well, just a minor slip up – next thing is refocus and move on.

I always believe setting goals for weight loss is important because it gives you direction, boost your motivation and self-confidence. This is embarrassing I had to share my weight loss goals this month from 2 years ago. I mean like this weight loss thing I'm talking about is taking me forever, like two years and I still here? Yup, I know. Action, action, action.

30 DAY #HEWLD SLIM DOWN CHALLENGE

✓Day 1 - Put the blame
Day 2 - Set S.M.A.R.T. goals
Day 3 - Ditched added sugar
Day 4 - Avoid refined carbs
Day 5 - Put down the drink
Day 6 - Plan 1 splurge
 Day 7 - Allow spontaneous indulgence
Day 8 - Keep grains in check
Day 9 - Eat only when hungry
Day 10 - Go for a walk
Day 11 - Never skip breakfast
Day 12 - Say NO to junkfood
Day 13 - Nix processed foods
Day 14 - Shop for whole foods
Day 15 - Meal prep
Day 16 - Reorganize your fridge
Day 17 - Keep a food journal
Day 18 - Ramp up protein intake
Day 19 - Veggies / fruit on every plate
Day 20 - Know your healthy fats
Day 21 - Keep portions in check
Day 22 - Track total calories
Day 23 - Eat at the table
Day 24 - Eliminate distraction
Day 25 - Slow down
Day 26 - Downsize dinnerware
Day 27 - Bust out the scale
Day 28 - Reduce sodium
Day 29 - Sleep 7+ hours
Day 30 - Cut 100 calories 

What is actually a good weight loss goal strategy?
SMART goals, as I understand is a useful way to help reevaluate our weight loss action plan. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely.

Specific - declare what you will do, how long you will do it, and when you will do it.
Fitness: Wake up early morning and spend roughly 30 minutes exercising every morning. Exercise will wake you up. If you quickly cleared off exercise from your to-do-list, you can keep the productivity going for the rest of the day.

Diet: No carbs, no sugar. Focus on eating good quality, minimally processed real food.

Measurable - measure a goal.
Fitness: Exercising for at least 30 minutes each day.
Diet: Anything except carbs and sugar, no more than 1,200 calories in a day.

Attainable - goal that you have enough time and resources to achieve.
Fitness: Exercise every morning is attainable. If I can't make it upon wake up I still can exercise after sending the children to school. Lots of free time before the children come back from school just need to learn better time management.

Diet: No carbs, no sugar is actually something I can actually accomplish. Stop eating junk food, just focus on real food. Stop buying junk food, remove it from my house and give away any junk food to friends.

Realistic: Relevant goal, something that is reasonable.
Instead of weighing myself, I look for other ways to measure my progress. What about this, an old shirt? This top I'm wearing should look a bit looser in the middle area by the end of Slim Down Challenge. This is realistic expectation, do not want to expect too much of myself.

Trackable - Goals are best achieved if you keep a record of your progress.
I'm going to create a daily checklist of all the habits that are scientifically proven to result in fat loss, and then use that as your measurement device.

Slim Down Challenge Healthy Living Checklist

Do you have a plan? Are you setting SMART goals? Share in the comments.

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Day 1 Slim Down Challenge: 30 Relatively Small Diet and Lifestyle Changes for Big Weight Loss Benefit

If I tell people I'm 6 month pregnant, anyone would surely buy it. No, I'm not pregnant. This is just fat.

I got asked by friends countless time about my "pregnancy", they refused to believe when I denied. Getting asked this too frequent, even I sometimes would get confused myself, 'could I be pregnant without me realizing about it?' That's enough to give you a slight idea how terribly out of shape I am. Haha~ Well it's not like I never tried to lose weight. If you read my older post, you'll understand my struggle with weight loss. I usually made it well the first 3 days but the motivation to lose weight just faded after few days and I'll finally abandoned it. My bad!

The Diet

Today is 1st April, a brand new day and I decided to restart my weight loss journey today. I have been putting off way too long now. 3 months passed by already and seriously I could have accomplished something but sadly I didn't.

The 30 Day Weight Loss Plan
I plan to do a no carb, no sugar diet for 30 days. And to give myself an extra push, I'm following this #SHAPESlimDown mini daily challenge and I promise to keep up with it for 30 days.

30 Day Slim Down Challenge

Day 1 - Put the blame
Day 2 - Set S.M.A.R.T. goals
Day 3 - Ditched added sugar
Day 4 - Avoid refined carbs
Day 5 - Put down the drink
Day 6 - Plan 1 splurge
Day 7 - Allow spontaneous indulgence
Day 8 - Keep grains in check
Day 9 - Eat only when hungry
Day 10 - Go for a walk
Day 11 - Never skip breakfast
Day 12 - Say NO to junkfood
Day 13 - Nix processed foods
Day 14 - Shop for whole foods
Day 15 - Meal prep
Day 16 - Reorganize your fridge
Day 17 - Keep a food journal
Day 18 - Ramp up protein intake
Day 19 - Veggies / fruit on every plate
Day 20 - Know your healthy fats
Day 21 - Keep portions in check
Day 22 - Track total calories
Day 23 - Eat at the table
Day 24 - Eliminate distraction
Day 25 - Slow down
Day 26 - Downsize dinnerware
Day 27 - Bust out the scale
Day 28 - Reduce sodium
Day 29 - Sleep 7+ hours
Day 30 - Cut 100 calories

Tell ya, this is not easy. Never. I've being in a very comfortable zone for quiet some time. Making a change of routine is going to be a challenge but I'll keep posting about my progress to keep me accountable with the weight loss plan. How's that?

I got this. 

Now I'd like to hear from you. Do you know any other small changes I can follow to lose weight? Share your ideas in the comments.

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