Counting calories

I lost 40 kg in the first year after I started my lifestyle change. Counting calories, eating right and exercise became the biggest success factors in losing weight.

I started my lifestyle change in September 2015, after a long period of sometimes major health challenges. When I started I weighed around 125 kg, in September 2016 I was down to around 85 kg. Since then I have lost around 15 kg more, and I have been stable at around 70 kg in recent years. Sometimes I gain a few kg, but by following through and being proven in my choices, I manage to get down to my ideal weight quite quickly. I learned that when you want to lose weight, you have to find a plan that suits you, but a combination of exercise and a proper diet is a big part of the foundation for most people.

The kilos are in the food and the grams are in the exercise. For me, it is the change in my diet that has contributed the most to my weight loss. The exercise is almost like a bonus on top. In the first 3 months, I lost about 15 kg. During that period, there was minimal exercise, but a lot of focus on changing my diet. I focused on a completely 100% clean diabetes diet, with a focus on removing the unhealthy carbohydrates from my diet, and increasing the good carbohydrates, the slow carbohydrates.
My goal was to lose 25 kg in 12 months, be able to live a well-balanced life with good food, have good health and a stable ideal weight.

I also wanted to be able to go out without worrying about my health once in a while. I believe that it is important to spend some time losing weight. A weight loss project is not a short-term project, but something that should last. If you really want to lose weight and keep it off, it's a lifestyle change that means that once you're at your goal weight, you'll be able to maintain it in the future as well.

You have to have a proven attitude about what you eat. I really love food, and I love cooking. It helps when you have to be proven about what you eat. I focus on using a lot of vegetables in my food. It removes a lot of the sweet tooth. I bake 80% of all the bread I eat myself, so I'm sure that when I eat bread, it contains a lot of fiber, little gluten and lactose.

Exercise is also necessary. I started slowly by going for a walk, more or less every day. Over time, I noticed that my shape was improving, then I slowly increased to short runs. Within 3 months, I increased to running 3 to 4 times a week, until spring when the cycling season started. Then I switched to cycling, cycling 3 to 5 times a week. When the first year was over, I had reached my goal, plus a little more.

And then I celebrate, reward myself. I was and still am proud of what I manage to achieve.

I found motivation in being able to follow the results I got and in being able to communicate it with others, that is why I have chosen to create this blog, in addition I hope that it can inspire others to succeed.
Losing weight and now maintaining my ideal weight, by eating right has become a new lifestyle for me, with the results I have gotten both a good weight reduction, better shape, but not least the health effect it has had for me motivates me daily to continue eating and exercising right, even now after a Christmas and New Year with lots of good food, I see that by cooking good food properly with a focus on using the right ingredients, cooking the food myself from scratch, I have, without focusing on it, gotten through Christmas and New Year without gaining weight!

I believe that there is a lot of motivation in sharing your results with others, when you tell it, it becomes true, and your own fall height becomes greater if you fail, I exercise regularly, I mostly stick to the calorie limit I have set for myself, but I also indulge in a little extra good on the weekend.
I am sure that I have succeeded because I have and continue to follow the rules I have set for myself, because I continue to have a healthy diet, because I have changed my lifestyle and now live healthily, but not least because I continue to measure my results, follow up on my goals, for me it was not a diet project to lose weight, but a completely new lifelong change in my way of living.

My best tips for those of you who want to lose weight.

• Don't let it be a short diet project but let it be a lifestyle change that you can live with.
• Eat fewer calories than you burn, it's simple math, less in and more out = lose weight, eat right and you will see results immediately, you can still eat well but eat the right things. Choose a healthy diet and stick to it
• Exercise regularly, walk, run, cycle or train at a fitness center, find the activity that suits you best, don't let exercise become a stress problem.
• Find a plan that suits you and follow it, don't do anything halfway, log everything, measure and share your results.
• Use social media, brag about yourself, be proud of your results, you deserve it, it's okay to be a little self-absorbed, it's not the same as being selfish, a great lifestyle change requires you to focus on yourself to succeed, sharing your records and training results on social media creates a height of fall and motivation.
• Be patient, it's not dangerous to crack, remember it's not the result today that counts but the result in the long term that determines whether you succeed, don't focus on single fluctuations but on the long-term result, it's the one who doesn't give up who succeeds.
• Dare to show yourself, accept who you are, use humor and be open about what you do, it makes it easier to work on weight loss.