Dear Friends,

I would like to share with you a little bit of my past year.

This past year, I lost over 70 pounds! 

I also lost my gallbladder and appendix……

What can I say? I began gaining weight 10 years ago. From a skinny person, I became obese. Trust me, I tried every diet and went to the gym too. I even had a personal trainer at one point! The results? Well, from exercise? Zero! From Dieting? I lost weight fast, just to gain it right back with an extra inch!

Then after Sukkot last year (October 2013) I was diagnosed with a fatty liver, gallstones and more!

Last year Chanukah, I was rushed to the hospital to treat my first severe gout attack. On Tu B’shvat I was rushed off the train from Moscow to my city Ulyanovsk to have an emergency gallbladder removal. The night after Purim, I was rushed to have my appendix removed…….not a fun year for someone who is only 33.

I don’t know what the cause of all this was, but Hashem has His plans. I must thank Him for all the good he does every single day! Yet what can I do to make my health better? lose weight? Na, that won’t happen. Maybe just eat healthy?

So I decided to look for a good nutritionist. I entered the room of my wife’s acquaintance, Tanya Rosen. I told her, “Tanya, I am not here to lose weight. That is not possible for me. I just want to eat healthy. I would like to be alive for my son’s wedding…. I’m too young to live a sick life.”

Tanya gave me an eating plan that was practical and healthy. I also happened to lose over 70 pounds in 9 months! And keep it the same weight for over the past 4 months. Trust me, I am always full. I never feel hungry! Actually, I am nervous of losing too much more weight, so I make sure to eat enough healthy food every day, so I don’t lose any more weight!

All this without any exercise at all! Yes, I was told to avoid exercise by my doctors for a few months after the operations….

 

So what’s the big secret? 

I will tell you what I did and do, so you can also be inspired to live a better life!

 

1- If you are serious about losing weight, go to a nutritionist. I mean go, just go! You will learn how to make the correct choices.

2- Make sure your diet plan is practical for long term, and for life. 

3- Oil, fried foods, and fatty foods make you fat. Very fat. Fried food is simply not healthy. It never was and never will be. Quit it. The amount of calories the oil gives you will deprive you from eating a lot of very yummy food the whole day. (I did not eat fried food for over a year) Every single fried dish can be substituted for the same taste, if you are not lazy and ready to read up recipes and practice cooking, barbeque etc…

4- Drink 10 cups of water a day. It will help your metabolism work.

5- Breakfast within an hour after wake up, is a must. It will get your metabolism working early and you will burn more fat throughout the day. 

6- Eat every single 3 hours to boost your metabolism. 

7- Every meal should include a protein and a starch. 

8- Whole wheat and whole grain foods are healthier and fill you up, they make you full! 

10- One once of red meat is 100 calories! When you are losing weight, eat red meat only once a week and only 3 ounces a meal, till you are normal weight and even then be careful when eating red meat.

11- Sugar makes you crave starches and sugar. NO sugar throughout the day. If you need a treat, wait till the night, then eat your candy or ice cream. Yes, you will be eating unhealthy calories at night, but at least you will not tease the craving for the whole day…

12- At night you are allowed any treat you want but no more then 150 calories, 5 grams of fat, and 20 grams of sugar. (You might be thinking: then what can I have? a doughnut is 400 calories!!! Well, the more you look out, the smarter you become and the more you figure out which ones of your favorite treats you can be eating and how much of it, the trick is portion control!) 

13- Eat unlimited vegetables everyday, all the time. Add veggies to each meal.

14- Eat up to 3 fruits a day, not more because it has sugar and calories.

15- All juices and all alcoholic beverages are sugar…. 

16- A side dish of grain is maximum a cup of cooked (like a cup of cooked rice or potato) 

17- If your grain is bread then up to 2 slices of bread

18- A protein of fish is up to 7 ounces , a protein of chicken is up to 6 ounces, a protein of eggs is maximum 2 eggs, a protein of cheese is maximum 2 ounces of fat free cheese. 

19- Only eat one protein and one grain per meal, unless its shabbos or a special occasion, then you can eat half of each protein (like 3 ounces fish and 3 ounces of chicken, with one thin slice challah, and a few spoons of baked potato) 

20- Vegetable soup is unlimited, but chicken soup NEVER eat or eat it instead of 3 ounces of protein (which is not worth it)

 

So what does a day of my eating look like?

Here we go: 

Breakfast: 1 bowl of oatmeal and a fruit, or 1 egg + 2 egg whites with 1 or 2 slices of whole wheat bread and a salad. Coffee and water.

Snack 1- Slice of fat free cheese, or string cheese, maybe also a fruit

Lunch: a turkey sandwich (2 slices of bread), tuna sandwich (very little lite mayonnaise), or homemade pizza (2 ounces fat free cheese and 2 ounces of dough). Some vegetables in the sandwich… or a salad on the side. 

Snack 2: 15 almonds or a cup of popcorn, some cut raw vegetables (maybe also a fruit)

Supper: A cup of buckwheat and a quarter of chicken, half plate cooked vegetables, and vegetable soup. 

Treat: bag of mini pretzels (55 calories), a small Hanukkah chocolate (30 calories), and one Twizzlers (35 calories), tea (without sugar), a fruit (like pomegranate)

All of the above will make you lose weight!

Personally, I am very thankful to Tanya Rosen for teaching me the trick of eating treats at night. We humans enjoy a treat sometimes. A true lifestyle diet will include some of that also!

Dear readers and friends, please eat healthy, and do exercise (to be in shape, healthy, energetic, in a good mood and a whole lot of important reasons. It is actually deadly not to engage in exercise according to the Rambam, Talmud, and also modern medicine. But you will not lose weight from exercise, so quit convincing yourself.