How to lose weight without exercise

There are a LOT of different diets, and through my life I have tried so many of them. I think most people have, and the confusion is only getting worse. Two years ago I blew my own mind with this diet that I know works.

In this post I will tell you what diets don’t work, side effects of those bad diets, my story and what diet that changed my life and made me lose weight and make me feel amazing.

Diets that just don’t work

Two main diets that I tried were Paleo and LCHF (low carb high fat). Those low carb diets almost have the same principles - avoid carbs to lose weight– with some changes here and there. There is no wonder why these low carb diets have been so popular “you can eat as much bacon as you want and still lose weight” or “you can eat as much cheese as you want and still lose weight”, sounds great right?

As many others, I thought that it sounded really nice and doable. One big concern though was that I never really thought about how my body would feel with these huge amounts of meat and fat. Is it healthy to live on endless amounts of bacon and cheese and minimal amounts of carbs?

Side effects of low carb diets

When I followed those low carb diets I always felt tired, bloated, bad digestion, slow metabolism, and was annoyed by the fat that didn’t want to disappear on my belly and my thighs. Sometimes I even felt nauseous and light headed. I also had issues with my skin, like small skin-bumps on legs and arms.

One main concern is that our bodies do need carbs because glucose is obtained from carbs. Glucose is the body’s preferred energy source and the brain’s only energy source. Also, fiber is crucial in a healthy diet and is also obtained from carbs.

My interests in health and what food does to our bodies have dramatically grown. I now know that low carb and animal based diets are not good for us.

It’s not temporary, it’s a lifestyle

While those low carb and animal based diets will make you lose some weight, it doesn’t mean that your body feels good. You are not thriving, your body is suffering from low glucose and high cholesterol intake. It isn’t only your body that’s suffering, our environment and the animals are forgotten. I realized this after watching several documentaries and read several articles about food and health.

By eating a low carb and animal based diet is not sustainable in any way, whether it's about your health, the environment or the animals.

Plant based diet

I dramatically adapted a plant based diet and it really wasn’t that hard as I expected it to be. I immediately started to lose weight. In the first year I lost 33,5 pounds (15kg), my belly and thigh fat finally disappeared. I also noticed a huge difference on my skin, it became smooth. My digestion was improved and the bathroom visits are now on routine. The difference that I expected the least was that I felt so much energy!

To feel a lot of energy is not very strange when the plant based diet is loaded of carbs and nutrition. The plant based diet consists of fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, nuts & seeds. And we are not talking about refined carbs here. The whole food plant based diet does not include oil of any kind, it's highly refined and do more harm than good. Read here about Why Oil is Bad for You! There is no need to count calories on this diet, and don’t worry about too much fruit. The pictures below show you how my body looked and felt right before (left) I changed to a plant based diet and how I now look and feel 2 years later (right). I feel freakin' amazing.

October 2015

October 2017

Change your life today

This plant based lifestyle is really simple, all you have to do is make a choice to change your life. I’m here to help and inspire you. To make it even easier, I have written down some steps you can take. This is just to make you aware of why and how to change to a plant based diet. 

1. First of all I would recommend watching a few documentaries about this diet regarding health & environment. My favorites are "Food Choices", "Cowspiracy" and "What the Health". They can be found on Netflix.

2. Do your own research within plant based diet, there is a lot of credible information. My favorite source is NutritionFacts led by Dr. Michael Greger.

3. Start with a vegan/plant based meal plan or something similar so that you don't have to overthink in the beginning and just let yourself soak in the inspiration. I have compiled two delicious meal plans for you in my app, "Plant Based Challenge" and "Lean Week", just to make it as simple as possible. 

You can also download my app if you need inspiration, it consists of yummy plant based recipes for an everyday cooking. You can also get tons of inspiration on my Instagram @fivesechealth. If you need more help and support you are always welcome to message me on social media! Down below you see a few examples of the plant based recipes in my app:

Plant based recipes examples from the app