Do you want to lose weight on a plant-based diet without being constantly hungry? Melissa Alexandria is a vegan weight loss coach who helps her clients and YouTube subscribers drop weight fast by eating a plant-based diet. In one of her viral videos, she reveals the habits that helped her drop 30 pounds in 30 weeks – and, more importantly, keep the weight off. “I'm going to share six habits I did daily that helped to put the weight loss on autopilot during that initial weight loss phase,” she says in the clip.
She Lost One Pound Per Week
“At the end of 2019, I became fascinated by calorie density and went all in on a low-fat vegan diet. I lost about a pound per week, totaling over 30 pounds,” she says in the clip. “Since then, it hasn't always been easy to keep out of the junk food as it is all around us, but I've stayed within my ideal weight range all of these years.” Here are her six habits:
1. She Ate Large Meals and Made Sure She Was Full
“Number one, I ate very large meals and made sure I was completely full at mealtimes,” she says. “This was important for several reasons. One, I knew the starch-based, oil-free meals were very low in calorie density, so I needed to eat larger amounts of food in order to be fully satiated. When you're not adding fake vegan meat and vegan cheese to your meals or oily sauces and dressings, the calorie density goes way down,” she says.
Eating Calorie-Dense Meals Curbed Cravings
“The other reason was that I didn't wanna have to fight cravings for junk food after my meals. When I ate larger portions of these low-fat vegan meals like sweet potato, black bean chili, lentil, and broccoli stuffed baked potatoes or a veggie rice bowl, I barely had any cravings to snack on junk because I was so full. I find that potatoes and beans are the two key foods that are most satiating and prevent future junk cravings after I eat them,” she says.
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2. She Snacked on Fruit
“Number two, the next thing I did was snack on fruit daily,” she reveals. “Bananas are 400 calories per pound, and almost all other fruits are way less than that. Cherries, for example, are 225 calories per pound. Cantaloupe melon is 153 calories per pound, so eating water and fiber-rich fruits are the perfect snack. They give you that natural sweetness of a dessert without the high-fat content.”
3. She Went to Bed Early
“Number three, I went to bed early,” she says. “Super helpful if you have a habit of snacking after dinner and late into the evening. If you go to bed early, it sorts that issue out for you, and you don't have to use willpower not to eat junk food late at night.”
4. She Walked 10,000 Steps Per Day
“Number four, I walked 10,000 steps daily, and I kept track of it,” she says. “I literally would give myself a check mark when I first started every day just to continue to motivate myself to stay on track with it. It's so important to move your body for overall well-being.
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5. She Listened to Inspirational and Motivational Podcasts
On her walks, she listens to “inspirational and motivational podcasts and YouTube videos, which is tip number five,” she says. One of her go-to's is Dr. John McDougall, who wrote “The Starch Solution.” “Even just 10 minutes per day of an online medical lecture or vlog, hearing tips and other people's experiences with losing weight and keeping it off with eating this way, I found it to be especially helpful because I didn't know anyone else who was eating this way. So it feels like you're part of a community online when you watch other people's videos.”
6. She Focused on the Big Picture
“Tip number six, I focused on the big picture, the long goal, and I didn't obsess about how much I weighed or how much weight I lost that day,” she says. “There were some weeks I stepped on the scale, and it showed no change at all. I didn't let that discourage me one bit because I knew the weight would come off. I knew I was moving in the right direction, and I wasn't in a rush. Even if it took a whole year, that didn't matter. I was proud of myself for sticking with something healthy and that I was no longer eating the junk food vegan stuff that I was previously eating.”
She Weighs Weekly Versus Daily
She also steps on the scale, but not every day. “Weighing weekly versus daily helps with this because daily fluctuations can sometimes make it look like you've gained weight, when really it's not, it's just water weight or undigested food, etcetera,” she says.
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Be Kind and Patient with Yourself
“I just want to remind you to be kind and patient with yourself and fall in love with the process of taking care of yourself rather than rushing to lose weight as fast as you possibly can. It will take how long it takes, and if you're enjoying your days in the meantime and enjoying the healthy, yummy meals, then that's okay,” she concludes. And if you enjoyed this article, take advantage of these15 Quick Ways to Lose Body Fat Percentage in a Week.
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