How Ross Sveback lost 30 pounds
Several factors went into my fitness journey over the last year, where I lost 30#. I wanted to share this story since I am a foodie, and did not want to live a life of chicken and broccoli. My approach from day one was always moderation.
Never beat myself up for eating something considered 'bad' or skipping a workout day
Tell myself that even if I do eat foods that are not great choices from time to time, I'm still going to lose weight -
Workout every day, so I never had an excuse to skip a day and make it up.
When I was working out - I was my own trainer from hell, I better crawl out of the gym.
When it came to food, I began eating 1 c. of protein and 1 c. carbs 5-6 times a day.
For breakfast, this always meant 3 egg whites and 2 whole eggs, however I liked. My carb could be an apple, bagel thin or mini bagel, granola. I would even mix Greek yogurt with granola and honey or peanut butter to mix things up - this also was a great meal during the day in itself.
My other meals consisted of chicken or beef I would cut up, drizzle with olive oil and liberally season with a Mrs. Dash blend. I purchased a large, electric skillet so I could cook those up quickly. I also would purchase the 3# chubs of ground beef and after cooking it up, season it with a Mrs. Dash blend. The ground beef was good alone, or mixed with beef broth and one cup of frozen vegetables. For the most part, my carbs was one cup of frozen vegetables or an apple.
At the end of the night, was when my chip cravings would kick in, so I would cut up one cucumber, put it into a bowl, and cover it with 1/4 c. creamy salad dressing. I'm not a big vinegar dressing person, yet would do from time to time. If I was hungry for protein, I would at times cut up 1 c. of the precooked chicken and add it to that.
After I had eaten all the cucumber - then I could eat chips or candy to my hearts content, yet it never failed to barely interest me. If you don't like cucumber, you could do this with broccoli, cauliflower or peppers.
Placing my meals on salad plates helped, so they looked full and not missing extra food that should go in my belly.
I am not a big plain water person, so I would buy the Mio or Mio-like water additives to make my water taste delicious - this helped me drink more water, and basically stop drinking soda since I felt like I was getting my sugary drink fix.
Since I did not have the luxury of a personal trainer, I ended up getting a great set of wireless headphone by Monster headphones so I could stream my Pandora music direct into my brain and break a sweat.
As far as cardio is concerned, I did 10-20 mins of medium cardio - concentrating more on the free weights since muscle burns calories 24/7, therefore if I was working and building my muscles it would burn more calories than I was consuming.
Since y goal was to see where I was at in a year, I basically ditched the scale and didn't look at it until I was four months in. That created a habit with me to go more on how my clothes fit, than the number on the scale - so I barely ever step on it, maybe every 2 months.
Ultimately, yes - I love there being less of me taking up space in the world, yet my quality of sleep, how I handle stress, confidence level within myself, how people treat me in public are so much more than the number on the scale.
Should you have any other questions about my fitness journey, feel free to find me on FB, Twitter or Instagram - I'm here to help!