A few people told me I should write about my diet journey, where I have lost over sixty pounds, and how I did it, especially since I am a wheelchair user. It was a good idea to write an article about my diet journey in case some people wonder how I do it so that they learn from it and apply it to their diet. Before I start writing my diet journey here, I would like to make a disclaimer that I am NOT a doctor, a nutritionist, a dietitian, or an expert regarding diet. If you are seeking help with your diet, I recommend chatting with your doctor or getting yourself a dietitian or nutritionist. Also, what I did and how I did for my diet does not mean it would work for everyone else, as we are different. That is where the trials and errors come in until we know what works and what does not. But here is my diet journey, which was not easy!
The Journey
This wasn’t my first diet journey. I went on a diet a few years ago, which was in 2013, and at that time, before I went on a diet, I weighed around 160, then started losing to 94. At that time, my goal was 80, and I didn’t accomplish it even though I was only 14 pounds away from meeting the weight goal. Before, you wondered why I would want to reach 80 pounds, which is dangerous, especially for an adult to weigh 80 pounds. For my height, which is 4′ 3”, yes, that means I am a little person, but for my height as an adult, to be at what would be considered a healthy weight is between 70 and 80. To know what would be regarded as a healthy weight, go by your BMI (Body Mass Index). Before I went on a diet in 2013, my BMI was 43, considered obese. In my first diet, I went from 160 to 94, for BMI from 43 to 25, which is just right on overweight. Just one number away from a healthy weight at 24.9 BMI. Click here if you would like to know what your BMI is.
In 2013, my goal was to be 80 pounds, and I didn’t make it. Even still, I was just 14 pounds away from meeting the goal but failed to do so. What had happened? I have no idea because in 2013, when I was on a diet, and one day, I just gave in by starting to eat more food than I should have, I ignored that I should watch what I eat. Because of that, I went from 160lbs to 94lbs, then back up to 140lbs. I was just 20lbs from my original weight, and somehow, I got stuck on 140lbs for a few years. So, I am glad that I didn’t go over my original weight because if I had, that would mean more weight to lose and longer to take to lose them. But at the same time, it wasn’t good that I went from 94lbs to 140lbs. It took me less than a year to go from 160 to 94.
How did I do it on my first diet journey? All I would eat was two turkey sandwiches with no toppings on them every day, and I would only have one cheat day each week, and I only ate Ramen noodles on my cheat days. I wasn’t counting calories, carbs, or anything. I focused on eating only two turkey sandwiches daily and one cheat day with Ramen noodles each week. When I say two turkey sandwiches every day and one Ramen noodles day each week, I mean once a day. No breakfast, no lunch, only dinner each day. When I was eating turkey sandwiches or ramen noodles, I put a lot of black peppers on them because it would boost my metabolism. Having spicy foods would help you to increase your metabolism. It can be black peppers, hot sauce, jalapeño, chili peppers (red peppers), and whatnot. Using that with so little food, such as only two small turkey sandwiches with nothing else a day, will have you losing weight quickly, but that is NOT healthy, and I do not recommend it.
I gained many pounds and stuck on 140 lbs for a few years until 2022, which was last year. To be exact, it was late in May 2022 that I decided it was enough and that I go back on a diet to try again to reach 80 pounds. One year and a half, I accomplished it! I have reached that 80lbs goal on September 2023. I accomplished what I failed on my first big diet on my second diet, which is now. I almost made it two weeks before that because I weighed 80.2 but refused to call it an accomplished because of those two ounces, and then two weeks later, on September 22, 2023, I weighed 79.2, and it became official that I had made it. So, what did I do this time with diet? This time, I decided to do it a bit more healthy way, and it took me longer than my first diet because I needed to do it the healthy way.
What diet did I do this time that helped me lose over 60 lbs in about a year? I eat healthier food and take a lot of moderation in what I eat. Not only that, I also do intermittent feasting. I count calories daily, using the app Lose It, which helps me a lot with tracking how many calories I ate and how many calories I have left so I know where I am at with calories every day. For calories recommended, for men, it is 2,500; for women, it is 2,000 a day. Now, the average calories that you burn without exercise is between 1,300 and 2,000, depending on how much you weigh because the more you weigh, the more calories you burn by doing nothing. To lose a pound, you would have to burn 3,500 calories. So, you take that in and do some calculations. For instance, being in a wheelchair means I cannot exercise, so I naturally burn 1,300 calories daily. Because of that, I limit my calories to less than 1,300 calories a day, such as 800 calories per day. In that calculation, I burn 500 calories a day. Consuming more than 1,300 calories would mean I lose nothing; if I go over that, I will gain weight. Because to lose something, especially with no exercise, I must consume less than I naturally burn by doing nothing. The average number of calories you can burn by doing nothing is 1,300; if you want to lose something, you would have to eat lower calories than that to lose something. Remember that a pound is 3,500 calories, and I can burn 500 calories a day, so add that up to the 3,500 calories that I have burnt weekly, which means I lose around one pound a week. Sometimes, I would lose two or three pounds a week if I did an activity such as riding a four-wheeler or going out, but still no exercise but burn more calories because of moving around, such as steering on a four-wheeler or getting in and out of a vehicle.
Now, if you aren’t in a wheelchair and can exercise, you can eat more calories. However, because I am in a wheelchair, which means no exercise, I have to rely on the resting calories burned heavily. You already burn 1,300 calories naturally and then add how many calories you burn by walking a day. Then, whatever the total calories you burn daily (with natural calories burned plus calories burned from walking), you know where to limit the daily calories you can eat. For example, if you burn 1,500 calories by walking, you add that 1,500 with the resting calories burn, which is 1,300, so that would be 2,800 calories you burn today. To lose any weight, you have to eat fewer calories than that. Let’s say limit your daily calories to 2,500, and that would mean you have 300 calories that you burnt. Three hundred calories x seven (a week) is 2,100 burnt calories a week, which is like half a pound loss. The average calories you can burn per mile for walking are about 100. So, to lose weight, you must burn more calories than you eat. You can burn one thousand three hundred calories (1,300) by doing nothing daily; you’d have to eat less than 1,300 calories daily to lose something. Want to lose more weight quicker? Then, find a way to burn more calories by walking, such as 100 calories per mile. You must note how many calories you CAN burn daily, knowing that you are automatically given 1,300 calories burnt daily, and then add how many calories you burn by walking a day. Then, you can figure out how many calories you burn daily so you know not to eat more than whatever calories you burn. I know that I burn 1,300 calories a day, which is our natural calories burn on its own. I cannot exercise to lose any more calories because I am in a wheelchair, so I decided to limit my calorie intake to only 800 out of 1,300 a day, meaning I get to lose 500 calories a day or 3,500 calories weekly, which is about a pound loss every week.
How did I keep it under 800 calories a day, as many foods and drinks have a lot of calories? The best way to do that is to consider how many calories are in that food or drink. For example, today, I have decided to eat five fried eggs and one tortilla with two Monster Energy Zero Sugars. The total calories of that is 390 calories. Each medium size egg is 60 calories; I ate 5, so the total is 300 calories. I ate one Mission Carb Balance tortilla (you can find them at your Wal-Mart store), which is a great alternative to biscuits; in my opinion, it has 70 calories, and Monster Energy Zero Sugar has 10 calories. I drank 2 of them, which means 20 calories, so all that sums up is the 390 calories I ate. With that, it left me 410 calories that I can use, maybe like Little Debbie Cookies N’ Creme brownie, which is 290 calories, leaving me 120 calories to go. Still, I often leave it at that because I’d be full, so that’s 120 extra calories I saved out of 1300 calories today.. 500 + 120 = 620 (800 calories limit a day) calories out of 1300 I burnt today.
Yes, I know a lot of math is involved, and math was my worst subject in school, so imagine that! That is why I use the app such as Lose It, which helps me know how many calories I have consumed and how many remaining calories I have. Here’s a screenshot of what it looks like in my Loseit app.
Here’s the app you can download if you’d like: Click here for iOS or click here for Android. Or you can go to LoseIt.com for the web version only. There are a few different apps that you can use, such as MyFitnessPal, but my favorite is LoseIt. LoseIt has a huge database to find calories and whatnot for different foods or drinks. LoseIt can also scan a barcode and add all your information.
Counting calories wasn’t the only thing I did for my diet; I also did intermittent feasting, where I refused to eat anything for breakfast and lunch. I only wait for dinner because waiting for dinner means I have a bit more room for calories than I can eat for dinner. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have enough calories for dinner if I ate breakfast and lunch. There are a lot of foods and drinks that have low calories in them. The best foods I have found that taste great and are great with calories are Progresso Light soups, which have many different flavors.
Here are a few on Amazon that you can get in bulk: Progresso Light Beef Pot Roast Soup (150 cal), Progresso Light Creamy Potato With Bacon and Cheese Soup (200 cal), Progresso Light Chicken Noodle Soup (130 cal), Progresso Light Chicken Pot Pie Style Soup (190 cal), Progresso Light Italian-Style Wedding Soup (160 cal), and a few more which you can look around on Amazon or find them at your Wal-Mart store. It is important to carefully examine how many calories in any foods or drinks you get and add them up as long as you eat what calories you limit or under.
Yes, that is pretty much my diet food weekly plan. Half of the week, I’ll eat five medium-fried eggs with tortilla, totaled 370 calories, and the rest of the week, I will eat Progresso Light soups, mostly Beef Pot Roast and Italian-Style Wedding Soup. I would eat Little Debbie Cookies N’ Creme every other day as my snack, which is 290 calories. Every day except one day on the weekend, I have to be under 800 calories a day, and then one of the weekend days (cheat day), I usually would go for my mom’s biscuits with gravy or Mac n’ Cheese swirl with shredded cheese on the top that I mix so to have a bit more extra cheese in it. Calories are the only thing that I focus on. I don’t care about carbs, sugar, or anything else, but it is not important to me with moderation in mind. But if you have diabetes, you must focus on calories, carbs, and sugar. You would lose even quicker if you focus on calories, carbs, and sugar. I didn’t because I don’t have diabetes, so calories were the key. As I mentioned above, I also do intermittent fasting by not eating anything for breakfast and lunch. I did not have to do that, but I did so to have plenty of remaining calories for dinner; otherwise, I would have smaller or less food.
How do I feel?
I feel much better since I have gone on a diet and met my weight goal. I breathe easier, and I feel a lot lighter. My heart beat fast back then, but now it’s beating steadily. I used to sweat a lot; even when I felt or saw any heat, I would suddenly get hot and sweat, which wrecked my nerves, but now I rarely get warm or hot. I get cold more easily, and that is how I like it! If you know me, you would often see me wearing only a tank top and a short in the winter, but now I wear long-sleeved shirts, hoodies, or a t-shirt in the winter. It is like a switch, from warm or hot to cold. I feel good. I still struggle with pain, as I have been since birth, because of the surgery from my neck to my tailbone and right leg where I broke a femur in half when I was young (hence a wheelchair), so I will always be in pain. Still, aside from that, I feel better, such as breathing easier and feeling a bit lighter; my heartbeat is steady and not profoundly sweating from feeling warm or hot. Healthier than I was.
Personal note
Now, losing weight is hard, no matter how you look at it. The hardest thing I had to fight was the temptation to eat or find something more. I would weigh in every weekend, as I have done so for over a year, and write down my weight weekly. There will be times that you see that you have gained a pound or two, and then you would wonder why that happened even though you did everything right. Seeing that you have gained is another temptation you will have to fight through because sometimes you feel like giving up because of gaining a pound. You mustn’t give in and tell yourself that it would be better to give up. Your weight will be a rollercoaster, gains and losses. So, keep in mind that it is normal and that you will get there because you will as long as you keep up with it and not give up after seeing that you have gained something. It is what they call a plateau. You are hitting your plateau, and it will stay there for a few days, so don’t give in. Then you will break your plateau, then you will see that you are losing again. Not giving up will be your biggest job when going on a diet. It is a rollercoaster; there are some sections on that rollercoaster where you ride straight (a plateau) for a while and then start going down again repeatedly until you get to the bottom of a rollercoaster. If I could lose over 60 lbs while being in a wheelchair, then so can you if you are in a wheelchair or not!
Don’t give up, fight the temptation, and keep your eyes on the finish line (weight goal)! This is my journey, which is ongoing because I still have to maintain my weight by ensuring I eat moderately. I am still counting calories; the only difference I will make is maybe two cheat days instead of one a week. You will have to do that even after meeting your weight goal because you will still have to be on a diet to maintain your weight by ensuring that you stay on that weight or close to it, such as two or three pounds more or less. Let’s say I met my weight goal of 80; to maintain that, I know that I cannot go over 85 and not under 75, so I am staying between those weights, which is weight maintenance. It will be very challenging for you, but you can do it and continue doing it! You will get there; don’t look back and look forward! Before you decide to diet, please talk with your doctor and see where you go from there to be safer because, like I said in the beginning, everyone is different. You might get referred to a dietitian, a nutritionist, and whatnot, which will help you with food plans. But for me, what I did was and is counting calories only and intermittent feasts. If you want to go on a diet to lose weight because you want to feel healthier and better, then go for it; to lose weight because you want to look skinny or whatever, it is for the wrong reason. Even if you aren’t dieting and still feeling happy or great, leave it at that! I did so because I wanted to feel healthier, steady my heartbeat, and not get warm or hot too easily. Not because I want to look skinny to be attractive to others. My focus was on getting healthier, so it should be yours if you want to go on a diet. We look better in the end, but that is due to being healthier, not how we look. It’s about making ourselves feel happy rather than how we look.
To get healthier, to feel better, and to lose weight by going on a diet starts with you! You can do it; I did it!
I have added a picture comparison above to give you an idea of what I looked like before I went on a diet and how I look after losing weight. If you are on a diet or have accomplished reaching your weight goal, please share your journey in the comment below because I would love to hear your journey as well! Happy dieting and I hope you enjoyed reading about my diet journey!
Joshua “Joshie” Sullivan.
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