How Trading Ice Cream for Cereal Helped Me Lose 30 lbs

Let’s start from the beginning… (queue the picture of me bashing a chocolate milk)

What type of Eater are you?

I had (still kind of have) an unhealthy relationship with food. You might say - So what, a kid is drinking a chocolate milk there is nothing wrong with that. And you’re completely right, but you’re looking at a kid who was willing and able to drink chocolate milk until they were keeled over in their bed and nearly puking. As a matter of fact, you are a looking at a kid that grew up into someone who would always eat food like that. This kid wouldn’t ever bother eating in portions, in specified amounts, or even up to when they were lightly satisfied. Whenever Christmas, Easter, or any holiday that revolved around gifting of candy came around - this kid was only satisfied with a whole bag a night. Nothing more and certainly nothing less, that would be insane.

Growing up my understanding of food was that it was meant to be consuming like an absolute feast. If we ever went out to eat or perused the candy store - it was get the most voluptuous and/or sweetest thing possible. Then die on your sword afterwards while you knock out for the rest of the day. Imagine Thanksgiving, except with nearly every meal.

Going to get ice cream? Get the double extra-large with extra Oreos in there. Going to a nice dinner? Get the biggest steak, mash potatoes, and extra butter - also make an effort to finish all of it. About to eat at a restaurant that serves rolls? You better be running through rounds of them before you even get to the main course.

This was my life, and I loved every second of it. But I noticed something after awhile that I couldn’t quite put my finger on, I was becoming a literal laboring oaf. I had no energy; spent years in bed/laying down during the day for no reason; played video games for hours and got as upset as possible when my parents asked me for the littlest of requests; and over time just became a shell of myself. It was like someone sucked the energy out of me. I always lifted/worked out - so that wasn’t something that affected me. But for obvious reasons, I could never out fight or workout my bad diet. One lovely day I decided to rewire years of poor health choices one day at a time. And this is how I did it…

Acknowledgement Phase:

I didn’t start focusing on anything related to a “diet” until college. I was struggling during my freshman year and needed to turn things around. So, I began with the foods I was eating. First of all, what was I actually eating? This was the initial question that came to mind, and I had a small plan to figure it out. I would like to call this the “acknowledgement” phase of going on a diet, which is basically you acknowledging that you eat poorly and need to, well, stop eating poorly.

It all starts with tracking your foods: Numero uno, undefeated, champ, king, undisputed, etc. You get the idea—this is the best way to change your diet. Just knowing what you eat in the first place will take you farther than you could ever imagine. So, use these types of applications: MyFitnessPal, Lose It!, or Cronometer. And you only need to track for 1 WEEK! The point of this is just to understand what you eat in a week. Be as diligent as possible and count every gram, ounce, and calorie that you consume. After this week, you will have automatically gained a new perspective on the food you eat, especially regarding where you need to eat more or less.

Experimental Phase:

After developing an understanding of your meals, the fun truly begins. I would like to call this the experimental phase of eating, which is super fun and doesn’t involve eating cotton balls because you’re so hungry but can’t break your diet.

Let me tell you how simple this was at the beginning of my journey. I have a sweet tooth that is rivaled by no other human (and I stand by that). So, obviously, I had a major hurdle to overcome, considering sweets are often the worst for you (not all, of course; I’m generalizing the average American experience).

So how does one begin to fight the urge for sweets when he used to devour double-extra-large Dairy Queen Blizzards with double M&Ms? I started with cereal! Is it a downgrade? Of course, but it gave me my fix and helped with my need for large portions. The first thing I did was switch my daily ice cream to a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats. I would get that literally every day at the cafeteria in my college. You slowly experiment with different foods that fit your tastes—if I wanted something savory, I would grab more meats and veggies instead of opening a bag of chips/pretzels/etc. These were simple trial-and-error choices. I was also someone who hadn’t tried many different foods in the first place, so I really stepped outside of my comfort zone to find what I liked. What I realized from the whole process was that veggies were actually good. Not only that, but they also made me feel really good. So, never knock any food until you try it. Who knows, it might be the next thing that helps you get a six-pack.

Implementation/Substitution Phase:

This moves us into the next phase, the slow substitution phase, as I like to call it. But it’s more about implementing those foods you’ve experimented with and figured out you like. Then you bring it all together by slowly substituting the regular foods you used to eat with others that are more nutrient-dense, better for you, and meet your caloric goals and satiation for the day.

So, what does this look like? For me, I first substituted after-meal treats with dry cereal. Then I replaced my side of buttered toast with cooked veggies. Once I got used to that and began to look forward to it, I replaced my daily double hamburger with cooked chicken, and so on.

This has a compounding effect, like many things in life. The moment you start to phase out all the super sweet foods, not only do you stop craving those hyper-palatable foods (foods that are designed to be addictive), but you also find much more enjoyment in the “healthy” foods you used to hate.

For example, after substituting the hyper-palatable sweets (DQ Blizzard as my favorite example) for Honey Bunches of Oats, they started to give me the same feeling a DQ Blizzard used to. Now before I continue, I know that sounds crazy, but it’s completely true.

Then I moved on to eating granola, which was my next form of sweet. Finally, I got all the way down to my Greek yogurt parfait that I mix together with 70% dark chocolate, honey, oats, protein powder, and other good stuff. If I were still devouring DQ Blizzards, this would taste terrible to me. But since I slowly substituted the highly palatable foods out, I was able to find that same enjoyment in macro and calorically friendly foods.

Continuous Adaptation Phase:

The beautiful thing about your food journey is that it never truly stops. Food is just calories at the end of the day, and if you can maintain a healthy lifestyle, there’s really nothing to worry about. But for me, I had other goals in mind. I wanted to see how far I could go—how much I could phase out in order to become the best version of myself. I went so deep that I even understood what exactly I could eat every single day to have my food track perfectly to my goals (mostly weight loss), have pure enjoyment out of the healthiest foods (good sweets that don’t kill me and fit my caloric and macro intake), and get so good at calorie counting that I could estimate a food’s calorie count just by glancing at it. Did I lose my mind? Of course, but that isn’t the point here. You can meet your goals by just substituting one snack or meal in the grand scheme of things (like my cereal-for-ice-cream change). Next thing you know, you’re on your way to living a healthier lifestyle, one step at a time.

Summary:

My journey towards a healthier diet began in college when I realized I needed to make a change. The first step was acknowledging my poor eating habits and tracking my food intake to gain a better understanding of what I was consuming. This led me to experiment with healthier alternatives, finding new foods that satisfied my cravings while being better for my body. Over time, I gradually substituted unhealthy choices with more nutritious options, ultimately transforming my diet. This process taught me that making small, consistent changes can lead to significant improvements in health and well-being. The key is to continuously adapt and find enjoyment in healthier foods, making the journey sustainable and rewarding.