I lost some weight alhamdulillah and wanted to share with you some things that worked for me. It's a mixture of 'rules' from different sources that I put together. But it's not a diet, it is a healthy way of eating. It is a list of healthy behaviors. The best thing is you don't have to change what you eat and you don't have to deprive yourself. You don't have to buy any equipment or go anywhere.
Healthy Eating Plan Rules
1. Before each meal, eat one fruit or vegetable or salad. This is the most important rule, and the most effective and healthful. Fruits and vegetables have so many vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber. They are very important for your body. What I noticed in my day is that I wasn't eating much fruits and vegetables. I was filling myself with other foods that have more calories but not much nutrition or fiber, and I would need to eat more to feel satisfied. When I started eating a fruit or veggie or salad before my meal, I noticed that I was able to eat less. I eat a banana before breakfast or slice some bananas into my breakfast, a persimmon or apple before lunch, and a salad before dinner. On the weekends when I have a traditional breakfast, I eat half a cucumber and half a tomato sprinkled with salt. Sometimes I eat the fruit while I am preparing lunch, then when I sit to eat I am not so hungry. For my salad, I use a medium salad bowl. I fill it with chopped lettuce or two handfuls of mesclun greens (the big container from costco). Then chop half a tomato and one cucumber. Some days I add 1/2 carrot or 1/2 an avocado if I have time. For the dressing, I sprinkle salt, pepper, garlic powder, dried herbs like oregano or parsley or mint, a drop of honey, then pour a little balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Make it in any way that is appealing to you. The best thing about this rule is that it is so easy, especially for most of us who are busy. It takes very little time to prepare and eat fruit and salads.
2. Only fill your plate up once, using a medium size plate. This is the second most important rule but is the best part of the plan - you can eat anything you want! Using a medium sized plate or your salad bowl, fill it up with all that you want to eat. And that's it, you cannot take seconds. This helps you eat less. And say to yourself that your body doesn't need so much food. Even if you still feel hungry, if you wait a little that feeling will go away and you will feel ok. Busy yourself with something to distract you. Allah says in the Qur'an in Surat Al A3raaf: "O children of Adam, you shall be clean and dress nicely when you go to the masjid. And eat and drink, but do not be extravagant and wasteful; Surely, He does not love the musrifeen- the extravagant and the wasters." (7:31)
Healthy Eating Plan Rules
1. Before each meal, eat one fruit or vegetable or salad. This is the most important rule, and the most effective and healthful. Fruits and vegetables have so many vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber. They are very important for your body. What I noticed in my day is that I wasn't eating much fruits and vegetables. I was filling myself with other foods that have more calories but not much nutrition or fiber, and I would need to eat more to feel satisfied. When I started eating a fruit or veggie or salad before my meal, I noticed that I was able to eat less. I eat a banana before breakfast or slice some bananas into my breakfast, a persimmon or apple before lunch, and a salad before dinner. On the weekends when I have a traditional breakfast, I eat half a cucumber and half a tomato sprinkled with salt. Sometimes I eat the fruit while I am preparing lunch, then when I sit to eat I am not so hungry. For my salad, I use a medium salad bowl. I fill it with chopped lettuce or two handfuls of mesclun greens (the big container from costco). Then chop half a tomato and one cucumber. Some days I add 1/2 carrot or 1/2 an avocado if I have time. For the dressing, I sprinkle salt, pepper, garlic powder, dried herbs like oregano or parsley or mint, a drop of honey, then pour a little balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Make it in any way that is appealing to you. The best thing about this rule is that it is so easy, especially for most of us who are busy. It takes very little time to prepare and eat fruit and salads.
2. Only fill your plate up once, using a medium size plate. This is the second most important rule but is the best part of the plan - you can eat anything you want! Using a medium sized plate or your salad bowl, fill it up with all that you want to eat. And that's it, you cannot take seconds. This helps you eat less. And say to yourself that your body doesn't need so much food. Even if you still feel hungry, if you wait a little that feeling will go away and you will feel ok. Busy yourself with something to distract you. Allah says in the Qur'an in Surat Al A3raaf: "O children of Adam, you shall be clean and dress nicely when you go to the masjid. And eat and drink, but do not be extravagant and wasteful; Surely, He does not love the musrifeen- the extravagant and the wasters." (7:31)
Most of us are not aware that overeating is actually gluttony - wasting food, and is a sin.
3. If you get hungry between meals, drink a cup of tea or coffee or water. Yes you can put sugar and milk if you want. This worked for me, and it shows that hunger between meals is actually thirst. After breakfast I have green tea. I strongly recommend you drink green tea each morning - studies have proven that it increases metabolism, burns fat, and decreases appetite. I personally felt these benefits - the day I forget to drink my green tea, I felt hungry all day. After dinner I have a decaf tea with herbs or cinnamon, and this would curb my desire for a dessert. The herbs help with digestion. I drink decaf after 3pm, so that I would be able to sleep on time at night.
But like I said, this is not a diet, and not a strict plan. If you feel like having a snack it's ok. Just remember to say bismillah. I almost always remember to say bismillah before eating a meal because i'm sitting at the table with my family. But when I snack between meals, i'm usually standing up, and I completely forget to say bismillah. Also keep in mind that shaytan sometimes whispers to you reminding you of some certain food because he is hungry. When you don't say bismillah he gets to eat from your food, and maybe that's why we sometimes still feel hungry after eating. Physically, if you are eating 3 meals a day, your body does not need any more food. So it will be easier for you if you don't buy snack foods at all. And any dentist or doctor will tell you that it's the snack foods that cause cavities because they stick inside and between your teeth, whereas a fruit or vegetable actually brushes your teeth and has the minerals your teeth need to be strong.
4. No eating after 8pm. Whatever time you sleep, subtract 3 hours and do not eat after this time. This way all your dinner is digested before you sleep. Because once you sleep your metabolism slows down a lot. Then whatever is still in your stomach goes right to storage since it's not getting used.
4. No eating after 8pm. Whatever time you sleep, subtract 3 hours and do not eat after this time. This way all your dinner is digested before you sleep. Because once you sleep your metabolism slows down a lot. Then whatever is still in your stomach goes right to storage since it's not getting used.
If you are used to eating dessert after dinner, don't worry, stay strong by distracting yourself with something, and in a few days your body will get used to not eating dessert. Your body is craving the sugar, so if you have some tea or coffee, that little amount of sugar will be enough inshaAllah. Also, our bodies get used to certain eating patterns and you feel hungry in those times. But that's the amazing thing about our bodies subhanAllah, is they can change and adapt to different situations. Just give it a little time and it will soon feel normal to not eat after 8pm. When you feel hungry imagine the fat burning and melting off your body.
5. Weigh yourself once a week. Choose one day and time to weigh yourself. I used Saturday morning before Fajr. Record the numbers on your calendar or planner to help you keep track. This is important because here you will see yourself the results of your healthy eating that week and you can make adjustments. For example one week I bought chocolate covered almonds. I thought that if i have a few each day that would help me curb my hunger. When I weighed myself at the end of the week, I didn't lose any weight. So I didn't buy those almonds again. It's like trial and error. This will also help you check if you lost any weight, which will motivate you to work harder and to keep up the rules.
6. Do some movement after each meal. So you ate, now your body is deciding what to do with all that food. It takes at least 3 hours to digest a meal. During those 3 hours, if you do some movement, your body will take the energy from the food you just ate. After that, it goes to storage. I don't have any exercise equipment. It took me a long time to get over that idea that I can exercise without any equipment or going anywhere. Some options: after meal cleanup, other housework, walking or jogging around the house, jumping jacks, sit ups, jump rope, racing the kids across the living room, dancing, rough play with the kids, marching in place and moving your arms, etc. Even 5 minutes would be great. If you can take a walk outside, try to do that once a day. Walking is very beneficial to the body and mind. Connecting with nature and being in the sun are very important. It's also important for our children because they have so much physical energy. They will give you a hard time at home if they don't get this energy out.
7. Treat yourself to dessert one day a week. Reward yourself, even if you weren't that good that week. It's important to not feel deprived. And it will help you resist temptation during the week. For me I choose Fridays after Jum3ah prayer. The masjid sells sweets so I buy just one piece. If you bake at home or buy from the store, be careful to make it an exact amount because you don't want have to have leftovers around to tempt you. It might make the difference between losing weight that week or not. It's not a big deal but don't let it happen every week. If you do then just put some extra movement that day and it will be fine. Sweets have high amounts of sugar, flour, and fat but very little nutrition.
8. Fast Monday and/or Thursdays. Fasting is beneficial for the body and soul. But most importantly it is a good deed that is beloved to Allah and a sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu 3laihi wassalam). Mondays and Thursdays are the days when our records of deeds are raised to Allah. It is very easy to do in the winters when the days are short, as Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) used to do. And if you have a lot of days to make up from Ramadan like I do, it is a good opportunity to do so. There are several advantages to this. I noticed that when I fast my stomach shrinks so the next day I don't feel as hungry during the day and when I do eat I feel full fast. Also, I would make du'a before breaking my fast for Allah to help me lose weight, and other du3as too. When I eat iftar, the food would taste so good, even though it's the same old salad I eat everyday. As a busy homeschooling mom, especially that Monday is the beginning of the school week here, it helps me focus on the kids and the things I need to do, since I don't need to spend time in preparing my breakfast and lunch and eating and drinking tea. I can use that time to do other things and I feel more productive. The other thing is it helps me to pray qiyaam. I set my alarm for a half hour before Fajr. I have a simple suhoor of water, multivitamin, milk and dates. Then I pray and make dua. The two hours before Fajr is one of the most blessed times for prayer and dua. I wish I could do it everyday but when you have small children it's hard to do so. It can be done but I haven't reached that yet. But one or two days is better than none. The days that I do this are my most productive days filled with barakah. In the beginning, I was afraid that waking up earlier and fasting would make me tired and I wouldn't get much done. But that's just something in your mind. If you take that idea out of your mind, you will find that you can do all you used to do plus more with baraka from Allah! It can be done inshaAllah!
Before you start
1. Think about your goals and intentions - to look and feel young, to have energy, to have good health for yourself and your family, to be that strong Muslim and better fulfill your obligations to Allah and to your family, to be stronger for Salat, to save money on food, to decrease your feelings of laziness, to stop the sin of gluttony, to look more modest in your clothes without all these bulges, to model and teach healthy eating to your children, to prevent diabetes, etc... personalize it to your own situation.
2. Use these goals and intentions to make du'a to Allah. Du'a is so powerful. With the help of Allah anything is possible.
3. Train yourself to hate that 'full stomach' feeling. This week, I want you to notice how you feel after you eat. Do you feel that 'full' feeling, maybe that uncomfortable bloat, burping or gas, and maybe some laziness where you don't feel like moving or doing anything? Then say to yourself 'It feels bad to fill my stomach, I look awful and feel awful, and i'm being a bad role model to my children. There are other people that need this food more than me.'
5. Weigh yourself once a week. Choose one day and time to weigh yourself. I used Saturday morning before Fajr. Record the numbers on your calendar or planner to help you keep track. This is important because here you will see yourself the results of your healthy eating that week and you can make adjustments. For example one week I bought chocolate covered almonds. I thought that if i have a few each day that would help me curb my hunger. When I weighed myself at the end of the week, I didn't lose any weight. So I didn't buy those almonds again. It's like trial and error. This will also help you check if you lost any weight, which will motivate you to work harder and to keep up the rules.
6. Do some movement after each meal. So you ate, now your body is deciding what to do with all that food. It takes at least 3 hours to digest a meal. During those 3 hours, if you do some movement, your body will take the energy from the food you just ate. After that, it goes to storage. I don't have any exercise equipment. It took me a long time to get over that idea that I can exercise without any equipment or going anywhere. Some options: after meal cleanup, other housework, walking or jogging around the house, jumping jacks, sit ups, jump rope, racing the kids across the living room, dancing, rough play with the kids, marching in place and moving your arms, etc. Even 5 minutes would be great. If you can take a walk outside, try to do that once a day. Walking is very beneficial to the body and mind. Connecting with nature and being in the sun are very important. It's also important for our children because they have so much physical energy. They will give you a hard time at home if they don't get this energy out.
7. Treat yourself to dessert one day a week. Reward yourself, even if you weren't that good that week. It's important to not feel deprived. And it will help you resist temptation during the week. For me I choose Fridays after Jum3ah prayer. The masjid sells sweets so I buy just one piece. If you bake at home or buy from the store, be careful to make it an exact amount because you don't want have to have leftovers around to tempt you. It might make the difference between losing weight that week or not. It's not a big deal but don't let it happen every week. If you do then just put some extra movement that day and it will be fine. Sweets have high amounts of sugar, flour, and fat but very little nutrition.
8. Fast Monday and/or Thursdays. Fasting is beneficial for the body and soul. But most importantly it is a good deed that is beloved to Allah and a sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu 3laihi wassalam). Mondays and Thursdays are the days when our records of deeds are raised to Allah. It is very easy to do in the winters when the days are short, as Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) used to do. And if you have a lot of days to make up from Ramadan like I do, it is a good opportunity to do so. There are several advantages to this. I noticed that when I fast my stomach shrinks so the next day I don't feel as hungry during the day and when I do eat I feel full fast. Also, I would make du'a before breaking my fast for Allah to help me lose weight, and other du3as too. When I eat iftar, the food would taste so good, even though it's the same old salad I eat everyday. As a busy homeschooling mom, especially that Monday is the beginning of the school week here, it helps me focus on the kids and the things I need to do, since I don't need to spend time in preparing my breakfast and lunch and eating and drinking tea. I can use that time to do other things and I feel more productive. The other thing is it helps me to pray qiyaam. I set my alarm for a half hour before Fajr. I have a simple suhoor of water, multivitamin, milk and dates. Then I pray and make dua. The two hours before Fajr is one of the most blessed times for prayer and dua. I wish I could do it everyday but when you have small children it's hard to do so. It can be done but I haven't reached that yet. But one or two days is better than none. The days that I do this are my most productive days filled with barakah. In the beginning, I was afraid that waking up earlier and fasting would make me tired and I wouldn't get much done. But that's just something in your mind. If you take that idea out of your mind, you will find that you can do all you used to do plus more with baraka from Allah! It can be done inshaAllah!
Before you start
1. Think about your goals and intentions - to look and feel young, to have energy, to have good health for yourself and your family, to be that strong Muslim and better fulfill your obligations to Allah and to your family, to be stronger for Salat, to save money on food, to decrease your feelings of laziness, to stop the sin of gluttony, to look more modest in your clothes without all these bulges, to model and teach healthy eating to your children, to prevent diabetes, etc... personalize it to your own situation.
2. Use these goals and intentions to make du'a to Allah. Du'a is so powerful. With the help of Allah anything is possible.
3. Train yourself to hate that 'full stomach' feeling. This week, I want you to notice how you feel after you eat. Do you feel that 'full' feeling, maybe that uncomfortable bloat, burping or gas, and maybe some laziness where you don't feel like moving or doing anything? Then say to yourself 'It feels bad to fill my stomach, I look awful and feel awful, and i'm being a bad role model to my children. There are other people that need this food more than me.'
There is a reason why the Prophet Muhammad (Salla Allahu 3laihi wassalam) recommended to us to fill 1/3 of our stomach with food, 1/3 for drinks, and 1/3 for air. When you fill up the whole stomach with food and drinks, there is no room for air. As your stomach digests the food it releases gas. If there's no room for the gas, the gas is forced to go up through your mouth or down and out the other way. Overeating also causes flatulence - a problem that makes Salat difficult for some people and affects other parts of your life as well. Imam Ash-Shaafi’ee said: “I have not filled myself in sixteen years because filling oneself makes the body heavy, removes clear understanding, induces sleep and makes one weak for worship.”
4. Look in the mirror and squeeze all the fatty areas in your body and say to them 'you have got to go'. Feel bad and irritated about it. Do that often.
4. Look in the mirror and squeeze all the fatty areas in your body and say to them 'you have got to go'. Feel bad and irritated about it. Do that often.
5. Imagine yourself in 6 months... 20 pounds lighter!!! Imagine all the clothes you could wear again. Hang up some outfits that are small on you so that every time you open your closet you see it. Find an old picture of you when you were younger and hang one up on your mirror. Or if you are already in a good weight, imagine yourself with more energy, better health, and having healthy eating habits that you can pass to your children and family.
There is a huge obesity epidemic in this country. And it is very easy to gain weight and slip into it. The problem is that a healthy way of eating is promoted as something good, but not necessary. But it is actually the opposite - if you don't follow a healthy eating plan YOU WILL HAVE HEALTH PROBLEMS, sooner or later. The fat in our bodies is alive and when we eat - it eats too - and releases toxic hormones that interfere with the other natural hormones in our bodies. These hormones make us more hungry, which causes us to eat more than our bodies need, so the extra calories are stored as fat. And the cycle continues until one day you look in the mirror and you say to yourself - 'what happened?'
A webMD article (How Fat Kills) states: "Every major system in your body feels the stress of excess weight. The heart is the most obvious victim -- as cholesterol builds, blood pressure rises, and arteries get clogged. Also, the blood loses its ability to clot which increases stroke risk. Also, many types of cancer have been linked with obesity. Excess weight affects another hormone -- insulin -- which leads to diabetes. Having diabetes increases your heart disease risk. It's a vicious circle. The sheer impact of excess weight on your lower body creates lots of problems. You're at higher risk for bone-thinning osteoporosis. You develop hip and back problems. You can greatly cut your risk of serious health problems by dropping the extra pounds."
Wa Allahu a3lam, Allah knows best.
May Allah facilitate these healthy habits into our life and pass them to our families inshaAllah.
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