With the festive period rolling into town, it's getting to that time of the year where we are likely to over-indulge on rich, fatty foods. While
Christmas time is undoubtedly the greatest time of the year, with everyone being full of festive cheer and mulled wine, it's not exactly friendly on our waistlines. But, before we get inundated with
diet plans and magic pill advertisements, one YouTuber has shared her recipe for weight loss success, and it's all natural.
High Carb Hannah is a vlogger and blogger who transformed her
body across a number of years, without giving up carbs or joining the gym. Speaking to Women's Health, Hannah outlined her recipe for success while also describing what life was like before she lost the weight.
[[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BbCLVP8l7IL/?hl=en&taken-by=highcarbhannah]]
"I’ve struggled with my weight my entire life. For years, I yo-yo dieted, and ran through every plan out there" said Hannah. "I’d go on a new diet for a couple months, lose 10 pounds, and end up bingeing and gain everything back. I thought every diet would be my savior, but the more diets I tried, the more weight I gained. On top of that, I never felt like I had the energy to exercise"
Hannah said that it all changed in 2014, when she grew "sick of following restrictive diets". She was raw vegan at the time and found that she wasn't enjoying her food anymore.
"Enough was enough and I decided to simply start eating what I wanted, when I wanted. I knew I wanted to stick with a plant-based diet, but other than that, there were no restrictions. I applied the same mentality to exercise and just promised myself that I would move my body every day in whatever way felt best to me."
[[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BbK93UvlUql/?hl=en&taken-by=highcarbhannah]]
The main change came in Hannah's diet. Where she used to have a diet consisting mainly of banana smoothies and potatoes, consuming up to 3,000 calories a day, she says her diet now is much more varied.
"I start my morning with a 500-calorie serving of hash browns loaded with veggies" she said.
"For lunch, I’ll have a cup of rice with tons of greens, a cup of beans and maybe an avocado and salsa—basically a veggie burrito bowl. Dinner is typically a large salad with a few small potatoes."
[[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BZU6pcBFSmN/?hl=en&taken-by=highcarbhannah]]
Hannah says that by following this meal plan, she was able to drop 40 pounds in just six months. However, while she transformed her lifestyle, the vlogger said she still made sure that she enjoyed herself and implored others to do the same.
"If you cut everything out of your diet, it’s not going to work. If going out with your girlfriends is part of your life, have a cocktail, it won’t kill your healthy lifestyle. I think it’s better to have those indulgences."
Alongside her new diet, Hannah says that she made sure that she was getting enough exercise daily. She set herself a goal of 10,000 steps a day, which was the only exercise that she would force herself to do every day. In addition to the walking, she would also workout 4 times a week, changing her activity depending on her mood:
"Some days I’ll go on a 10-mile bike ride, other days it's yoga or bodyweight callisthenics exercises. Plus, I did all of this without ever getting a gym membership."
[[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BWDM9d0l_UX/?hl=en&taken-by=highcarbhannah]]
While it's easy to fall in-and-out of fad diets, Hannah says that she never wanted to quit the process, as it involved eating food and exercise that she enjoyed. She admits that she did have her ups and downs, with the blogger saying that was mainly due to the weight not falling off as quickly as she had initially hoped.
Her YouTube channel now has over 300,000 subscribers and she has five recipe books. Speaking about her top tip when it comes to changing your lifestyle, Hannah had some sound advice.
[[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BUb-UKel-9i/?hl=en&taken-by=highcarbhannah]]
"Remember that this is going to take some time. You can’t diet for a couple weeks and get your dream body. Find something that you can sustainably do the rest of your life, that will make you feel good. It’s about molding a healthy lifestyle to fit your life. Give it the time it needs to work."
Fair play to Hannah, not only for the body transformation but also for pushing a healthy lifestyle rather than extreme dieting. Weightloss isn't a quick process and it takes time to completely change what you eat and the activities you do. It's much better to do to things naturally, rather than take a load of supplements that do more harm than good.
