Lost 100lbs in four months: He dropped a third of body weight by cutting out 'white food'

Daily Mail ^ | 4 October 2012 | Daily Mail Reporter

[dennisw]

At five-foot-six, Edwin Velez weighed 300 pounds when he holidayed in the Bahamas last November.

When the 26-year-old from Albertville, Alabama, saw his holiday snaps, he said quickly realised his overweight body needed a drastic lifestyle change.

Making a vow that he would be in better shape for his next planned vacation the following March, Mr Velez set himself the seemingly impossible task of losing 100lbs in those four short months, a goal he not only reached, but exceeded.

'I woke up one morning and I was like, "I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this now,"' he told Good Morning America.

Cutting out white carbohydrates, Mr Velez also changed his diet. He avoided sugar, anything carbonated, and all food which were coloured white - including potatoes, white bread, pasta and rice; slowly introducing whole grain variations, instead.

'Being Hispanic made it extremely difficult because rice and beans and tortillas and breads and pastas are big part of our food,'

'Being the holidays, right around Christmas, I made my own meals and went and bought my own food, like grilled chicken and fish, so my family would have their food and I had my food.'

Of his rapid weight loss, he added that 'drinking nothing but water was, like, the first 10 to 15 pounds and that came off probably within the first two to three weeks.

'I would also go to the local track and start walking in the morning, and go that afternoon, every day,' he said.

'I went to the track because [I was too] self-conscious to go to the gym... so I just would go to the track by myself and I started there until I felt comfortable enough to go to the gym.'

[RobertClark]

Okay, you tell us what you don’t eat so tell me what you DO eat. It’s hard to make meals without anything. :>)

That is easy. I eat eggs, any vegetable, I limit fruit to once per week, lean cuts of whole meats (no ground beefs or sausages or lunch meats), brown rice, I eat fish three times a week (salmon, halibut, mahi mahi are my favorites and awesome on the grill), organic greek yogurt (plain is also great instead of sour cream). 100% whole grain organic breads and granola - I just don't build my meal around them. Really, the menu choices are limitless. The crap they pass off as convenience foods are horrid for you. I don't buy anything frozen anymore.

[peggybac]

I’ve been on Atkins since Easter and have lost about 40 pounds. I love it and am never hungry.

[mamelukesabre]

well...I think for young guys who are physically active beer doesn’t hurt them. In fact, I truly beleive all these young people in gyms and health clubs who are buying expensive energy drinks and weight gain drinks would be better off if they threw that crap away and just drank 3 heavy dark german beers with their workout.

Seriously.

But once you get past 30 years old your metabolism isn’t going to deal with 3 beers a day very well.

[rabidralph]

So beer is still all right?

[norton]

None of this is new; first time I encountered it was as "The Drinking Man's Diet" (college - go figure). Got me down from 180 to 114, which kept me out of the draft until some exenophoic Cajun doctor advised me I'd been drafted.

Next, it was the "Canadian Air-force Diet" which (as I remember) added some exercise to the basic regimen.

Today, it is some variation on the "Atkins Diet".

Common threads are
(a) avoid white,
(b) eat all the meat, eggs, and cheese you want,
(c) avoid sauces unless they're mostly vinegar and don't include sugar,
(d) alcohol isn't all that bad (except for those who require a liver) but dark booze is bad and mixers are evil, and
(e) most lunch meats are NOT protein!

Still works for me.

[Jack Hammer]

The problem, of course, is that he’ll ultimately gain it all back and then some.

[TribalPrincess2U]

Thanks, I appreciate your response. Gives me a clearer picture.

[Nickname]

It’s basically avoiding “center aisle” foods and sticking to those found around the perimeter... Fresh fruits, veggies, meats, etc. for a healthier diet.

[SaveFerris]

bkmk

[morphing libertarian]

Only soul food or Chinese

[dennisw]

You lost a tremendous amount. What a waist reduction! It is hard to do but eat a bowl of brown rice, or German rye bread like Aldi’s has, or boiled wheat berries...eat this just by itself in isolation and it digests better. Jarrow pro-biotic powder helps whole grain digestion by reestablishing crucial bacteria in you intestines
http://www.amazon.com/Jarrow-Formulas-Jarro-dophilus-Powder-Ounce/dp/B0013OUKT8/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1461757540&sr=8-1&keywords=jarrow+probiotic+powder