Post Wedding Success! How Jennifer Downward Lost More than 175 pounds.

Image Source: Jane Downward

Women’s Health recently featured a story on one woman who was able to lose a whopping 175 pounds in spite of struggling with obesity her whole life. Jane Downward grew up compensating for her weight with her humour, but after hitting a staggering 373 pounds, she knew she needed to get on the right track to change. After realizing that she had been consuming 3000 calories daily, she did everything it took to lose the weight from joining to Spark People to betting on her own weight loss goals. 

Why was she so motivated?

“As I began to realize that I was going to be a mom soon, I started to notice parents who sat on the sidelines while their kids played at the park. I knew that if I didn’t lose weight, I would be like those moms and dads, not because I was distracted by my phone but because I wouldn’t be able to physically keep up with my kid. I didn’t want to miss a second of being a parent.” – Jane Downward



Image Source: Jane Downward

Check out heinterview with Women’s Health Magazine where she talks about the amazing  steps she took to get into shape and live a more active healthier lifestyle. 

Send us a story of your weight loss transformation to info@modelmydiet.com. Your story could be featured in our next blog post!

How Meditation Helps You Lose Weight

By Lynne Goldberg, co-founder of OMG. I Can Meditate!meditation app  for beginners to learn how to meditate. 

We’ve all been there; feeling nervous, or anxious, maybe even a bit aggravated.  Maybe we were stuck in traffic, had a bad day at the office, or are having relationship issues.  So we automatically reach for the Ben & Jerry’s or bag of Skittles.


We eat for many reasons that often have nothing to do with actual hunger.  We eat when we are stressed or upset, when our clock tells us it is “mealtime”, when we are in certain social situations, or even just out of boredom.  

Sometimes, we eat past our hunger pains and become more than satisfied.  Our tendency to eat too fast doesn’t allow us time to listen to our body’s warnings of when we have had enough. This type of mindless, emotional eating leads to weight gain as we take in much more than what our body needs and metabolizes.  

Here are two ways meditation is helpful for losing weight.

Firstly, it can make us more aware of our emotional state; even helping with reducing negative emotions, one of the leading causes of over-eating to begin with. 

 Meditation actually helps us to combat stress and become more aware of our thoughts, feelings and emotions, from moment to moment. When we’re stressed, our body releases stress hormones such as adrenalin and cortisol. Cortisol actually stimulates fat and carbohydrate metabolism for fast energy with the possibility of increasing our appetite. 

In addition, meditation can be an antidote. While you meditate you release hormones like oxytocin, the “Love” hormone and serotonin the “feel good “ hormone.          
 
Secondly, meditation makes us more mindful and attentive to our everyday activities, including our eating habits. We learn to enjoy our food more by eating slower, meditating on every bite. 

We become more conscious of the impulses that drive us to indulge, preventing us from eating mindlessly. So that means thinking twice about eating that whole bag of potato chips.   Meditation allows us to become the captain of our own ship instead of being tossed around by our emotions.

Experience a meditation for weight loss for free, in the Specialty Meditation section of the OMG. I Can Meditate! program. No experience required, just 15 minutes sitting in a chair. 

OITNB’s Danielle Brooks’s Inspiring Instagram Account for Curvy Women Everywhere



Danielle Brooks’s made a surprising omission on her Instagram account the other day; it was the first time she went to the gym with just a sports bra. Anyone who is struggling through weight loss can understand how big of a non-scale victory that is for all women out there. There is something about being able to feel comfortable in your own skin in front of others that gives you the confidence you need to continue reaching your weight loss goals. 


“I’ve always wanted to do this but have felt shameful and have told myself ‘until my body is perfect, I’m forbidden’. Today my inner being told me to turn up the notch on my self-love. I should not be ashamed of my body. I’m not a walking imperfection! I’m a Goddess. Secondly, I’m a confident woman! That doesn’t stop once I take off my spanx. Lol [.] Sometimes it’s a struggle. Sometimes I don’t like what I see, but I have the power to change the way in which I relate to my body both physically and mentally. Today I woke up feeling beautiful and motivated to love myself and take care of the ONE body that I’ve been given.” -Danielle Brooks

For anyone who is not familiar with Danielle Brooks, she is one of the stars in the prison comedy on Netflix, Orange is the New Black. She has always battled with her weight growing up and was not really aware of her size until a churchgoer pointed it out one day.  

Promotional Photo From Orange is the New Black


Now she dedicates her time to getting in shape and living a more healthy and active lifestyle, which you can see in a timeline of her photos from when she started OITHNB to where she is now. Not only does her body look great, but she gives a lot of curvy women ideas for dressing their new body.


Check out some of the photos below from the @daniebb3 account. Let us know in the comments how inspiring this was for you.




Inspire others by sharing pictures of your curvy models on Instagram with the hashtag #modelmydiet

What 28 days of drinking water can do for your appearance.

We all know how drinking water is essential to losing weight, but seeing what it does for your appearance puts into perspective how good water is for you. We have written about the benefits of drinking water for your diet in our previous posts, but now you can see the impact it has had on one woman who was suffering headaches and poor digestion. 

Sarah Smith, found out how beneficial water was for her skin when she went on a 28 day water detox. Drinking three litres of water a day, not only did her skin look clearer and firmer, but as you can see in the pictures below, the shadows under her eyes lightened giving her a natural glow. 


She documented her results with the Daily Mail giving a week by week account of each change that was made that improved her health. Read the rest of her account from the Daily Mail here.

Tips for Better Dieting

What’s the biggest mistake we can make while dieting? For most, it is making unhealthy decisions when it comes to hunger. If you have ever been hit with hunger pains, being unprepared is not an option when you are on a diet. Take a look at some of these tips and advice provided by these expert nutritionists at PopSugar Fitness to help you better manage your diet.

Having Cheat Days

If you devote an entire day to eating foods that don’t push you toward your goal, “the only person you’re cheating is yourself . . . and that’s not good in the short term or long term.” Read more.


Not Keeping Track

Monitoring your daily calorie intake is key when trying to lose weight, Mitzi says, and one of the most accurate ways to keep track is with a food journal. Read More.



Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / THEM TOO

Not Planning Ahead

If you can, sit down and plan your meals and snacks out for the next week or two in advance, and then hit the grocery store with a list to stock up on everything you need from fruit to veggies to the containers you need to make a week of salads. Read More.



Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Jenny Sugar

Skipping Dinner For Cocktails

“[D]rinking on an empty stomach can lead to quicker intoxication,” so even if you planned to just enjoy a few drinks, you’ll end up losing the ability to make healthy choices and are more likely to order tons of food off the bar menu! Read more.


Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Anna Monette Roberts


Too Much Protein or Not Enough

“[N]ot eating enough protein can also cause weight gain. She says, “Since protein helps you to stay satisfied, it is important to make sure you are eating it at every meal.” Read More.


Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Nicole Perry

Cheat with Dignity on Your Diet: Dining at Amy’s Drive-Thru

 When you are trying to create a healthier lifestyle for yourself, fast foods like McDonalds and Chipotle pose a threat to your transition into weight loss. Unhealthy decision-making is made when we are at our hungriest and unfortunately, these are reliable to provide the wrong kind of sustenance. 

Anyone who has a cheat day knows how easy it is to relapse into the same cycle of unhealthy eating. Now there is hope for our cheat days, because a new type of fast food chain has opened up and it offers organic ingredients.

Amy’s Drive Thru is a new kind of fast-food chain. A vegetarian joint that claims to use no GMOs and offer vegan options for our favorite foods like Mac ‘n’ Cheese or a regular cheese burger!

Check out their menu along with some of these photos and decide for yourself if this is a place worth cheating with.

Try an organic Quinoa salad.
Take a bite out of their tofu “cheese” burgers.

Have you ever seen a vegan Mac ‘n’ Cheeze look so cheesy!

Everyone can find something at Amy’s Drive Thru.



New Patent Claims This Seaweed Tastes Just Like Bacon

Just when we learned to accept that bacon may not be as unhealthy as we think, Oregon State University researchers have found an alternative to this prized breakfast treat. What they have patented is a red marine algae called dulse that can be found in the wild along the Pacific and Atlantic coastlines. 


It grows twice as fast as kale and is packed full of protein. When cooked at a certain temperature, the algae is claimed to taste like bacon, so if you extracted bacon from your diet, there is now hope for you. 

Are you ready to switch to a greener bacon? Get more information about the unique seaweed here


How Many Calories Do You Think Is In Your Favorite Frappuccino

Do you trust the calories labelled next to your favorite fast foods? Casey Neistat from the NY Times enlists the help of two food scientists to test how many calories are actual in our favorite foods or foods simply labelled as healthy. We posted just a few that we found pretty surprising.

Food: Starbucks Frappuccino
Declared Calories: 370
Actual Calories:  392



Food: Subway 6″ Turkey Sub
Declared Calories: 360
Actual Calories: 350.8


Food: Chipotle Barbacoa Burrito
Declared Calories: 1175
Actual Calories: 1295


Take a look at the Op-Docs episode, Calorie Detective to see the rest of Casey Neistat’s findings.



By Casey Neistat Feb. 13, 2013 | 5:49

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