How to De-Seed a Pomegranate without the Mess

Pomegranate seeds (or, more formally, arils) aren’t just delicious, they’re good for you, too. At just 72 calories a cup, pomegranate arils go light on your waistline, and heavy on antioxidants and nutrients like vitamin C, vitamin K, potassium and fiber. Some research suggests that eating pomegranate seeds regularly may be protective against cancer and diabetes. Other research suggests that those little good-for-you gems may help reduce risk of heart disease as well.

The only trouble with this tasty superfood is that every time you try to eat it, you’re caught red-handed… literally! Reap all the benefits of pomegranate seeds without any of the mess with our simple kitchen hack.

 

The post How to De-Seed a Pomegranate without the Mess appeared first on The Leaf.

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One year ago today, I started my weight loss journey. I've lost 127 lbs and gained a lot of freedom. Thank you, r/loseit, for all of your help! (SFW and NSFW progress pics linked at end.)

24F, 5'7", SW: 336 lbs, CW: 209 lbs

Progress pictures linked at end.

One year ago today, I was finally ready to change my life.

I hit my highest weight at the beginning of 2019, reaching 336 lbs. The 330s weren’t new territory for me, though. I had been obese ever since childhood when I started using food as a maladaptive coping mechanism. I didn’t think I was worth caring for, so I had spent years neglecting my health and abusing my body. I hit the 300s for the first time once I started college, working my way up to the 330s. Around the age of 19, I began a cycle of yo-yo dieting, usually getting down to the low 290s before giving up and working my way back into the 330s.

However, as I got into my twenties, my body was really struggling to handle all of the excess weight. In late 2016 at the age of 21, I started to experience recurring episodes of severe back pain. It was manageable enough at first, but the pain continued to intensify. By late 2017 at the age of 22, I no longer had episodes, so to speak - it was just nonstop severe pain. It continued to worsen to the point that I spent all of 2018 essentially housebound. My life was miserable.

And suddenly something clicked and I was ready to lose the weight - for good this time. On January 25th, 2019, I decided to turn my life around. This time just felt different from all of my previous attempts to lose weight. My motivations for it were different. For the first time, I was being compassionate towards myself. Instead of viewing weight loss as a way to punish myself, my perspective had shifted and I started to view it as an act of self-care. I was ready to start treating myself and my body with respect.

I’ve been losing the weight primarily through CICO, which in turn has caused me to care a lot more about what types of foods I put in my body, portion sizes, and moderation. I don't follow any specific diet and I haven't entirely cut out any foods. I just try to make better choices while staying at a deficit.

As my back pain gradually decreased with my weight, I began to incorporate more physical activity into my daily routine starting in mid-August 2019. I started off by going on short walks around the neighborhood. I discovered that I love walking, and I worked my way up to walking about five miles a day, weather permitting. On days when I can’t go on a walk outside, I try to do some exercise in the house or use my stationary bike.

I’m happy to report that my chronic back pain doesn’t control my life anymore. I’m not completely pain-free, and some days are worse than others, but the good days far outweigh the bad. Most importantly, my pain no longer holds me back.

I’m not going to say that losing weight has magically resolved all of my problems. I still have complicated relationships with myself and with my body, but I’m working on them. Every day, I strive to be healthier in body and in mind. I feel a bit less stagnant than I used to. I’m finally back in school to work on a second bachelor’s degree. I saw some family members over the holidays for the first time since I began losing weight, and they said that not only do I look lighter, but that my energy is lighter - that it seems like I lost a lot of emotional weight too. Maybe I have.

I’m so close to hitting my first major goal weight of 199 lbs, a weight I haven’t seen since I was a literal child. At around 190 lbs, I’ll officially be out of the obese BMI category and just plain overweight. I don’t have an ultimate goal weight in mind yet, but for now I’d like to get down to 156 lbs so I’ll have lost an even 180 lbs and I’ll be in the normal BMI category. It’s not a solid goal, though, and I’m just going to keep going and see how I feel when I get there.

Anyway, here are my progress pictures! I don’t have any photos at my HW because I was too ashamed, so the “before” pictures here were taken in mid-March at 310 lbs. The more recent photos were taken a couple of weeks ago at 212 lbs, so they show a difference of about 100 lbs.

(SFW) body comparison

(NSFW) body comparison

(NSFW) back comparison

(SFW) hand comparison

(SFW) face comparison

My favorite difference in the photos is how much my posture has improved. I used to struggle to physically hold up my body weight because of how much pain I was in, but now I can stand with no pain, and that’s really reflected in my posture. (My second favorite difference is the emergence of a jawline. Never had one before!)

I still have a ways to go before I reach a healthy weight, but I’m proud of the progress I’ve made so far, and I’m really grateful to have had this wonderful community to support me along the way.

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My weight loss journey -20kg/45lbs

Hey everyone! 🤩

This post is about how I lost about 20kg/45lbs since I started taking fitness and diet seriously.

Stats: Time period : 6 months Training type : Calisthenics+Cardio Cardio : running, swimming, cycling, box

Starting weight 114kg Current weight 94kg Height 1.89m

Training schedule:

Calisthenics 4-5 Times a week Cardio 3-5 times a week

Progress I Made:

Dips from 9 to 29 Pullups from 6 to 19 (form in 19 is even better) One arm dead hang 10 seconds to 35 Lsit from 3 seconds to 20

Moves that I mastered: 1. Archer push-ups 2. Archer pullups 3. L-sit 4. One arm pushups (not perfect form)

My diet consisted no added sugar, no soda, no bread, no fast food. I eat mostly healthy carbs with some good fats and a lot of protein. Also having no bad habits is optimal I do not smoke and seldom drink. I have a decent sleep schedule so that definetly helps!

I made I compilation video of my body transformation! Last time I posted my progress I've received good feedback and a lot of comments of support which encouraged me to train even harder! So I decided to share my passion and progress with you guys so hopefully someone gets motivated/inspired if right now you don't feel like putting in the work 💪.

Im not going to post any links if you want to check my progress out type ElvisLifts on youtube and you will find me.

In my opinion the most important thing is being consistent and just do the work not all workouts will be great some days weather sucks or whatever excuse it may be but you have to keep the ball moving in the right direction there are only two options moving forward or going backwards.

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Almost five pounds down, forty five to go!

I posted here a week or so ago about my frustration not seeing any sort of loss after two weeks until I realized it was because I was self-sabotaging and lying to myself about my starting weight; I didn't own a scale and just assumed I was 200 lbs, the same I was at my last checkup. Granted, I was only off by about 3 or 4 pounds it seems, but I've gotten a scale since and as of today I am 4.5 pounds down from the highest weight I recorded on the scale in these past 3 weeks (from 204.3 to 199.8).

It may seem like a small amount lost and I still have quite a bit to go, but my brain really needed the recognition that what I'm doing indeed causes weight loss! For reference, I've been doing a strict CICO aiming for about 1530 calories a day, plus some kind of cardio for 15-30 minutes every day. I've also recently started incorporating some weight training. I also tried to cut down on added sugar and processed foods. I've discovered I can still eat so much of what I like, just smaller portions or healthier versions of it.

It feels so good to finally see results on the scale, even if they're small, and this reddit has been so helpful and supportive :)

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From 256lbs to 127lbs. Pant size 24 to a 4. Shirt size 3XL to a S/XS. Ring size 10 to a 5. Worked my ass off (literally), but never thought I’d be here in a million years. 2020 is gonna be a great fucking year.

I have posted in other subs before, but this one is a first for me! I started my weight loss journey in January 2019. I was at my highest weight of 256lbs. I’m only 5’2”, so the amount of excess weight I was carrying around was pretty significant. I had finally reached a point where I was ready to take my health seriously. I was done. I had had enough. This was going to be my last try, because I was determined to succeed this time.

After years of struggling, what worked best for me in the end was a combination of gastric bypass surgery, keto and intermittent fasting. I lost 40lbs following a strict keto diet from January 2019 to April 2019 while I was pre-op, had surgery in April and I have lost the rest since then. Once I was closer to my goal, I added in intermittent fasting and moderate exercise.

On any given day I typically eat under 1100 calories, under 40 carbs, between 80-100g of protein, and under 15g of sugar. I don’t eat any refined sugars, and all of my carbs come from complex carbs. I drink a MINIMUM of 64oz a day, but usually shoot for closer to 96. I try to think of all of this as non-optional. This is just how I live now. I’m also starting to add more rigorous exercises into my daily routine, so I’m trying to slowly increase my calories to accommodate that.

This journey has been hands down the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Many people have bariatric surgery and fail. I knew that my entire relationship with food had to change, and that it was going to be a long road ahead. There was a 6 month approval process for surgery which included two 3 hour classes, multiple blood tests, many appointments with a dietician, evaluation by a psychologist, an upper GI, an abdominal ultrasound, an EKG and echocardiogram, along with a full physical and a sleep study (not to mention the very painful surgery, recovery, extremely strict pre/post operative diet and lifelong vitamin regimen). Thankfully it was fully covered by my insurance as it was deemed a medical necessity. I was in very poor health.

Ya’ll, despite what people may tell you, weight loss surgery (of any kind) is not a fix all - it’s only a tool, and it's far from easy. You use it to help you lose weight. It still requires a ton of will power. They don't do surgery on your brain, and it is not a “cosmetic” surgery. You’re literally changing your anatomy and the way your body processes and absorbs nutrients from food.

You can never take ibuprofen again. You can never smoke anything again (I’m just over 1 year smoke free!), you likely won’t be able to tolerate foods that contain high amounts of sugar or fat without getting sick, you can never drink from a straw again, you will lose an incredible amount of hair, you may or may not have loose skin, you can never stop taking daily vitamins, you always have to wait 30 minutes before and after drinking water before you can eat anything, you can never drink anything carbonated again, you can never consume alcohol normally again, and you will never be able to eat nearly as much as other people who have not had surgery. While some people who have had bariatric surgery may be able to do some or all of these things, majority of surgeons would strongly advise against it.

If you don’t follow the lifelong post op rules, you can become incredibly sick and risk Dumping Syndrome (seriously, read about it, it’s awful), you certainly won’t lose weight or maintain your weight loss, you can have severe nutritional/vitamin deficiencies... you can even die. It’s no joke.

All that said - I would do it over again in a heart beat. I did this for my health, and my health has improved 100%. No more high blood pressure meds, no more fatty liver, no more pre diabetes, no more exhaustion. It’s been a bumpy road (physically, mentally and emotionally), but I feel AMAZING.

Regardless of which path you’ve chosen for your own journey to health, it is hard fucking work. But if you can change your mindset and commit to a healthier lifestyle, whatever that looks like for you, you can do literally ANYTHING.

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Why is there no clear answer on whether or not it’s ok to eat below bmr?

I’m F 30’s, 5”2 currently weighing approx 152 lbs. A calculator says my TDEE at sedentary (I exercise lightly sometimes but add those calories in on those days) is 1635 and my BMR is 1363.

I’m not clear on whether or not it’s ok for me to eat at 1200 calories a day. That would put me at less than 1 pound weight loss per week which is said to be a safe amount to lose. I’m already not able to do a full 500 calorie deficit because 1200 is the lowest recommended intake for females. But I’ve seen some people, not all, say I shouldn’t be eating below my BMR. So if I eat at ~1400 calories a day I’ll be at less than 250 cal per day deficit, losing just under half a pound a week which seems so slow! But I want to be safe during my weight loss of course.

Some people are saying that if I eat below my bmr it will damage my organs and my body won’t function properly. Is that true? Can my body not use my fat for energy to run itself? Or do I need to give my body ~1400 calories worth of food (new energy) every day to run my organs and then it can use fat to move me around all day when I’m not sleeping?

Why is there no clear cut answer telling people they need to eat at least enough calories for their bmr, OR that BMR doesn’t matter? What is the answer lol!

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Frustrated by weight loss plateau, should I change anything?

So I’m 27 years old 6’3 about 227 lbs. little background on me. Beginning of last year I was about 280, got down to 240 rather quickly, then kind of stalled out over summer and stayed about the same. But I wasn’t really tracking calories or working out as hard so it was understandable. Then starting in November I’ve been getting back to tracking and working out diligently. Gotten down to 226-227. Now for about a week I’ve been about the same or even gone up a pound or two. I know weight loss plateaus are part of the process but I didn’t really have one my first time losing weight.

I’ve been tracking my food and have stayed at about the same calorie level as I was when I was losing weight to get down to 227. Not a lot of carbs and getting plenty of protein. I lift weights 5 days a week and do at least a little cardio most days.

Is there anything I should change or should I just wait it out?

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