Instagram user and 'realistic fitness coach' Kols writes in her bio that her goal is 'helping normal people lose weight in a normal way while eating the food they love'. She keeps sharing her fitness tips and diet plans to help her followers, who might be hindering their health goals due to their high calorie and sugar rich meals. In one recent video, she spoke in detail about 'what she ate when she was overweight vs. now'. 

‘Everything in moderation is okay’

Alongside the video, she wrote, "This can be a tough pill to swallow but it is so helpful to be aware of these things! Remember that everything in moderation is okay." In the clip, the woman, who goes by the name Health Kols, spoke about how having foods and drinks that are low in calories and making some healthy food swaps can lead to weight loss.

According to her, you don't have to cut down on Starbucks entirely when you need that extra caffeine or energy boost, but you should be mindful of what you order. 

There's no denying that losing weight can be hard and frustrating. It takes commitment, hard work, and, for many, a complete lifestyle makeover. If you're looking for quick fixes or a lose-10-kgs-in-one-month kind of promise, then you've come to the wrong place. But arming yourself with the tips and tricks from Health Kols' weight loss journey, could help you achieve your fitness goals. 

Read on for everything she said about her before-and-now diet.

What she ate earlier for breakfast, lunch and dinner

Speaking about when she consumed around 4100 calories in a day and weighed 215 pounds (97.5 kg), she said, "This is everything I used to eat in a day when I was 215 pounds, and not really understanding why I was gaining weight versus what I ate in a day to lose 70 pounds (31.7 kg) and now be 145 pounds (65.7 kg)."

She then revealed her earlier diet, saying, "At 215 pounds, I started every single day in the Starbucks drive-thru. For breakfast, I would get their ‘impossible breakfast sandwich’, and I would always get some sort of a creamy drink like a 'pumpkin chai latte'. What I was failing to realise was that this breakfast alone was over 1000 calories. To me, I was just having a breakfast sandwich and a coffee; like no part of my mind thought that this was half of my calories for the day. And we are just getting started..."

She added, "For lunch, I was a Doordash (food delivery app) maniac, so I would normally get some sort of Mexican food... and of course I would always order the churros, too, or any dessert. Another meal that is 1000 calories. So, at this point I would have already had my entire calorie goal for the day. But we are not done because I am a snacker. So I am going to have a snack – it would probably be Doritos and Oreos. Then, after a long workday... it was time for dinner. So, I would go to the little Boba shop down the street and would order a giant plate of chow fun, I think it is just like rice noodles... this was probably around a 1000 calories as well. And then I would get a medium taro milk tea Boba... So, as you can see, the estimated calorie was 4100. I was eating a little too much... I needed 2000 calories."

She said that before she shares what she ate in a day to lose 70 pounds, she wanted to tell people that if they too ate like how she ate earlier, they were ‘not necessarily doing anything wrong’. She said, “Calories are not something you need to be afraid of. I am just pointing out how easy it can be to consume a mass amount of calories in a day and not even realise it. So let's jump into what I started eating in order to lose this weight.”

What she eats now

She said, "Personally, I did not want to give up my morning Starbucks... so I learned how to order lower-calorie (items). Instead of getting their ‘impossible breakfast sandwich’, I swapped for the turkey bacon or the spinach feta wrap. Both of those are under 300 calories. And instead of getting that super creamy drink, I got a grande vanilla sweet cold brew. Super low calories, it is like 110 calories... it is delicious... So now, my Starbucks order went from being 1000 calories every single day to being around 400 calories every single day. Literally slashed it by more than half."

She then went on to share how her lunch now includes dishes like bagel pizza served with watermelon or carrot sticks but without high-calorie dips. She uses Greek yoghurt in her dips now. She added, "I definitely became less of a snacker on my weight loss journey. But if I ever did want a snack, I would opt for something like veggie straws, something that's high volume, low calories."

About her dinner, she said she would have pasta with broccoli or other veggies. “For dessert it was just about keeping it around the 200 calories-mark for me. So, this is the difference in my calorie count. Before it was 4100 calories, and now it is 1800 calories…”

She added, "I still ate junk food on both of these diets. I just learned how to eat foods that I like in a calorie deficit. That is literally the reason I made this entire account. I wanted to show women who have been told that they have to eat a certain way in order to lose weight that they actually just need to eat in a calorie deficit. For me that seems a lot more doable than having to do a juice cleanse of a Keto diet or cut out a bunch of food groups that I actually like eating... in reality, we just need to be able to calculate our calorie needs for weight loss."

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