Taco Bell Diet – Calories
If you’re trying to lose weight or on a diet you’ve probably heard of the so called “drive through diet” at Taco Bell. As laughable as that is, they do have a “diet” menu at TB – called the “Fresco” menu. If you’re on a weight watchers program you might be shocked to find out that you can actually have Fresco menu items. Basically the Fresco menu at Taco Bell are selections with no sour cream or cheese.
Here are the weight watchers (points plus) values for some Taco Bell items:
Fresco Bean Burrito – 8 points
Fresco Burrito Supreme (chicken) – 9 points
Fresco Burrito Supreme (steak) – 8 points
Fresco Chicken Soft Taco – 4 points
Fresco Crunchy Taco – 4 points
Fresco Grilled Steak Soft Taco – 4 points
Fresco Soft Taco – 5 points
Now, you’re probably thinking that those aren’t the greatest, but at least you can have Taco bell and keep track of your points (as long as you don’t over do it).
To put it into perspective, take a look at how many weight watcher points regular taco bell items are:
Chicken soft taco – 5 points
Crispy Potato soft taco – 7 points
Crunch Taco – 4 points
Double Decker Taco – 8 points
Double Decker Taco Supreme – 9 points
Grilled Steak soft taco – 7 points
Soft Taco Supreme (beef) – 6 points
Soft Taco (beef) – 5 points
Taco Supreme – 5 points
Keeping track of your points is great, but you might also be interested i knowing how many carbs or grams of fat is in Fresco menu items.
For instance, a Fresco bean burrito seems pretty good at 8 points – right?
Fresco Bean Burrito – 350 calories, 8 grams of fat, 57 carbs
Here are some more:
Fresco Taco – 150 calories, 7 grams of fat, 13 carbs
Fresco chicken taco – 150 calories, 3.5 grams of fat, 18 carbs
Now what do you think of the taco bell diet?
Exercise Changes Metabolism – Loses More Weight
That picture is of someone fat and overweight. Somebody that gets little or no exercise. As a matter of fact – the more weight they gained, the less exercise they got (because it was harder to move around and do things). Anyone fat that says “I can do just as much as a skinny person” is just a liar in most cases. You can definitely be fat and have a level of “fit”, and you can be skinny and be “unfit” (with no muscle mass). But if you are 50 lbs or more overweight, or extremely fat (the picture above would be classified as ‘morbidly obese’) you have a slower metabolism than you could.
Many people blame their “fatness” on a thyroid problem. Sure, some people do have a medical condition like that – but less than 1% of people actually has it (and most that use that excuse have never been tested). You’ve probably heard that when you gain weight and start being less active your body goes into “fat storage mode”. It thinks for some reason that you need all this fat, and the less you do – the more it holds onto. In fact, the more you eat, and the more you sit on your butt the worse it gets. Your metabolism gets lower and lower, you burn less and less calories, and most likely the depression you’re giving yourself (about being so overweight) just makes you eat more and more (making it even worse).
You may be your own worst enemy in the situation, but you can turn it around. If you’re a fat builder – turn yourself into a muscle builder. It doesn’t matter how fat you are – you can start turning that fat into music overnight by working out and being more active. You need to exercise 30-40 minutes everyday in a way that truly makes you sweat.
Working Out Does MORE Than You Think
You need to cut back your food intake and keep track of what you eat, that’s definitely a good start. Some people have the perception that you’re working out simply to turn calories. It’s true that exercise will burn off calories. Did you know that a 220lb person will burn off 12 calories per minute while working out? Working out for 40 minutes will burn off 480 calories. If you eat 3,000 calories per day – that daily workout takes your calorie intake down to 2,520 calories.
What you probably don’t know is that consistently working out will change your metabolism over time (for the better). Even if you’re extremely overweight, you’ll start to build up muscle under your fat (from working out). It will begin to happen over just the first few weeks. You’ll actually begin to GAIN muscle weight as you start to burn off the fat and inches.
What nobody ever told you was, for every pound of muscle you gain – you will burn an additional 50 calories per day off (even while you sleep). So if you work out consistently for say 60 days – and end up building 5 lbs of muscle mass, you will burn an additional 250 calories per day off (even if you’re still quite fat).
You know what they say about “a body in motion – stays in motion”, and if you start the process of getting fit you’ll find this is actually the case. I’m not going to lie – the road is rough (especially the first month), but the rewards are great for those that stick with it. The more time you put in, the greater the payoff is.
Imagine after 2 months being able to say that you burn off 400-500 calories per day by working out and exercise, and (due to gained muscle) you potentially burn an additional 250 calories per day as an added bonus?
You can actually change your own metabolism for the better and turn your life around. Working out and building muscle over time will stockpile energy that burns calories (even while you sleep).
How to Lose Weight Quickly
With a large percentage of the world overweight or obese, how to lose weight quickly is on the mind of many people. The problem is, many methods to lose weight quickly aren’t safe or healthy at all. You want your weight loss to be sustainable, repeatable, and compatible with your lifestyle.
Here are some ways to lose weight that can provide satisfying results both short and long term.
Drink Lots of Water: staying hydrated is important when you want to lose weight. Drink several 10 ounce glasses of water per day for faster weight loss. This makes it easier for your body to flush the fat away. If you don’t drink much, your body will think it needs to conserve or retain most of the liquid you consume. Also, the first few weeks much of what the weight you lose is “water weight”, you need to drink water so that you don’t become dehydrated.
Portion Control: losing weight quickly is all about what you eat and put into your body. Most people naturally just try to quit eating to lose weight fast. This is neither effective for the long term goal of keeping off the weight, or healthy. If you don’t eat, your body will try to conserve the food you do consume, making it harder to lose weight. In addition, the weight you do lose fast will mainly also be mostly water (and not real fat). The most sensible way to lose weight fast is by cutting down your portions, but still eating 5-6 times per day with a total 1200-1500 calories.
Physical Activity: many people want to lose weight quickly without doing any exercise at all, and others think that they can lose weight faster by “over-exercising”. The truth is, for proper balance you want to get some kind of physical activity every day that raises your heart rate above 160 for 20-30 minutes. It will release endorphins in the body that help keep you from getting depressed when losing weight, helps you digest food, and creates a lifestyle change that makes it easier to lose weight for the long term.
Cook from Scratch: some people have gained weight over time because they’ve been eating out or cooking convenient boxed and processed food for too long. When you cook from scratch you’ll not only find you’re more in control of your diet, but you’ll specifically find out what food elements you should eat in moderation. Use fresh vegetables and fruit, less starches (carbs), cook with wheat or whole grain, use healthier oils – all will help you lose weight fast.
Lifestyle Change: The key to losing weight fast (and keeping it off) is to embrace it as a new way of life – a lifestyle change. Clean out your cupboards and throw or give away all the food that is not good for you. Get rid of all the processed boxes meal makers, and force yourself to cook healthy meals from scratch with fresh ingredients that are low in fat, sugar, and carbs. Losing weight on a crash diet that doesn’t teach you anthing will only lead to to the yo-yo syndrome of gaining and losing weight repetively for the rest of your life.
Don’t just strive to lose weight quickly, enable yourself to lose it and stay healthy for a lifetime.
My lifestyle change has been dramatic, and I’ve been documenting all of the Weight Loss Recipes we been cooking on my other blog.
Lose Weight With Xylitol
You can Lose weight with Xylitol, which is a sugar free sweetener you can add to your food. Xylitol has been around for more than 40 years and is very popular as a sugar free sweetener in chewing gum.
Xylitol is a “one-for-one” sugar substitute, meaning for every cup or teaspoon of sugar you use instead one cup or teaspoon of Xylitol. This is unlike other sugar substitutes that require different amounts to substitute in recipes – like both Stevia or Splenda. Xylitol is a natural sweetener because it’s found in fruits, vegetables, and even mushrooms.
When I first found Xylitol I was very surprised, because I’d been using Splenda for years and had very poor luck using it to cook and bake with. Splenda has a distinct aftertaste that nearly ruins anything you bake with it. I first tried Xylitol because I was told it didn’t have any aftertaste at all. My daughter baked some chocolate brownies with it and they were absolutely incredible! I’ve never tasted something sugar free before that was so decadent!
I’m a type II diabetic, so I’ve probably tried or eaten just about everything sugar free there is in the grocery store. Besides Nutrasweet or Spenda, the most popular fake sweetener I’ve sen used in cookies and candy is “Sorbitol”. It’s not only not the greatest tasting sweetener, but Sorbitol has an unwanted after-effect. In many people if you eat too much it gives you diarrhea. When I go to the store I now stay away from any food that contains sorbitol in the ingredients. It has different effects on different people, but if I eat just one piece of candy or one cookie containing it I’ll start having massive gas for hours. If I eat half a dozen pieces….well – we just won’t talk about that.
The difference between Xylitol and other sugar substitute sweeteners is the fact that it has a real health benefit that none of the others do. It was found in the 70′s that Xylitol actually kills bacteria. It not only kills bacteria, but over time in strengthens the enamel on your teeth – which is why Xylitol was in the very first chewing gum in the world in Finland in 1975.
Nowadays you can find Xylitol in all kinds of things, such as nasal washes and mouth care products. When you use Xylitol it doesn’t change your blood sugar or glucose level in any way, and that coupled with the fact that it tastes nearly exactly like sugar with no aftertaste means that it SHOULD be manufacturers first choice for sugar substitue. I believe since it’s more expense – they choose cheaper substitutes at our expense.
The first time I bought Xylitol was in a health food store, and I paid $8.99 for a very small bag – I think a half pound? Since – I’ve found that you can buy it on eBay from reputable health suppliers in larger quantities at less cost.
| Kid's Xlear Nasal Spray w/ Xylitol - 0.75 fl oz (22 ML) | |
 | USD 5.99 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-05 20:44:15 |
| Spry Xylitol Gum 4 Spearmint 100 counts | |
 | USD 29.89 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-06 21:40:49 |
| Xyless Xylitol Powder 1.1 Lb. 500G | |
 | USD 13.69 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-08 23:56:22 |
| 12 SMINT WITH XYLITOL DENTAL MINT FLAVOR SUGAR FREE | |
 | USD 1.29 (3 Bids) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-06 04:00:20 |
| Xlear Nasal Spray w/ Xylitol - 3 PACK | |
 | USD 15.99 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-06 20:47:30 |
| 144 SMINT WITH XYLITOL DENTAL MINT FLAVOR SUGAR FREE | |
 | USD 7.16 (5 Bids) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-06 04:00:28 |
| XYLITOL 75 Packtes Box, Now Foods, Sweetener | |
 | USD 6.17 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-10 07:49:46 |
| 5 Pks Stevia Chewing Gum Cinnamon Sugar Free Xylitol | |
 | USD 9.95 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-05 21:30:56 |
| 12 SMINT WITH XYLITOL DENTAL MINT FLAVOR SUGAR FREE | |
 | USD 1.04 (2 Bids) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-07 04:00:35 |
| Hard Rhino Xylitol Powder 22 Lbs. 10 KILOS | |
 | USD 119.99 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-08 23:56:50 |
Vitamin Water – You’re a Friggin’ Liar!!
So, since I’ve been losing weight I’ve been trying to drink less diet pop. That means for me, a lot of water, sugar free kool-aid, sugar free lemonaid – and lately I’ve been trying to buy “Vitamin Water” for something new and an alternative to soda.
One day I was in the carry-out and I saw this Vitamin Water, and I read the label. 50 calories and 13 grams of sugar. I drank it and life was good. The next day I tried another flavor. For 3-4 days I had a Vitamin Water and a banana. I figured this was much better than the diet pepsi and hot dog I used to occasionally get.
We saw a report awhile back on TV that said all the water and fruit drinks that were now the rage at the gym actually hurt you because they had a few hundred calories, and pretty much defeated the purpose of working out in the first place – because you’d have to exercise a couple hours to burn the calories from that water off. Talk about canceling out your own workout!
So when I was in the store I naturally checked the label to make sure Vitamin Water wasn’t like those other evil waters and fruity drinks. Like I said, 50 calories and 13 grams of sugar. Then….today I came home with Vitamin Water in my hand – and my wife grabbed it. She said “this has 125 calories and 32 grams of sugar!“.
My jaw dropped….whaaaat?!? Yeah, it says that this (20 oz bottle) is 2.5 SERVINGS! So, when you buy a 20 oz pop, that’s ONE serving, but if you get a 20 oz Vitamin water, all the sudden (it’s so filling) that it’s 2.5 servings?!? Talk about label manipulation to get people to buy something AND make them feel good about i!
Screw you Vitamin Water – you lied to me, and I will never buy you again! You may as well have been selling me a fake Rolex on the street corner!!
22 pounds lost in one month
It’s been a month since I started this diet blog, and in the last 30 days I’ve lost 22 pounds. That’s not bad since I haven’t exercised one second (shame on me!) and that’s an average of 5.5 lbs per week. I haven’t posted a lot (or as much as I should have) on this blog about what I’ve been doing, but the post I HAVE made to indicate the framework.
I wrote a diet plan (that included a meal plan), a found healthy recipes to use, I replaced junk food with healthy snacks, and I found a better sugar free substitute. I’ve been trying to cut down how much pop I drink, and I think I’ve done that by about half maybe. Now I drink 2 – 20 oz diet pops per day, and I was up to 2+ 2 liters per day or more.
I cut down the amount of red meat I eat by 80-90%, I have no cookies or snacks in the house, and only occasional “sugar free” snacks. Mostly I snack on cucumber, grapes, strawberries, bananas, occasional sugar free ice cream bars or fudgesicles, a few pretzels, sugar free kool-aid or lemonade, and that’s about it.
Each morning I have granola cereal (sometimes with fruit), I drink a few cups of water everyday, and I’ve replaced some things with healthier alternatives (like regular pasta for wheat pasta).
I’ve gone from a size 44 inch waist, to just about 41 inches now, I just barely too big for the size 40 pants in my closet. I anticipate that the next part will be much harder, because the first month and first bit of weight are ALWAYS the easiest to get off. It’s water weight and the initial garbage in your body from eating bad. After 15-20 lbs EVERYONE I’ve ever known hits a wall where they don’t lose as much and it takes seemingly forever to get past that hurdle!
The most I ever weighed was like 308 I think, and the lowest I’ve been down to (that I can remember) in the last say 15 years is in the mid 250′s range. At that time I was able to get comfortably into size 40 pants (I know – I still have them, it was just a year ago). But I’ve never gotten down to bottom 250′s – or actually 250 itself. My goal this month is to (somehow) get down to 250 lbs.
That’s only 10 lbs in one month, the goal is half of last month! I may have to just break out the exercise equipment for this one. That’s probably going to be my next post!
Fastest Weight Loss Status – 9 lbs in one week
The first week of this diet I lost 9 lbs! One week ago I was 282 lbs and today I am 273. That’s pretty good I think. I think there were a couple key things that got me started off on the right foot. This first was figuring out what was entailed in creating some kind of a loose diet plan The second was making a shopping list and actually going to the store and buying things that were good for me to eat. When I got home with that food, as I put it away I threw out anything I shouldn’t have – like Doritos, Crackers, Cookies, and any other kind of snacks.
I tried to think about all the the things that made me fail on a diet before. At the top of the list was being hungry all the time coupled closely with having things in the house that I shouldn’t be eating. You see, in my house there are 2 adults, 2 teens, and one baby. At various times all of us have tried to diet before (alone). You really can’t diet alone AND remove the garbage from the house, because the others will still want to eat it…and much like the Godfather – they will “pull you back in” to the old lifestyle of eating crap that isn’t good for you again.
So, I made the decision when I went to the store last week – everyone was eating what I bought and what I made or they wouldn’t be eating at all. Eating healthy is a lifechange – if you don’t change the way your entire household eats, your diet will be a big flop.
When I went to the store a week ago I bought about $165 of groceries. I think around $50 of that might have been fruits and veggies. I tried to make sure I have good things for breakfast (granola, skim milk, bagels, fat free butter spray, 100 cal English muffins, sugar free grape jelly), in addition to things for lunch (frozen lean cuisine dinners, lean lunch meat, 80 cal per slice wheat bread), and lots of things that I could just grab and eat. I am an eater, which is why I’m fat in the first place. I like to eat all day, and all night until just before I go to ged some nights. My stomach is used to being full ALL the time – I haven’t known the feeling of it being empty for years. So my goal was to have things I could stuff it with AND be successful on a diet.
Snacks I recommend for the first week of a diet…
- Bananas
- Strawberries
- Grapes
- Apples
- Nuts (unsalted or sugared Pecans, Almonds, Walnuts, etc.)
- Pumpkin Seeds
- Low-fat Cottage Cheese
- Fat Free Cheese slices
- Fat Free Low Sugar Granola
- Sugar Free Jello
- Baby Carrots
- Cucumber Slices
All those foods have gotten me through this week. Pay attention to the fact that I don’t have anything on that list that resembles any kinds of “chip” or “cracker”. I don’t care if there are “fat free”, “sugar free” cookies or chips – they still aren’t good for you (because of all the crap in them) AND they keep you in the mindset that cookies and chips are OK TO EAT! How easy is it to switch from those to real oreos and Cheez Its? If you start your first week out right by eating fruits and vegetables – you will start to change your mindset and lifestyle regarding what is good food and what is not. The key to fast weight loss (in my opinion) is to eat everything fresh you can and stay as far as you can away from processed foods as long as possible.
Besides food shopping and snacks, during my first week of dieting my goal was to keep my stomach feeling full and eat good food. Most of my snacks were fruits. Before most meals I ate raw veggies or a salad with tons of different vegetables. If I grabbed a handful of nuts from time to time. I cut my diet pop intake (diet Pepsi) down from 1-2 entire 2 liters per day to about one 20 oz bottle. I drank more water, sugar free lemonade, and fat free milk. Two or three meals in the last week have been completely vegetarian with no meat. I did eat one for lunch at work this week, but only ONE day instead of the usual FIVE.
Now, a week later I don’t even think a burger and fried for lunch sounds good. Today I didn’t take my lunch, so on my lunchbreak I went to the supermarket down the road and bought one pound of strawberries and 2 bananas. I ate the strawberries and one banana for lunch – the other banana on the way home. It was a great all natural, healthy, no fat at all, lunch that filled me up and kept me full for hours.
I have some posts coming up with more about what I’ve been eating and what I’ve been learning about healthy foods. I’m sure I won’t be losing this much weight ever week, because I’m not exercising (yet) at all. The first few weeks you can lose so much water weight too – then it gets a lot harder to lose consistent numbers. The reason I haven’t worked out yet is because I knew I would feel like crap cutting waaaay down on the diet pop and the usual fatty foods I was used too. You would think cutting those out you would feel immediately better, but you have some “withdrawal” effects I think from eating fast food for lunch every day and massive amounts of diet pop with Nutrasweet. In the last week I’ve been dizzy at times, my mind felt “blurry” or “foggy” at others, I just couldn’t focus worth a damn – and I’ve also been edgy, moody, nervous, and who knows what else. Whether that’s my bloodsugar leveling or toxins leaving my body I don’t know – but it seems to be getting better now.
Wish me luck!
Welcome!
Welcome to Fastest Weight Loss Diet! We’ve been trying to lose weight for years – haven’t you? I know I’ve lost hundreds of pounds over the years, and I’ve gained hundreds of pounds back. I’ve tried a lot of wacky diet programs, I’ve bought thousands of supplements, I have dozens of recipe books – all for the “<b>fastest weight loss diet</b>”! It’s the holy grail, the one thing that we never seem to find…a diet that gets the weight off and keeps it off! This weight loss blog will not only detail all the crazy things we’ve tried in the past, but also document things we’re trying now to lose weight (and whether they work or not). Subscribe to our feed now – you’ll be glad you did!
