A woman who lost 159 pounds shared how her diet changed before and after

Swapping freezer fries for potatoes

Kirkeland said she hasn’t changed her breakfast habits much. Most days, she eats two pieces of whole-grain bread with cottage cheese and low-sugar jam, whereas she previously had the bread with cheese and salami.

At lunchtime, Kirkeland would often buy salads in the work canteen that were heavy on the dressing. Now, she tends to cook at home and take in her own lunches, such as a chicken salad or an omelet.

Dinnertime is where Kirkeland has made the biggest change, she said. Her portion sizes used to be “way out of control,” and she would mostly eat foods from her freezer like large pizzas or half a big bag of fries, she said.

Kirkeland said she’s always preferred lean meats like chicken over cuts like steak, but if she bought ground beef, for example, she used to buy the higher fat pack whereas now she buys the leaner version, she said.

Vegetables made rare appearances on Kirkeland’s dinner plates before she lost weight, whereas now she eats a lot, often alongside lean meats or fish, and potatoes rather than fries.

“I feel like potatoes have been demonized throughout my youth and I’ve just come to the conclusion that is some sort of weird thing from diet culture because potatoes are great,” she said. “They’re not very calorically dense, they’re very filling, they’re very satiating, and they’re so nutrient-rich. I love potatoes. I eat them for almost every dinner I have.”

Small snacks make portion control easier

Kirkeland said she still enjoys something sweet after dinner but tends to buy pre-portioned snacks, like a bag of mini chocolate bars. She used to snack a lot more throughout the day and would often eat a large chocolate bar in one go.

“I felt like I couldn’t have any chips or chocolates in the house because I would always just binge on them between meals or eat to the point where I would replace meals with them. I’d eat a whole bag of chips as a meal, especially on the weekends when I didn’t have work,” she said.

Kirkeland now has the approach of “take what you want but add what you need,” so she might have a small portion of chips but alongside other foods to make a more nutritionally balanced and satiating meal, she said.