Shadowing Practice: How I Lost 15 Pounds | 10 Easy Diet Tips - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Hi everyone, it's your girl Jen and today I am finally filming the how I lost weight video.
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If I'm going to be completely honest,
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I kind of put this video off because I know diet and nutrition can be a very controversial topic online.
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First off, I am not a dietitian, I am not a nutritionist,
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I just literally used these tips that I'm about to share with you and I lost weight.
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I can't guarantee that it's gonna work for you because everyone's body is unique and Some bodies just react differently
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All I know is that these tips have helped me lose weight
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and that's all I can claim so now that's out of the way
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Let me just give you some stats about my bod
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Last year in 2016 I was the heaviest I ever was I was 120 pounds
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and for my frame that really showed and now today in 2017 I am 100 to 105 pounds.
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This took a full year to lose the weight, so please do not expect this to happen overnight.
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It is a gradual process.
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The only advice I can give you is to start today.
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Start on your next meal and don't look back.
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So I'm gonna run down the 10 tips that have contributed to my weight loss.
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A lot of it is common sense, but sometimes you just need a little refresher.
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My first tip is to find healthy foods that you actually love eating.
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It's not realistic to have a salad for every single meal for the rest of your life.
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It's just unattainable go out there and go on a food tour
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Find the healthy foods that you just freaking love eating
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and create a list so throughout the years I've learned
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that I love broccoli green beans mushrooms tofu I can eat so much of that and never get sick of it
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Don't force yourself to eat that dry kale salad if you don't like dry kale
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And I don't go out of my way to eat healthy foods
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that I don't like for example I don't like cucumbers and I don't like tomatoes.
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And I don't force myself to eat it just because it's healthy.
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I just avoid them and eat other healthy foods.
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And it's really worked out well for me.
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So go out there, create a list, and stick to it.
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The second tip is very important.
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It is to have no distractions while you're eating.
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I know it's like second nature at this point to get your hot pile of food, turn on the TV or laptop,
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and just tune out and eat.
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Your brain takes around 20 minutes to realize that it's full.
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And when you're not paying attention to your body, you don't know when that time comes.
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And I've noticed that whenever I watch something and I'm eating, I tend to eat even more and even faster.
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And a lot of times, I'm finished with my food but the show's still going,
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so I'll go back and get seconds just so I can let the good times roll.
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But if you wanna lose weight, it's easier to know what your body is saying to you when everything is off.
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I always try and stop eating right when I get to the sweet spot, and that is the spot where I'm not hungry anymore,
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but I'm not like completely full like it's that really nice in between
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and I feel like I feel like the Japanese have a word for it
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But I don't know like that's that's the that's where I try
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and stop eating and that's really helped me maintain my figure and It's tricky believe me
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It's really hard to get that spot because it's so tempting to just eat until like your stomach's like oh god
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No, like that's where I used to love being it's been easier to maintain my weight
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because I'm not over over -indulging and over -eating.
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This next tip is something that I've been using since college and it's to have smaller plates and bowls.
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So if you look in our shelves, you'll notice that we have two sizes.
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We've got a normal big one for Ben and we've got a smaller one for me.
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We've nicknamed it the baby plate because it's just little.
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And yeah, when I have a bigger plate, I tend to wanna over -portion myself.
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I wanna cram and fill the plate.
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So with the smaller plate, I can still cram all the food in but it's actually the perfect portion for me.
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Tip number four is to get a water bottle.
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I feel like drinking water is one of the most common diet tips, but it's so true.
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When you are hydrated, you're not really that hungry.
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And for me, I love having my sippy cup because this makes me drink so much water throughout the day.
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And it's the Camelback specifically.
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I love the bite valve and I love to have to suck the water in.
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I go through maybe three or four bottles of this a day.
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And so I make sure that I'm very hydrated.
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Whenever you have a craving, chances are you're just dehydrated or you're bored.
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And so whenever I have like a hankering for some chips or like any sort of like snack or something,
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I will chug half a bottle of this and I'll wait 15 minutes and if I'm still hungry, then I'll go have a snack.
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But most of the time after I drink it, I'm completely fine and I can wait till my next meal.
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I also should mention that I don't drink any juices, I don't drink any soda or like milk.
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I only stick to water, unsweetened tea, black coffee, and like soda water.
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That's pretty much it.
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My favorite is La Croix.
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It is so delicious.
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It has zero calories and it just gives you that carbonated kick if you are missing it.
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My fifth tip is to never skip any meals, especially breakfast.
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I feel like I have kind of programmed my body to just like wake up hungry, so I always, always have breakfast.
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Like there's a reason why it's called the most important meal of the day.
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It's because it kicks off your metabolism.
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And I've noticed that when I skip like breakfast, By the next meal, I am so hungry, I end up making really stupid food decisions.
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So I'll just like end up overeating or I'll order something like really gnarly, like nachos or something.
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It's easier to make mindful food choices when your body is not starving.
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Personally, I only eat three meals a day.
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I know some people like to have four to five smaller meals a day,
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but for me, it's just too much effort to think of like that many meals to eat,
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so I like to keep it simple, breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
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For my breakfast, that's when I have most of my carbs.
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I'll have beans on toast or I'll have an egg wrap.
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For lunch, I can treat myself, I'll have a sandwich, a burger, whatever.
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But for dinner, that's when I'm kind of the most strict.
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When I was at my most motivated to lose weight, for dinner I would never have any refined carbohydrates.
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So I wouldn't have any pasta, I wouldn't have big fried rice dishes.
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I would probably stick to veggies and a protein and that's it for dinner.
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And then for breakfast, I'll have my carbs.
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This next tip is something that I really struggled with when I first moved back to LA in 2015,
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I was eating out at restaurants all the time and I was ordering Postmates all the time.
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When you go to restaurants, even if you order the healthy dish, you don't actually know what the restaurant's putting into it.
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Sure, there's like a list of ingredients, but you don't know how much butter they put, you don't know how much oil they put, or MSG.
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The restaurant's objective is to make the food taste as good as possible and keep you coming back.
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And it's a business, so it makes sense.
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So that's why it's just easier to just cook your own meal, you know exactly what you put in it.
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And I know it's like easy to say like, oh, I'm not a good cook, I can't cook, but you just need to cook three recipes.
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Learn how to make three healthy recipes and then you can build from there.
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It's impossible to just completely avoid restaurants for the rest of your life, it's not gonna happen.
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So when I do eat out, I like to have a balance.
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So I have this rule called the two rule.
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So I'll either pick an appetizer, an entree, or an entree and a dessert.
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I'll never get all three, or if I do get all three, It's like you know a special occasion,
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but yeah, you don't need all three you don't need an appetizer entree and dessert
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That's just you know, that's you know, that's the full package
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You just need two tip number seven is to reduce your alcohol intake
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when I was at my heaviest I was probably drinking maybe two
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or three times a week and it definitely showed there's a lot of empty calories and alcohol
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And the problem with me was I would always have drenchies
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when I would come home drunk I would just open up my cupboard, make a snack, throw it in the microwave,
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and I would just eat all of it to soak up the alcohol and then go to sleep.
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But, I mean, I don't even know if that's scientifically proven, but basically I would eat all that shit
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and then I would wake up the next morning hungover and I would always order my burrito.
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Yeah, it was like a vicious cycle.
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Obviously I still drink, I like to go out and have a good time, but I only drink once a week now.
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If I'm gonna drink more than once a week, then I'll only have one drink, that's it and every time I go out,
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I only have a vodka soda with fresh lime, that is my favorite drink of choice.
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Ben and I call it the Skinny Mini because it only has the calories of the vodka.
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Like, and I think a shot of vodka is what, like 100 calories?
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And that's it.
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This next tip is about snacking.
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I don't keep any snacks that tempt me in my house
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because I'm the type of person where if I have like hot cheeto fries or just any form of hot cheetos,
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I have to eat the bag.
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It's kind of like calling my name as I'm just like in the house.
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So I just like to cut the temptation and not have any of it in my house.
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If I really, really want them, then I'll have to get off my ass and go buy them.
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But if they're not in the house, then I'm not thinking about it.
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So I know I've been blabbing a lot about food and diet, so I'm gonna talk about the next obvious thing, which is exercise.
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I like to exercise around three to five times a week, and when I was training super hard, I was going five times a week.
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And that, in combination with all the tips that I said, like made me really shredded.
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Like for the first two months, like a lot of that weight came off because of those.
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I know the ratio is something like 80 % diet and 20 % fitness, but when you put the exercise in,
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that 20 % goes a long way.
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And when you are just combining both those forces, a lot of it just melts off.
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So it's really important to find a form of exercise that you hate the least.
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So whether it is kickboxing, Pilates, swimming, running, whatever, for me, it is to train alone.
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I love going to the gym by myself.
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It's become my own little sanctuary.
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Each of my workouts are around 50 minutes long.
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I am obsessed with this app called Seconds.
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I have talked about it in a previous video.
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It's basically like my little personal trainer.
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So I like to start off with 20 minutes of cardio.
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I'll use my high intensity interval training workout.
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So I'll be on the StairMaster for five minutes just walking normally, and then I'll run on the StairMaster for 30 seconds,
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and then I'll walk again for a minute and 30 seconds, and then I'll run again for 30 seconds.
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And I'll do this six times
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and then I'll cool off with five minutes of walking on the Stairmaster
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And by the end of this I am literally drenched in sweat and now I am ready for my strength training
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For my 30 minutes of strength training, I won't get too into it,
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but I basically have created a bunch of playlists that work different parts of my body out.
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So I have three full body workouts.
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I have one for the waist, one for the abs and arms.
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It all depends.
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I feel like I'm just going to do a separate video on that workout because if I incorporated that into this video,
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I feel like it'd be way too long.
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So be prepared for my workout video in the future.
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These days, I only work out three times a week.
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It's because I'm not trying to lose any weight.
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I'm only trying to maintain the body I have right now.
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I'm really happy with my weight and I'm not trying to change anything.
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I've noticed that since I've been doing the strength training and the weights, it's been easier to just keep my body the way it is.
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My last tip is to find motivation that really resonates with you.
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Back in the day, I feel like a lot of my weight loss inspiration was quite superficial.
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It was just about like, I wanna be skinny for my birthday or I wanna be skinny for Coachella.
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Once I found a deeper reason of why I wanted to be fit, it just propelled me to stay in shape.
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The reason why I exercise and I tried my best to stay in shape is for my mental health.
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I've noticed that back in the day when I wasn't working out consistently, I had a lot more breakdowns, I had a lot of meltdowns,
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and I was just very sensitive to stress.
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Now that I work out three to five times a week, I don't really have that issue that much anymore,
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like I'm not perfect, but I am so much better than how I was last year.
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Some days I just wake up and I am just bummed.
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But before I would just kind of be bummed and just let it be like a sad day.
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Now if I'm feeling sad or I'm feeling anxious or stressed,
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I hit the gym because 95 % of the time I come back after a workout and I feel better.
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Ben is the most important person in my life and he lives with me.
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And I hated being the Debbie Downer.
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Ben is generally a super positive person and having a bad attitude is just
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so contagious and I hated bringing him down and so I knew
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that this is something that I really needed to work on and exercise has helped me so much.
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So find a reason that really sticks with you, whether it's because you wanna be stronger, you want to be able to lift something,
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whether you wanna run a marathon or you wanna have inner peace with yourself.
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Once you find a deeper goal, it's easier to stick with it.
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All right, guys, those are my top 10 tips on how I lost weight.
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Honestly, the first month is the hardest, I swear, But once you pass that hurdle, it's all downhill from there
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And then once you start seeing like physical changes in your body and once like pants started to feel loose
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Then it becomes even easier
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if you'd like to leave any diet tips in the comments down below or words of encouragement I'd love to hear them.
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I just want this to be like a positive
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Place for people to talk about fitness and nutrition if there's something that you don't agree with me
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It would be awesome if you just said it in a constructive way as opposed to a way of just attacking me
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My point is not to shame people into losing weight
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It's just for the people that need that extra kick to want to live a healthier lifestyle
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So I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your day.
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Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you guys in the next one
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Bye Thank
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you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “How I Lost 15 Pounds”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: tip, weight, eat. This video has 201 sentences and 2822 words to shadow. The speech runs for 13:16. The speaker talks fast, about 213 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 82% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| meal noun | /ˈmiːl/ | Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time, and usually in a comparatively large quantity. |
| workout noun | /ˈwɝk.aʊ̯t/ | An exercise session; a period of physical exercise. |
| hungry adjective | /ˈhʌŋ.ɡɹi/ | Affected by hunger; having the physical need for food. |
| snack noun | /snæk/ | A light meal. |
| calorie noun | /ˈkæləɹi/ | A non-SI unit of energy, equivalent to 4.184 kilojoules, that can raise the temperature of a kilogram of water by one degree Celsius. This is the unit normally… |
| soda noun | /ˈsoʊdə/ | Sodium bicarbonate. |
| skinny adjective | /ˈskɪni/ | Thin, generally in a negative sense (as opposed to slim, which is thin in a positive sense). |
| vodka noun | /ˈvɑdkə/ | A clear distilled alcoholic liquor made from grain mash. |
| fitness noun | /ˈfɪt.nəs/ | The condition of being fit, suitable or appropriate. |
| pound noun | /ˈpaʊ̯nd/ | A unit of weight in various measurement systems. |
| recipe noun | /ˈɹɛs.ɪ.pi/ | Any set of instructions for preparing a mixture of ingredients. |
| dish noun | /dɪʃ/ | A vessel such as a plate for holding or serving food, often flat with a depressed region in the middle. |
| skip verb | /skɪp/ | To move by hopping on alternate feet. |
| salad noun | /ˈsæl.əd/ | A food consisting principally of raw vegetables (especially greens, e.g. lettuce), other savoury ingredients (typically cooked), fruit, or confectionary; often… |
| nutrition noun | /njuːˈtɹɪʃ.ən/ | The organic process by which an organism assimilates food and uses it for growth and maintenance. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| go out verb | To leave, especially a building. | |
| work out verb | /ˌwɝk ˈaʊt/ | To calculate. |
| wake up verb | /ˌweɪk ˈʌp/ | To stop sleeping; to awake. |
| come back verb | To return to a place. | |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. | |
| come off verb | To become detached. | |
| get off verb | To move from being on top of (something) to not being on top of it. | |
| go back verb | To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Start on your next meal and don't look back.
- It is to have no distractions while you're eating.
- When you are hydrated, you're not really that hungry.
- It's because it kicks off your metabolism.
- It's become my own little sanctuary.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | I've been using · I've been blabbing · I've been doing |
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | if you look in our shelves, you'll notice · if I'm still hungry, then I'll go |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have helped · have contributed · I've learned |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | are hydrated · be bummed |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 108 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, I'll. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: dish /dɪʃ/, nutrition /njuːˈtɹɪʃ.ən/, inspiration /ˌɪn.spɪˈɹeɪ.ʃən/, occasion /əˈkeɪ̯ʒən/, ratio /ˈɹeɪ.ʃoʊ/
- Long words — get the stress right: inspiration /ˌɪn.spɪˈɹeɪ.ʃən/, consistently /kənˈsɪstəntli/, controversial /ˌkɑn.tɹəˈvɝ.ʃəl/, differently /ˈdɪf.ə.ɹənt.li/, motivation /ˈmoʊ.tə.veɪ.ʃən/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like meal, workout, hungry.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.