How I lost weight in Morocco

Imagine going on vacation, and when you come back home you actually lost weight. What if you ate more food than usual on your vacation and still lost weight? Think this is impossible? Well, it happened to me. While on vacation 3 years ago I lost weight in Morocco. The method I used wasn’t really that complicated. I just did a lot of simple things. The strange thing is that I didn’t plan to lose weight and I’m still not exactly sure why it worked. I do have some theories which I will try to share with you. I’m going to list everything I did on my vacation and explain why I think this factored in how I lost weight in Morocco.

Here is how I lost weight in Morocco

Let’s take a look at each point in more detail.

• Rented an apartment instead of staying in a hotel
• Purchased my groceries from the souq (Market) every day
• Cooked most days
• Drank a lot of water
• Avoided eating fast food
• Walked at least 5 km every day
• Did burpees, squats, lunges, and pushups in my apartment every other morning
• Drank atay li9ama

Rented an apartment instead of staying in a hotel

The reason why I choose apartments over hotels is that in hotels, I feel really restricted. When I go to another country, especially Morocco, I want to feel like an explorer, discovering new shops and speaking with people close to my apartment. In hotels, I only spoke with taxi drivers and other tourists. If you never rented apartments while vacationing you should really try it. Just find apartments close to the city center so you’re walking distance to all the big sites. I also found prices cheaper than hotel prices and every time I rented, the apartment was nicer than any other hotel I’ve stayed in. If you’re interested in trying an apartment instead of a hotel just click here.

Why I think this helped me lose weight

The problem with hotel rooms is that they don’t come with kitchens. This forces you to go buy food. Some hotel packages have food included but they are always buffet-style and I don’t think the food given is healthy. Staying in an apartment helps me to control the type of food I would consume during my vacation.

Purchased my groceries from the souq (Market) every day

Now that I was staying in an apartment, I had to buy food. At first, I went to a supermarket. This was, after all, how I normally shop for groceries. After speaking with a friend who told me the prices in the souq, I quickly changed to buy my groceries at the souq and my meat at the gazar (butcher shop). I had plenty of time so I bought enough vegetables and meat for 1 day and would buy again the next day. If I had guests coming over I would just buy more.

Why I think this helped me lose weight

The groceries I bought from the souq were fresh. Everyone told me this. Also, I don’t think they have as many preservatives as supermarket food. I think the food not having as many preservatives helped me lose weight.

Cooked most days

Having the apartment allowed me to cook what I wanted. Now I’m not saying I cooked every day, I did go out to eat a few times in the week but mostly I cooked at the apartment. Typically for breakfast, I would have bread and Laughing Cow cheese and fruits (like bananas, strawberries, kiwis and apples). For lunch, I would cook something in the tajine and for dinner, I would do the same. The typical meal consisted of chicken or beef with vegetables. I would use onions, garlic, and ginger, salt, black pepper, cumin, and turmeric in every meal.

Why I think this helped me lose weight

By knowing what I was putting in my body I was able to control what I ate. Eating mostly healthy food (with fewer preservatives) I think allowed my body to digest the food easily.

Drank a lot of water

Because I was on vacation and going out a lot, I got really thirsty so I drank a lot of water. I don’t know the exact amount of water but I would drink those 1.5-liter bottles of water by the afternoon and drank more water in the evening.

Why I think this helped me lose weight

By drinking so much water I think I kept myself half full. So the amount of food I ate was reduced.

Avoided eating fast food

I did go out to eat a few times a week. Most of the time it was to meet friends, although I did go to cafes a few times and ate there. Most of the places I ate at were authentic Moroccan-type restaurants. I didn’t really eat at McDonald’s or other fast-food restaurants. Also when I say restaurants I don’t mean extravagant places, usually, they are small little shops with seating outside or shops at the market (jma3 el Fna).

Why I think this helped me lose weight

I truly believe these small shops I ate at use fresh food, unlike fast-food restaurants. If I eat at a franchise like McDonald’s, I usually don’t feel good after. Also, since I was eating out occasionally the amount of “bad food” was minimal.

Walked at least 5 km every day

I love walking. For me, there is nothing better than discovering new places on foot. Every day I would just leave and walk for hours. A 5 km walk would be a slow day. Most of the time I would walk much more than 5 km, especially if I was traveling to another city or village.

Why I think this helped me lose weight

There are tons of articles on the benefits of walking. I don’t think I need to go into much detail but I will mention this. I find that I lose weight when I walk a minimum of 5 km daily. I think this is my magic number for walking. Maybe for others, this number is different but the 5 km works perfectly for me.

Did burpees, squats, lunges, and pushups in my apartment every other morning

In addition to walking, I was also doing some exercises in the morning. I actually considered joining a gym, but after speaking to one of the salespeople, she wanted me to pay about 2500 MAD per month. That is about $250. I think the membership I have right now is less than $250 for the year. So I declined, and just focused on exercising at the apartment. At the time I was a big fan of total body workouts, especially burpees. A friend passed me a workout routine that included burpees and it really intrigued me. The workout goes as follows:

• 20 burpees
• 20 squats
• 20 plank punches
• 12 spider pushups
• 20 jumping lunges

Repeat 5 times

Why I think this helped me lose weight

I don’t think much explanation is needed to explain how 100 burpees and 100 squats will help you to lose weight. In addition to this, I also used some resistance tubes on alternate days.

Drank atay li9ama

The last thing I did was drink this tea called li9ama. I don’t know what it is really, but it is mixed with mint leaves and some other leaves. I made sure I drank this after dinner and whenever I went to the cafe.

Why I think this helped me lose weight

I don’t really have a sweet tooth but I do enjoy the occasional sweet treat. On this vacation, I didn’t care to eat anything sweet. I think the tea was responsible for this. Also, tea is known to aid in digestion.

So there you have it. My vacation plan on how I lost weight in Morocco. Looking back, I think I overdid it with the exercise, I think the diet and walking were enough to lose weight. My stay was 15 days in Morocco and I mostly stayed in Marrakech.