My Weight Loss Journey Part One
For as long as I can remember, I have always struggled with my weight. As most teenage girls, I was very self-conscious, and I always thought I was “fat”. Even though looking back, I was far from it. And I saw a post on instagram one day that said “I wish I weighed what I weighed when I first thought I was fat”. So much truth in that statement. I was never skinny or even super small, but I was healthy.
Then I went to college and did what most kids do, gain weight. It wasn’t astronomical, but it did add up for sure. It really increased when I moved out of the dorms. We literally ate junk all the time. It was cheap and easy.
It became worse after college when I lived on my own after getting my first job. I wasn’t very conscious of the way I ate and how it impacted my weight. I did fad diets all the time, but nothing ever work or even stuck. I tried Weight Watchers, NutriSystem, etc. But nothing really helped. Sure I would lose weight, but the moment I had a bad day, I gave up. It was literally the story of my life and my weight struggle.
Then I got married. I am certain both Brad and I gained a lot of weight after marriage. We ate out a lot, and I also cooked a lot. We ate desserts often, and we just enjoyed life as newlyweds. The last thing on my mind for the most part was my weight gain. Sure I still compared myself to others and was still very self-conscious, but I never did anything about it.
And then I got pregnant. I gained at most 15 pounds while pregnant. I did very well and while I ate a lot of Taco Bell (Brad can testify that, ha), I maintained my weight gain. I was really proud of myself. And honestly, I am certain I lost those 15 pounds not long after having Melody because I was so busy and breastfed.
Fast-forward about 3 months after Melody was born, and life was still being adjusted constantly. We ate out a lot, I still cooked a lot, we still ate desserts a lot, and we lived life, but there was no time for exercise, and I was highly sedentary. I always found excuses to keep me from being active. Even when Melody became mobile, it wasn’t like I was literally chasing her all over. And my weight really got out of control.
In July I really thought I had decided to lose weight. I took “before” pictures, but they look awful because I did them myself. I felt like if I had Brad doing them that was too much commitment to losing weight. I even bought a Zumba set of DVDs on Amazon Prime Day because it was a good deal. I was at my all time high in the weight department {I am still not comfortable sharing that number yet…}, and I really thought that would motivate me. But it didn’t. I don’t think I even did the DVDs once.
Then I saw my cousin and her weight loss journey. She started getting healthier back in July 2017, and since then she has lost 90 pounds. I don’t see her often at all (she lives across the country), but her pictures were crazy to see. Before and afters were truly amazing. But my mindset was that could never really be me. I give up too easy.
Well in October something just hit me. I am not sure if it was my trip to Disney in September and how awful I felt in everything I wore and pictures, or what. But on October 8th I started my journey and haven’t really looked back. Even on days I wanted to give up, I kept trucking. I had some really bad days, sometimes weeks, but I didn’t let my few pound weight gain discourage me.
I use the app called Lose It. I have had this app for a long time, so I decided to restart my “program” on it. Instead of setting a long term goal, like I usually did, I set a short term goal. Part of my frustration with losing weight was seeing that date be a year or so away. So by setting a short term goal, I would accomplish it in a few months instead. Then I can start over with another small goal until I reach my overall goal. I set a goal of losing 30 pounds. I set the restriction to lose 2 pounds a week. This would help the app determine my calories.
For the first month I really just focused on my eating habits. I knew if I did too much change I would quit. Sure I could potentially lose the 30 pounds faster, but I also didn’t want to become discouraged either. I ate chips, fast food, and chocolate, but I made sure I was almost always under calories. Of course I wasn’t perfect and had bad days. But I just kept going. By just keeping under calories, I lost 10.8 pounds from October 8 to November 1. That was big for me, and I was super excited. Of course part of that is the shock to your body after cutting back SO many calories.
In November, I decided to add some exercise to the equation, so I pulled out those Zumba DVDs. I only exercised 3-4 days a week at most. I didn’t want to overwhelm myself and adding too much would cause a huge schedule shift. November also proved to be hard because of Thanksgiving. It was a big struggle, but eventually I just quite trying to stay under during those few days visiting family because I was literally making myself sick by doing that. I actually found that when I stopped stressing during those days, I gained less weight because I didn’t feel as bad. From November 1 to November 30 I lost 6 pounds. While this wasn’t as good as October, with Thanksgiving in the question, I semi-expected a lower number.
In December, I added more exercise. I decided I could handle exercising 6 days a week. Brad was off most of December, so that helped with scheduling exercise and such. I still continued on my Zumba path too. Even with all of the added exercise, December was really hard. I only lost 2.6 pounds over the entire month. We traveled a lot with it being the holidays. We went to Opryland, then we traveled a lot for Christmas in general. This caused me to overeat a lot more than I would have liked, and I really struggled to continue on the path of losing and not gaining. It was really frustrating too, but I was really determined to hit that 30 pound mark. So I didn’t give up yet.
I decided to exercise 7 days a week in January. I found on my rest day (Sunday), I would usually gain weight. So I decided to do a small workout that day just to keep my body moving. I also decided to limit my carbs. I didn’t want to do anything extreme, so I just limited them to the normal carbs recommended a day which is 130g. This added some more work when I meal planned, but that is where my Lose It app really came in handy. I upgraded to premium in December, and it will let me track my carbs. It will also let me plan ahead meals. So when I meal planned, I added the meals into the app so that I could easily track my carbs and calories. I also received a Fitbit Alta HR for Christmas. Then I received a new Apple Watch for my birthday. So all of those things helped keep me on track too. This really paid off because I hit my goal on January 31. I lost 12 pounds!
When I set the goal of 30 pounds, I was hoping I would meet this goal before our Disney trip in February. It was short term enough that I felt like it was an achievable goal and time frame. There were many times I wanted to quit, but I just kept going. Overall I do have more energy and feel better. I plan to set another goal of 30 pounds. And I am hoping to accomplish it by Melody’s birthday, May 25.
I have lost 33.8 pounds from the time at my heaviest in July until January 31. I also lost around 20 Inches. I did not measure every part of my body, and I am not sure I measured myself perfectly, but I still lost some!
Below are the before and after pictures I took to celebrate this first 30 pounds gone…oh and my reward was a haircut!
