So after struggling with a chronic illness and letting myself go the last few years, I finally decided to take weight loss seriously this July. I'm F/24/5'0" and my average weight was in the high 127s/low 128s. I'm now weighing in the high 117s/low 118s on average (weighed in at 117.8 today), and I'm in the normal BMI range for my height (was in the lower overweight category before). I look better in clothes. It's a cliche, but my old jeans fit again. Still looking to lose another 2-3 pounds, but I am very happy with my journey and progress so far!
I want to share how I achieved these results with you guys. First, let me just preface this by saying the following is my perspective and opinion and the things that worked for me. Different things work for different people and I want to share what helped me in the hopes that other people similar in mindset, body type, and goals might benefit from them also. If I can help motivate even one person, especially going into this new year/decade, I'll be happy. It is possible. You can do it. So without further ado, here are my top 8 tips:
1. Educate yourself. Discover how fitness works. Real fitness. Not Instagram fitness. Not crash diets. Not magic supplements. Not the promise of losing 10 pounds in 2 days. Learn about BMR. TDEE. Body weight vs. body fat percentage. Nutrition. Calories. Safe and sustainable exercise. Diets vs. a lifestyle change and a way of eating. I learned about all of this and more before even entertaining the idea of a fat loss plan.
2. Set reasonable goals. Figure out a desirable end goal for yourself and then break it down into steps. Adjust as needed. Don't spend too much time on planning though--that will distract you from actually doing the work. I see too many people that feel like once they've figured out a plan, their work is done. It's not. Once a plan is in place, it's only just the beginning.
3. Develop your own sustainable diet/lifestyle. Another thing I see is people trying to follow others' diet plans and most of the time, it doesn't work out. We all live and eat differently, and you are not the same as anyone else. You will have to figure out what works for your lifestyle, your tastes, your budget, etc. Because in the end, the thing that will most likely end up working for you is the thing you can stick with. Make tweaks to things you already do and eat. Which brings me to my next point.
4. Portion control. Three foods were basically my extra calorie intake every day: Milk, Cheez-Its, and peanut butter. I knew peanut butter was nutritious, but I didn’t realize just how high in calories it was. Same with milk (changed when I started educating myself about exactly what I was putting in my mouth every day). In the past, I would also often overeat because I would wait until I was super hungry and then put too much on my plate, eat really fast, and keep eating until I felt overfull instead of at the first sign of feeling full. I never logged what I was eating normally before I started cutting calories, but I estimate it would probably be around 1700-1900 daily. I'm sedentary. I don't need to consume that much energy. By slightly lowering the quantity of each food I regularly eat, I was easily able to cut 300-500 calories daily.
5. Hold yourself accountable. It’s great to have support, but ultimately, YOU are the one making the change and you need to hold yourself accountable. Actually count calories. No BS. Unless behaviors like tracking are unhealthy for you, get yourself an app like LoseIt! or MyFitnessPal and track honestly. Log everything and I mean everything that goes into your stomach. Don't cheat. This is also an easy way to educate yourself what foods have what calories, what sodium, what protein, etc. Above all, stick to your goals.
6. Weigh yourself and your food. Get a normal scale as well as a food scale. I found it useful to weigh myself every day. Not for fluctuations of fat, because body fat does not fluctuate that fast, but to see how my total weight fluctuates naturally and track the patterns to have a full graph day to day for my LoseIt! app. For me, I've found that the data helps me to NOT obsess over the daily numbers and realize that weight and body fat are two very different things. Water, digestive waste, cycle fluctuations if you have female reproductive organs, etc. all play a part in daily fluctuations, and by learning what the number on the scale actually meant, I found that it did wonders for my mental perspectives on my weight and fitness.
7. Figure out how much food you actually NEED. Okay, I feel like this one is a bit tricky to articulate correctly. I’m not saying don’t eat or intentionally starve yourself. But I was reading something the other day and someone said it’s like we’re afraid to be hungry nowadays. That as soon as we feel the slightest bit hungry, our reaction is like, “OMG, I need to eat right now!” I agree. Unless you have a disorder or severe hypoglycemia, most of us can wait a little bit to eat. Even if it's just an hour. We don't NEED to eat right away. We don't NEED a bunch of extra food to survive. When I'm having a craving for food, I walk away and promise myself I'll wait 1 hour before having it. 9.9 times out of 10, I'll get busy doing something else and the craving passes easily where I don't think about it again. But if I'm really still hungry, I have the option to go back and eat more after just 1 hour. It's a way of delaying gratification as well as listening to my body.
8. Look at the big picture. This is perhaps the most important thing that has helped my mental perspective. The big picture is more important than the day-to-day. Keeping this in mind helps me not get caught up in whether I’m having a “bad” day or a good one for that matter. I add up my calories monthly and I check it every week. Some days I eat 1500. Some days I only need 800 or even less. On occasion, I eat 2,000+. As long as I am treating myself and my body well overall, that is what will (and has) given me my results.
Anyway, those are the things that helped me. You might notice that exercise wasn't mentioned anywhere in my tips. That is one place I'm still falling short on. I live an extremely sedentary lifestyle and while I do exercise occasionally, I know it's not nearly enough to be healthy. I was still able to lose 10 pounds just by adjusting my caloric intake though, and I also know I can't radically change every aspect of my lifestyle in one go. For me to succeed, I have to make gradual changes. I chose to do food first, and I've already seen amazing results. 2020 is the year when I will make a dedicated effort to improve my physical fitness now.
Good luck to all of you out there reading this! Let's make 2020 an amazing year and work hard. Like one of my favorite Youtubers Charlie Gold always says: "Be better today than you were yesterday, and greater tomorrow than you will be today."
Peace and be safe everyone. ♥
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