It’s almost exactly one year since I officially began losing weight, and yesterday I achieved my final goal weight! I realized when I was thinking about having lost 62 lbs that that’s about what my dog weighs, and god knows that feels like a whole lot when I have to pick her up when she refuses to jump into the car! I can’t believe I used to walk around with all that extra weight all the time. I distinctly remember, many years ago during one of my failed weight loss attempts as a teenager, getting off the treadmill panting my ass off, and having the realization: “I’m never actually going to do this. I’ll keep convincing myself I can, and I’ll try over and over, but realistically, it’s never actually going to happen.” I am so, so glad I was wrong.
Progress pics: https://imgur.com/a/CYlv1ir
And, my dog (because I know better than to forgo the dog tax): https://imgur.com/a/Al8bRqW
I’m happy to give more detail of how I did it in the comments if it would be helpful to anyone, but I mostly just count calories. I’m working out now to build muscle and because I enjoy it; for me it’s much more of something to make me feel good and happy than to help me lose weight. But that brings me to my first tip:
- Do what works for you. Weight loss is very individual. If you can’t sustainably keep to a lower calorie budget, then try a bit of a higher one. If exercise helps you lose, then do that. If you hate exercise, don’t do it. What works can even vary for one person across the course of their weight loss - for me, at the beginning of this I cut out snacking completely and didn’t eat breakfast, and now I have breakfast and a bunch of little snacks spread out throughout the afternoon. It’s totally okay to experiment with different things until you find what works for you.
- Planning is key. I found that the times I was most likely to slip up were when I was faced with unexpected changes, or decisions in the moment. If I didn’t have anything to eat for dinner, it was much easier to fall back on old habits than to make a healthy decision right there and then. But if I knew what I was going to eat each day, I just followed that plan. Same thing for treats or eating out- if I knew I was going to, I could work it into my calorie budget and feel absolutely fine about eating it.
- The first few months and the last few pounds are the hardest. I found that after the first 2-3 months, it really just became an ingrained habit, part of my routine, enough that it didn’t take as much effort and self-control as before. If you’re struggling in the beginning, know that it won’t always feel that hard. And the last few pounds have been sooo stubborn- I got down to 145 in 8 months, and it’s taken me 4 to get the last 10 pounds off. It can be frustrating. Just keep at it, you’ll get there.
- Weight loss needs to fit into your whole life, not just your life when it’s ideal. Things that happened during the course of my weight loss: Knee surgery, moving to a new state, starting grad school, being home for the holidays for a month, my best friends’ wedding, a trip to Amsterdam – you get the picture. Weight loss is easiest when you can focus on it, when it’s the only thing in your life that’s different from your routine. But in order to be sustainable, you have to accept that life is going to keep happening, and weight loss needs to be compatible with it. Things aren’t going to be perfect, but you can keep trying – accept that you might only maintain over the holidays, allow yourself to still enjoy celebrations, but maintain control and remember that this is a whole new lifestyle, not a temporary fix.
You can absolutely do this. If you ever find yourself thinking like I did as a teenager, remember that this is entirely within your control, and that there are lots of people just like you who did it and are now here to cheer you on. Lots of love <3
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