Almost a year ago, I woke up one day and decided I didn’t want to be fat and miserable anymore. I was a 27-year-old, 5’2” woman, and at the time I weighed 200 pounds. I had gained 50 pounds a few years prior in a matter of months, after my mom was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer when I was 7 months pregnant. I couldn’t cope with all of the impending life changes and turned to food for comfort. I was in the best shape of my life prior to pregnancy, so when it was all said and done, I didn't recognize the body I was in. It was a source of a lot of misery for me, as I'd remembered vividly what it was like to be fit and in shape, and I missed that more than anything.
I had several non-starter attempts to get the weight off over the years and I was determined to set myself up for success this time. In order to do this, I approached the weight loss from a goal-setting mindset (that's all it is, after all). All I had to do was take my one big goal (lose 75 pounds) and break it up into smaller goals. I used a goal-setting technique I learned in business school called SMART goals.
A SMART goal is an acronym that gives you criteria to setting objectives – when setting a goal, try to make it:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-based
So let’s take the smaller goal of “I want to lose one pound a week” – it is specific in the weight lost and the time frame, it is measurable because you can step on a scale and measure it, it is an attainable goal as a pound a week is a good and healthy rate of weight-loss, it is relevant to our overall goal, and it is time-based in that you give yourself one week to reach this goal.
My method of weight loss was r/CICO – and I believe this to be one of the most foolproof methods. With that in mind, I broke up the “I want to lose one pound a week” goal into even smaller and more specific goals that will help me achieve this goal. Starting out, I decided I first wanted to build the habit of weighing/measuring and logging my food, without worrying about restriction. So, for the first two weeks of my journey, I ate as I normally did with the simple goal of “log calories”. This goal doesn’t quite hit the SMART criteria but I was working up to that.
A great way of building daily habits like this one is what’s referred to as r/theXeffect. I highly recommend this as a way to kickstart new habits, and I think my cards in the beginning were crucial in my overall success. Basically, all you do is take a notecard, make a 7x7 grid, write down a habit, and put a big X when you do said habit and a big O when you don’t. The subreddit has weekly accountability built in that helps you stay on track. It's surprisingly motivating to get as many x's on that card as you can and minimize the ~shameful~ O's.
After I built the habit of weighing and tracking my food, it was time to restrict! These two weeks of tracking without restriction also gave me an established baseline of intake that my mind and body was used to, therefore I was able to ease into the restriction. Part of SMART goals is making it Attainable, and I don’t believe that jumping from 2,200+ calories per day down to 1,200 is attainable. At the beginning of my journey, my body was used to about 2,000 calories per day, so I made my new goal 1,800 calories per day. This was harder than I thought – but the beginning is truly the hardest! I gave my body and mind a couple of weeks to adjust to this new intake amount, and once I felt comfortable, I would knock off another 100-200 calories. I did this until reaching my goal daily intake of 1,200 (I am short and at the time was sedentary so this was an okay level for me). Once I got down to 1,200 it was practically like autopilot from there, because I had built the habit and eased my mind and body into the restriction level.
I had some bumps in the road of course: over the last 10 months I had two surgeries, and during recovery from those I had to take regular pain meds that required me to eat closer to maintenance, so I gave myself a couple of weeks off to recover from the surgeries. I still logged my foods to keep that habit, but logged at maintenance. Around the midpoint of my journey (5 months in) I also had some old ED issues crop up where I was lying to my food diary and my doctor about my intake, but that was quickly addressed with my physician and counselor and at that point I bumped up my intake to ~1,300 for sustainability.
On top of restricting calories, I also walked for physical activity. I approached this in a similar way to my calories. I wore a FitBit every day and got an idea of where my body was at (at the beginning I was taking about 5,000 steps per day). I would then bump up that goal gradually by 500-1,000 steps until I hit my goal of 10,000. I used an X effect card for this habit as well that really enabled me to stick to it. Once you build these healthier habits, your body grows used to it and it isn’t as much of a struggle as it is in the beginning. Truly and honestly, the beginning is SO hard! Your body and mind are adjusting to the new intake/output and it takes considerable effort at first.
I have another 25 pounds to lose but have shifted more towards body recomp in the last few weeks. I’ve been fully vaccinated so decided to venture back into the gym and get personal training to learn my way around the free weights. I’ve also gotten back into cycling and rollerblading (I had to stop last year due to one of the surgeries). Finding physical activities you enjoy is also critical – if you don’t like walking, try something else on for size! I highly recommend walking as a starting point though because it has a low barrier to entry and it’s really hard to find justifications to not go for a walk!
The biggest key is to rely on discipline, not motivation. Keep your goals SMART and you’ll be shedding the pounds in no time.
Here is a progress pic! Thanks for reading 😊 I just wrote this up real quick during my lunch hour so please feel free to ask any questions or for any clarification.
