What I Learned From Year 1 of My Weight Loss Journey

What I Learned From My Weight Loss Journey

As I previously talked about in my last blog post What I Learned in 2017, one of my 2017 New Year's Resolutions was to live a healthier lifestyle with the goal of losing weight. In this post I will go into why this became one of my resolutions, past struggles with my weight/appearance, and my tips and tricks for how I surpassed my weight goal in one year.

What pushed me to want to loose weight?

Early in the year of 2016 I struggled with a number of health problems that caused me to have a lack of appetite and when I did eat I experienced extreme stomach aches. After getting that under control through months of water therapy, I was finally able to eat, but this new found ability to eat again led me into a phase where I was eating large portions and not the healthiest of options. In December of 2016 I was trying on dresses for a school dance. I ordered a size small, with up to this point had always fit me. Lets just say there was no way this dress was going to zip up. So after this moment I decided that I would make lifestyles changes with the hope of loosing some weight. So what did I do?

How did I get started?

Diet

1) I examined what I was eating on a daily basis

2) Chose where I could lessen the portion I was consuming (when I started I was eating 3 (gluten free, milk free, chocolate chip oatmeal cookies) at lunch, I cut down to 2, then 1 and eventually eliminated them from my diet all together)

3) For some foods I completely cut them out of my diet right off the bat (I no longer had peanut butter when I had an apple)
4) I also found that by limiting the amount of gluten and starch that I was consuming helped me to feel physically better, which led to me wanting to workout

Exercise

I started slowly (with I highly recommend). I began by walking around my neighborhood at quite a quick pass. I would walk about three times a week. Not everyone is going to have the same results, but by doing this I lost all of the fat I had on back (love handles). Since I already owned and enjoyed it, I would do a Just Dance 30 minute workout on my Wii. I had access to Firm Express- Get Thin in 30. With this exercise program I followed the exercise plan, but not the eating plan. After 30 days I lost about 3 pounds and a few inches. While doing the Firm Express I also incorporated strength training with light weights. 

Running

As previously being a runner and knowing that I enjoyed it, I slowly worked my way back into it. I started with doing interval training in my neighborhood. Once I started college I had access to a gym. This is where I really started to see the results that I wanted. Just a random thing I learned about myself during running is that podcasts put me to sleep. I had to create a pump-up Spotify playlist.

What I Learned

Don't think of weight loss as dieting, but as making healthy lifestyle changes.

Every time you step on the scale you are not going to see a lower number/the number you expected to see and you just have to accept that and make a game plan for how you are going to achieve it next time you weigh in. 

I found that weighing in at the same time on the same day of the week was the best for me.

From this experience, which is not complete, is having a schedule for what you are going to eat and when you are going to workout helped me stay on track.

Last thing, don't keep temptation foods in the house.

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