Disclaimer: I am not a dietitian, nutritionist, or personal trainer. Everything I know is from personal research and experience. While I am not going to disclose my actual weight, I do mention numbers and body mass index (BMI) ranges. These are used for reference only, please don’t take offense if your BMI falls into the same range, everyone is different.
As you can tell from the title, I have lost 20 pounds! It’s mind blowing to me because it’s such a substantial amount of weight but I never felt like I looked as heavy as I was. Only when I look back at pictures do I realize the progress I have made. In the picture above, the left side is from November 2019 (before) and the right side is from June 2020 (after). Just a heads up, it’s a long one but I wanted to make this post for two reasons. Firstly, I wanted to create something for myself to look back on in the future. Secondly, I believe sharing my experience can help others with their health and fitness journey. Even though I did focus on the scale, this transformation has been about so much more than just weight loss. I’ve finally found a healthy relationship with food and a balance of diet and exercise that works for me. To help understand this journey, I need to explain how I got to my peak. So I’m going to take you way back…to high school.
When I started high school at the age of 14, I had a weight range that I fluctuated around. At some point during those four years I gained roughly 20lbs, but I don’t remember gaining the weight. I feel like I woke up one day and had a new normal weight. I remember my doctor saying that my old number was my child weight and the new number was my adult weight so I shouldn’t compare the two. That made sense to me at the time and I was happy with my body so I accepted it. When I graduated high school I was the fittest I have ever been, having spent the last four years playing varsity sports 6 days a week, and eating a variety of foods. I probably wasn’t eating the best, but I was so active that it balanced out.
College is when things really started to go downhill (or uphill in terms of weight). I didn’t think the “Freshman 15” would affect me because I went to boarding school for high school. It’s safe to say I was wrong. And in hindsight, I gained weight in high school which should’ve been a sign. My freshman year of college I gained about 13lbs most likely from a mix of alcohol, nights at the diner, lack of sleep, and lots of hot chocolates from Dunkin. Even though I was working out at the gym, it was nowhere near the time or intensity I did in high school.
Sophomore and junior year were the worst for me in terms of food. I remember eating bags of sour gummy worms, as well as ice cream cookie sandwiches, and bottles of ginger ale. On top of that, my best friend and I would split a Reese’s cup at least weekly, sometimes daily. That’s also when I started getting into baking. I would make chocolate chip cookies all the time, which were insanely good, but equally as bad for my health. Over those two years I gained another 12lbs, and I reached my highest ever weight in July of 2018.
Side note: I’m choosing not to disclose my actual weights because I don’t want people who are that weight currently to feel anything negative about themselves. Weight alone is meaningless, but my peak was a very unhealthy weight for me. At this point, my BMI was in the obese range and considering I am only 5’2” (5’3” on a good day), I was holding a lot of weight for my short body. Growing up, I’d always weighed more than other girls my height, and was told not to worry about BMI because it’s not representative of your body composition, which is true, but it does have some value. At the end of the day if your BMI is in the obese range and you’re not a professional athlete or body builder, chances are you’re unhealthy. When I hit my peak I told myself that I wouldn’t let myself go above that weight.
In August of 2018 I started Keto- a high fat, low carbohydrate diet. I lost 19lbs over the course of 3 months. Even though Keto worked for me, it wasn’t sustainable. I didn’t like the way it affected my hormones or how restrictive it was. Don’t get me wrong, there were things I enjoyed about Keto, but I would never do it again. Around Thanksgiving I stopped Keto, and I gained back 10lbs in the following 9 months when I returned to “normal” eating.
When I was moving to England everyone told me I’d lose weight effortlessly because the food is “healthier”, but that’s not why I’ve lost weight. Actually, when I first got here I put more weight on because I was exploring new places and a new culture, which involved trying new foods and restaurants.
So how did I lose the 20lbs? It’s really very simple, I ate less and moved more. I know how cliché that is but it’s the truth. I believe the key to my weight loss has been daily exercise and calorie counting. Now I know that sounds like a lot, but hear me out. One hour of work per day helped me lose 20lbs in 6 months. I didn’t limit myself to certain foods or spend hours a day exercising. With thirty minute workouts and a few minutes here and there to log food, I have seen incredible results and still am! So let’s get into what I did.
We’ll start with calorie counting because we all know weight loss is 80% diet and 20% exercise. Calorie counting has a bad reputation because it seems obsessive, which is ironic because it is the basis of all weight loss programs. Take Weight Watchers for instance, they assign points to food and allot you a number of points to eat for weight loss. Food already has a number attached to it (calories), and if you want to lose weight you have to stay under a certain number. It’s science. There’s nothing wrong with those types of programs, they work for a lot of people, I just want you to see that it’s essentially calorie counting, and that there is nothing to be scared of. A lot of people are calorie counting without even realizing it.
In the beginning, calorie counting can seem daunting, but I promise, it gets easier over time. I use MyFitnessPal, which is a free app and website. Once you make an account, you can log your food, exercise, and weight. When you first start out it seems like a lot of work because you have to log everything that you eat, but the more you log the easier it is! The main thing to remember with calorie counting is that it can only work if you do. MyFitnessPal won’t know if you don’t log the chocolate bar, but you will and your results will suffer. Accountability and accuracy are the keys to success. And I’ve definitely struggled with them during this journey. There were weeks when I would consistently go over my calories by 10 or 20, and I thought it was fine because it was such a low number but it adds up. There was also a period where I wasn’t logging my coffees or teas because I figured they were so low in calories but again, it adds up. Or like if I ate a bite of Bailey’s food or stole a fry (or five), I would have to log it. Even though things may seem small, the only way calorie counting can work is if you log everything and stay under the allotted amount. It seems obvious but it can be quite difficult.
In order to be accurate with logging, it can seem excessive. For example, there have been multiple times when after dinner I would literally be going through the trash can to find food packaging so I could scan the barcode and log it. Whenever I make oatmeal, I get out the food scale and weigh out the serving amount. Now you may be thinking, “that’s not for me, I’d rather stop eating sugar/carbs than have to weigh my food or log it”. But actually, the best thing about calorie counting is that you can eat everything, including sugar/carbs. No foods are off limits as long as you are honest with yourself and log it. If you follow me on Facebook you may have seen that I’ve been doing a lot of baking during quarantine including bagels, banana bread, croissants, cupcakes, and most recently soft pretzels (they tasted like Auntie Anne’s). I eat all of it! There is not one thing I’ve made that I’ve had to restrict myself from having.
Calorie counting is about compromise and having a strong mind. I may really want a certain treat today but I didn’t plan for it and I don’t have enough calories so instead I have something else today and make sure I can have that special treat tomorrow. I think a lot of people think the logging is the hardest part but actually it’s the self-discipline, which comes with any diet. The logging is actually the easiest part and MyFitnessPal has a great system to help with that. (I would be happy to write a post about MyFitnessPal, leave a comment below if that’s something you’d be interested in!) Having a healthy relationship with food has been one of the greatest aspects of this process. I find calorie counting to be a flexible way to be accountable, and it’s really helped me understand food and portion sizes.
Now let’s talk about exercise. Between diet and exercise, I found exercise to be the easier part for a few reasons. One, while I never really looked forward to doing it, once I did it I was done for the day! So I would bang out a thirty minute workout video and I wouldn’t have to think about it again until the following day. Two, when I exercise I get back calories from working out so I could eat more. I often found myself motivated to workout because I knew my hard work would be rewarded with food. Lastly (and possibly what made it the easiest), I had a workout partner which kept me accountable and made me work harder.
Since December, I have tried different programs and types of exercises. I started out with C25K (I have a whole post on my experience with that), where I ran roughly five days per week. C25K was an amazing program that jump-started my health and fitness journey, but when the program ended, so did my running (until recently). After C25K there was about a month where I didn’t workout but I was still being strict about my calorie counting. In February 2020, I joined a yoga studio near my school and was going twice a week for an hour. I did a midweek evening class with a friend, and Saturday mornings with Bailey and Joanne (Bailey’s mom). It wasn’t much but I could tell my flexibility was getting better and it was something that I really enjoyed. I also had started going for the odd run, but had lost the ability to do a 5K.
Then came quarantine. At the beginning of lockdown, Chris Hemsworth’s Centr program was offering a 6-week free trial. Joanne and I started with one of the workout programs, and we have just completed our second 6-week program! In addition to the workout programs, Bailey and I were taking the dog for longer walks, and going for a weekly hike with the family. (We haven’t been as consistent lately but we’re starting again). Since the end of March, I have worked out at least 6 days a week in conjunction with strict calorie counting. I know it seems like a lot but honestly it’s not. In the beginning it was hard because my body wasn’t used to it, but now I have healthy habits, which I feel are sustainable. I can not only see the benefits (the picture above) but I feel them daily(endorphins). On top of the weight loss, I am so much stronger. I can do full push-ups, and now a 5K is my base run whereas before I really had to push myself for it (and 6 months ago I could barely do a mile, so lots of progress).
The combination of calorie counting and daily exercise is what helped me lose 20lbs in 6 months. While I’m still not at my goal, I am very proud of what I have accomplished so far. To be completely honest, my weight has plateaued again, but I can tell that my body composition is changing and I look leaner everyday. At the end of the day, it’s not about how much you weigh but how healthy and happy you are, and I can honestly say I am very confident in the skin I’m in.
