What I Did:
What's your weight/fitness story?
I was 5'2" in height and 273 pounds in the 8th grade.
Over the last eight years, now at 29 years old and still around the same height, I have lost and maintained a 123-pound weight loss without gastric bypass surgery, any commercial diet programs or fad diets. I attribute my weight loss success to strengthening my faith, determination, patience … and a treadmill. Exercise has been the central tool in my transformation, but it’s still only one part of the puzzle towards health. I significantly changed how I eat; altering my relationship to food and eating. Again, I adhere to no diet.
How I Did It:
My key to success was learning to replace an unhealthy addiction: mindless eating while sitting in front of the television, with a healthy addiction: hitting the gym everyday. "I eat everyday, so I workout everyday," is my number one fitness tip when giving advice to others.
My weight loss and keeping it off has been a result of diet and exercise. On the diet side, I continue to eat what I like, including white cheese pizza, hot wings and cheesecake. However, I don't eat it as often and I've learned to make substitutions where I can. When I first started to lose weight, I just did moderate walking outside. However, my body started to crave more of a challenge. So I joined a gym and used machines like the elliptical fitness trainer for 45-60 minutes six days a week with weight training every other day. My regimen now is speedwalking/running 5-7 miles six days a week on the treadmill. And Rome was not built in a day, it took me years to get to this level of exercise intensity!
Tips and Tricks
- Zero. There are NO tricks, secrets or shortcuts when it comes to weight loss.
- "Consistency is the Key to Every Victory" - Joyce Meyer
What was your main motivator to lose weight?
I just said to myself "I had enough!" Enough of wearing body girdles to fit into certain outfits, enough of being the girl that guys never acknowledged.
What was the hardest part of losing weight?
The up and down. Some weeks I would lose weight, while others it was as if the scale would just freeze.
What was the most surprising part of weight loss?
I love and admire my body’s stamina when I am at the gym. The amount of physical activity I am able to do always shocks me. Even still I ask myself, "Where did this come from?"!
What would you say to someone who is "on the fence"?
No food tastes as good as skinny feels.
