Monday, June 22, 2015

The Magical Weight Loss Secret

So I'm not one to put my weight loss journey out on social media for the world to see. And let me tell you nearly one year later, 50 pounds less and a half marathon in I have some things to brag about (she says very humbly). There is the occasional transformational pictures. You know the ones, you go back find the worst picture of your self at your heaviest, find the skinniest picture of yourself now and in one of those photo editing apps place them next each other. BOOM you have an instant ego and confidence booster. Soak in all those likes, and comments about how great you look! I've added one just to show you what I'm talking about ;)

I've been on the weight loss journey with my best friend, she started about 15/20 pounds less then me, lost it faster, didn't plateau nearly as after, started running before me and hit her goal weight while I still have 30 pounds left to go. Let's just say the jealousy can be raging at times, but I love her and am grateful for her.

Between the two of us we have basically lost a high school girl, 120 pound to be accurate. I'll pause while you do the math to figure out how much she has lost. Got it? Good. For those of you who don't want to do that math that's 70 pounds. Between the two of us we have heard everything there is to hear about losing weight.

The most annoying comment we get ALL THE TIME is "What is your secret?" If one more person asks me that I may punch them in their face. Ok, well maybe not but still! I get it, with all those different supplements programs, fad diets and get skinny fast schemes out there it's easy to hope there is some magical way to get off the weight that took YEARS to put on.

I'm here today to tell you what that secret is. I know right, I'm so awesome to pass this along to everyone. So come close, closer... and I'll tell you. Are you ready?

THERE IS NO SECRET!!!!!!!!!!! What? How can this be? I know, what a let down! Trust me if some how during this process I could have taken a pill and the weight would have just melted off I would have taken it.

It boils down to two very simple and yet incredibly difficult things. Things that we hear all the time and we all guilty of ignoring.

The first, eat less and healthier foods. The healthier part has been beyond painful for me since I'm one of the pickiest eaters I know. Before I was eating out about 5-6 times a week at fast food restaurants around where I work and live. To change this habit I downloaded the MyFitnessPal app and tracked every single thing I put into my mouth. This was awful at first, and I got very hangry. Over time I learned how to eat every couple of hours, making sure I was eating snacks high in fiber or protein to help keep me full.

Secondly, get up and get moving. This started with me purchasing a Fitbit and just getting up and moving around. Instead of calling my boss for something I would walk to his office. Got to get those steps in any way you can! I will warn you this can become quit addicting and if you add friends it can become very competitive. Eventually when I hit yet another plateau I started running. The more ran, the more I saw my weight coming off. It's so weird how that works! I literally was working butt off!

Trust me I'm like every other person out there, it sucked and continues to suck as I work towards getting these last 30 pounds off. But in the end I'm more confident and wearing things that a year ago there is no way I would ever consider wearing.

If you are thinking about making a change know that you can do it! And if you have questions I would be happy to share the very limited knowledge I have gained over this last year. I don't pretend to be an expert by any means. If I was I sure would be making more money!

Until next time...