My Weight Loss Story: Part 2

Part 2

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2016

Weight loss is hard. Especially when you feel like you’ve been at it half of your life. (If you missed the first post, here is the beginning) What’s worse than losing weight, is losing weight after you’ve lost it and then gained it back. If the weight gains were from pregnancy, that comes with it’s own special set of difficulties. This time around I was trying to lose weight after having my last baby. I was at my all time highest weight of 213 pounds. It was March of 2016

I really didn’t want to diet again. Honestly, just thinking about trying to lose weight was daunting. I didn’t have the drive I had previously had after the first two babies. A lot of that was due to being overwhelmed from having 2 kids and a new baby. My second kid was in the throes of the terrible twos, and I was exhausted. I’m sure you understand.

Despite how hard life felt, I still had to give weight loss a go. It’s like I had this instinctual drive to get the extra weight off. WW was the only program in my adult life I’d successfully lost weight with, so I rejoined the program once more. (Plus, they are the only program that is tailored to breastfeeding.)

When I joined, I found they had changed the program yet again and it was a major struggle. Still I managed to lose 10 pounds. I weighed 203 pounds at the end of 2016. Although this wasn’t a huge weight-loss, it made me happy because that put me back in the weight range I was comfortable in.

New Year’s Eve of 2016, fed up and wanting to change, I decided to not eat “wheat or sweets” at all during the new year. Hahahaha. I love dramatic resolutions and a good challenge, I vow to never stop making them. You can read about another one of my failed challenges here (spoiler alert, I lasted a month and only documented 10 days of it, HA!)

2017

The first day of the year is also my second kid’s birthday, and I remember making her cake and feeling sad and left out. Dieting had always come with a level of misery, so I just pushed past it and continued. From January through February of 2017, I stuck to my resolution (impressive for someone like me!) and I lost 18 pounds. My weight was now at 185.

Avoiding wheat and sweets proved to not be as healthy as I anticipated, reason being, I began to fill the cravings with other not so healthy foods. Those foods were easy to pig out on (french fries, anyone?). Come March of that year I quit because I was no longer losing weight, and it was stupid. I ended 2017 at 185 pounds.

2018

I stayed at 185 the first few months of the year. In March, I planned a trip to Houston, TX with my two best friends. I decided that I should try to lose some weight because it was so hot in Houston, and there is nothing worse than being heavy AND hot. I had two months to lose weight before the trip, and I did nothing to help myself the first month.

April came around and I was still 185 pounds and dreading my trip. Enter my impulsive decision to buy BBG and rejoin WW (I guess it was the only way I knew how to lose weight without extreme restrictions).

(Side note: I have always been an active person. In the first 6 weeks after giving birth, I would always walk for exercise. After the 6 weeks, I would begin running. I also did weight lifting programs for a few months at the gym off and on, but staying consistent in the gym was hard.)

One month later, I had successfully dropped 10 pounds (I now weighed 175) and was arguably in the best shape of my life (up to that point). I had only completed 12 BBG beginner workouts, and already saw huge results…the program is truly amazing. However, when I went to Texas for four days, I managed to gain SEVEN legitimate pounds back. Hahahaha. Someone give me a medal.

I spent a good part of the rest of the year trying to get back down to 175. In December, I joined a drastic macro program and got down to 169 by the end of the year.

2019

I have never been more miserable on a diet then when I was trying to get 145 grams of protein every day following that particular macro program. (This is all documented in my story highlights on Instagram.) The macro program also came with a super intense cardio regimen, and it about killed me (I was still working out with the SWEAT app, which is where BBG can be found, but had switched to PWR).

By May of 2019, I had fallen way off the macro program and was back up to 178. This is the effect that extreme diets have on me, probably you too. They aren’t good guys. Please, can we all agree to stop doing them?

(Macro side note: I actually think macro counting can be a great way to lose weight, but people can make the macro break downs too extreme. It can bring out obsessive aspects of my personality where it has to be perfect. It’s just not a good match for me, maybe it is for you.)

The reason I even tried the macro program to begin with was because I kept asking all these successful people on Instagram how they lost so fast. Eventually, I blindly followed in someone’s footsteps thinking it would work for me too. I know you’ve been there! We all have, and I would still be this person if I hadn’t discovered something truly life changing regarding weight loss.

The Turning Point

In May of 2019, my husband James sent me an article about how everyone has a certain weight their body tries to maintain. At the bottom of the article, was a link to a book called Brain-Powered Weight Loss. This was the first time I had heard of it. Guys, this was THE turning point.

Once I downloaded the book on Audible and started listening, I could not stop. I listened on the way to church that morning, on my way back home from church, at a party later that day – half socializing with one earbud in. Thoughts of being a failure immediately began to leave. Finally, someone was making sense of my weight loss struggles. I no longer felt alone.

Through this book, I realized that being unable to lose weight was the result of a lifetime of bad thinking. Eliza, the author, gave me the tools I needed to change my thinking and get somewhere. Adjusting my thinking has been quite the process. It’s taken TIME. A lifetime of bad habits are not easily broken.

One thing that is awesome about this book is that you have access to free worksheets. The worksheets help apply the concepts in the book. I listened to the book a second time and completed most of the assignments. Four months later, I had moved the scale from 178 to 168. Despite vacation and many summer events, I was finding success thanks to this book.

Holidays 2019

By November of 2019, I was at my lifetime low of 159.2 pounds. Then the holidays hit. I trained for a half-marathon from October to December and that is the only reason my holiday weight gain wasn’t worse. My weight at the end of last year was 165 pounds.

I also ended my relationship with WW at the end of the year. After spending weeks comparing WW to Noom, I knew it was time for me to transition away from the WW program and learn about calories. Tracking calories with Noom made the switch away from WW easier because of their support system and educational component. (I’m not saying WW isn’t a great way to lose weight, it just wasn’t a fit for me any longer. Might work for you, might not. Weight loss is complicated and very personal.)

2020

From January to mid-February, I was hit with an onslaught of family birthdays. When the birthdays were over, my weight was at 167.4 pounds. After months and months (years?) of trying to lose weight at 2 pounds a week, only to be miserably hungry, eventually fail, then repeat the cycle (all the while having no actual weight loss), I decided to take things slower. I was tired of putting my life on hold to be on a diet, and with 400-600 extra calories a day, I would be able to have the the foods I love and move the scale. I had faith it would work.

February 20, 2020

Making a mental shift from losing 2 pounds a week to 1 pound a week (or less) was a really hard move I knew I had to make in order to keep going. I was only 8 pounds away from my lowest weight, and I was tempted to continue to try to lose the weight fast (to get back to my lowest) and then go slow. But the reality was that losing weight fast was not sustainable for me.

The problem was, that after almost 19 years of off and on dieting (only off while pregnant) I knew myself. My biggest fear was if I tried to lose fast, I’d get to 159 and go off the deep end for 4 days (which was my cycle) and gain it all back…only to be stuck once more. This time had to be different.

Now all those years of failure (which translates to learning my weaknesses), and a year of paying attention to my thinking patterns and how to combat them (thanks Eliza) would finally start to pay off. One thing I knew about myself was I needed support, or I’d never be able to stick with it. So I got a support group, found a calorie amount I wouldn’t feel sad with, a program I enjoyed (Noom), and started intentionally down the slow road of weight loss for the first time in my life.

Currently

And I am so glad I did! Yesterday, 9.5 weeks into SLOW weight loss, I weighed in at 156.0 pounds…MY LIFETIME LOWEST WEIGHT! You know what I did the day I saw that number? I had a giant celebration with 7 cookies, ice cream, and nachos….and weighed in at 158.4 pounds today. Hahaha!

Here’s why it wasn’t a setback: this number didn’t bother me one bit. I shouldn’t have eaten like that yesterday, but I feel no shame or regret. That might be better than the weight loss itself; not living in a constant cycle of shame. This is something I learned from Brain-Powered Weight Loss.

Over the last year, I’ve trained my thinking patterns. But I’m only a human… who happens to immensely enjoy food. This isn’t going to be a linear journey. I’m still going to have days like that because days like that make me ridiculously happy.

Update 2/13/21: I now weigh 149 pounds and maintain my weight easily. I have created a planner and weight loss community based off my own experiences that led me to eventual success (after decades of trying) and food freedom. I created these things to help you replicate my success despite years of struggle.

The takeaway

Here is the takeaway; you can also have weight loss success. I don’t know your past, but I’ve had enough conversations with struggling dieters to know that I am not alone.

If you can relate to my story, I do recommend you listen to or read Brain-Powered Weight Loss, and check out Eliza Kingsford’s website to see if her more intensive programs would be a good fit for you.

The absolute best thing you can do right now is give yourself grace and accept how you look right now (you’re still beautiful). Renew your resolve and START AGAIN. Keep on starting until you gain traction! There is no timeline on success, and the only thing you shouldn’t do is quit.

Resources that have given me resuLts

WW
Noom
Eliza Kingsford’s 14 Day Jumpstart
Brain-Powered Weight-Loss

Follow me on Patreon as i continue my weight loss journey!

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