It’s the beginning of the year and while new year’s resolutions are nonexistent in my book this year, I want to chat about everyone’s favorite new year topic, weight loss.
Specifically, starting my weight loss journey.
Really putting the Basic in Basically today.
I woke up one morning in August and decided to step on the scale. While the number on the scale may not shock everyone, at my mere height of 4″11, it was clear I had lost control. I’ve never been one to count calories or eat salads for lunch. Making healthy choices was not something I cared about or something that came naturally to me. While my coworkers opted for salads and sandwiches for lunch, I would always choose hearty pastas or pizzas. And that was during the week, because when the weekends came, that was when I really treated myself with every fast food under the sun.
So when quarantine hit, I absolutely stress ate. I ate cheesy, greasy stuffed hash browns with a large super sweet iced coffee for breakfast, hearty pastas for lunch and dinner, I snacked on Costco size chips and candy and drank my weight in Arizona iced teas. I felt bloated, tired and down all the time. I can’t explain it, but I just felt so uncomfortable in my body like I wanted to crawl out of it.
Fast forward to December when I finally hit a milestone in my weight loss journey. Down 10lbs! Let me tell you, it took a while to get there. A lot of frustration, falling off the wagon and wanting to give up. But I did it and I learned a lot from the process. Believe me, if I can do it, you can do it. Which is what inspired me to add Weight Loss & Wellness into my content this year because I want to share my journey, my milestones and the lessons I’ve learned and will learn. To start us off, I wanted to start with sharing 5 simple things I did to lose the first 10lbs in my 40lb weight loss journey.
How I Lost The First 10lbs
- I stopped calling it a diet. Diet culture is bad. Short term solutions will not make for long term results. It has to be a lifestyle change. I had to be in it for the long run.
- I started counting calories. In order to effectively lose weight, you have to be in a calorie deficit. This video helped me calculate how many calories I should be consuming a day. I also purchased a food scale to help me measure out portions and understand what and how much was going into my body. I signed up for Noom & used the app to help me monitor my daily calorie intake. I plan to share more about the program in the coming weeks and my full thoughts on it.
- I had to change my mindset. Instead of thinking about all the things I couldn’t eat, I thought about the things I could add. Instead of thinking I couldn’t eat pasta, I loaded up on the veggies and added a small portion of pasta.
- I upped my water intake. I purchased this water bottle from Amazon which helped me increase and monitor my water intake.
- Finally, I just started moving. I went from 10k steps a day from my daily commute and work day to essentially no steps in quarantine. I started going for walks, going to the gym and working out at home. I’ve never been athletic and I’ve never loved working out. But I just started. Even if it was for just 5 minutes a day, I just did it. I just started.
I found that adopting these habits and being consistent with them truly helped me lose the first 10lbs. Just keeping things simple and focusing on the small things was the biggest difference for me.
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