Sincerenity

On March 11, 2023, I set a goal to lose half of my weight. I didn’t know how to do it, I just knew I had to start.

I started by just tracking what I ate with an app. The app recommended a daily calorie limit and I stuck to it as much as I could. I was shocked to learn that I ate waaaayyy more than I thought I did.

One month in, just from tracking what I ate, I lost 5 pounds. Two months in, I lost 10 pounds. Then I plataued for about 4 months after that. Starting is easy, there’s so much motivation and it’s a fresh start, but that feeling and the motivation run out very quickly. I learned that I could not rely on motivation.

Next, I figured out why I had gained weight. It was a long and emotional process, but long story short I gained weight from emotional eating, which resulted in over eating as well. I used to typically pull 3,000-4,000 calorie days, even on a normal day. Food was my drug. Now that I knew that, it was time to fix it.

I meal planned and meal prepped. I didn’t trust myself to make the right impromptu decisions with food, so I planned and prepped all my meals, so my decision was already made. This helped me get in control of my calorie deficit. Then I worked on the emotional eating part by eating only when I was hungry. Which meant I had to learn what it means to be hungry. I was 25 and didn’t know. I thought that hungry just meant not full. I thought I had to be stuffed full 24/7. Looking back, that seems so silly, but that’s how I thought. Now that I had my calorie deficit in control, and my emotional eating mostly under control, and I was drinking nearly a gallon of water every day, I started incorporating more protein into my diet.

9 months in, I lost 20 pounds. I slowly started to incorporate cardio a few times a month. Ideally, I wanted to be more consistent with it, but that’s how frequently I actually ended up doing it. It was really hard at first, but there were a couple times I did i a few times a week, and it got easier.

12 months in, I finally lost 30 pounds. After a year, I was hoping to have lost a lot more than this, but if I hadn’t started a year ago, I would be the same – or probably even worse. Plus, in the last year, I was figuring out how to lose weight, because I did not know how. I’m grateful for the me a year ago, she took a step into the unknown, just willing to try.

I feel confident in saying I have my emotionally eating 90% under control. It’s really hard to recover from, but I am proud of the progress I’ve made. I am consistently in a calorie deficit. I log everything that I eat or drink. I drink almost a gallon of water every day. I get lots of protein. I drink apple cider vinegar every morning and night. I journal. I take better care of myself. I am now starting to do strength training a few times a week. I no longer rely solely on motivation. All of these habits I have slowly incorporated into my life over the last year.

I have been successfull in losing my weight. It may not be as fast as I want, but it’s successfull because I have not gained anything back. I am losing weight each month. It’s successful because it’s both sustainable and adpatable, so I can do this for a long time.

Here’s to the next year. I don’t know what I’ll learn or what my habits will look like in a year, but I know they’ll be even better than they are now.