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Adele has gotten a lot of attention related to her weight loss. This is especially intriguing, I think especially because everyone is trying to figure out how to lose weight during the quarantine. I honestly don’t have a clue what she did. But I can tell you how this regular girl maintained her weight loss even during the quarantine.

I lost 25 lbs in one year!

As the pounds started to fall off, people would ask me all the time, “What did you do to lose weight?” I sometimes think that people want a really hard answer so they can give themselves an excuse not to do it. Or they want a really easy answer because they want to lose weight quickly without putting in the work. But honestly, for me, it was somewhere in between.

This Journey is Personal

This post is not meant to tell you how your body should look like. Neither is it to tell you how to lose weight. Sometimes weight management can be complicated by health issues and you need a doctor to help you. This post is about MY journey and challenges. What I did may work for you, it may not.

I started 2018 at 175 pounds. I was extremely uncomfortable in the skin I was in. When I would discuss losing weight with co-workers, they would tell me that I looked great and didn’t need to lose weight. So I would play a game with them and ask them to guess my weight. They always undershot by at least 20 pounds. I would get a self-deprecating pleasure out of that game because I always won and it shut people up. What no one seemed to understand is that while it was great that I wasn’t made to feel bad about my weight from others, their perception of me in a positive way also didn’t matter. I am blessed to have a husband who loved me no matter my size. Still, I was unhappy.

It wasn’t just the number on the scale for me either. I simply did not like what I saw in the mirror.

My Digital Teammates

I was working out three times a week and I increased it to five times a week using an app called DailyBurn (sign up for your 30-day free trial here). I tried the gym and was largely inconsistent so I could not justify paying for it. DailyBurn allowed me to work out at home. For those who are unfamiliar, it’s a subscription-based service with an EXTENSIVE library for people of all fitness levels. They have beginner workouts, kickboxing, barre, cardio, HIIT, strength training, etc. Something for every person and feeling. When I wasn’t up to all the jumping and push-ups, I chose a low-impact workout.

I was already eating out less, cooking at home more, and tracking a lot of my food on MyFitnessPal. I thought I was doing everything I could. Despite this, my weight would not budge.

Know when you need help

While 2018 is the year I’m documenting here, my struggle with weight has been lifelong. And 175 wasn’t my heaviest. I weighed 184 pounds in February 2016. So you can see why I was frustrated! Losing nine pounds over two years is whackkkkkk!

Like I mentioned before, I was doing everything I thought reasonable in order to lose weight to no avail. When I saw my doctor, I was practically wishing I had a thyroid issue so I could take medication to boost my body’s metabolism. I was so desperate. He gave me the name and number of a nutritionist.

While I hated the thought of paying someone to show me how to eat to lose weight when there’s SO much free content on the internet on this subject, I conceded to seeing a nutritionist. (Fun fact: some insurances cover the care of a dietician or nutritionist. So if you’re looking to see a nutritionist, make your insurance benefits your first stop). My insurance does not cover a nutritionist unless you have diabetes. Why wouldn’t they want to help me prevent it? That’s a different conversation. I did not want that for myself and that’s all that mattered.

The cold, hard truth

I thought I was doing well in my eating habits. The nutritionist took a look at what I was eating and started taking away what felt like all the good parts of my meals. Take out the mayo. Get rid of the daily green smoothie that I loved and felt good about it. It’s a green drink. Anyone who drinks green liquid should get a pat on the back, no?

I had 5 or 6 sessions in the plan I paid for. This consisted of one initial consultation for 60 minutes and four or five follow up visits two to three weeks apart. I left every session so annoyed or exasperated by another “improvement” she suggested. It’s so funny thinking back on it. I was so mad at her all the time. Internally or in the car ride home of course because I know how to act.

Slowly but surely, the weight began to fall off. I saw it happening but I really didn’t want her to gain any joy from it because it was SO hard at the time. Since weigh-ins were part of the visit, she pointed out that I was losing weight. I brushed it off because I really didn’t want her to think I was happy she was successful at her job. Duh! She was even sort impressed that I was following the plan at 70% versus the 80% they recommend you adhere to in almost any eating plan for successful weight management. And here I thought my body hated me.

I started 2019 at 150 pounds. Such a relief to know I could actually do it.

Reaching contentment

My lowest weight in this segment of my journey was 149 pounds. I’m still not at my goal weight usually but I am content with where I am. Ideally, I would want to be around 140-145 pounds. However, my body has decided that, without an extreme change to my lifestyle, we’re going to live at around 155 pounds. I don’t want a lifestyle change because I don’t want to be miserable so it’s a compromise. When I look in the mirror today, I like what I see the majority of the time.

Even more so, I didn’t drink some diet tea or try an unsustainable diet. This eating plan didn’t have a catchy title or internet following. It just required adjustments to what I was already doing. In order for you to maintain any habit, it has to be something you can realistically maintain for as long as you want its results. This is why I don’t recommend ascribing to a particular diet when people talk to me about losing weight. First of all, I didn’t do any of them so I couldn’t recommend any. Secondly, most of these fad diets are not sustainable.

I have since reached out to said nutritionist thanking her and I also showed her pictures of the difference she helped me to make.

Maintaining the weight loss, especially during quarantine

When this quarantine started and for the first time in my life I ate an entire bag of chips myself, I thought it was the beginning of the end. However, this road is not one paved by perfect stones. Sometimes we’ll mess up but it does not have to ruin the entire day. I just hopped back on track with the next meal.

I work out four to five days a week and my husband now works out with me which is tons of fun.

So that’s my story. This hasn’t solved my relationship with food or my struggle with weight. I have a Bluetooth scale and if I hop on it and don’t like what I see, I hop right off before it registers in the app. That way..it never happened! It’s a journey, not a destination. I’m not perfect and you can’t make me.

If there is a diet you want to try to jumpstart your journey, my favorite internet doctor, Doctor Mike, has reviewed different ones. He is a licensed physician with tons of relatable content regarding health. Check out his video below and subscribe to his channel if you’d like.

To-Do List

• If you want to lose weight, you have to track what you eat. I’m partial to MyFitnessPal but there are other apps like LoseIt or Noom.
• Once you know what you are eating, look for ways to decrease your calorie intake like decreasing portion size or food exchanges.
• Meal prep makes it easier to stay consistent and see results. Routine breeds results.
• Work out regularly and make it something you’ll enjoy doing so it doesn’t feel like work. Dancing and cardio kickboxing are two workouts I enjoy tremendously. Also working out is much more fun with a friend.
• Recognize when you need help and seek it. There are tons of resources and communities out there you can tap into to support you in your journey.
• Don’t give up when you do things you felt you shouldn’t in this journey. Just try again.

What challenges have you encountered in your journey? Any particularly during quarantine? Share in the comments below.

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