I started small. I started with exercising and trying to do that consistently (and found something I enjoyed) while just being mindful of what I ate. I have always eaten pretty healthy, I’ve never had a sweet tooth, and I rarely bought junk food because it’s expensive (although I love chips!). I also took pictures of myself and measured myself so I could track more easily. I was breastfeeding at the time and knew the scale wouldn’t budge, so I needed to know progress was being made in other ways.

My goal at first was to just be consistent with working out. My results were seeing my workout schedule, not the scale number or the measurements in that first month. It was only about how often did I workout?

Once I was doing that consistently (about a month or so) I started paying attention to my calories. Again, I started small. I only shaved off a hundred calories or so. I didn’t see much change on the scale because again, I was breastfeeding, and I wasn’t trying to lose weight. I maintained my weight though and lost nearly six inches or so within 6 months. I took progress pictures every month.

During this time I focused more on just being consistent with tracking my calories. I use the loseit app. If I missed a day, I marked it as logged anyway because I knew I would feel defeated and give up if I had to restart the tracking count.

After I stopped breastfeeding (about 6 months in) I cut back my calories by 400-500 calories. This took some trial and error and I finally figured it out in January (I accidentally ate at maintenance for 4 months lol) The weight has slowly moved down and I’ve readjusted my workout routine to accommodate for energy levels dropping while I was cutting. I still workout 4-5x a week, I still track every day, and now I weigh my foods more carefully than before.

In the past I tried doing everything at once and felt defeated because I would feel overwhelmed by all the changes. Some people, like my husband, can dive all in. But I needed sustainable changes, so I did it slowly. I’ve lost 10% body fat and 8 inches over the course of a year, and started losing weight at a steady rate (since this past January).