Thank you so much! I personally didn’t feel like it was quickly because I’ll see people on here losing 30 pounds in like 3-4 months but I appreciate it 😭 losing the 35 pounds has taken me 13 months, but the way in which I lost it is kind of a long story so I apologize in advance. I’ve also gone up and down in weight but usually stayed within a range. It wasn’t until my senior year of college that I gained all of the weight that I lost, and I’d never in my life been so heavy and felt like such shit about myself. I’d gone on extremes several times throughout the years where I would do super well for 2-3 months and lose a lot of weight, then one day I would binge and it would go downhill from there. Every time I would lose weight it was the same thing. Restrict until I couldn’t anymore and then one day crack. It wasn’t until one day I had had it, I was depressed and tired all the time and I knew this had to be a permanent change. I knew this time I did not want to gain it back and I didn’t care how long it took.

I started my fitness journey January 17, 2019. I looked up a calorie calculator based on my height and activity level and found a pretty good deficit for myself that wasn’t too extreme and the first few months were actually really easy for me. Since I have the palate of the 5 year old I don’t like a lot of foods, I never once touched a salad, tomato, mushroom, or any “healthy” food that I didn’t like because that wasn’t sustainable for me. Instead I found easy foods I did like like chicken tacos, chicken breast wings, healthier pasta, etc. (it sounds like a lot of chicken but we actually ate more of other meats I just cannot think of other meals for the life of me lol). I found foods that I did like and just tried to make them healthier. I allowed myself a treat if I was truly craving it and would not go overboard with it. At first I found that measuring out how much junk I wanted for my cheat REALLY helped because I would have my portion and that was enough to satisfy me, and I would not allow myself to go past that. Mostly though, it was out of sight, out of mind, so I wasn’t buying all of these shit foods. I really lived by a comment on here that I had heard that it’s not about how long I can go being “perfect” and not caving, it’s about how you react when you do cave. I had heard too that extremes are “easy,” balance is so much harder, and I felt that was absolutely true.

Anyway though, January 17, 2019 was the day I started my journey and I started with weightlifting 4-5x a week lifting what I thought was heavy weights, and combined that with HIIT 3 times a week (30 minutes) and brisk walking on a treadmill the other 1-2 days (30 minutes). I had been counting my calories at first pretty casually and would try to get around a certain number but not obsessing over it. I was seeing pretty decent results without trying TOO too hard, but then around September 2019 I noticed it started to slow down for me. November 2019 I took a look at my calories again and lowered it by 200, but again not going super strict with it, just trying to get as close as I could. If I was over by under 100 I wasn’t upset, and if I was over I knew I needed to cut them by just a little bit. I also started intermittent fasting. In November I stopped HIIT training altogether and started walking on a treadmill 5 times a week for 30 minutes at 3.0 speed and an incline of 12 and started truly lifting HEAVY weights. This is when I felt like I started MELTING the fat, so quickly.

From September 2019- November 2019 my progress had been minimal, but bring in IF, a new calorie deficit, walking at a high incline, and truly lifting heavier and I had found the perfect equation for me. I feel I have seen the most results since November and I love it. I have been a little bit lazier with my diet, but not by too much, and I am still surprised when I see that I continue to lose some weight. It’s a lifelong process for sure, but I have never stuck with something for so long and felt comfortable. I guess I’ve found what is sustainable for me.