Over the course of a little over two years I was able to lose and keep off 125 pounds. It was a struggle, especially getting the momentum going to lose the weight. Almost two years ago I started going to the gym DAILY. I believe that played a vital role, not only in losing weight but more importantly teaching myself to have self-control.
My diet played the biggest role in losing weight and when I think about my daily diet when I started it was absolutely terrible. A typical morning would consist of loading my coffee with creamer and having pastries or sugary cereal for breakfast. Lunch was no better, usually I would have something I could microwave like frozen finger foods or lots of chips and dip. Dinner was pizza the majority of the time and when it wasn’t it would be burgers, loaded fries, or something else high calorie with little to no nutritional benefit. I would also eat cheese sticks throughout the day.
In contrast to how I eat now which starts off with black coffee, a banana, a protein bar, and a protein drink for breakfast. Lunch consists of two pieces of fruit apples or pears, baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, a protein drink, and a protein bar. Dinner usually has a protein shake that has spinach and fruit in it, steamed broccoli and sweet potatoes, along with something like beans, eggs, veggie sandwiches, or bean burritos. I try to mix up my dinner a little bit.
Getting myself under control was the key factor is losing weight. I wouldn’t have been able to eat the way I do going cold turkey day one and I think that is important for anyone to remember. This is a process and will take time. It took time to get myself into the poor physical condition I was in and it took time to get out of it. My progress was far from a linear fashion but more of an exponential pattern. The point being is you have to have a starting point and hold yourself accountable as much as you can manage. And don’t worry if it takes longer than you wanted. The results will come if you replace old bad habits with new ones.