How I Lost Weight (7 Weight Loss Tips That Work)

I am going to share with you how I lost weight because so many people have so much to say about how to lose weight but don’t have the first-hand experience. Their advice is often based on ‘expert knowledge’ and not practical terms.

What I have learned since making the decision to live a healthy lifestyle is that losing weight is so much easier said than done. People will judge you negatively when you are fat- it’s a fact. When you fail, and you will often fail a thousand times, they will label you as undisciplined, lazy and dumb.

When a person who has never been fat criticises an overweight person, they don’t understand what it’s like to be out of shape. They do not know how much most fat people try to lose weight, and how many times they fail, but keep trying again, and again.

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My Weight Loss Journey

I would like you to relate to me both as a fat person and one who lost weight.

I have two kids, and before motherhood, I had no weight issues. After the birth of my first child, my weight fluctuated up and down.

But that was because I never really watched what I ate or exercised. Two years later, I had my second child and that’s when my weight skyrocketed.

READ: How to Maintain Weight after Weight Loss

My baby must have been less than 4 months old when the dad took a photo of us and when I looked at it, I didn’t see the 25-year-old that I was. What I saw was a 42-year-old woman holding a baby. Yes, I looked 42, because of the massive weight gain.

I tried to eat healthily, and incorporate exercise into my daily routine but it was an uphill struggle that I just couldn’t consistently maintain. 

Fast forward to a few years later, my battle with weight remained the same, until I followed the steps and lost over 45 pounds. Here’s how my weight loss journey began, and how I lost weight.

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How to Lose Weight Fast and Easy

 

1. I Made a Plan

For years I tried to lose weight and I succeeded sometimes but within a few months, I would eventually pile it back because I had no weight loss plan. I knew that I terribly wanted to lose weight.

I suddenly had a light bulb moment when I realised that I was sabotaging my weight loss by strictly focussing only on the ‘now’ and not on the ‘later’. I had no long term focus, goals or what would come next after I had shed the extra pounds.

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At the time, losing weight felt like I had just bought myself a free ticket to eating all the chocolate, greasy foods and many other ‘treats’.

After realising how many circles I had gone round in, I decided to sit down and write down these three things, which I will talk about in detail shortly. This is what was mostly key to how I lost weight:

• I planned how I was going to lose weight
• I had to be clear about why weight loss was an important factor in my life
• I had to also figure out my long term weight loss maintenance plan

Planning is an essential part of weight loss, just as it is in all aspects of life.  In order to effectively lose weight and maintain it, you’ll have to plan and track your meals and workouts.

2. I Wrote Down My WHY

Somewhere in my mind, I had a vague reason why I wanted to lose weight. It was a want, not a need. My reason was so lame that if someone offered me anything that I knew would sabotage my weight loss, I accepted the offer without hesitation.

I took a step back and reflected why I NEEDED to lose weight.  Once I figured it out it was smooth sailing.

What Is Your WHY Right Now?

What is your WHY this week, next month or next year?

I was listening to a podcast a few days ago and what made the biggest impression on me was this:

A compelling WHY can be a launchpad to achieving your dreams.  Here is a challenge for you, and probably the most important task that you will ever perform on your weight loss journey. Ask yourself:

1. WHAT do I want? The answer might be – TO LOSE WEIGHT
2. WHY do I want it? TAKE YOUR TIME AND FIGURE OUT YOUR WHY
3. HOW will I get it? What steps will you take to lose weight? What kind of meals will you be eating? What will be your exercise plan?

Your answers to these 3 questions will define your next fitness moments and goals. You will either fail or succeed based on these 3 simple questions.

Write down these questions in your fitness planner and next to them write down your answers.

Are your answers compelling enough to make you want to workout at the end of the day, when you feel like you’ve got nothing left in you?

Is your WHY compelling enough to make you say no to a piece of cake, a packet of chips, or whatever it is that makes you give in when the going gets tough?

3. I Took My Before Photos and Bought a Measuring Tape

Something that you have to understand about how I lost weight is that I didn’t constantly jump on the scale in order to track my progress. I practiced two things that helped me keep my sanity as well as measure how much weight I was losing.

So the first thing I did was take my before photo. I used that photo to document how much progress I was making. Every week, on Sundays I would take my after photo to see and appreciate how well I was doing, as opposed to jumping on a scale.

Next, I bought a measuring tape to track how many inches I was dropping each week.

My advice to you is to toss the scale aside and jump on it only once a month. Use a measuring tape weekly instead, because the numbers on the tape are more accurate than those on the scale.

How to Take Body Measurements for Weight Loss

Since you will be measuring inches, it’s advisable to take off your clothes because clothes add extra inches. You need the measurements to be as accurate as possible so do this in your birthday or bathing suit.

Without sucking anything in, stand tall, relax your body and take measurements of the following body parts:

• Waist- Measure just above the navel
• Bust- Measure at the nipples
• Hips- Measure around the widest part of your hips
• Arms- Measure around the widest part of the upper arm
• Thighs: Measure the widest part of each thigh
• Calves: Measure around the widest point of each leg

 

4. I Didn’t Use Any Meal Plan for Extreme Weight Loss

Here is the most important part of how I lost weight. I didn’t go on a diet. I took control of how much I ate and not what I ate. So many people think that cutting out food groups from their diet is key to weight loss.

Well, when you cut out nutrients like carbs, you probably will lose weight, but is that going to be sustainable? Probably not. So, this is something I also realised through my years of ups and downs – diets that encourage you to cut out this and that are not sustainable long term. Eating healthy is how I lost weight.

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Instead of skipping carbs, I embraced them and ate more of slow energy releasing carbs. Instead of being afraid of eating fat, I ate healthy fats like avocadoes, nuts, seeds, and butter.

I drank more water, ate more protein and substituted white refined sugar with either honey or brown sugar. I had treats which I absolutely loved-like cheesecake once a week (usually on Saturday), or once every fortnight.

I have learned that giving myself a treat day helps me stay sane. As you may have heard before, one bad meal will not make you fat, just as one good meal or workout will not make you healthy. Consistently eating healthy is what helped me lose weight fast and easy.

5. I Used a Weight Loss Calculator and Started Weighing my Food Portions

Eating healthy will help you lose weight fast even without exercise. However, most people miss the point that even the healthiest foods contain calories and those calories are what makes you either lose, gain or maintain weight.

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It’s so important to calculate how many calories you need to eat per day in order to lose weight. There are weight loss calculator apps and sites such as MyFitnessPal, Spark People and BMI Calculator that will help you in this regard.

I downloaded the MyFitnessPal app and used it to calculate how many calories I needed to eat. The app also helped me keep track of what I ate – I was honest with myself and tracked everything that passed through my lips. I also tracked my exercises and many calories I burned each day.

So often when it comes to healthy food, people think they just need to eyeball their servings. If you are just starting out on a weight loss journey, I would strongly advise you against eyeballing food portion sizes. Get yourself a digital kitchen scale to help you control your portions.

Only once you have mastered what a real portion size looks like should you sometimes skip the scale and just wing it.

6. How to Lose Weight Fast With Exercise

It’s a proven fact that you can lose weight fast without exercise if you follow a healthy eating plan and the strategies I have mentioned above.

For a healthier lifestyle, adding exercise to your daily routine accelerates weight loss and also improves your quality of life.

Right at the start of my healthy lifestyle journey, I included exercise. This is why it’s important that you follow my first step to how I lost weight, and write down your why and how.

I worked out at least four times a week in the beginning and as I grew stronger and fitter, I exercised 5-6 times a week.

I followed Jillian Michaels’ workouts at first and in this post, I share in detail which ones of her workout routines I followed.

When I outgrew Jillian’s plans, I developed my own high impact workout plan that helped me to get bikini ready and look and feel even better.

If you would like to start with Jillian Michaels workouts like I did READ HERE the top 5 Jillian’s workouts that helped me lose weight.

You can check out my 30-day ultimate bikini body workout challenge here.

7. How to Lose Weight Fast

 

My final word of advice if you really want to lose weight, you have to mean it. Mean everything you do from now on. Be honest with yourself.

If you sneak it in a bar of chocolate but fail to log it, you are only cheating yourself.

How I lost weight can also be your story one day. What you give in is what will show in your progress photos.

Start today and start now with these fast and easy ways I used to lose a total of 44 pounds. If you stick to it, you just might be sharing your weight loss success story about how to lose weight at home, without ever stepping foot inside a gym.