This is a goal that I wasn’t sure was even possible. I have never updated my driver’s license and thus it’s set at the weight I was in high school….a time when you can eat whatever you want and not gain a pound.
After getting engaged at the end of September 2017, I knew I wanted to lose some weight and get toned for the wedding. The dreary San Francisco weather had gotten me accustomed to comfort food and cozy sweaters. And once we decided on a destination wedding (read: spending time with all our friends and family in a bikini 👙) I was dead set on getting abs. So at the start of the year, I set a wedding resolution, not a New Year’s resolution because statistically those don’t typically work, to get into shape.
My whole life I have never really cared about weight per say. The numbers on the scale can make you feel really bad about yourself when you actually look great. And we all know that muscle weighs more than fat, so if you’re strong, your weight won’t necessarily be as low as you might like. All that aside though, I had set this goal on my list and I figured this was the most likely time to check it off. I made sure to keep my ultimate goal in mind though because while it would be great to accomplish the weight loss, I wanted to be strong, not skinny.
Generally, I’m a pretty motivated person. If I set an absolute like, “I’m not eating any sweets,” I’m pretty good at sticking to it. I know myself well enough to know that I need these absolutes in the beginning to get myself on the right track. So that’s where I started…no sweets and cook dinner at home at least three times per week. (Thankfully I live with a very talented chef, so the cooking part wasn’t as challenging as it could have been.) Then we added in a couple of other things like making our own pizzas on a healthy crust instead of eating out and, probably the most difficult one for me, limiting tortilla chips (my fav!).
I also started bumping up my workout routine, but I approached it in a different way than I had in the past. I tried everything and never did the same thing in one week. I did Pilates, yoga, Mychael’s Fit Phases program, Barry’s Bootcamp, Orangetheory, Body by Simone, circuit workouts in Mychael’s gym, running, swimming, spinning, dance classes…you name it. It was really fun switching things up so much and trying new things. I planned my workouts for the week on Sunday, but kept things flexible and just did whatever I was feeling that day.
The food part is much more difficult for me in general. If I could work out twice per day and live on pizza and tortilla chips, I’d be in heaven. Unfortunately though, that’s not the way it works. So I started food logging. It was surprising to see how many calories were in some of my favorite foods. After logging all the separate ingredients in one of my go-to take-out salads, I might as well have just had pizza. It was very eye opening and forced me to make some additional changes to my diet. I started everyday with an Herbalife cookies ‘n creme shake (delicious, healthy and full of vitamins). Mychael is a rep so I knew about the products, but hadn’t used them regularly before. Then for lunch, I started going to the grocery store near my office and buying all the ingredients to make my own salads so I could ensure there weren’t any hidden calories. For dinner, Mychael made lots of delicious dishes that always consisted of a lean protein and veggies.
I actually started logging everything in the Fitbit app. I pretty much lived by it. (Full disclosure, I work at Fitbit, but aside from having access to Fitbit trackers, there really isn’t any advantage there.) I made sure to drink at least 100 ounces of water per day; tried REALLY hard to get at least 7 hours of sleep each night; almost always got my 10,000 daily steps; and kept track of my exercise. This was all gradual though. I didn’t just jump right into all these big changes, but worked my way up to hitting all these goals.
By food logging in the app and using the connected scale (Fitbit Aria 2), I was able to make sure I was staying at a calorie deficit. That’s not to say I didn’t have cheat days. I allowed myself to indulge on special occasions…I had Susie Cakes at my bridal shower, margaritas at my bachelorette, Mexican food on my birthday, etc. I didn’t take anything to a crazy extreme and allowed myself to take a break, but then jumped right back into my healthy habits afterwards. Overall I did more good than bad. By giving myself plenty of time to reach my goal, I had room for cheat days, which is a much more realistic and sustainable way to approach weight loss and fitness.
In the beginning it was really difficult. I’m sure there were changes happening on the inside, but I wasn’t seeing the immediate results I was hoping for. What the heck?! At the encouragement of my motivating and super cute trainer, I kept at it. And eventually, I started to see results. I very clearly remember the first time I saw my abs starting to come out. 💪
I weighed myself every Friday morning for consistency and started to see the numbers slowly go down. And on Friday, September 14, I hit my goal! 120 pounds!
Scale image is from Friday, Sept. 14. I weighed myself again on the 17th and it went down a little bit, but I didn’t have my phone handy to get another pic, hence the slight discrepancy.
So, I’m sorry to say that there’s no trick, no secret pill, no special diet that got me here. The “trick” is everything you already know – move every day, don’t eat crap, drink water and get sleep. And while it took some time to adjust, now it’s just a new lifestyle…one that is sustainable and not a crash wedding diet.
I’m really proud of all the work I put in and the progress I made. Mexico here I come!
nikiok
40 Before 40 