Sustainable Weight Loss: Long Term Health

It's all well and good to think in March, "I have a wedding in June and I need to look my best". But what if you didn't have to stress yourself out for weeks on end before every major event in your life?

We've all been there. Before my own wedding in June 2018, I decided that I needed to lose as much weight as possible to look good for my big day.

In January 2018 I started 'dieting'. I counted calories, exercised 3-4 times a week and told myself no chocolate, snacks, fizzy drinks, coffee or junk food.

By the time my wedding came around, after numerous slip-ups on my 'diet', I'd gotten down to 10 stone 8 pounds. At the time that was just over a stone in weight loss. It wasn't perfect and I was still overweight but I was happy enough to jump into that wedding dress and marry the man of my dreams.

So what happened after the wedding?

As many of us do in a new relationship, I got comfortable and stopped thinking about my weight and my health.

On our honeymoon, we gorged on amazing Greek food and when we got home I'd put on around 3lbs in just a week!

At the time we'd decided that we wanted to have a baby so I went right back to telling myself, its time to continue losing weight. We'd been trying for months before the wedding and just three months after, while dieting, I found out I was pregnant.

Another Slip-Up

As soon as I found out I was pregnant, I knew I could no longer diet without putting our little miracle at risk so I went completely the opposite way. You know that saying, 'you're eating for two now'. Well, I probably ate for three or four. That is whenever I wasn't kneeling over the toilet bowl too sick to eat or drink anything!

After The Birth

I jumped on the scale just days after having our beautiful little girl and found that I was 12 stone 4 pounds! Knowing that my body needed time to heal, I decided that I'd wait until my 6-week checkup to begin dieting again.

But when that 6 weeks were up and my body was relatively well healed, I just simply couldn't be bothered. I continued eating what I wanted when I wanted. There would be a week or two where I'd think no, I'm going to eat well this week and try to lose a few pounds. But then I'd go right back to it, eating junk food and convenience meals because I simply didn't have the energy with a newborn baby.

Two Years On

Around a year and a half after our little girl was born, I realised I could no longer use the 'I've just had a baby' excuse for my weight gain.

I got into a horrible downward spiral of restricting myself to try to lose weight and busting my ass working out only to hit a ditch two weeks later and say "Frig it, I'll just be fat forever."

After six months of on and off dieting, I again decided enough was enough. I'd tried everything from intermittent fasting to diets filled with pills and meals of kale, eating only 800 calories a day!

I was at my wit's end.

The Change I Needed

I sat down with my husband one night and told him this time I was going to do it. I was going to lose weight and never gain it back. He actually laughed at me!

Why did he laugh at me?

Because I'd been on and off dieting, with no success, for years!

Now you may not know my husband and hearing that may well have made you dislike him but the truth is, he is the most amazing and supportive person I know and it turned out his laughter was exactly what I needed to go the extra mile. I had to prove to him (and myself) that I can do this!

One of the things I realised during that time was that I always had an 'end goal'. Whether it was to lose enough pounds by my wedding or lose just enough to get pregnant. There was always an end to it. I was only thinking in the short term.

This was one of the biggest mistakes I could have ever made!

Instead of making long term changes, I simply gave myself a period of time to be healthy before I could justify to myself that I could go right back again, effectively destroying all the hard work I'd put in, sweating and starving for months on end.

What's Changed?

I started slowly at first cutting down on snacking and the number of calorific drinks I was consuming. When I'd gotten that down I turned to balancing my meals and eating healthier snacking options. I upped my water intake which was one of the best and most rewarding things about this whole experience (click here to learn about how drinking more water helped) and instead of spending hours a week busting my butt on the exercise bike or doing workouts that I hated, I decided to start off by promising myself I'd walk 10k steps a day.

In the long run that's helped me to see the changes in my body. I can now walk down the street without feeling like my legs are made of bricks. And I've even started implementing some other cardio and strength training because it turns out, I love fitness!

How Did All Of This Help?

Taking things slow and steady helped me set myself up for success by changing my outlook and my lifestyle for the long-term.

I haven't cut anything out altogether. If I want pizza I'll have one or two slices with a salad rather than a whole pizza with mayo sploshed on top.

If I fancy some chocolate, I'll work it into my calories for the day or even add it to a meal by making protein cookies or brownies and limiting my portion size whereas before I'd grab the whole bag and gorge until it was empty.

I limit myself to one coffee a day or none at all. Coming from a major caffeine addict, that's a major achievement in itself.

I don't tell myself that I can't have something because for me it was a downward spiral from there. Instead, I allow myself little treats here and there but keep my diet 80% health ALL OF THE TIME.

The Key To Long-Term Weight Loss

Change your mindset. Think of where you wish to be in 2/5/10 years time. Do you want to be still struggling with your weight and constantly stressing yourself out or do you want to make a few small changes now so that you never have to think about it again?

My Results So Far

I'm currently 38 days into changing my lifestyle instead of forcing myself into an unsuccessful diet and I'm already 13lbs lighter. Not just that but I'm sleeping better and my energy throughout the day is a miracle. No more afternoon naps for me!

Best of all, I've had no desire whatsoever to go back to my old habits!

My Advice To You

Stop thinking of your weight in the short term and start thinking of your health in the long term! One will follow the other.

P.s I'm eating a cookie while writing this and no, I don't feel guilty!

If you enjoyed this post please feel free to give it a love heart and check out my other posts for more tips on weight loss and other topics!