NAME : Rachel / BEFORE WEIGHT : 257 / AFTER WEIGHT : 172 / POUNDS LOST : 85

I started developing a weight problem when I was around 6 or 7 years old. I was dealing with my father going to prison and food was the comfort that I turned to when I was feeling down.

HOW DID YOUR WEIGHT AFFECT ANY ASPECT(S) OF YOUR LIFE?  My weight definitely caused a lot of anxiety in my life, and I skipped out on a lot of social events because of it. I’d even skip school as a teenager because I felt like I was always being judged for my weight.

WHAT WAS THE “TURNING POINT” THAT GOT YOU STARTED ON YOUR WEIGHT LOSS JOURNEY?  My breaking point was when I was 18 and went on a family vacation to Disneyland, and I didn’t even try to go on any of the cool rides because I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to fit. Once I got home from that trip I realized that I had to make a change, and that I wanted something better to come out of my life.

HOW DID YOU GET STARTED?  The very first step is I started eating more fruits and vegetables, and walking around the outside of my house. This turned into running (very short distances) and eventually buying some weightlifting equipment and then joining a gym shortly after.

HOW LONG AFTER YOU STARTED DID YOU BEGIN TO SEE RESULTS OF YOUR WEIGHT LOSS EFFORTS?  I started seeing results days after I started! I was losing 3+ pounds a week when I first started.

WHAT WAS THE HARDEST PART?  I hated exercising! I hated when my heart rate would escalate because I felt like my heart was going to explode. I also hated healthy foods. I had to change my the foods I liked in order to have success in my weight loss journey.

DID YOU EVER WANT TO GIVE UP? WHAT KEPT YOU GOING?  No. That’s the one thing I never wanted to do. I had so many hard days, but I never wanted to quit. I knew it was my dream to lose weight and I was going to make it happen, even if I had to pick myself up the next day after I failed. I’d do it in a heartbeat.

DID YOU HIT ANY WEIGHT LOSS PLATEAUS? HOW DID YOU OVERCOME THEM?  Yes! I hit a plateau about a year in because I needed to change my diet, even though I was eating healthy foods I was still eating too many calories. Once I lowered the calories a bit and started exercising a little bit more and I began to lose weight again.

HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO LOSE MOST OF THE WEIGHT?  It took me about 2 years to lose 85 pounds!

DID YOU HAVE ANY NON-SCALE VICTORIES?  Yes! I’m really into weight lifting and one of my biggest accomplishments was squatting 225 pounds!

WHAT DOES YOUR DAILY DIET LOOK LIKE COMPARED TO WHEN YOU WERE HEAVIER?  I was an emotional eater. I have two blog posts that go into depth on how I overcame it, because it was so bad. Every single night I’d come home and binge on anything and everything while watching tv. During the day I’d have two venti frappachino’s and all sorts of unhealthy take-out foods. My favorite foods were desserts and carbs!

HOW DOES YOUR PHYSICAL ACTIVITY COMPARE TO WHEN YOU WERE HEAVIER?  When I was heavier, I wouldn’t work out at all. Now, I’m active six days a week, spending about 12+ hours a week at the gym.

MY WEIGHT LOSS TIPS & TRICKS

1. Find someone to keep you accountable! The person that kept me accountable the most was my personal trainer at my gym. This not only helped keep me on track, but it gave me a friend who knew a lot about fitness and weight loss and wanted to help me succeed.

2. I created inspirational Pinterest boards to motivate me when I was feeling discouraged. Sometimes I’d even print off my favorite pins and tape them on my walls.

3. Follow your favorite person on social media who has the body you want and learn everything about their routine. If they’re super into fitness, you can adopt some of their strategies to get your body looking more like theirs. Think about things like.. what does their day to day diet look like? How many days are they working out? What kind of workouts do they do and how intense are they? What can I do that resembles their routine?

4. Share your story with others. If you’re into it, create a fitness account on instagram and share your successes and failures with the world. Invite other people to follow your story. This will help keep you accountable as well, as you’ll want to post inspirational things to your audience as they’re rooting for you to succeed in this journey as well.

5. Choose exercises that are fun to you. If you absolutely hate walking on the treadmill, guess what? It’s going to be extremely hard for you to continue doing that every day. Find something you love to do! Maybe you love playing tennis, or swimming, or walking your dog through beautiful trails on the water. Whatever activity you love to do, do it more often and you’ll burn more calories.