Where I was
There I was – a sophomore in college with a BMI of nearly 38 staring at herself in the mirror with sadness and defeat in her heart. I had always struggled with my weight, but never had it gotten this far. Instead of feeling pushed or motivated to change my situation, I felt defeated and hopeless. Negativity was the only thing going through my head. “How did you let it get this far?” “Why don’t you take care of yourself?” Then I’d cry because I didn’t see a way out. I’ve tried dieting before, but either they wouldn’t last because it was too hard or I’d take things too far and go down a dangerous route. This time, the amount I needed to lose just seemed too big of a number and so the possibility of weight loss seemed impossible. Therefore, I turned away from the mirror and told myself this is just how things are meant to be. I continued eating poorly, I refused to workout, and I did my best to hide around cameras or mirrors. I was in a bad state physically and mentally, but what else could I do?
The Change
Would you believe me if I told you this entire journey started accidentally? Well, you’re going to have to! I never intended to change my ways, but fate had different plans.
In the Summer of 2018, I went to Annecy, France to teach English. While I was there, I stayed with a host family who lived high in the mountains in a small neighboring village. I know this seems off topic, but this host family and their location was the key to this whole journey. This family had very healthy habits and their house was completely isolated from grocery stores or restaurants; therefore, it was very hard for me to get the junk food I craved. If I wanted to eat, I had to eat what they were eating.
You might be thinking, “That’s cheating! I’m not going to have the ability to live with another family like she did!” That might be true, but hear me out. The best way I can describe my host family’s diet is that it’s better. Yes, they ate healthy, but not always. We had pizza or pasta once a week or so, chocolate mousse for dessert every night, cheese and bread for almost every dinner, wine, etc. The food they did serve that was healthy like salmon or carrots tasted so good! Seriously, their food was always delicious and satisfying! I never went to bed hungry. In addition to my eating habits in France, I did not have the ability, time, or desire to work out. By the time I came back to America, I could just tell that I had lost weight. I weighed myself, and I had lost around 9 pounds in two months without trying.
WHAT?!?! I never went hungry, I enjoyed what I ate, I didn’t workout, and I managed to lose nearly 9 pounds?! That’s when it hit me: I didn’t need to aggressively restrict myself the way I had done in past diets, I just needed to replace the unhealthy foods I was eating with better options. Starting this journey slowly and without pressure was the key to it being a long-term success. Whether you decide to follow my diet or not, I highly recommend a similar start to any diet you choose. Unhealthy habits were not created overnight and trying to stop them cold turkey is setting yourself up for failure. I highly recommend slowly leaning into a diet by changing a few things at a time. Your body will let you know when it’s time to make a bigger change, but start small and work your way up for long-term results!
The First Goal
I was amazed that I had lost so much weight without trying. The way I ate in France was so easy and enjoyable that I felt confident I could continue to lose weight if I stuck to it and became conscience about my food choices. In order to avoid feeling like I had an unreachable goal, I set a smaller goal of getting a BMI that was out of obesity.
This part of my journey started around July 2018. In order to stick to what I ate in France and actively try to eat better, I made myself a set meal plan to follow on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. On these days, lunch would be a homemade turkey sandwich with chips; I would have a snack that was around 150 calories between lunch and dinner; dinner would be “something healthy” from either my French host family’s recipe or from a recipe I found and liked; and if I was still hungry after dinner, I would have dessert. You probably noticed that I didn’t mention breakfast… Honestly, I haven’t eaten breakfast since I was 15. I know that’s not the best, and I’ve changed my ways since this part of the journey, but I’m just trying to be as honest as possible about my journey in each of its parts. If you want breakfast, I suggest going with the “something healthy” route so that you can get a variety for breakfast and dinner.
You probably also noticed I did not follow this “set meal plan” on Wednesdays or Saturdays. I left these two out for my cheat days. Having cheat days really helped me stick to the meal plan because if I craved something, it was easier to say “no” since I’d only have to wait around 2 days to eat what I was craving. Wednesday’s were “half-cheat days.” On Wednesdays, I would not abide by the “strict” meal plan, but I would still eat healthy. For example, I would eat a subway sandwich for lunch instead of my homemade sandwich, or I’d eat out at Panera for dinner, or I’d eat at Frutta Bowls (for those of you who’ve never had Frutta Bowls, 1) I’m so sorry for you 2) it’s a restaurant that serves acai fruit bowls! THEY’RE SO GOOD!!!!). Saturdays would be a full-on cheat day and I would let myself eat anything I wanted. I had no limits, no restrictions, and I was never hard on myself the next day for “eating too much,” because I would tell myself it’s okay. It’s okay to eat what you crave and it’s okay if you “ate too much,” because this journey is focused on the long term, not the short term. It’s a slow and steady process, and my diet for the rest of the week covered the “weight gain” from Saturday’s with ease.
Another point worth noting is that there was no workout routine at this point. My fall semester was the busiest/ most stressful semester I’ve ever had. I was taking 7 college classes, I had a teaching internship, and I had a part-time job. I literally had no time to workout and maintain good grades, so working out just didn’t happen. I did walk to all of my classes, but I would say that probably only made one mile of walking every Tuesday and Thursday. Other than that, my weight loss from this part of the journey was purely diet rather than exercise.
The Second Goal
Around December of 2018, I hit my first goal of getting out of obesity with a 29.9 BMI. I made myself a new goal of getting a BMI in a healthy range, but my weight loss was at a halt. I was sticking to my set meal plan very well and my body didn’t crave junk food on cheat days; however, I was maintaining my weight and not losing any. It was a really frustrating time in my journey and I wanted to throw in the towel, but gosh darn it I had come too far to quit now! So I thought about all the things that needed to change.
I started with my “set meals.” I had noticed that the homemade sandwiches were making me full, but I kept eating them because I was worried that I’d overeat later. Same with the dinners. I’d be full half-way through, but I kept eating because I didn’t want to be super hungry late at night and overeat. My weight loss coming to a halt made me realize that my body had changed and was asking for a change in the diet.
Therefore, I changed my “set meals” into smaller portions. Instead of eating two meals and a small snack in-between, I decided to do small snacks from morning until dinner. I would go to school with multiple small, healthy snacks in my backpack such as breakfast bars, Skinny Pop Popcorn, Kind bars, apple slices, pretzels with hummus, etc. I never told myself when I would eat these snacks, I just ate them whenever I was hungry. I never really limited myself to a certain number of snacks, I just listened to my body. When I was hungry or low on energy, I would eat. If I ran out of packed snacks but was still hungry, I would get a nature valley bar from the vending machine. For dinner, I kept the same motto of “something healthy,” but started making smaller portions and changed the recipes to be even healthier. I still ate dessert if I desired it and I kept my Wednesday “half-cheat day” and Saturday “full-cheat day” routines, which still made everything easy to follow.
Around February 2019, I knew I needed to make a change beyond diet. So, I bit the bullet and started working out. I have a treadmill at my house, so I started by running at 5.5 speed for 3-minute intervals until a mile and a half of running, and then I did sit-ups in sets. When I first started, my sit-ups rule was “go until you can’t go, then do 5 more,” and repeat that number 3 more times. It was hard, and I definitely took breaks and I dreaded workout time. However, I was determined to workout 5 times a week, and I am very proud that I maintained that all semester until finals week (studying comes first :/). As time went on throughout the semester, I would just bump up my levels to whatever I felt was reasonable. By the end of the semester, I was doing sprints at a speed of 7 for 2-minute intervals for 2 miles and four sets of 40 sit-ups.
The Current
I hit my BMI goal on April 18th, 2019 with a 24.5; however, that is not where this journey ends. My journey is not about how I lost weight, it’s about how I changed my unhealthy habits and learned healthy habits that work for me. This journey taught me that health has to be the focus, and health is a lifetime commitment because it is concerned with your full well-being and happiness—NOT weight.
I’ve made a new goal for myself—get fit! I want to be stronger and faster, and so my current diet is concerned with giving my body the energy it needs to have great workouts! Small snacks throughout the day still work best for me, but I’ve sort of done away with “cheat days” because I hardly ever crave anything unhealthy. And if I do get unhealthy cravings, I normally just let myself eat what I’m craving because I know it’s rare and okay to have once in awhile. As a “rule of thumb,” I always try to keep in mind what’s best for my body and my energy levels whenever I pick what I eat.
I’m very proud of the progress I’ve made, but please don’t compare yourself to where I am today. Remember it took me over a year to get here, and there are still days where working out is the LAST thing I want to do. I still have a lot of progress to make before I’m in the top-notch shape I want to be in, but I’m still setting small goals within this large goal that are easy to achieve and motivate me!
I never, ever thought I’d be here. I never thought I’d enjoy healthy food, I never thought I’d enjoy running, and I never thought I’d look in the mirror and smile. I think back to that sophomore girl and I wish I could stand near her in the mirror and tell her that she has the power and ability to change herself. It’s never too late and you’re never too far gone to change the course of a single day.
My Health Journey 
So inspiring! So proud of you.
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