A guest post, by wonderful Amanda, who lost 100 pounds and changed not only the size(s) of her dress, but also her whole life. She was kind enough to share some tips and I hope we all can use it to our benefit. Her Instagram handle is: @runningforpasta

 

When and how did you decide to lose the weight?

I became serious about my weight loss in fall 2016, I was living in Houston Texas for my husbands job and was lonely because my husband worked 60 hours a week and I only worked 30, I had a lot time on my hands so I needed to find something to keep myself occupied so I looked up 5ks in the area and found the Houston Run series. I then started training 3-4 times a week for that and fell in love with running. 

How did you lose it? What exercises did you do?

Majority of my weight-loss was from running. After I completed my first 5k, running was a part of my routine and I continued to do it but started adding miles to my runs. I was more interested in the completion of miles rather than how fast I could do a smaller distance. 

In May of 2017, we moved back to Maine and I knew I needed to add weight lifting into my routine and that’s how I found cross fit.  A woman I went to college with had opened her own gym and I tried out a class and loved it. 

 

 

 

How do you handle/ handled social gatherings while losing weight?

I had the advantage in the beginning that I didn’t have a lot of social gatherings just because we were so far from family and friends so I built up the boundaries of eating healthy and sticking to those boundaries; starting with work parties. I started to learn that it’s okay to say “no” to those temptations and I don’t have to justify my reasoning for not wanting cake or sweets or unhealthy options. 

Now that I am with family and friends again, I am not afraid to say “no thank you” to temptations and because I post a lot on Facebook/Instagram people are aware of my fitness goals (i.e. Training for a marathon and cross fit competitions) and they understand that I’m not interested in a lot of unhealthy foods.

However, I don’t have any restrictions with my eating and I plan and track my food but I do have days where I plan it out to eat something unhealthy. I say “okay, it’s my anniversary, I’m going to have a piece of cake” and I track it and move on. Doing that I don’t feel any guilt because I have control of the situation. I think food planning is extremely important.  If I am going to a restaurant I look at the menu beforehand to plan my best option or eat something small before I go so that I’m not starving and make a last minute choice. If I have a staff meeting, I bring snacks too.

And, now that you have lost so much weight, what do you do on social outings?

I still make good choices and try to plan as much as I can. The thing with eating healthy for long, I’m not really interested in the unhealthy things because my relationship with food has changed. My mindset is now a “fueling your body” and if I want to run longer and lift heavy, I don’t want to eat junk.  

 

 

 

  How hard or easy it is?

It’s a balance, with planning it out and having people know of my goals, there is no questions from them if I skip dessert or beers. People most of the time understand what I’m doing but if they don’t, I simply tell them I’m not interested in eating that. 

Advise to those starting this journey:)

Just keep going -you have to start somewhere and then be consistent…one meal won’t break you just as one workout one make you lose 100 pounds. Stay consistent and you will see result

Take progress pictures, the scale can be an ******* and someday you might be up but other days down depending on water and sodium intake. Remember it’s only one way of measurement. Look for the Non-scale victories and how your clothes are fitting.

Find something you love. I run and do cross fit because I love it, put yourself out there and try different things. You don’t like running? Don’t do it…try classes like Zumba, Piyo, spinning, yoga…just find something you like because if you hate it you won’t want to keep doing it. 

 

 

I’m also linking this post with #MondayMusings