3 Valuable Lessons From Losing 20 Pounds in Three Months

Lightbulbs came on as the weight came off

In the list of Things That Are Extremely Awesome:

I have lost 20 pounds in the last three months.

If you need me, I will be having a dance party in my living room.

And probably scaring the hell out of my cats.

Background: I Am 50 Pounds Overweight

Several years ago, I got super duper sick. Like, life-threatening sick. And one of the ways I kept myself alive was to pull myself out of spirals by taking a box of Betty Crocker brownie mix, making it, and eating the batter straight out of the bowl with my fingers.

There are legit psychological reasons this worked, but that is not the point. The point is that apparently, one cannot self-medicate with brownie batter without gaining an ass-ton of weight.

Rude.

I am doing much much better now, and so decided to take stock of the whole *gestures comprehensively* situation. Result: in November I found that was a good 50 pounds over my pre-illness healthy weight.

I beg. Your fucking pardon.

What.

*deep breath and Ace Ventura voice* Alllllllrgihty then.

We have some work to do.

How I Lost the Weight: The Wildfit Challenge

Initially, I tried to keep eating the way I was eating (sans brownie batter) and just walk the weight off. I walked a minimum of five miles a day, which was helping, albeit not as quickly as I wanted.

And then I sprained my ankle.

Sigh.

At this point, thankfully, my coaches told me to do the Wildfit Challenge.

If you don’t know Wildfit, you can find out about it here. Basically, it’s a really clean eating/paleo-style program focused on the natural human diet. The founder developed it based on his multiple occasions living with the Bushmen in Africa, none of whom are overweight and a very not-Standard-American-Diet.

I mean, duh. Of course, they don’t. Obviously.

Anyway! Initially, I was resistant, because I have an unfortunate habit of going NO I can do this on my OWN (and also I didn’t want to pay for it, because I was being cheap). After a couple of weeks, I got a stern talking-to from said coaches and said “ugh, fine.” And I started the program.

Three months later: my diet has wildly shifted. And 20 pounds have come off.

Fine, coaches. You were right. I acknowledge. And I will further say am grateful for my talking to because I will give credit where it is due.

What I Learned From This Process

In the course of my Wildfit experience, I have learned multiple things. Many of them are about how different foods affect the body, that you can legit retrain your taste buds, and that you definitely should not go cold turkey off all refined sugar, because I will bet serious money that 90% of us are hella addicted to it.

However, I also learned three more overarching lessons that apply to more than just weight loss (but are also absolutely necessary to weight loss). They are:

1. You Can’t Eat Like You Used To And Expect to Lose Weight

Sigh.

Before Wildfit, I was hoping to find a way to lose weight that wouldn’t really interrupt my eating habits. I liked my eating bread (as opposed to sandwich bread, which should not be eaten outside of sandwiches because it is deeply sub-par), pastries, pasta, the whole nine yards.

And sadly, that’s just not a thing.

I learned that you can’t do what you’ve been doing and expect to get different results. Different results live on the other side of serious change in behavior (and in my case, diet). You have to give up the things that are holding you back from your goals, no matter how delicious or comfortable they may be.

2. To Get Achieve The Goal, You Have to Put In The Work

There’s a lot of wishing and hoping and oh-definitely-this-year-ing that goes with weight loss and healthy living. But it turns out that wishing doesn’t actually do the job. You have to put in the work.

I did not drink eggnog this Christmas. I said no to the carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting on my mother’s birthday. I put in the work of actually following through with the program. It gave me guidance and guidelines and lists and really effective approaches, but I’m the one who implemented them and maintained my discipline in the face of cookies.

You have to do the “dammit” things. You actually do have to put in the work to get the results you want.

(I’m adding a “gah” here, for the record. I didn’t use to do this. I thought I could wish my way to my goals. Nope! Therefore, gah.)

3. Listening to Experts Actually Does Work

As previously mentioned, I have a tendency to go “NO I shall not accept ANY help or guidance or listen to people who know what they’re talking about I can do this MYSELF!” (Husband can confirm this very annoying tendency.)

But turns out when people have a hell of a lot of experience in something and have helped thousands of people get results, they do know what they’re talking about.

And I should probably listen.

Case in point: Before Wildfit, I had heard over and over that “abs are made in the kitchen,” “it’s what you eat, not how much you exercise,” and “you can’t outrun a bad diet.”

I dismissed all of these words of wisdom, convinced that I knew better, even when they came from nutritional coaches and dieticians, and professional trainers.

Sometimes I wonder about myself.

But, um, you know how I mentioned I sprained my ankle? Sucker hasn’t really healed. I haven’t been able to exercise for about as long as I’ve been on the program.

Aaaaaand 20 pounds.

So.

I may have been wrong about this.

And should probably have listened to the experts.

Weight Loss Is Awesome. Life Lessons Are The Cherry On Top.

I’m really pleased with how this program has gone, and most of the changes I’ve made are probably going to be permanent (no more refined sugar, that’s for damn sure). I’ve dropped a respectable amount of the brownie weight, and I have the tools and knowledge I need to drop the rest.

And the fact that I’ve learned things that I can apply to reach my goals for the rest of my life?

That is the cherry on top of a very excellent, and sadly, very uneaten cake.