I Lost Fifty Pounds

And everyone I know wants to know how I did it

Things that weigh fifty pounds: six gallons of milk. An adult male bulldog. My six year old daughter. Twenty-five pairs of shoes.

Also, fifty pounds happens to be the amount of weight I shed from my body this year.

We’re in and out of Pandemicsville, and I’m something of an introvert, so it’s not often that I find myself out in the world, but recently I did dare to step outside, where I blinked away the blinding sunlight and met up with some friends for dinner.

When I arrived, teetering in the heels I hadn’t worn in years (because when I was overweight, I felt like I looked like a potato on stilts) there were multiple, genuine exclamations about how great I looked, followed immediately by demands for my secrets to accomplishing this feat.

First; those compliments felt great. I loved knowing that my weight loss wasn’t just in my head, and that it wasn’t a trivial amount. Sometimes, and especially when you’re cooped up due to the unmentionable illness that has pissed off the masses, it’s hard to see past yourself, so this affirmation of my success was so welcome.

But, the secrets to my success? That’s a pretty big demand. I’ll fill you in, though, on the biggest secret of them all:

There are no secrets. None. Weight loss is surprisingly simple.

And if approached with the right mindset, it can be, dare I say, almost easy. (Almost.)

I Stopped Eating Sh*t

Fitness inspiration Jennifer Aniston is almost always questioned about her diet and the sorcerous ways she keeps fit. While she’s fairly free about dishing on what she eats from day to day, my favourite quote from her on this topic was, “just stop eating sh*t every day.”

I’m sorry to tell you all this, but Queen Jen is right.

My approach to weight loss has differed throughout the decades, and there are a few key reasons that it worked for me this time around the merry go round; which, if you’re interested, was my 8,957,389th time trying to lose weight. Give or take.

The first key to my weight loss was listening to Jennifer Aniston’s sage advice.

Yeah, I know. She eats only organic foods and works out eleventy-billion hours a week. But that advice is still so valid.

It’s so easy to throw junk into our gullets. What is harder is walking past the cookie aisle. Or, gathering the ingredients ourselves to make homemade granola instead of just buying the sugar-heavy stuff you find in the cereal aisle.

Convenience over effort: that’s the company line. Choosing to do the right thing is the harder path to take, sometimes, but it’s the one that almost always leads to long term success.

Which, by the way, applies to so much more than just weight loss.

So, putting the effort into my diet, and making sure that I got a decent helping of veggies, fruit, whole grains and lean protein every single day, was a major player in my success.

I also didn’t eat sh*t every day. I mean, mostly. No one’s perfect.

Was it convenient? Nope. But, it wasn’t hard, either. I’m a mom of two small kids and I was still able to pull this off, so with some time management, it’s not an impossible thing to do.

I Practiced Will Power

When I was pregnant with my first…nope. I can’t use that as an excuse. Let me start over: for some reason — and I used to blame this on pregnancy but since the dirty habit continued after the fact, well…let’s just continue — I used to eat chocolate with my morning coffee. Like, a whole chocolate bar.

I know; it’s gross, it’s gluttonous — I get it. It was one of the many reasons I gained weight over the last couple of decades; I’m actually surprised I didn’t gain more. But I still loved it.

Will power is a tricky thing to master. No, wait. Tricky doesn’t cover it — it’s an almost impossible thing to master. I still struggle with cookies and muffins and Goldfish crackers in the house (those things are oddly addictive) and likely always will. But with some practice having smaller portions of the foods I loved and lots of internal pep talks, I was able to reach a place where I had all the control.

Well, most of it.

I still have a small square of dark chocolate with my coffee in the morning. I keep it in my freezer, take out one square, and enjoy it with my morning brew without the tiniest bit of guilt. Because I know I can — and do — stop there.

(It’s delicious, by the way.)

This also applies to eating out. Full disclosure: I’ve never been one who orders a salad when I go to a restaurant. I also don’t understand why this is a thing: I could make a salad at home! I know, restaurant food is highly caloric, but how often are you eating out that a salad is the solution to your problems? I’m a ‘mac n’ cheese with extra bacon’ kinda gal, and I feel no shame in that.

I used to polish off the plate and then feel guilty. Now, I can feel when I’m full, and the fork is put down on the plate, never to be picked up again. It just took practice. A lot of it, but that’s all it took.

I have the control, now, to do this. And it feels amazing. And it’s not salad, so there’s that.

But it took time, patience, and practice.

No More Alcohol

Yeah, I know. I know! You’re thinking, this isn’t a sustainable diet! But I quit drinking more than two years ago, for reasons not relating to weight loss, and I’d be lying through my teeth if I didn’t include it as a huge, huge reason that I lost the weight. It didn’t take long for the weight to drop once I’d incorporated all my other healthy habits, too.

You know Jennifer Lopez? Of course you do. She looks amazing, and she’s in her 50s. And she’s never had fillers or plastic surgery to look that way — it’s natural (allegedly.) Her secret?

She doesn’t drink alcohol.

She also doesn’t drink coffee or go to bed late, but we can’t all be J-Lo.

I knew that I would see some benefits when I quit my little habit, but I had no idea that the change would be so huge, especially in my appearance. In addition to shedding some much hated poundage, I also saw an improvement in my complexion, and even the whites of my eyes and my teeth were whiter.

Beyond that, though, I had a bad habit of munching on crackers and cheese while also downing countless liquid calories most nights. When I think back, I probably consumed half of my daily caloric intake with my nightly naughtiness.

That adds up pretty quick. And losing weight is always harder than putting it on, but once that habit was nipped in the bud, I started dropping weight like never before.

I Moved My Body More

I’m not one for exercise. Several times in my 30-something years on the planet, I would try to lose some weight and would find myself at the gym a few nights a week.

I hated it.

Loathed, even.

I’ll never be a gym rat and that’s fine by me. All I wanted was to be slimmer, to feel better, and to fit into my old, beautiful clothing that I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of.

I wanted to be healthier, too, for my kids.

Conveniently, I was in a position in which I could walk my daughter to and from school every day, so I chose to do this instead of paying for transportation or driving her there. This led to about an hour of walking a day, while pushing a (hefty) toddler in the stroller.

Walking is actually really great exercise, and I personally love to take in my surroundings as I push the stroller and listen to an audio book. It was a great way to shift some of that poundage. I’ve also started doing yoga and resistance band training in the mornings while my little ones are asleep — but I have zero plans for a six pack, so don’t get excited.

Fasting

I didn’t start this practice because of weight loss, specifically — I’d just read that it was good for digestion and overall health. Losing weight was just another reason to try it out.

An unintended bonus, though, was that it made me think more about the kinds of food I was eating, and how much. It’s widely believed that tracking calories is a good way to lose weight, and ironically, this last attempt at losing weight was the only time I didn’t do this — and it’s the only time the weight came off. I really believe that a large part of why was fasting.

Fasting means that I can look forward to my first meal and not worry too much about how much I eat after the 16 hours I fast: I usually eat healthy, so there’s no chance of gorging on junk food, and I always stop eating when I’m full, so I know I’m not overeating. That first meal gets me through until dinner, where, again, I don’t worry too much about calories because we generally only eat healthy meals at home.

My nightly ritual (I’m very routine oriented; drives my husband crazy) includes enjoying a small bowl of greek yogurt sweetened with a flavoured sweetener, frozen cherries, and the aforementioned homemade granola. This is my final meal of the day, which usually takes place at 8 or 9. (Also, delicious. I’m big on deliciousness.)

As a routine oriented person, fasting works wonders. And the best thing about this lifestyle is that it is sustainable, and flexible. If I go away on vacation or go out for breakfast, I can change it up for a day or two.

It won’t break me, or ruin my success if I do.

Keep It Simple — And Sustainable

The question I most frequently get asked about my weight loss is, “what weight loss program are you on?”

Usually, when I tell people the truth — that I just stopped eating junk and took more walks — their eyes glaze over, and I know why. We all hate the effort that goes into weight loss; we’re really just looking for that magical, quick and dirty fix that will help us lose as much weight as possible as quickly as possible.

That just simply isn’t a sustainable way to live. And that’s why those diets always, always fail.

The best example of this I can think of that is pertinent is the keto craze. Literally every single person I know who has gone on the keto diet — and off the top of my head, I think that’s something like 8 people — has gained their weight back, and usually more. The reason?

It’s. Not. Sustainable.

I don’t diet, and I don’t think diets actually work. Ever. I think diets are a crash test in weight loss that teach you nothing whatsoever about how to live a healthy, sustainable, simple lifestyle. Losing weight should take some time, should trickle down a couple of pounds every few weeks — in my opinion, and from what I’ve seen, the quick and dirty solutions just don’t work. And then, what, you ate oatmeal that tasted like soggy cardboard for a month for no reason? No thanks.

And restrictions aren’t sustainable, either. Diets that forbid you from enjoying a devilishly good slice of New York cheesecake drizzled with raspberry sauce once in a blue moon are crap. Sorry, but they are.

So for those reasons, I keep my diet simple, and I make sure it’s sustainable.

Wait…That’s It?

That’s pretty much it. When people ask me how I lost weight, the answer is simple: don’t eat crap, move your body, make healthy choices. No programs, no calorie counting, no restrictions.

It’s not always easy, of course, but as time goes on it definitely gets easier.

I am by no means an expert in weight loss or the nutrition and exercise fields, nor do I have any aspirations of becoming one of the many social media influencers who inspire people to lose weight. I just don’t think it has to cost you a monthly fee or your first born child to lose weight.

Weight loss is a multi-million dollar industry for a reason — it’s no secret that people hurl their money towards any possible solution to their weight problem, hoping that one will stick. I’m offering myself as proof, if you’re one of those money-hurlers, that it’s not a miracle food or carefully crafted program that is the key to success.

It’s just choosing yourself, every day. Choosing to fuel your body with good food, every day. Choosing to move your body, every day.

And for me, the simplicity of this was what finally worked.