My Lasting Weight Loss (Still Over 145 pounds gone!)

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While I skipped my annual weight loss post last year, I have made some different changes this year that I thought might be helpful to others on their health journeys. Now that I'm six years into this, I'm feeling really confident naming this lasting weight loss. I also have a couple of new tools I'm sharing that are helping me this year in my continuing progress. Plus, there are lots of before and after photos below, as well. 

I try to share my weight loss tips most Januarys...since that's when a lot of us are working towards different health-related goals. And while I try my hardest not to gain over the holidays, it's helpful to me to do an annual review, as well. A sort of self-reflection and audit of my own habits, if you will. See all of my tips and tricks on how I lost 145 pounds (and kept it off for nearly six years) below.

Please note: I'm not a medical doctor and can't really give any actual medical advice. These are just my own experiences that I feel can help others.

Lasting Weight Loss

If you've been a reader for several years, you'll notice my pounds lost has shifted. While I *was* at 150 pounds lost, I had a medical scare that caused me to have to shift medication levels (I no longer have a thyroid due to cancer and my meds were way off...causing loads of other scary mayhem). My doctor warned me I'd gain weight with the shift...and I did, but she told me it was absolutely necessary. I actually gained ten pounds total, but tweaked and reworked my lifestyle to take five of that back off. I'm not sure the other five will budge much more, and I am almost getting to where I'm okay with it. It's still a mental struggle, in all honesty, though. 

New Tools that Help Me

When I gained that ten pounds, it sent me in a bit of a tailspin. I was mad...I mean, I hadn't eaten ten pizzas, my medication changed. It was frustrating. But, one thing that has helped me tremendously is weighing daily. Years ago, this would have sounded bananas to me. But, these days, it really helps me to not let things get too out of hand. I started writing my weight down every day to be able to compare it to where I was a month ago, a year ago, etc. I was just doing this in a notebook for a while, and then created my own chart. I decided to pretty it up and offer it to you, as well. It's editable online or can be printed and used with a pen. I also created a companion fitness journal for it, too.

You can find these two weight loss printables here in my Etsy shop. 

Keeping On Keepin' On

One of the biggest factors to my weight loss is that my husband does it alongside me. We both weigh regularly, which keeps us accountable. While he's not a daily weigher, I definitely am. To me, if I go a week without weighing, things may have gotten a bit out of hand (a few pounds gained) and it's very disheartening to face that. If I weigh daily and one pound (or even two) pops up overnight, I can mentally think about what I did the day before that could have caused that. Then I make sure to cut back a tiny bit that day...and usually I bounce right back.

How We Lost It

• We started this journey by doing the Trim Healthy Mama program. I won't go into all of that in this post, but if you'd like to read my weight loss post from 2019 here, it has a lot more details on that plan.
• In all honesty, while we firmly believe in that plan, we really don't adhere to it as much these days. We took the principles we learned on it and applied them to our life as we moved past the weight loss stage and into the maintaining-for-life stage.
• After my thyroid tachycardia episodes (and subsequent medication change), my doctor strongly encouraged me to change things up to combat the possibility (and then reality) of weight gain. She actually said the good old-fashioned way of counting calories wasn't the worst thing ever. And I tend to mentally do that more often than not now. It has helped me tremendously with portions.
• The other thing I now do that works solidly for me is to quit eating at 6pm. While this isn't realistic every day with family activities and such, for the most part, I try really hard to do this. It's kind of fail proof for me. It keeps the weight off...and helps even more if a pound or two creeps on. 
• One thing that hasn't changed? I still walk. A LOT. I still aim for six miles a day. I go through a pair of sneakers in three months, but I won't give up my walking routine. 
• We reluctantly joined a gym after our two teenage sons wanted to weight train and bulk (funny how I'd like to do just the opposite of bulk). It was more cost effective to get a family membership. While I've never been a gym person, I no longer hate it. And about once a week, when my walking buddy isn't free, I hit the elliptical. What is fascinating to me is that it takes me 30 minutes to burn 300 calories on the elliptical. It takes me an hour and a half of walking to do the same. Gah. But, I find the walking a bit better for my mental health, so do that a lot more than the gym.
• Speaking of my walking buddy, she's my other accountability person (alongside my husband). Get yourself an accountability person and stick to them like glue. She knows me better than my grief therapist, y'all. And we can chat about weight and health struggles in an open and honest way...without judgement or pressure. She's the best thing since sliced low calorie bread. 
• One other thing that hasn't changed is that I religiously meal plan. You can grab the same meal planner I use here on Amazon (it's actually my own design). Eating at home is so much better for our waistlines than eating out. I know exactly what's in our food. 

Before and After Photos

If you had told me ten years ago that I'd ever take a head-to-toe pic in a swimsuit, I'd have laughed. And while my board shorts and top are super coverage friendly, it feels good to not be mortified on the beach anymore.

The above photo was taken on our 20th anniversary in November in Santa Fe.

The photo on the above left of these pics was probably my heaviest. I took that a week into starting Trim Healthy Mama. It's hard to look at these photos, but also helpful in seeing how far I've come.

On our current travels, we now add loads of physical activity into our itinerary. From hiking to kayaking to biking, it's really fun to be able to do all of these things. Above was taken at a bath house in Hot Springs, Arkansas this past July. We loved all of the hiking trails in that area. In this photo, we were chatting about how tiny the changing rooms from the 1800s were...and how old me probably couldn't have fit in them. Excited that new me could!

A few more pics from the past six years (above). While, according to my doctor, I probably won't lose a great deal more (if any), I'm finally happy and pretty much okay with that (even if the reason was frustrating). I'm definitely not a skinny minnie, but that's okay...I'm healthy and active and happy (and still cancer free after nearly 13 years!).

Another photo from our Santa Fe trip in November (above). I'm a big Georgia O'Keefe fan and we were able to go through her museum. It was actually a couple of miles from our AirBnb, but we walked it without issue. We only took our car out once the entire week we were there...it was a walker's paradise! Also, my hair isn't that red...I think it's the lighting (although, I'm still in the redhead category).

Again, be sure to check out these new printable weight loss tools available here in my Etsy shop.

If you have any questions about my journey, let me know in the comments.