I lost 40 pounds in 9 months and kept it offM Y “W H Y" / T H E B A C K S T O R YJ A N U A R Y 2 0 1 8I was the matron of honor for my cousin's wedding, so of course that requires bridesmaid dress shopping. That day turned out to be "the best" worse day for me. Our first stop was Nordstrom, they had a lot of dresses to choose from but only their most popular dresses in house to try on, which worked out well for the other 3 bridesmaids, but not for me. For me there was only "one off the rack plus size dress available." When the sales lady said that to me, I was stunned. I didn't think I was "that big," and to make matters worse, that plus size dress was too small and wouldn't even zip up. Then they had an assistant come in to take my measurements while I was in my underwear. I was MORTIFIED. I sat down on the dressing room floor and cried my eyes out. I looked at myself in the mirror and cried some more. I felt disgusting, sad, and depressed. I decided right then and there that I wasn't going to allow myself to be or feel that way anymore. I committed and here we are today! V I D E O S U M M A R YFor those that would rather not read the post, this Facebook Live Video Susan & I filmed in 2018 sums up how I lost the weight, the products I took, the food I ate, and the formula I followed that helped me achieve my 40 pound weight loss goal. T H E B R E A K D O W NThe ONLY way to loose weight is to burn more or to eat less calories than you need to maintain your current weight. That's it. Period. There is no magic pill, drink, or potion that eats your fat. There are supplements and products, like Vasayo, that ASSIST you, but the fact that you need to burn more calories than you consume remains the same. To loose ONE POUND PER WEEK you must omit 3,500 calories from your diet. You can do that by working out, eating less, or a combo of the two. I LOATH working out and knew that wasn't going to be apart of my journey, so I chose to workout my mind instead. I created a spreadsheet to track my daily caloric intake. I did not stop eating tacos, pizza, bread, or hamburgers, but I did learn about portion size and how it's okay to eat and eat! Below are the steps I took and the rules I followed that lead me to my 40 pound weight loss and helped me keep it off years later! S T E P 1 : Figuring Out Your Maintenance NumberTo loose ONE POUND a week you must omit 3,500 calories from your diet. In order to do that, you first have to figure out how many calories you need to maintain your current weight. I did A TON of research and found multiple sites that gave a formula to help you figure that out, I then subtracted 3,500 calories, and divided it by 7 days- BOOM! I now know my daily caloric intake. I like to look at it a week at a time. This way if I know I'm going to a party or baseball game that weekend I can adjust my calories throughout the week to compensate. T H E F O R M U L A(655+(4.35 x Weight in Pounds)+(4.7 x Height in Inches)-(4.7 x Your Age)) x Activity Level *Note: 1.1 is a safe activity level to use if you do NOT work out You can download my excel sheet below: There are tabs at the bottom, one of them is an Example of one of my weeks ![]()
S T E P 2 : Buy Vasayo & a Food ScaleI weighed EVERYTHING. I wanted to make sure I was eating everything I could and not a drop more. This sounds tedious, but I became obsessed, and I actually realized what I was under & over serving myself. Plus, I can now eyeball my correct serving sizes. I choose the supplement line, Vasayo to help me achieve my goal. These are the products I took and why. If you'd like to purchase some Vasayo products, use my ink: www.cjmiles7.vasayo.com
I created a Facebook page where I have a Q&A breakdown about each product I've tried too. Read that here. S T E P 3 : Calorie Research!I started by looking up all my favorite places to see if they had a nutritional/calorie counter. Those that didn't, I emailed and almost all of them got back to me (shout out to Local Foods and Dish Society!). In doing this I realized I had been making a HUGE mistake! One of them was ordering a side salad over the bag of chips I truly wanted. We used to frequent Newk's weekly and I would always do half a sandwich and a side garden salad thinking that was my best option, but nay! It was not! That side salad had MORE calories than half the sandwich while that bag of chips I was secretly longing for only had 140, I was shocked! *Note: The salad did not have any croutons, but it did have a lot of cheese and their ranch dressing was very high in calories* Here are some slight changes I made that I still follow today: Whataburger: I switched to a Whataburger Jr. meal with small fries and I only eat 1 bun (I do this with any burger and sandwich- 1 bun/bread automatically lowers the calories); Sonic: I only eat the 4 pack of cheese-sticks versus the 8; Mexican Food: I put my chip portion on the plates they provide and I only eat that. I also only eat 1 taco, instead of 2, but I add extra meat. I skip the sour cream, but not the cheese; Mod Pizza: I get a mini mod to eat entirely. They list the calories in their ingredients so I'm able to tailor it every time to my calorie goal/bank that day. ALCOHOL: So I'm a social drinker, and I highly doubt that's going to change, so I researched and found out that SILVER/BLANCO TEQUILA is pretty much the best invention EVER. Your body HATES alcohol, it tries to process it out of your system as fast as it can, speeding up your metabolism, which then makes you hungry (that's why you hit up Taco Bell or Whataburger at 2 am after a night of drinking), but not tequila. Tequila speeds your metabolism but also curbs your appetite. It also only has 69 calories per ounce, making it the perfect beverage. I do 1 bottle of Topo Chico (club soda), per 1 ounce of Espolon Tequila, and fresh lime juice. This drink is called, "Ranch Water." S T E P 4 : Set Goals & Give Yourself Goal Gifts! Pick your goal and OWN it! Why? If you’re wishy-washy on your goal, then you don’t have a clear line/direction to work towards. Be intentional. What I did: I wanted to be a size medium at Forever 21 (I know, dream big), so I went to their website, looked at their size chart, and wrote down what a medium's measurements were. Now I have my goal and know what I'm working towards. I also decided I wanted to weigh 133 pounds, so I needed to loose 40. My favorite thing besides the weight loss and feeling better, was picking out my goal gifts. Goal Gifts give you little milestone’s to celebrate and to keep you motivated, but please, do NOT make them food related!! If you want a slice of cake, eat a slice of cake - YOU NEED TO SEPARATE YOUR EMOTIONS FROM FOOD! FOOD ISN’T A GIFT! THERE’S NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT FOOD! YOU ARE SPECIAL! My example: I wanted to loose 40 lbs so I gave myself gifts at 5, 10, 20, 30, & one whopping one at 40 lbs, my finish line. We were attending two wedding that year, so a lot of my gifts were clothes related (new vacation outfits, duh!). At 5 lbs I bought myself a pair of shoes, 10 lbs a dress that I have been eyeballing, 20 lbs (my halfway mark) I bought myself some Botox, 30 lbs. was another dress (and by this point I really needed the new clothes!), and 40 lbs was a $300 shopping spree to celebrate my new body. Before you say, “I can’t spend that much money on clothes!!!” I started this process in Feb. 2018 and hit my goal in November the same year- I saved $20 every 2 weeks ($40 a month) so I had $360 to spend on new clothes [which I desperately needed AND EARNED]! There 100% IS ALWAYS A WAY! Please feel free to bounce ideas off of me, I WILL help you achieve your goal gifts. R U L E S Y O U M U S T F O L L O W ! |
Calorie Tracker | |
File Size: | 483 kb |
File Type: | xlsx |
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