How I Lost 22 Pounds & Kept it Off!

First, we have to evaluate how I got to my highest weight.  148 pounds, I am only 5'4".  Yes I am curvy, but 148 pounds meant that I could barely get my pants over my butt.  It meant that my legs rubbed together and gave me rashes.  It meant that wearing tank tops made me feel like I was a linebacker.  148 pounds was too much for my frame.

For 10 years I struggled with food.  10 YEARS!  That's a whole other topic, but after getting over that part of my life, I stopped caring about being so strict and started eating, a lot.  I really went after it and didn't realize how much weight I had gained until I saw pictures of myself in the summertime and thought, "who the hell is that?"  I don't know her.

I hired a health coach who helped me drop 10 pounds in 4 months, down to 138.  Slow, but the perfect pace for me.  Than I was 134 and that is where I stayed. For days.  Weeks.  Months.  I increased my exercise to daily hour long power yoga sessions and 6 mile walks.  I stopped eating after 6PM.  I ate a ton of veggies & protein.  Nothing.  No budge on the scale and I think from all the chair poses in yoga, my butt got bigger.  Not the direction I wanted to go.

Feeling helpless, I looked on Facebook at a girlfriends 24 Day Challenge results and thought, "GOOD GOD SHE LOOKS SUPER TONED!!"  This was a girl who already looked great before but even better after!  So I decided to give it a shot.

March, 2013 I started the challenge at 134.  After the 24 Day Challenge, I was at 129.  I stayed on products and a month later I was 126.  Almost a year later, I am 126. I never thought I'd be one of those girls who actually weighed 125.  It was always my goal weight.  I had been there before, but that was basically through killing myself to get there.  It's crazy how easy it is to maintain because of what I've been taught.

The 80/20 Rule.  And enjoying what I eat.  I do not eat crappy food.  I LOVE avocados, fish tacos, protein pancakes, making homemade chocolate, chocolate shakes, Spark, eggs & bacon, etc.  I love food, I love how it makes me feel.  I love how I can use it for energy.  I love having a healthy relationship.

I eat, boy do I eat.  More than I ever have and I don't kill myself in the gym anymore.  I've developed a laid back approach to, well, basically everything.  I used to think in ultimatums.  "If I do this, than this...."  Now, if I want chips & salsa, I will eat them.  If I want a huge handful of spinach with eggs and bacon, I will eat it.

I love knowing that if I don't step on the scale for a week, my weight doesn't change!  Maybe by a pound, but so what!?  Once the obsession with food stops, the real work begins.