What I Wish I Knew Before Going On A Diet
My Experience With Weight Loss
To set the stage…I had been working shifts from 5 am - 12 pm, going to class from 1pm - 6 pm, and trying to maintain a social life.
My eating habits were…drive thru….scarf my food down so I wouldn’t be late to my next thing and pass out as soon as I was done for the day. I didn’t realize how taxing these habits were on my body until I noticed that my clothes were not fitting me as well and how I was starting to look in pictures. Ultimately, I knew it was time for a change.
It was January and almost time for spring break. As a college student, you tend to prepare yourself for these times because…you know, you want to look good. So I decided it was a good time to start a workout plan and establish a diet for myself…
What I Did For 3 Months:
-Gym 3-5 days a week for 1-2 hours: doing mainly cardio and abs
-Downloaded an app to track my calories and stuck to an extremely strict diet of 1200 calories per day (avg. person recommended is 2000 kcal)
-Tried to sleep for 8 hours a night (tried)
-Drank only green tea, coffee, and water
After 1 Month:
I felt so much better and I also lost 10 pounds. It was a dramatic change and it made a dramatic difference. I had been working very hard and it felt good.
After 2 Months:
I was starting to get extra tired all the time. I was also starting to feel light-headed during the day and weak. I was sleeping less and feeling more anxious than ever.
After 3 Months:
At this point I had lost 20 pounds. Started from 145, down to 125. Being 5’8’’, this was actually slightly underweight for my height and I noticed. I was very weak and anxious. I realized that my methods for this short term weight loss plan were way too extreme for my size. That being said, it did work and I did accomplish my goals, however I felt sickly almost.
After 4 Months:
I realized that at this point all I needed to do was maintain my weight and I could resume a relatively normal lifestyle. I went to the gym 1-2 times a week and did full body workouts…not just cardio. I started eating closer to 1600 kcal - 1800 calories a day. This change helped me manage my weight and also helped me sleep better.
What I Wish I Knew:
A Reasonable Weight Loss Goal: A reasonable goal should be to lose about 1-2 pounds a week — depending on your original weight — and your calories should also reflect that goal. You can actually calculate how many calories you should be eating depending on your height, weight, and lifestyle…if you are somewhat active to extremely active to not active at all. That way you don’t compromise your health, like I did.
Exercise Should Have A Purpose: You shouldn’t just do cardio or just do abs; workout your whole body and build strength because muscle helps burn fat and burns fat quickly.
Sleep: You have to sleep…because when you don’t, you interrupt your digestive process and you become mentally impaired throughout the day to try to push yourself to exercise and eat the right foods: No sleep can be detrimental to your overall health and can cause you to actually get sick, which will definitely put a dent in your weight loss plans.
Eat A Variety of Foods: Don’t just stick to salads or little turkey roll-ups with a cherry tomato as a meal; have a protein, carb, and healthy fat on your plate and switch it up too. Don’t make what you have to eat everyday boring and every meal unexciting because you need to stay positive and motivated throughout this journey.
Drink Lots Of Water: To curb my hunger/cravings, I made sure to drink lots of water because after the first two-weeks or so you’ll feel like you are depriving yourself, but in actuality, you are dehydrated and probably just need more water.
Practice Self-Care: During this journey I developed a self-care routine where I started cleansing my skin often, taking baths to relax, reading a lot to pass time and keep myself distracted from thinking about food. This was one of the most important steps in my weight loss plan that I wish I had established from the beginning. Weight loss is hard and your mental health can be vulnerable, so you have to take the responsibility of telling yourself to keep going, you look great, you’re doing good. If you have someone helping you along the way then be thankful because it can be hard to do all on your own.
Stay Active: You honestly do not need to go to the gym that often to lose weight. If you are eating smaller portions & eating your fruits and vegetables, then you can easily lose weight as long as you just keep moving!
I would even sit on the ground in my living room while I was waiting for water to boil or my laundry to be done and actually do sit-ups, lunges, squats, jumping jacks, etc.. If you can make time to at least walk around the house/skip around the house, or take your dog for a walk or literally any type of movement, you will be good! You can even burn calories by shaking your legs while you are sitting at your desk. So Just Keep Moving!!
If you take anything out of this, I would say focus on self-care and listen to your mind and body/symptoms, because if you are working yourself too hard…you will burn out. Ultimately, you should want your goals to be to develop a healthy lifestyle because that is long-lasting.