I gained a lot of weight while dating my now husband. Dating usually involves a lot of going out to eat, especially when both parties live in the dorm with only a microwave. My fiance and I love food. When one of us are sad, the other offers them some food as an easy fix. Or when one of us were hungry, we both would eat, even if we weren't hungry ourselves. Times that by four years of dating and you get a lot of extra bulge. For years, I avoided posting full body shots on social media because I did not want former classmates to look at me and think "she's gained a lot of weight". Sadly, this meant that there aren't too many photos of my fiance and I to this point because neither of us wanted to be photographed with our new weight. The wedding was finally enough motivation to lose the weight I put on. I wanted to look good for my engagement photos and even better for my wedding photos. I ended up losing 21 pounds by the time my engagement photos hit, and 40 by the wedding. I need to start by saying losing weight is not easy. There is no magic way to lose weight. It really does come down to diet and exercise. All that matters is calories in vs. calories out. You can't have a cheat day every other day. You can't indulge in cookies and bread every single time and expect to lose weight. Sacrifices have to be made, or your life will stay the exact same. How I Lost the WeightI didn't do a fancy diet. I didn't give up bread or sugar. I did the old fashioned counting calories. The only thing I gave up was eating more than I needed. I didn't need to eat healthy to lose weight. However, I can eat way more salad than bread for the same amount of calories. But I love bread. I regularly felt more hungry than I needed to when I used my calories eating the things I enjoyed. A great way to keep track of calories is MyFitnessPal. My husband on I both joined it, so we were able to get notifications each time the other lost weight. It's been around quite a long time, so there's a HUGE user set and database of foods. The first step is to set a goal, such as lose 1 or 2 pounds every week. Then it will give you a calorie goal. The minimum goal is 1200 calories. You can either eat 1200 calories, or work off some through exercise (such as eat 1400 and work off 200 via exercise to get to your goal). At first 1200 calories is daunting. Every night, I went to bed hungry. However, I could feel my stomach shrinking because I felt full faster. Eventually, the amount I used to eat felt like way too much. I had some cheat days and even weeks, which made my stomach expand again, but I was able to shrink it once more. Because eating less overall does actually help shrink your stomach, I believe this is the best diet to keep weight off. If you lose weight by cutting out a certain food, the weight will come back once you start regularly eating that food again. After losing 20 pounds, I hit a wall that no amount of reducing calories would help. At that point, in the middle of winter, I joined Planet Fitness, where it was only $15 to get access without being stuck in a contract. I went 3 days a week and worked on the treadmill or elliptical. I did push ups and sit-ups daily before bed. I took a walk each day at lunch. I kept my intake at 1200, and it finally got me passed the weight-loss plateau. After I lost 40 pounds, I had to get my ring resized. Once I got alterations to my dress, about 3 weeks before, I knew I couldn't lose any more. Amiably, I lost some and my dress started to fit weird, without enough time to have it altered again, so I gained a few pounds back and tried hard to maintain for the last two weeks. ConclusionEvery time I lost 10 pounds, I would look in the mirror and think "I look great". Then soon after I would only see the fat and realize that I had more weight to lose to look good. I was never happy; I was never perfect enough. Now that I've been married a month and gained some of the weight back, I look at my wedding photos, and I'm proud of how I looked. I will never have the figure I want, simply because I will always want something other than what I have. So I just need to be the best me I can be and learn to love myself. At the wedding I was surrounded by people who love me the way that I was and the way that I am.
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AuthorHi! I'm Amber. I love spreadsheets and painting. This blog is where I post about my crafts and adventures. Archives
November 2018
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