Weight Loss Journey /  June 26, 2023

Weight loss is hard no matter what your age but weight loss after 40 is one of the harder things I have done in a while. That includes parenting a 2-year-old and 4-year-old mini-me full of my attitude. 

How did I lose 13 pounds in less than a month? 

I’m glad you asked!

Now, before I share all of the details I want to make something clear. 

I was already very overweight to start. I gained about 80 pounds after my 5-year pregnancy marathon. I went from 140 pounds, 18% body fat mid 30’s to 45-year-old 220+ pounds who knows what body fat % that was absolutely tired of feeling the way I was feeling. 

I was tired of people asking me if I was pregnant. I was tired of the glares that I would get if I bought candy or chips (I’m a believer in fat shaming now!). 

I was just tired of everything but I was also READY. 100% all in. 

I had started and stopped weight loss before and was never really 100% all in. I would dabble with weight watchers, IIFYM, 21 Day Fix, Intermittent Fasting … you name it I gave it a whirl and fell off the wagon relatively quickly. 

That is until now. 

It has been 28 days of me tracking my meals and counting calories and I am down 13 pounds. 

I really don’t know what clicked in me to just go for it but randomly one day I downloaded the LoseIt app and just started going for it. I jumped on the scale, recorded my weight, and went on with my day without saying anything to anyone. I don’t think I even told my husband that I had started it until I was 5 pounds down. 

I’m starting off with just counting calories and staying under my calorie goal. I’m not going to stress myself out with hitting my fat, protein, and carb goals - all of that is just too much for me to handle right now. My only goal is to lose weight slowly and consistently. Once I hit a plateau I’ll probably start making sure I hit my calorie and protein goal but my main goal is to not obsess over it, stress over it and burn myself out over it. 

Yes and no. If there is something that I really want, like a York Peppermint Patty, I will either adjust the quantity if I know I’ll be hungry later on in the day or I’ll adjust the snack or quantity of dinner I eat later on. 

I don’t want to make it a habit of depriving myself or telling myself no just because of my goal. I want my kids to see me happy, enjoying treats with them, and eating what they’re eating - not something totally different than everyone else. I am not a short-order cook and everyone eats the same things at family meals. (Weekend breakfasts and evening dinners) 

That said, I still eat cream sauce, pasta, cheese, tortillas, burgers … you name it but I make swaps for sides. I try to fill my plate 1/2 full of veggies and then my protein & fat on the other side. I don’t always do this but it’s a goal and something that has been helping me feel really full at the end of meals. 

If you’re curious about what I’m eating for dinner you can check out this blog post here. It is my July Monthly Meal Plan that I do for my family. 

Yup! I did stop drinking altogether for a good 6-7 months. I just didn’t have the desire to drink at all. I wasn’t sleeping well and my 2-year-old and 3-year-old at the time were going through a sleep regression. I was done being tired and drinking was the one thing that I could easily and quickly change to help me get better quality of sleep. 

Now, I am still limiting my drinking but since they’ve worked out their regressions and everyone has come to an agreement that sleep is not only a necessity but good for you, I am throwing in a few drinks here and there. 

I tend to reach for a High Noon over hard liquor now. Normally, I’m a 2 fingers of whisky neat type of girl but now that it’s summer the fruity, carbonated High Noon tastes really good! Plus, they’re only 100 calories a can and I can easily do the math to see if I have enough calories left in the day instead of trying to do math while making sure little kids don’t kill each other or themselves. 

That said, the hubs and I will do Bloody Mary Sundays at the pool (they have a bar) and that is something that I have started to look forward to! 

Yeah, sometimes. 

Like I said before, I’m not killing myself over this weightless journey. If it takes 18 months to get to my goal weight of 150 it takes 18 months. 

If I want to work out I’ll work out. If I need the rest because someone decided not to sleep or I’m sick or I’m tired or I’ve got my period and I’m bone tired? I don’t. 

Again, not killing myself. Not overcommitting myself. Not over complicating things. I’m showing up for myself and how I feel I need to that day. 

Honestly? Not really - at least not this time and not right now. I am in the right frame of mind right now. 

Now, I’m sure I will find it hard down the road. Let’s be honest, I’m only 28 days into this journey and I’m still in the honeymoon phase. 

That said, I’m seriously celebrating all the little wins. 

If I come in under in calories for the day I give myself a little pat on the back. If I’m over in calories for the day I don’t stress. I just keep moving forward and do my best to balance out the overage throughout the rest of the week or the upcoming week. 

No, not really. After 28 days I’m really learning how to eyeball things and get portions close to spot-on for the main foods that I eat. 

I do bring my food scale to the pool with us so I can portion out my food and make sure that I’m not mindlessly snacking at an open bag. 

Do I feel weird about it? 

Yeah, I do but honestly, everyone at the pool is so into what they’re doing and their family time that no one notices that I’m portioning out and weighing my food. Even if they did care or have something to say I wouldn’t change. 

This is working for me and I’m just going to keep going. 

Like I said, I’m not really depriving myself of anything but I would be lying if I said that I missed just grabbing a bag of salt & vinegar chips and a Dr. Pepper at the Wawa with out a second thought. 

Now, if I want those things I’ll have a few chips and a little Dr. Pepper but just the ability to walk into Wawa and not really think about what is the lowest calorie option that would fill that salty/sweet need without going too overboard is a little frustrating. 

That said, if I don’t easily find a replacement I just grab what I was originally craving and have no regrets. 

I’ve only gone through 1 menstrual period while on my weight loss journey and I’m coming up on my second period soon. I’ve been doing ok with the salty/sweet cravings lately. I’ve actually put some sea salt on a chocolate chip chewy granola bar to give me the same fix but lower calories and it’s been working well! I might try it on Watermelon next. 

I think that sums up all the anticipated questions that I would have if I were to ask someone about their weight loss success! I’ll be doing weekly LoseIt check-ins so stay tuned!