Determination and Effort Can Take You Far! 40+ lbs gone with pics!

Thanks so much everyone! I love all of the great comments you have all left me! It means a lot to hear that my story inspires others. It took a lot of work, but it was actually a pretty fun process.

ntnunk wrote: »

Fantastic work. You look amazing and I really wish I'd figured out the same things when I was your age. Great job, and keep it up!

P.S. - Love the jerseys! Go 'Canes!

Thank you!
It's nice to see a fellow Canes fan on MFP.

minniemickey wrote: »

Hi @Pastela‌ Congratulations!! I'm pretty much around the same weight as when you started. Can you please tell us more about your workout routine that helped you lose the weight? Did you follow any
Program and what was your calorie intake each day? Thanks again for inspiring me.

Thank you @minniemickey! I'm glad my story inspired you!

I didn't follow any specific program. I kinda just did a lot of research on exercise/nutrition and used MFP to figure out a lot of things. In college I had a lot of free time, so I would spend around 40-60 min in the gym doing cardio (elliptical/treadmill) Monday-Friday then I would also allocate time for using the weight machines. It wasn't any type of special plan. I would just pop in my ear buds and jam to my music while going at it on the elliptical.

I tried to stay within a 1200 calorie limit with exercise initially which was a bad idea. I lost a lot of weight quickly at first, but I became irritable and tired doing that, and it wasn't healthy calorie level for me to be at. Please be sure to eat enough calories based on your activity level! I did more research and used a calculator to make a better estimate of my calorie consumption. For my measurements and activity level it was better for me to eat between 1600-1700 calories, so I had to adjust. I would recommend using the IIFYM calculator (iifym.com/tdee-calculator/) to help you find an estimate of how many calories you should be consuming for your height, weight, and activity level.

I also changed my diet and attitude towards food which is what I think really helped me the most. I used to eat a lot of junky processed fast food, salty chips, and sugary snacks. I then started focusing on eating more protein in the form of grilled fish/chicken along with eating lots of veggies. I cut out eating stuff like pasta, white bread, fried food, and processed snack crackers. Fortunately, my taste preferences also changed over time. I began to crave eating snacks like broccoli w/hummus instead of eating greasy fries with honey mustard. I now vastly prefer grilled meats over fried meats.

Portion control was also a huge help for me. I began following serving sizes on labels. For example, I would portion one of my favorite snacks like plantain chips (serving size is 14 chips) into sandwich baggies and keep the the actual bag of chips out of my sight. I used to be really bad about grazing on food out of boredom. Now I understand serving sizes and calorie counts for food a lot better. I now don't waste calories needlessly on handfuls of sugary cereal!

I also made substitutes for foods I liked. This was actually a lot of fun!

Examples:

-Switched sugary fruit flavored yogurt with plain Greek yogurt with real berries.
-Switched regular milk with unsweetened almond milk
-Switched regular onion dip with Greek yogurt
-Use carrots, broccoli, cucumbers and other veggies for dipping instead of chips
-Shred zucchini into pasta-like strands to use in place of regular spaghetti
-Ditched soda completely for water

Anyway, that just a quick overview what I done. I hope this information is helpful to you! It's all about making healthy, sustainable lifestyle choices.