How I lost Weight

I haven't always been the healthiest. I love Little Debbie cakes. I have always loved anything packed with sugar. I always drank pop. My story started about 3 years ago. In high school, where I was a cheerleader, I weighed my heaviest at about 145 pounds. I'm 5'6. I didn't cheer my senior year of high school, which was when I started trying to lose weight. I started drinking more water. I started doing little workouts for that "summer body." I started going walking. I restricted my calories and counted every single thing I ate. I think I usually allowed myself about 1600 calories a day. The weight came off pretty quickly. I ended up weighing around 127, but that didn't last long. After a week, I started gaining the weight right back. I got sick of counting calories. I got sick of trying to prepare healthy food. The only thing I kept doing was drink water, so I did keep a few pounds off, but overall, I wasn't healthy. I did take some spells where I'd eat healthy and workout for a few weeks at a time, but then I'd go back to being unhealthy for months.

A couple of months ago, I finally figured it out. Want to know my secret?

I didn't want to lose weight for the summer body, although that was definitely a bonus. I wanted to lose weight because I wanted to be healthy. I wanted to be strong. I wanted to stray away from somewhat preventable diseases like diabetes and heart disease. I wanted to be the best me I could be.

Since then I've been going strong with my longest healthy streak ever. Yes, there are times I don't eat healthy. I don't quit eating healthy food just because I eat bad for a few days. If you think about it, that doesn't even make sense. It's like slashing three other tires because you got one flat. Research what you're putting in your body. See if it's good or bad. Don't just cut out food that will make you lose weight; cut out food that is unhealthy in general like a lot of processed food. I eat GMO free food. I try to eat natural food such as fruit and vegetables. That doesn't mean I don't eat birthday cake, brownies, or anything else that's unhealthy. If you don't allow yourself to eat what you crave every now and again, you'll burn yourself out.

I really struggle with eating because I'm bored. One way that I have lost weight is through the following quote: "If you aren't hungry enough to eat an apple or something healthy, you aren't hungry." This hits home because I will crave chocolate so much that it makes me hungry, but if I just give it about 20 minutes and think of that quote, the hunger will go away.

Another way I have lost weight is running. I used to hate running. I'd always walk the whole time because I couldn't run for more than 30 seconds. One day I pushed myself, and I didn't stop when my legs and lungs started burning. I didn't stop when I got out of breath. I kept pushing for a couple more minutes, and after that it got easier. I ran for a whole mile for the first time in forever! It may have been a slow run, but that's okay because it was an accomplishment. Since then, I've ran the whole time and my time keeps getting faster and faster.

I have kept 20 pounds off since I started actually being healthy. In my opinion, being healthy is not only about food. I stopped tanning. I stopped doing anything that was harmful to my body. 

In order to lose weight, you have to WANT to be healthy overall, not just for that summer body.