Five Weight-Loss Habits of People Who Dropped More Than Seventy Pounds and Kept the Weight Off

No matter how qualified your personal trainer or nutritionist may be, sometimes, the best weight-loss advice can come from those who’ve actually been through the process and learned the trick first-hand.

These 5 weight-loss habits come from women who have dropped over 70 pounds and know what it takes to make the scale budge. Moreover, they know the tricks of turning healthy habits into a sustainable lifestyle so that the weight does not creep back on.

Sharing is Caring

No matter how determined you are to reach your health goals, it is completely normal to fall off-track sometimes or have a moment of weakness where you overindulge in foods that you know are bad for you.

Annmarie Mercieri, a woman who has lost 85 pounds says that she never felt guilty for to have an occasional cheat meal since the goal of her weight-loss journey was to find a happy medium when it comes to food and not deprive herself of happiness. One of the things that helped Mercieri with cravings was sharing food with someone else. If she ever wanted to eat pizza, she would get a small order and share it with her family to ensure that she didn’t eat too much of it.

Don’t Worry too Much About the Numbers on the Scale

It’s important to weigh yourself to assess your weight-loss progress from time-to-time, but don’t do it every day. Some people can become obsessed with numbers and start compromising their health just to see the numbers on the scale budge.

This often makes them develop an unhealthy relationship with food and their bodies. In order to prevent this, Mercieri recommends stepping on the scale once before starting your weight-loss journey and waiting every two weeks to track your progress. Start setting small goals like losing two pounds every two weeks and hold yourself accountable by checking your weight at the end of each milestone.

Be Adventurous

Whether it’s your diet or your workout routine, it is important to switch things up every once in a while, so that your progress doesn’t come to a halt.  Moccia, who’s lost almost 117 pounds, says that she was extremely fearful of the gym when she first started her journey and would often stick to the treadmill whenever she went there.

One day she eventually plucked the courage to join a HIIT class, and even though she hated it, she made friends with the instructor and other people in her class, and eventually decided to stick around. Thanks to the sweaty group classes, she was able to reach her weight-loss goal quickly.

Take Baby Steps

Change is not easy – and one of the reasons why it can be so hard to turn your unhealthy habits around is because people try to do too much at once. Instead of going cold turkey on all the unhealthy foods that you loved to eat before going on a diet, eliminate these bad foods one by one, replacing each of them with a healthier alternative.

Julie Ana Kim was a huge fast food fan before she started her weight-loss journey. Instead of cutting the unhealthy foods from her diet completely, she limited them to only twice a week at first and slowly eliminated them from her diet completely. Today, she is 72 pounds lighter than a year ago when she first started her journey.

Work Out Without Putting in the Work

If you really want to turn exercise into a habit, you’ve got to learn how to enjoy it, and not think of it as something you ‘have’ to do. You’ll definitely lose weight if you force yourself to go to the gym every day, but you won’t be able to sustain the habit unless you fall in love with the process and thoroughly enjoy it.

If you’re bored of your current exercise routine, it’s time to move away from it and find something else that you enjoy. Maybe you prefer taking your fitness routine outside and do some running, cycling or hiking, or enjoy a sweaty dance class to stay fit. Choose a work out that makes you happy and doesn’t feel like work.