It's hard to believe it, but the scale is telling me the truth, I have lost 25 pounds in the past seven months. It wasn't easy, but it was worth it. I'll tell you how I did it and maybe I can help motivate others to reach their goals too.

This photo on the left is me, 25 pounds ago.  I remember this day well, it was June 1st, 2014, the day after I fell off the stage at The Eagle at Fun 107's 25th Birthday party.  I remember those pants fit me super tight and I was really uncomfortable being me that day. I felt that way every day. All of my clothes were tight. It wasn't fun getting dressed in the morning. I was not only trying on a bunch of different outfits to see what looked good, but more importantly to see what still fit. The answer was not much. I reluctantly bought bigger clothes, but I was in denial of how much weight I had gained since my wedding. I got married in 2013 and in just one year, I managed to gain about 30 pounds.

I thought about how unhappy and how uncomfortable I was every single day.  Finally, I decided I was the only person capable of changing how I felt...and I did. On August 4th, 2014, I met with my personal trainer for the very first time.  His name is Jason Bileau and he is the man!  My husband had been working with him successfully for a year, so I thought I'd give him a try too.

I thought he was going to push me so hard that I was going to leave my session vomiting and hating life.  Not true.  Jason makes me work hard, but not harder than I'm capable of.  He's also really nice, smart and funny as hell.  I'm happy to say that he's become a friend of mine and my husband's!

I started working with Jason twice a week, and going to the gym on my own a few times a week too.  I slowly started losing weight, about a pound a week.  I maintained that for the next few months, then the holidays arrived.  I fell off the wagon for a bit, and ate all the regular holiday treats that one typically indulges in.  Surprisingly, once New Year's rolled around, I had maintained, and I was still at an 11 pound loss.

Four months had gone by and I had only lost 11 pounds, I was a bit frustrated.  I realized I was exercising enough, but my diet needed work.  I decided that I would cut out the two things that I always turned to when I wanted to cheat: sugar and cheese.  Let me tell you, cutting out cheese is insanely difficult if you love it as much as I do!  Surprisingly, cutting out sugar wasn't that bad, it's just amazing how many things contained sugar that I wasn't aware of!  I decided to cut my sugar down to 25 grams per day.

Fast forward to February 4th, six months to the day after I started working with Jason.  I was down exactly 20 pounds!  I had cut way down on sugar, cut out dairy completely and cut down my calories to 1400 per day.  That was it, that was what I needed to do to get past my plateau!  I was so motivated, so I kept on going!

I also incorporated a bootcamp class into my workouts, which I love.  The very first time I did it though, I felt the exact opposite of love!  I hated it!  It was so hard and I was so frustrated that I couldn't get it!  I told myself and my trainer that I would probably never come back, but then I did, the following week.  This was back in November and I've been going ever since.  It's hard, but I'm good at it now, and I love it!  It makes me feel strong and healthy!

Finally, on March 25th, I stepped on the scale to reveal a 25 pound loss!  Hooray!  I am having kind of a hard time seeing it, but others tell me they notice.  I have noticed my clothes fit better though, so I'm certainly happy about that!  I guess in my mind, 25 pounds looked a lot different than it does in reality, I thought I would look smaller...but that's ok.  I'm happy and motivated to keep going!  So, that's it, that's how I lost 25 pounds in seven months.  It might not be the right way for you, everyone is different, but that's what worked for me.

 

More From WFHN-FM/FUN 107