12 simple ways I lost 20+ inches in 9 months

I look at these pictures and find it hard to fathom the physical change that’s taken place in less than a year. What’s even harder to fathom is that there’s only an 8-pound difference between the two pictures. I wasn’t expecting to go through this much change but it’s definitely been a journey. I’ve learned a lot about myself, including what I find important and unimportant. As we move into the holiday season, I’m reminded of the blessings that have been given to me. One of those blessings is a (mostly) healthy physical body that I want to take care of. Like everyone else, I’m learning as I go and I’m having a lot of fun with it! I’m really excited to share in this post 12 ways I’ve lost 20+ inches in 9 months. This has included time during the holidays and I’ve done it all without dieting!

Ah, the holiday season is just about here!! You are probably feeling like you’ve got to get it all done and might need some help staying organized or you want to enjoy a delicious Thanksgiving Dinner or even fall dinner party without stuffing your face. I’m so glad you’ve decided to join me in this post so you can see that losing weight during the holidays is not out of reach and it also does not have to be hard! You can enjoy this beautiful season why still maintaining a healthy relationship with food.

Disclaimer:

I first want to let you know that any information I put out there is simply that: Information. It is not meant to sway you or to get you to believe one particular way over another. This is information I have gathered along the way and these are my own thoughts and opinions. What you choose to believe is based on your own thinking, not mine. While this information has worked for me, it does not mean it’s going to work for you or get you the results you are looking for. Make sure you are consulting professionals and medical practitioners when seeking out professional or medical advice. If you are in any way “triggered” or offended by the content in this post, please feel free to read someone else’s post who better suits what you’re looking for.

I’ve stopped worrying about weight loss.

This is at the top for a reason. For years (I’m talking like a decade or more), I was so heavily focused on my weight and hitting that “perfect” number. In my mind, 130 was always the goal. Guys, I’m like 40 pounds away from that. Maybe I’ll get there some day. Maybe I won’t. Honestly though, I’m not fretting about it. It could be that my mindset and priorities have changed since entering my thirties, but I just don’t worry about it anymore.

I have a pretty tumultuous relationship with food, so I do go through periods where I overeat and eat less healthy and nourishing than I’d like. The reality though, is that there is more to life than being a certain size or number on the scale, and I appreciate that fact. While it’s important to eat well and take care of your body, there is so much more to life than making it your entire focus!

I (loosely) track my food.

I guess this goes without saying, but if I want to make changes, it’s good to have data. And my food journal is simply that: Data. It keep it incredibly simple. I write down the time I eat and what I ate, and that’s it! No calorie or macro counting. Trust me, you can determine your level of health based on loose data alone. I also track my period and when I experience certain symptoms. This helps me determine why I might be eating ice cream (I found out I only crave it when I’m about a week out from Aunt Flo). Or why the amount of carbs I’m consuming is through the roof. Unfortunately, my hormones can get whacky due to a multitude of reasons, so tracking really helps.

Having data is essential for making informed decisions. When you keep a food journal for logical, practical reasons, like keeping data, instead of emotional reasons, it really does change your outlook on weight loss. Often times, we let our hormones and emotions take over, leading to all kinds of frustrations when we don’t see the results we are looking for or expecting.

I’m focusing on healing my body.

Another shift I made as I hit my thirties was one from weight loss to healing my body. I have a slew of nasty symptoms, conditions, and sensitivities, and they all lead back to what I believe could be a leaky gut. Dairy sensitivity, digestive issues, eczema, keratosis pilaris, chronic sinusitis, sleep issues, imbalanced hormones. Those are just to start. I want to not wake up stuffy 5 out of 7 mornings and I want the chicken skin to go away. I want to feel energized and vivacious and I refuse to believe that age will slow me down. It will if I let it and if I stop taking care of my body. But I’m on a journey towards healing, and a byproduct of that is getting to a healthy, sustainable weight.

I’ve stopped using exercise as punishment.

I used to believe that I had to exercise for hours in order to “earn” my calories. You know who I hear this from the most? Men. Guess what men tend to do more easily than women: Yup, lose weight. Their bodies just work differently. They don’t often deal with the issues that ladies do. And that’s just how God created us. I’m not faulting them, but I also don’t agree with having to work out so hard that I feel like I’m worthy of eating a serving of dessert. I can eat whatever I want, but I have to recognize that there are consequences to doing this.

Anyway… What you have to understand about exercise is that is a beautiful, God-designed practice. And there are SO many ways you can do it. My favorite types of exercise including walking, running, hiking, swimming, dancing, and lifting heavy weights. I exercise to keep myself healthy, not to reward myself with food. It has changed my life!

I’ve shifted my focus to eating to fuel my body.

To be honest, this is probably the one I’m working on the most. I have such a strong, emotional connection to food, that viewing food as fuel instead of comfort has been tough over the years. I have a history of yoyo dieting and it took me a long time to heal from it. It wrecked my metabolism and I’m still recovering and working to heal it. Food is delicious and fun to eat! However, when I think of food from a Biblical perspective, my mindset shifts to knowing that I need to fuel it with nutritious foods that will allow me to heal physically. Not to mention, it just is wonderful to actually feel physically good!

I prioritize my hunger signals instead of eating times.

Just because you wake up at 6 a.m., doesn’t mean you have to eat right away. Maybe you went out the night before for a late dinner and drinks. You might not be hungry in the morning and that’s ok. I’ve learned that it’s a lot healthier for your body to go by your body’s hunger signals than to eat because it’s a specific time during the day. Especially if you’re dealing with hormones, they can sometimes get your body out of whack, and you might not be hungry most of the day.

This is something I’m still working on, mostly because of my emotional attachment to food. I’ve found though, that when I truly eat because I’m hungry, I feel less emotional about food as well, and I tend to eat to fuel my body rather than because the food “tastes so good.” If you think about it, before “smart” technology and all of the gadgets and doodads that we have now, our ancestors weren’t tracking calories in an app. Way back when, they didn’t even have clocks! They also probably weren’t snacking and grazing on food throughout the entire day. They ate when they needed food and that was that.

I don’t restrict any foods (unless I don’t like them or I’m sensitive to them).

Restricting was my favorite thing to do as a dieter. I’m just kidding. I hated it. It was punishment for me. When I was a yoyo dieter, I went through a cycle that looked something like this: Realize I’ve overdone it and have a ton of weight to lose. Have a “Hail Mary” meal where I’d spend the day eating literally whatever I wanted because I promised myself I’d never eat like this again. The next day I’d start a round of the Whole30 and eat nothing but proteins, veggies, and fruits for at least 30 days.

This might last up to three months if I was really “good.” It might even last until the end of summer. By the end of summer though, when I started thinking about all the yummy fall and holiday foods, I’d begin craving them (I would literally daydream about eating brownies). By Labor Day, I’d be face-deep in all the foods I missed and by December, I’d usually have gained back more weight than I lost. Then, I’d start all over again in January.

Yikes! Talk about a toxic relationship with food. I promise I don’t do that anymore. I began healing my relationship with food in 2020 through the process of intuitive eating, which has now just turned into regular eating. Since then, I don’t think I’ve binged at all. What a relief! While I do have some food sensitivities (mostly to dairy and foods high in fat), I don’t restrict any foods or food groups anymore. I enjoy treats throughout the holidays, but I can enjoy them without eating half a dozen cookies in one sitting (Yep, that was truly a thing that happened on the regular). I’m blessed that I’m now in a place where I can start really healing my body since I’ve healed my relationship with food.

I view weight loss as just another part of my life, not its own, separate journey.

If you focus super, super hard on weight loss, I’m sorry to say that it’s probably not going to stick. You can’t give all your time and attention to weight loss forever. You’ve got a life to live! Honestly, over the past year, I haven’t consciously been “trying” hard to lose weight. I’ve just been making better choices and not thinking about weight loss separately. I’ve instead been working to incorporate weight loss into my lifestyle. This has opened up so many more doors for me and has allowed the inches to just kind of fall off.

Here’s the problem with having a separate journey just for weight loss: At some point, it ends. Then, you have to find something else to do with your life. The applause fades and people move onto other “Transformation Tuesday” pictures on Instagram. You have to learn to maintain and if you spent the majority of your weight loss journey either dieting, heavily restricting, or yoyoing, there’s a good chance that at some point you’ll stop and go back to old habits. This leads to gaining weight back and is often why dieters aren’t successful with long-term results. Your best option is to learn how to eat normally and in moderation. I promise, you CAN learn how to enjoy treats without tracking calories or fretting you’ll gain weight and still be able to actually lose weight.

I rarely weigh myself. When I do, I accept that it’s just a number.

This was really hard when I came out of dieting. I became obsessed with the number on the scale and would sometimes weigh myself up to four times a day. I claimed it was to see the fluctuations throughout the day, but I was just really obsessed with seeing if there would be any changes on the scale. It wasn’t until I joined Corinne Crabtree’s No B.S. Weight Loss Program that I learned how to overcome the scale. I HIGHLY recommend checking it out and at least taking her free course. She gives some really sage advices and teaches you how to get past your feelings to stop emotionally eating for good. And let me tell you, this woman knows what she’s talking about!

Nowadays, I might weigh myself a few times a week, or I might not for a few weeks. Honestly, I don’t really care because I know my body and I can tell if I need to start making better choices. I don’t need a scale to dictate how I feel.

I track my measurements more closely than I do my weight.

Currently, I have weight that I’d like to lose, mostly because of my physical health. I don’t intend to be able to fit into a size 2 but I know that getting some more weight off will allow me to do things I currently can’t. However, instead of using a scale regularly, I take measurements about once or twice a month. Friends, it gives you SUCH a more realistic picture of how you’re doing in regards to your weight. I also think it’s fun! I get to see actual progress. The scale can be wonky, even if you put it an inch to the left of where you had it previously. It might need new batteries or recalibrated. But you know your body best and measuring yourself feels a lot less threatening than stepping on a scale.

I don’t berate myself for mess-ups and mistakes.

Admit this to yourself now: You are not perfect! That is a beautiful thing to admit because God is perfect and His son, Jesus Christ, was the only perfect human being to ever walk our planet. You can plan out your meals, track your calories and macros, have all the mantras to follow and STILL mess up. You’ll see your favorite dessert at a birthday party. You’ll go to an event hungry. Your kid will end up in the emergency room two hours before dinner. You’ll get sick. Your car will break down. The list is endless and you have to face the facts that life is unpredictable. Don’t get me wrong – planning is a wonderful thing and helps keep us organized so we can have food readily available. But life will still happen and you will still make mistakes along the way.

I used to berate myself for giving in and eating “bad” foods. First of all, food is neither good nor bad. It might be healthy or less healthy, but it holds no moral value for the most part. I have intentions and I prepare my meals for the week, but sometimes I just really want takeout and I’m totally fine with that. I plan for things like that to happen. Many times, I eat more sweet treats than I had intended to. Instead of beating myself up over that, I use my food journal as data and figure out how I can do better the next time. I use my mishaps as learning experiences to help me grow and get better. It feels a lot better doing it this way rather than punishing myself for not doing things 100% exactly the way I had planned.

I stopped trying to force what’s out of my control and began focusing on what’s in my control.

Part of this point fits in with the one above. Life just happens and we have to roll with it. But I’m mostly talking about my body, especially my weight. I’m going to say something you might not want to hear: You CANNOT control the number on the scale. You don’t know what it’s going to say. You might be down three pounds overnight, only to gain them all back the next two days because of extra carbs you ate. That’s why it’s kind of a sucky indicator. Yet we obsess over it.

I made a staggering realization a few years back – I can control what I eat and how I react to situations. That was the key for me. When it comes down to it, I make the choice of what I’m going to eat. I choose to say yes or no to someone asking me out to eat or giving me treats. I choose how many desserts or vegetables I consume. I choose how much protein I should be eating. They are all within my control and no one can tell me otherwise. You may not have the power to change the number on the scale, but you have the power to determine what you consume and how you react to life.

I really hope this post has given you hope that you CAN lose weight without trying so hard and you can also do it during the holidays! Please check out my other posts on how to easily lose weight without really trying. Happy reading!