My Weight Loss Journey

Posted on May 17, 2016 by Nephresha Singletary, One of Thousands of Health and Fitness Coaches on Noomii.

When I started my cooking coach business I went in knowing I was passionate about teaching people to cook and eat in a healthy and balanced way. As time went on I felt called to focus not just on teaching people how to cook, but also helping people get healthier and happier through their relationship with food. In this article I want to share a little bit about my personal weight loss journey. Over the span of two years I lost thirty pounds and it’s been about six months of keeping it off. Before I go on let me be clear about something – beauty comes in all shapes and sizes, and I will never be a proponent of people being “skinny.” But much scientific evidence points to the fact that being outside of a healthy weight range in accordance with our natural body type has a direct correlation to all types of dangerous health complications. These complications are preventable, and are directly correlated to the foods we eat and our levels of physical activity.

As a kid I was a tall lanky thing and was involved in sports. I was one of those kids who ate a ton and stayed really thin all through high school. I’ve always loved food and cooking, and just like a lot of people food became a form of comfort at an early age. In my early twenties I continued to overeat and eat junk food and the number on the scale increased at a steady pace, though I was always trying to “lose weight.” I got serious about it for my 30th birthday, and I succeeded. I went on a strict diet, would do 90 minute cardio sessions several days a week and I lost about 20 pounds in a few months. I proceeded to quickly gain back the weight, plus some, after my birthday. At my heaviest I was a good 60 pounds heavier than I was at twenty years old, and from a medical standpoint I was about 15 pounds over a healthy weight range for someone my height.

When you talk to people who have lost a substantial amount weight and kept it off, it’s never just one thing that has given them the results they wanted. It’s a variety of big picture choices, making quality decisions in the moment, and building good habits that cause the needle to move in a positive direction. I am no different. I could probably list twenty things that I’ve done different and better, but I’m going to narrow it down to my top five, and these are somewhat chronological.

1) I shrunk my portion sizes.
There are a variety of ways to control calorie intake. Maintaining a healthy weight is not as simple as “calories in, calories out.” However, burning more calories than you consume is an important factor in weight loss. Some people have the discipline to limit the variety of foods they eat and eat larger portions of simple ingredient foods. Personally, I love all different types of food and I know that eating baked fish, brown rice & broccoli every night just won’t do. I knew that I would have to adjust my portion sizes so that I could enjoy variety and not feel deprived. This past year I experienced a quick spurt of weight loss over the course of a few months partly because I was super busy and I wouldn’t sit down to eat meals very often. I would grab small snacks while I was on the go and I knew I wasn’t eating enough. A fitness professional who knew what I was going through challenged me to eat more food, ideally every three hours. I accepted that challenge, got back to eating meals consistently, stopping to eat when I was hungry, and still kept losing weight. I would not suggest reducing your calorie intake as much as I did, but that busy time did help me to get my appetite used to feeling full off smaller portions.

2) I started caring about how I felt and put a higher value on taking good care of myself.
I recognized that the food I ate had a huge effect on my energy levels, my ability to focus, and my overall mood. And I also accepted the fact that food was my drug of choice, especially sweets. I was using food as a coping mechanism for stress, and I had to admit to myself that I enjoyed the physical numbness that comes after overeating. I had to recognize that I wasn’t truly taking care of myself. Admitting there’s something inside that’s broken is the first step to getting better.

3) I have made my workouts more efficient.
For the majority of my adulthood I maintained a relatively consistent routine for exercising. I’ve always enjoyed it, but it didn’t keep me from gaining all that weight and for many years it didn’t help me lose it either. I had always done lots of cardio and about four years ago I was introduced to a weight training plan on bodybuilder.com. I wasn’t losing weight yet but my physique changed for the better, which told me I was on the right track. Eventually I chose workouts that targeted several body parts at once and for a good while I was losing weight and only working out three hours per week. I’ll touch on this more in the last step.

4) I stopped going out to eat all the time and started cooking at home more.
I have literally flipped my out to eat vs. cooking at home ratio. I used to eat out for most meals every day of every week, and now I go out to eat every so often but prepare my food most of the time. I’ve never liked the texture of animal fat or greasy foods so I’ve always kept those things out of my own cooking. Over the past six years my cooking style has become increasingly healthy. I fell in love with farmers markets and became more appreciative of good produce and ingredients, so I generally don’t use an excessive amount of oil or salt. Once I invested the time and energy into cooking my own delicious food that happened to be healthy, more weight came off.

5) I invested in support.
I carefully chose the word “invest.” You don’t need to have a lot of money to get healthy, and I will be debunking that myth more heavily in the future. But it does require an investment of money and time. I am certain that if I looked at the discretionary income choices of people who are unhealthy I could find a set amount they could be investing in taking better care of themselves 100% of the time. I can assure you, the discretionary income you put towards your well-being will keep you from the medical bills and prescriptions that come from not taking care of your body down the road. Personally, I invested in support a couple of different ways. The first big step in the right direction was joining Equinox gym. I quickly learned that the caliber of the trainers, Pilates instructors and group fitness classes is world class. There’s a complimentary “Equifit session” that you receive every year as a member. They do a body fat analysis as well as some basic range of motion tests to determine your “real age” physically. That data is highly motivating for me. Every so often I treat myself to a private training session. I always leave each session with great exercises I can do on my own and tips on proper form to prevent injury and so on. Group fitness classes provide similar benefits plus a sense of community.
Last year I also signed up for a personal development program that caused me to examine how I treated myself through action and inner dialogue. The course helped me to ease up on my negative self-talk and perfectionism. Though it wasn’t a weight loss program, during this three month program weight came off effortlessly. There is plenty of scientific evidence that points to the fact that stress causes our bodies to hold on tight to fat because it is preparing for famine. As I released some of the undue stress I placed upon myself, a good 10-15 pounds seemed to just melt off.

So there you have it, my top five. My work isn’t done but for right now I’m happy with maintaining my current weight as I focus on other life priorities. Hopefully by reading this you are inspired to make at least one positive change in taking care of yourself, even if you’re not trying to lose weight. If you are trying to lose weight and are looking for support I encourage you check out my website and/or noomii coaching profile. Also, I would love to hear from you! If you have any questions or comments about this article, please send me a message!