10 HARD LESSONS I LEARNED LOSING 140 POUNDS - THESE ARE SURPRISING - WEIGHT WATCHERS - FAT LOSS

Hi friends. Welcome back to my channel and a very special welcome if you're new here. My name is Jen. I'm a

certified weight loss and nutrition coach and I'm really excited for today's video. This is a video I have

wanted to do for a very long time since I actually lost my 140 pounds. This is something that I

really thought long and hard about and I want to share with you. And that is 10 kind of surprising things I

learned along my 140 pound weight loss. So if you're excited, give this video a big thumbs up

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That is what I followed to lose and maintain my 140 pound weight loss, as well as one-on-one coaching for questions, accountability, or to talk with me directly

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So let's talk about the 10 things I learned while losing 140 pounds

Like I said, I put a lot of thought into this video. I really thought long and hard. What are the top 10 interesting or things you may not think about that you learn when you're on a weight loss journey, when you're successful with weight loss

If you're new to my channel, I have lost 140 pounds and maintained that weight loss for over a year

And I've learned a lot of things. I have learned a lot over the last couple of years losing my weight and how to maintain that

weight loss. There's been highs, there's been lows, but there are 10 things really resonate with me when

it comes to being on a weight loss journey. And number one is you have to meet yourself where you're at

It is important to have goals. It's important to have short-term goals. It's important to have long-term goals

but it's even more important to meet yourself where you are. Especially in the age of social media

it's really, really hard not to compare ourselves to others. Maybe you're not as successful on your weight loss journey as someone on social media

Or maybe you lift weights in the gym just as often as them and they have way more muscle than you

The comparison truly is the thief of joy. The only person you're in competition with is yourself

Focus on where you are and progress from there. Everybody is different

We're all in different places in our lives. We're all in different places in our weight loss journey

And like I said, don't compare yourself to anybody else because they're not in the same place as you. Focus on where you are and progress from there

Compete only with yourself. And this is important in every single aspect of wellness, whether it's weight loss, whether it's in the gym, whether it's any exercise that you do

It's really important to meet yourself where you are. Just because you can't do a dumbbell snatch today doesn't mean that you won't get there someday

Have some grace with yourself. Embrace honesty and truly where you are

and I promise you you will eventually reach your goals. Number two, never, ever, ever eliminate anything completely

In the age of diet culture, in the age of diet, diet, diet, do this to lose weight, do that

to lose weight, every single diet is going to eliminate or restrict something

That is not the way. I promise you, that is not the way to lose weight and keep it off

Maybe these diets tell you to eat small portions to eliminate carbohydrates and sugar

None of these things work in the long term and the only way to lose weight. want you to write this down for those in the back of the room, the only way to lose weight is to

be in a calorie deficit. Every single diet works because you're in a calorie deficit. So why not

be in a calorie deficit eating your favorite foods and eating the foods that you enjoy? Restricting

and eliminating anything is the number one cause of binge eating. If you tell yourself that you're

not going to eat carbohydrates because you want to lose weight, what happens when you lose the weight

and you go back to eating carbohydrates? You're going to gain the weight back or you're not even

going to get to your weight loss goal because you're starving for carbohydrates and then when you

get your hands on your favorite bag of chips or cookies or pizza you're going to overindulge. You're going

to binge. Restricting and eliminating is the number one cost of binge eating. I literally eat

whatever I want. I just work it into my day. I've never restricted or eliminated any food or food

group. I eat dessert every single day. I've eaten dessert every day on my 140 pound weight loss

because for me, that is sustainable. And whatever you do to lose weight, you have to do that

to maintain the weight loss. Everything in moderation and portion control is key in losing weight

not restricting or eliminating foods. Number three, you can do anything, and I mean anything you set

your mind to. I really, really, really wanted to build lean muscle when I started my weight loss

journey. I have said time and time again here on my channel that when I set out on my weight

loss journey over 300 pounds my goal was to never be skinny My goal was to shed fat and build lean muscle that has been my goal from the beginning And I really really wanted to have visible lean muscle So midway through 2022 after I had lost about 60 pounds I started a workout

routine that included hit training, my boot camp group, and lifting weights in the gym in the

pursuit of shedding the fat and building the muscle. Now it was hard in the beginning. Boot camp was

incredibly hard. I would be sore for days and days and days. In fact, I was always sore because I would do

boot camp, have a day off, and go back to boot camp. So I never really got to the point that I wasn't sore

My average heart rate was extremely high when I started boot camp. I was in the gym, lifting weights, and wasn't seeing any visible results

But I didn't have to be a female bodybuilder, and I didn't have to do boot camp without being out of breath or having a high heart rate

All I had to do was keep going. And eventually, I was able to build that lean muscle

I was able to lower my heart rate. Now I'm lucky if my average heart rate at boot camp gets to 130 when it was in the 150s

That is all about building your cardiovascular system, building up your health, and doing anything

you set your mind to. Consistency is going to help you get there, whatever that is, whether it's

lifting weights, whether it's losing weight, whether it's building lean muscle, whether it's running

jogging, hiking, whatever it is. Stick with it and I promise you you can do whatever you set

your mind to. And that is a lesson that I quickly learned and a lesson that I will take with me

every single day for the rest of my life. Ficking a movement and setting exercise goals. Number four

your get moving options are honestly endless. I've had many different. fitness mentalities. When I was at my heaviest weight, I would do jazzercise a couple of times a week

It was extremely hard on my body, so I wasn't able to do it more than a couple of times a week

When I started my fitness journey, it was just going to the gym, walking to the gym, lifting weights

Then I discovered boot camp, started going to boot camp. Then I started implementing 5Ks and 10Ks

in hiking. Your fitness journey will progress throughout your weight loss journey, as it should be

It is so important to mix up your exercise routine. Maybe the fitness you do at the beginning or the

exercises you do at the beginning may not be anywhere near what you do at the end. It's all about

bettering ourselves. And like I said, competing with yourself. And it is very, very important to

change up your exercise. There are endless things you can do out there to move your body, especially

if you're lifting weights. You do need to be changing up your workouts every four to six weeks

Your body will get used to workouts. Your muscle memory will kick in. And you won't be reaping the same

rewards from those workouts as you were in the beginning. My recommendation for you is to download the

co-pilot app for 14 days for free. Get in touch with the coach. Get a workout routine. See if you

enjoy it. No obligation. If you don't like it, you can cancel it after the 14 days, but co-pilot will

change your workouts for you every four to six weeks. In fact, my coach just changed my workout for

the third time since starting co-pilot, and I'm only in my third month. Add variety to your

exercise routine, and it's hard to figure out what to do, especially when it comes to lifting weights

in the gym or lifting weights at home. It's really hard to know what exercises to do. Is your form

and that's why I love having somebody to guide me like co-pilot. So I'll put co-pilot down below for you

but add variety to your workout routine and again, the possibilities of movement are endless

Number five, invest in your own personal wellness. The only person that has control over you is you

and the only person that can reach your goals for you is you. One thing you can really do is invest in fun workout clothes

whether you're going to be a runner, lift weights, go to boot camp, whatever it is. Invest in your wellness

And that means putting yourself in some cute workout clothes, So you're motivated to go to the gym

I have a workout clothes problem. I am constantly buying new workout clothes

I actually just placed an order with Buff Bunny Collection. I love workout athletic wear

I wear it every single day. I'm in the gym almost every single day. I'm in boot camp

And honestly, I typically wear workout clothes just as comfortable leisure clothes

But I will tell you, if I'm putting on a cute workout outfit and a cute pair of tennis shoes

I am motivated to do my workout. Invest in something that makes you feel good

And if that means spending a little bit more money on a little bit, good quality workout clothes, then a six pack of shirts off of Amazon, then do that for yourself

Invest in your wellness. And wellness starts with exercise and nutrition. It's okay to spend

money on a good quality food. Healthy food costs more than unhealthy food. You have to figure out

where is your money best served to help you reach your wellness goals. And investing a little bit

into yourself is going to lead to huge payoffs overall. Number six is one of the things that I

started day one. And that is rewarding yourself for small. When I set out on my weight loss journey, I was over 300 pounds

I had well over 100 pounds to lose, closer to 150 pounds to lose

And if I would have just set a goal to lose 150 pounds, I can guarantee you a few months

in, I would have been completely unmotivated. And it very unlikely that I would be where I am today Instead I set one large goal which was to lose the weight get to my goal weight and then little mini goals along the way And as I hit those mini goals I rewarded myself For me what seemed to motivate me the most was to set weight decades So for example if I started my weight

loss journey at 300 pounds, when I got into the next decade, which would be the 290s, I would

give myself a reward. Now, it doesn't have to be a huge reward. It doesn't have to be an expensive

reward. But giving yourself little rewards along the way will absolutely motivate you. It's a lot of

you and hitting all of those small goals, you'll eventually hit that big goal at the end. And that's

when you really reward yourself. Make sure whatever goals you set are smart goals. Smart stands for

specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound. For example, I want to drink a gallon

of water every day before 6 p.m. That's a goal that's relatable. There's a time on it. You have to do it

by 6 p.m. There's a set goal, the gallon of water. Make sure your goals are smart goals. Again

it's going to be a structured goal that you're able to measure when you achieve it. And that's how

you reward yourself. Like I said, it doesn't have to be a monetary reward. Maybe you do something

special for yourself, like have a spa day at home. Or maybe you treat yourself to a pedicure when you've

lost 25 pounds. Setting those small goals will get you to the big goal and keep you motivated. I can't

stress enough how important it is to set small goals and reward yourself along the way. Number seven. Number seven's

hard. Number seven is hard because as human beings, we strive for perfection, especially on a

weight loss journey. We're like, we're going to hit our goals. We're going to reach our goal weight. We're going to eat good all week. We're not going to splurge. You're not going to be perfect

Nobody is perfect and you're certainly absolutely not going to be perfect on a wellness and health

journey. How many times have you told yourself, today I'm going to do good, today I'm going

to stay on track, today I'm going to get in my protein, today I'm not going to splurge. How many

times. I have told myself this over my years upon years upon years of dieting more times than I would

like to admit. And then you eat that chocolate bar and you throw in the towel and you start over tomorrow

next week, next Monday. Raise your hand. Comment down below. Let me know if you've done this. Like I said

I did this over and over and over again. And that was one of the biggest diet culture things that I

got trapped into that really set me back on my weight loss journey. Here's the cold hard truth

The all or nothing mentality is going to get you absolutely nowhere

on your weight loss journey. Things aren't always going to go as planned. You're going to make mistakes

You're going to have slip-ups. You're going to go off trash. Rather than get angry, frustrated

throw your hands in the air, start over next Monday. Be really proud of yourself

for prioritizing your health and your weight loss in the first place

Every single second of every single day you have the opportunity for a fresh start

for a clean slate. You don't have to wait until next Monday. You don't even have to wait until the next meal

You can start on a clean slate anytime that you want. Give yourself grace. Do not have the all or nothing mentality. Know that you're human and you're going to make mistakes. It is 8020. 80% on track, 20% living your best life. And I promise you following the 8020 rule is going to deliver weight loss results. That's what I did. And I've lost and maintained a 140 pound weight loss. Number eight, water really is your BFS. I've never really been that great at drinking water. I don't love the taste of water

I mean, water doesn't have any taste. So I like to add things to my water to entice me to drink it

Whether that's water enhancers. Right now, I have my one-up nutrition creatine in my water

Maybe I squeeze some fresh lemons or limes or throw some fruit in there. Whatever you have to do to get in your water, do it

Just because you flavor your water doesn't mean it doesn't count as your water for the day. Water is water, whether it's flavored or not

Did you know that water accounts for 60% of your body? That's 11 gallons of water or 92 pounds of water in 155 pound person

That's a lot of water. And it is essential for every single cell in the human body

The minimum amount of water that you want to drink every day is eight eight ounce

glasses of water or 64 ounces, which is half of a gallon

So this is a 40 ounce cup. So if I drink one and a half of these, I have my water in for the day

I typically drink between three and four of these every single day

You need to prioritize water. And what I did when I first started my weight loss journey, when I still drank things like

Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi or Sparkling water, is I told myself that I wasn't allowed to have any other beverage other than my morning cup of coffee

until I got in my water for the day. And there were many, many, many days that by the end of the night

I hadn't gotten in my water, so I didn't allow myself to have any other type of beverage

That's how important prioritizing your water is. Now, today, I don't drink carbonated beverages at all

In fact, the only thing I drink is water and coffee. So that has really helped me consistently get in my water

Water helps with dehydration helps you recover from a workout flushes everything out If you follow a high protein diet you can have constipation It very very normal But by drinking extra water it will also help flush that out

And if you're retaining water, guess what? Drinking water gets rid of the water you're retaining

I know it sounds counterproductive, but it's the truth. So focus on eight, eight ounce glasses of water or more every day

Ideally, work yourself up to a gallon of water. It will change your life and your weight loss journey

Number nine is totally underrated, and this is honestly the first thing I thought of when I was putting together this list of 10 things

and that is the mental transformation is even more important than the physical transformation

I'm still working on my inner dialogue. I'm still working on being kind to myself. I still look in the mirror and pick apart on my loose skin or wonder why my muscles don't show more, or think that I'm still fat or I have weight to lose. I'm really working on that, and I'm intentionally working on that. It is a forever long process. I'm not going to wait

up one day and be completely happy with everything about my body. I really try to speak positively

to myself and have a positive mental state. When a big transformation happens on the outside

that big transformation doesn't always happen on the inside. You really need to think about

who you are. What's important to you and who do you want to be moving forward? We are a forever

work in progress. There's probably never going to be a time that we're 100% happy with every

piece of our health journey. So make sure that you're taking time to reflect that if you're speaking

negatively to yourself, make it a priority to speak positively, positive to yourself

The mental side of weight loss is so much harder than the physical side. Working on your relationship with food, healing your relationship with food

I will be putting out a video on how I healed my relationship with food because that's one

mental thing that I'm really proud of myself for. Being proud of who you are, even if you're not where you want to be, again, meeting yourself

in the moment that is so important and constantly, daily, working on your mental health

as well as your physical health. And number 10, and I save number 10 for last because I feel like this is all

encompassing of a health and wellness journey, a weight loss journey. And that is whatever you're doing, make it your lifestyle

This is how you're going to get lasting permanent change. This is truly something I cannot stress enough

Like I said, whatever you do to lose weight, you have to do to maintain your weight loss

You have to have a healthy lifestyle forever to continue to reach and maintain whatever health

and weight loss goals you've set for yourself. amount of exercise. Zero will help you against an unhealthy diet. You cannot out exercise a bad

diet. So the most important thing you can do forever and ever and ever from this day forward is to

prioritize your nutrition. Weight loss, maintaining your weight loss overall health is 80 to 90

nutrition and 10 to 20% exercise. You don't have to exercise to lose weight and you cannot out

exercise a bad diet. Think about how you'll feel or how you felt when you hit your gold weight

how proud you were, how inspired you were, how motivated you were to keep going. Whenever you fall

off track or feel like you're in a rut, think about those things. Think about the good things that

have happened on your health and weight loss journey. Go back to those things and it will

reignite and re-motivate you to keep pressing forward. Keep a level head. It's okay to overindulge

It's okay to have a meal out. It's okay to eat your favorite foods every single day. It's all

about moderation, portion control, and eating a well-rounded, sustainable, healthy diet. And that

includes all foods and all food groups. And learn to give yourself grace. If you make a mistake

if you have a slip up, which is absolutely normal, we're human beings. Give yourself grace and move on

Like I said, you have so many seconds in a day for a clean slate. We want to focus on lasting sustainable

change that will give us a healthy lifestyle forever. You don't want to lose weight just to gain it all

back. It is so hard to lose weight. We want to lose it and keep it off and we want to live our best

life. So focusing on whatever you need to do to make it healthy and sustainable long term

that is what I absolutely recommend overall. So those are the 10 kind of interesting things I learned

along my weight loss journey. Let me know which of these really resonated with you. And let me know

what you want to work on when it comes to your personal weight loss and health journey. Like I said

I'll be doing a video about how I healed my relationship with food. So again, make sure you're

subscribe, your bell's on so you don't miss it. And let us know too down in the comments. What have you learned

What have you learned on your weight loss journey? Share it with us. You may inspire and motivate someone in their health and wellness journey

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See you next time. Bye