How I Lost 71 Pounds in 6 Months: My Weight Loss Journey
When I started my weight loss journey, I weighed in at a whopping 229 pounds. I was defeated and I felt too far gone. The path I was headed down was dark and I knew I had to do something drastic if I ever wanted to be healthy again. Six months later, I was 71 pounds lighter and feeling better than ever. I always felt some sort of shame in sharing how I lost weight because it wasn’t solely diet and exercise. But I was reminded that it was okay because every ones journey is different. every one is different. Not one thing will just work for every one. Life is busy and hard. dedication, motivation and consistency isn’t easy. You have to find what works for YOU… This is my story.
Losing weight is hard. I think this is something that we can all agree on. It’s one of the hardest things I have ever done. It’s a journey that is filled with ups and downs, with successes and failures. But it’s a journey that is worth taking. You have to be ready to do it for YOU and you have to mentally prepare yourself.
Like many of you I’m sure, I’ve tried just about everything you can try to lose weight… from teas and diets to paying big money for personal trainers and weight loss doctors. I had tried every thing out there, and I had always failed. I didn’t know how to eat healthy, I didn’t know how to exercise, and I didn’t know how to lose weight. But this time, I was determined to do it. I was determined to lose the weight and finally be happy with my body. After 5 pregnancies ( 3 are my own children, 2- I was a surrogate mother for 2 families ) I found myself gaining more and more weight after each one and it became harder and harder to shed the pounds when all was said and done.
A friend of mine told me about this weight loss doctor she was seeing and I was SOLD when I saw her and couldn’t believe my eyes because she was TINY. I made an appointment right away and met with the Doctor. We went over where I was at in life and what my goals were and I was sent home with my first month of prescription pills.
I WAS READY.
I made a weight loss journal. I took so many before pictures and videos. I wanted to document everything! something about “THIS TIME” felt different. I was motivated. I was ready to invest in myself. I was ready to make changes. I WANTED IT. I wanted to finally feel happy in my own body.
The process over the next few months wasn’t always easy. I had my share of ups and downs, of successes and failures. But I kept going. I kept pushing myself, and I kept working hard. And eventually, I reached my goal weight.
Losing weight is hard. But it’s worth it. If you are determined to lose weight, then you can do it. Just take it one step at a time, and never give up.
What I Did – The Pills
I started out taking 37.5mg of phentermine and 5mg of lexapro. I have taken phentermine from a different weight loss doctor off and on over the years but never had results like these. I would say my body was pretty used to the phentermine, which is why I started out taking the higher dose of 37.5mg instead of 15mg. If you are not familiar with phentermine, It is an appetite suppressant.
and if you are not familiar with lexapro, it is an anti-depressant. which is interesting because in the beginning, I thought I was taking it as an antidepressant… it wasn’t until my first monthly check up with the doctor, that I asked him what the benefit would be if I were to take a full 10mg pill a day, instead of half a pill. he said, ” you could, but you don’t want to, because then you would be taking it as an anti-depressant, and the side effects of that is weight gain, which we obviously do not want… right now you are taking a low dose of it – to work with the phentermine to curb your cravings mentally.”
and just like that… I SWEAR.. I think that is truly the weight loss – secret sauce that worked for me.
the mix of not being hungry all day ( phentermine ) and mentally not being tempted when things got hard ( boredom, going out with friends etc… )
I did not want to think of this journey as a “diet”… I wanted this to be a lifestyle change. I wanted these pills to be an aid in my journey to help me along the way in learning and adapting new habits and making healthier choices. I didn’t want to “restrict” myself from the things that I loved… in turn, causing myself to binge eat or drink. because that’s what I would always do in the past. I wanted to take the doctors advice and focus on healthier options and portion control. those are probably the two biggest key points I learned throughout my journey.
What I Ate
the first month I wanted to attempt to cut out alcohol for as long as I could. just to kind of challenge myself and make sure I was focusing on drinking a gallon of water a day. before I started my journey… I would go MONTHS without drinking any water. and I would drink beer almost every night… along with a Starbucks every day… I’m not sure how my bank account handled that… but it did. and not only that. it had to be the most sugary Starbucks drink I could possibly get. so unhealthy. so going from that to drinking only 1 gallon of water a DAY… was a huge deal for me. but I was determined. and I did it! so I’m pretty freakin proud.
I strongly believe that the water intake was a huge part of my weight loss.
my first month – I was down TWENTY POUNDS! I couldn’t believe it. I was tracking every pound in my weight loss journal and taking very frequent updated progress photos
I tried to keep my food as simple as possible.
in the beginning of the year, before I started the pills, my cousin, who is a personal trainer in Corona, Ca. wrote me up a personal meal plan. I followed that for a few weeks a lost a couple lbs. then I started the pills on Jan 26th and just wanted simplicity and didn’t want to think of it as a diet.
I started every single morning with a creamy chocolate slimfast shake
then I would eat either crispy chicken nuggets or grilled chicken skewers – both from Costco and both with chick-fil-a sauce LOL –
for dinner – I would eat whatever we were having that night, just in moderation, or a small portion.
for example, if the kids were having pizza, instead of ordering a whole cheesy bread from dominos to myself, I would just have one slice of pizza, and be totally satisfied with that! Id say that was a huge step for me.
a few other options I loved were the healthy enchiladas and teriyaki pineapple chicken sausage from Costco. ill have to make another blog post specifically related to the foods that I loved during my journey.
Results
I started with Weight No More – Medical weight loss in temecula, Ca. on January 26th 2022 at 229lbs and I hit my lowest weight at 158lbs on July 31st 2022. that is -71lbs in right around 6 months which is absolutely insane to me! I feel better than ever. It has been an absolute roller coaster of a ride and I have so much more to say about all the medication that I was on. (that’s for another blog post ) today I am 167 lbs. my big goal is to hit 150 lbs. I know I am capable and I am determined. Its not easy… It wasn’t easy… but at the end of the day it was all worth it.. I am grateful for this journey. I am grateful for where I am at and I hope that I can help others on their journey in any way possible. I’ll never forget that feeling of hopelessness and defeat. I’m here to remind you that this journey to finding yourself, your happiness, your confidence is worth it… YOU are worth it.
