A lot of our confidence is rooted in how we see ourselves. By losing weight we can see our self-esteem grow. This is one woman’s journey to lose 70 pounds in a year.
I’m in a weird place right now writing (re-writing) this post.
In 2020 I gave myself the challenge to lose 70 lbs within 365 days. I didn’t do it.
And you’re probably on here wondering, “What does this have to do with what your blog is about, Alex?” It’s really simple actually.
When I first started this blog, I wanted it to be all about fitness, travel, food, and lifestyle. I thought it was what I wanted, but a very kind woman sat down with me for weeks on end and helped me realize that my passion lied within helping other women build their self-confidence.
That would stem from personal development to encompass self-care, self-esteem, self-love, and all the other self-uplifting verbs you can think of.
My underlying theme was always about helping women to improve themselves and encouraging and empowering them to build their confidence while doing so.
Related: 7 Gym Basics To Have When Starting Your Weight Loss Journey
Table of Adventures
My Story
But how can I do that if I’m not improving myself, too?
Since the beginning of the pandemic, I began piling on weight very quickly. I quickly ditched eating healthy filling meals and walking all the time around a school campus to sitting around on my laptop day in and day out eating Sour Patch Kids by the pound.
My thought pattern was that I would lose the weight once the summer rolled around and life was back to normal.
Except normalcy never came.
It’s still not really here.
However, I have remained stagnant. What would have been my year to reach the fitness goals I set out in front of me, I have reverted to gaining the weight I had shed …and put on an extra 40 pounds in the process.
I no longer go to the gym regularly whether that be at the climbing gym or elsewhere.
And it pains me to see and feel my body deteriorating in a way it’s never done so before.
My Realization
I had to realize (a lot) in the last year that I needed to come to terms with what I really wanted with my body. And what I knew it was capable of doing. So I decided to restart my challenge to losing this extra weight.
I have written a few posts about weight loss on this blog but never in the way I should have. Over time I will be going through older posts to rewrite them for the niche it was meant for: women scared to do what is right for them.
I’m using myself as an example as a way of showcasing that overcoming fear and self-doubt and building self-confidence are attainable.
I have to commit to being the example though; so I’m making a lot of changes that I know will empower someone to see someone going through something scary, but being able to do it.
Commitment can be hard for someone like me who is always so fearful of the outcome of something I am doing. It feeds my self-doubt it can be crippling. (Sucks too when you are impaired with making executive decisions – which I struggle with).
But since I committed to this blog (I wanted to start in August 2020, got scared, a friend put up their website on a whim in November 2020 and I got the boost that I needed to start) I have seen a tremendous transformation in my thought patterns.
I want to learn, I want to strive for better, and I want to help other women want the same for themselves.
That didn’t come overnight though. It took almost an entire year.
So … now I’m ready.
Related: Easy-to-Understand Guide to Beginner Fitness
The Plan to Lose 70 Pounds
This original post had nothing explaining how I was going to lose 70 lbs. As a matter of fact, it was a feel-good piece about losing weight with absolutely no substance.
It held a time frame for the weight loss, but it didn’t explain how I was going to do it. Here’s the thing …
My biggest hurdle is that I’m not asking people to keep me accountable; I’m going to have to do that for myself. It will be difficult, but if I did it once before, I can do it again. I call it a hurdle because sometimes I rely on others to push me when I shouldn’t be doing that.
I have to do things on my own and I have to traverse my own mountains by myself. Yes, I will need help along the way, but it’s like going to college.
I can’t have someone taking the exams for me and learning the information because then I’ll be useless once I graduate – I’ll have learned nothing.
But because of those things, I have to come up with a system that will work for me.
Therefore, I created printables that would keep me focused, keep me motivated, and keep me accountable.
You can also utilize these goal sheets and calendars in a way that works for you.
I failed the first time around because I wasn’t ready to commit. And if I struggled with that then I know that it could be someone else’s problem as well.
I won’t fail again.
Therefore I need to ask myself an important question so I can figure out the best course of action for myself.
Reminder: This blog post isn’t designed to be a course of action for you but rather a way for people who are struggling with anything to see a real-life example of taking control, building confidence, and learning that in order to overcome fear and self-doubt you have to put things into action to shoo away that nervous character in the back of their mind.
How Long Does It Take to Lose 70 Pounds?
Based on a safe and healthy estimate of 1-2 pounds weekly, it can take anywhere from 8 months (35 weeks) to well over a year (70 weeks). Of course, a lot of factors come into play, but this gives me the baseline to introduce certain goal points to achieve.
It determines how hard I’m willing to work and how much effort I want to put into this.
How long it will actually take is conjecture and doesn’t matter so long as I lose it.
However, the harder I push, the harder it will be to want to continue (I get bored of things easily) so I need to make sure I set up safeguards to keep myself going. I need to reward myself and I also need to give myself permission to mess up.
Related: How to Overcome the Hurdle of Starting Your Weight Loss Journey
My Motivational Mantras
Of course, my safeguard has to be mental. It’s what works for me.
Since I know that I’m the only one keeping myself accountable I wanted to create a sort of vision board that kept me going, but most importantly: inspired.
Instead of going from 0 to 60 in what I want to look like in the end, I’m trying to envision eating healthier, finding exercises that I enjoy doing, and overall the body I want to see in 3-month intervals.
By breaking up things into 3-month segments I can look at everything from a shorter-term perspective instead of in this large daunting project made to make myself over. So … now we shift a little bit.
Using that perspective I was able to come up with a list of reasons that will (hopefully) keep me motivated to keep going.
They are my “why.” (If you haven’t downloaded the workout planner it includes a page on writing down your why). I don’t have just one. I feel like if I tried to go with just one I wouldn’t be motivated enough on the days when I’m feeling like making an excuse.
In a future update, I may tell them to you but for now, I’ll keep it under wraps.
Putting Everything Into Action
Now that everything is out in the open (and maybe you’re in the same shoes as me), I can now do what is best for me.
I can now put my plan into action and work on getting the body that I want.
It’s going to be one of the hardest things I do because exercise isn’t fun for me but I’m ready to commit and create this lasting change.
My end goal is to rebuild the confidence I have lost and for anyone else to find some semblance of a resource to get started, too.
If you struggle to start a journey like this (or are scared in any way), I have a few resources you can read here:
7 Practical Gym Items You Need to Start Your Weight Loss Journey
The Helpful Guide to Beginner Fitness: FAQ
9 Secrets to Starting Your Weight Loss Journey Without Feeling Burnt Out