In my early 30s I lost over 100 pounds after a lifetime of disordered eating and extreme yo-yo dieting. I didn’t take drugs or have gastric bypass, and the biggest changes I made weren’t related to food or exercise (though I certainly cleaned up my diet and worked out).
Over a decade ago, what I really needed in order to get results was to think differently. I had to stop with the “I’ll start tomorrow” narrative. I had to stop convincing myself that I deserved a pass because I was stressed, tired or overwhelmed. I had to replace my familiar stories about how this one thing wouldn’t hurt.
Much to my dismay, as I really worked on thinking differently about my choices, my choices began to change.
Fast-forward a handful of years…
In 2020 I had my first daughter who died unexpectedly at just 14 days old.
In 2021 I had a son.
In 2022 I had a wild ride of a pregnancy with spontaneous identical twin girls. They were born more than 3 months premature.
Four children, 3 c-sections and a whole lot of trauma later, I found myself hanging onto a lot of my pregnancy weight. I was sure the weight would fly off when pumping around the clock for twins, but I was wrong. My twins were born in critical condition, unlikely to survive and they spent 93 days in the NICU. I’ll spare you the details but my body only had energy for the essentials and fat loss wasn’t essential.
Around the twins first birthday I started to get a little frustrated that I was still carrying pregnancy weight. I was tired, I didn’t feel great in my body and I longed to feel as fit and capable as I felt before.
Enter: my personal fat loss protocol.
I had lost weight before, but my life, my circumstances and my body were different now. If nothing else, I had a whole lot less free time than I had in my early 30s and all of that needed to be taken into account.
Not only did I want to lose the weight, but I wanted to feel as energetic as possible. I didn’t want to be hungry all the time and I certainly wasn’t willing to do anything that didn’t feel restorative and positive. I also didn’t want anything to do with high intensity workouts. My body is still recovering from the stress of my pregnancies, the stress of my daughter’s death and the stress of everything we went through with the twins. I needed to support my adrenals, not tax them.
In the first 60 days of following my protocol, I lost 22 pounds! Just about half of the weight I wanted to lose! I wasn’t hungry. I wasn’t obsessing over food. I didn’t feel restricted or like I was missing out and I certainly wasn’t spending hours a day in the gym! I was getting questions from friends at church, friends at the gym and clients who noticed that I seemed more focused and energized. Best of all, I felt really good. My postpartum anxiety was dramatically improved. I was sleeping better and finally felt able to focus! The wins have been so much greater than weight loss!
I’ve shared every single detail of my fat loss protocol and I’ve held nothing back. I’m telling you how I’ve worked out, what I’ve eaten, what I’ve not eaten and even laid out what typical days look like for me.
If you’re curious, you can download the entire protocol right here!
Keep in mind that what is working for me isn’t necessarily a prescription for you (and I talk more about that in the detailed PDF). I don’t think you should blindly do what I’m doing, but I hope it gives you some new ideas around consistency and creating a plan that works for you!