I’ve lost nearly twenty pounds… over seven years. That’s not anywhere NEAR as sexy as saying “I lost twenty pounds in two months!” so this isn’t a glamour story, but it’s a real one.

As part of building my health coaching business, I’ve been discovering my strengths as an entrepreneur and as a person in general. And after a session with my friend Anna (who helps people discover and utilize their strengths) I found one of my super powers was looking to the future, specifically my optimism toward making the future better.

So in the interest of full disclosure, this story is weird for me to write about – I tend not to think backwards, I usually don’t reminisce, it’s just not how I’m wired.

Plus I have a TERRIBLE memory, I mean bad. Even quotes from my favorite movies that I’ve seen 47 times get butchered. And jokes, don’t even get me started… I get details wrong and trust me when I say punch lines aren’t nearly as funny when you have to give them a second and third try.

But nonetheless I wanted to share the story of my health journey (what I can remember) because it’s exactly what I coach and how I help people get healthy – not with the sexy stuff, but with the stuff that works. 

The Beginning

I grew up a husky tomboy who eventually went through puberty which shifted my weight around from chunky to curvy.

And pretty much from ~8th grade up until my later years of college I weighed between 140-145 pounds. Always playing sports and being active, I didn’t have to try hard at keeping that weight, plus I was comfortable there and my clothes fit me well enough – it was status quo.

Then after college when I was (literally) being paid to get athletes in the shape of their lives, my weight began creeping up. 

You’d think working as a strength coach in a weight room I’d have no excuse NOT to workout. But it was all too easy to get out of there once work was over, I didn’t want to stay any longer than needed because the days were long enough as it was.

Long story short, within a few years I was tipping the scale at 170ish. It’s “ish” because I’m pretty sure I weighed in at 171.something at one point, but can’t remember precisely. I DO remember seeing 169.8 and being afraid of seeing 170 though.

Downhill From There 

That was roughly seven years ago when I was testing out the waters of the 170pound weight class. And like I said in the beginning of this story, it’s been seven years of a downward trend that has me flirting with 150 as I’m writing this.

SEVEN YEARS!!!

That’s a LONG freaking time!

Most health coaches, personal trainers, nutritionists and whatever other kind of diet/workout coaches exist out there are promising the loss of 10 pounds in two weeks!?

In that case, I’m 6 years and 11 months behind the eight ball (shrug).

I was curious if there was any time of “sprint” weight loss for me so I even went back through MyFitnessPal history and sure enough, it was right around 3.5 years ago that I was weighing ~160. 

From a 10,000ft view it’s been a consistent downward trend, a ‘slow and steady’ wins the race kind of thing.

But if you zoom in, it’s all over the place! Ups and downs and roundabouts – I’m all over the place.

And I chalk that up to figuring out what works for me, developing healthier habits over time, but also enjoying the f*ck out of life.

Not once have I put myself on a “diet” or restricted what I eat; never have I punished myself with a workout; and never have I, nor will I, let the scale dictate how I feel about myself.

On the flip side, I have absolutely become more aware of portion sizes and cut down on mindless eating; I’ve also committed to moving my body every single day; and I also weigh myself every day as a form of data gathering.

I live a life of consistent moderation, and it’s very un-sexy when we’re talking weight loss and getting results.

We’re wired to want instant gratification and we get discouraged easily when we’re not seeing immediate results of our efforts. But if I could choose to be on the yo-yo trend of weight loss sprints paired with slow creeps back up OR losing twenty pounds over seven years… I’d choose seven years every.single.time.