Thanks! I was on a grad school diet of pizza, ice cream and energy drink. Every. Day. So I started strictly counting calories, at 1000-1200 a day (using the loseit app). I cut out junk food, soda, and lowered my carb intake. I stuck mostly to fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and water to drink. The biggest change, I think, was cooking! I used to go out to eat 5 times a week, and now I go maybe once a month, at most. I love cooking and recipe hunting. It’s also gotten me to (a) stay away from processed foods and (b) try new foods! I used to be the pickiest eater (my school lunches were – no joke – a plain bagel and a juice box). Starting to eat new foods, like fish, has made a huge difference and kept things varied enough to make me want to stick to my diet.
Exercise-wise, I stuck to calorie counting for the first few months. On December 1st, I hit the gym, doing cardio and HEAVY lifting 5-6 days a week. I started at 10 mins cardio + 5 x 3 sets/12 reps of lifting. The next month I moved to 20 mins cardio + 4 x 3/12 and so on. I’m now on 50 mins 2 x 3/12. I’ve tripled most of my weights and am rocking the spin bike, treadmill, and rowing machine. The exercise slowed my numbers on the scale, but the inch-loss was great, so it kept me motivated.
