There is a great weight loss success story on the web today entitled “How I Lost 103 Pounds” that was written by Abigail Cuffey about Joyce Anderson from Richmond, KY. Joyce is 41 years old and was successful in losing over 100 pounds–103 to be exact.
Joyce Anderson "How I Lost 103 Pounds"
If you check out her story, you will notice many lessons that could be used in your own quest to lose weight and finally get off the never ending diet wheel.
Here are a few of those lessons…
1. Resolve Binge Eating
Joyce started binge eating at the age of 13 and after the death of her grandfather. It is probably hard for the average 13 year old to recognize binge eating, yet alone do anything to stop it, but this article is written more for adults who probably understand if they are binging.
The key here is to recognize if you are using food for comfort and ask yourself “why” you are doing it. It is very similar to someone who turns to alcohol or some drug for a little relief except that it’s food. Ultimately, you will have to address the primary issue that is causing you the discomfort in order to eventually scale back on your overeating.
Clearly, it is more difficult than it sounds but the first step is in being able to recognize if you use binge eating for comfort and follow that up with getting help to resolve the main problem.
2. Know What You Eat
Joyce described that her big jumpstart came when she began to look for weight loss plans online and came across SparkPeople.com which helped her begin to log what she ate.
If you know anything about having financial problems, one of the fastest ways to get into trouble is to not know how much money you make and spend each month. Eventually, you will end up in a giant hole. The same thing applies to eating and more specifically how many calories you eat daily.
By keeping a running log of what she ate, Joyce put herself into a position of power in controlling her weight. This is not a theory as some of the nation’s top weight loss problems such as Weight Watchers focus on keeping track of daily food intake.
If you are not keeping track of how much you eat every day, start now. It is one of the best things you can do. By the way, Joyce stated that she was eventually eating 1200-1500 calories per day.
3. Get Support
No matter what you want to accomplish in life we all need a little support. Sometimes that support comes from a spouse, friend, or family member, and sometimes it can come from a complete stranger.
In Joyce’s case, she most likely got support from her family. But, she also got it from the online community inside SparkPeople.com as well as the local gym that she joined.
Support is critical if you want to get serious about losing weight. If you don’t have someone to encourage you along the way, it becomes a lot more difficult to succeed.
4. Find an Activity That You Love
One of the secrets to Joyce having long-term success is that she got involved in dancing. She found something that was physical and would burn calories but was also fun to do.
This is definitely one of the keys to losing weight and keeping it off. If you have negative feelings every time you lace up your sneakers to work out, you will not keep doing it.
Dancing is fun and that played a major part in Joyce’s overall weight loss. What can you do that’s fun? Maybe you already do something but just need to take it to the next level. If you like walking your dog a few blocks per day, go farther and build it up to several miles.
5. Know Your Why
Personal growth experts will often say that you need to “know your why” if you want to accomplish anything worthwhile in life and that certainly applies to losing weight.
What is your why? Do you have one?
Joyce used a picture of herself at her heaviest as a reminder of why she did not want to go back to that previous lifestyle. For you, it could be living longer for your kids, or some other reason.
Regardless of your reason, you need to have a solid “why” and ultimately believe that you can fulfill your weight loss goals.
Hopefully, you will learn a few things from Joyce and use them as you move forward to lose weight. Joyce would probably tell you that she is not much different from you. She simply made a firm decision and took all the necessary steps to finally lose 103 pounds.
Read the full original article “How I Lost 103 Pounds” here…