To celebrate Focus on Fitness month, we're sharing this incredibly inspiring guest post from our friend Diana from Livy Loves to Run. Find out how she lost 100 pounds and pick up a few tips and tricks to jumpstart your own weightloss journey.

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Hi! I'm Diana, and I lost 100 pounds in 11 months. It's very common for people to ask “how did you lose the weight?” or “how did you do it in under a year?”

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Though I have plastered my tips and progress on social media like Instagram, I decided to write up a post explaining what exactly I did to lose 100 pounds…and am still doing.

HOW I CHANGED MY DIET TO LOSE 100 POUNDS

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First, a quick disclaimer: every weight loss journey is different! For me, here's what has worked well:

  • I count calories and track them thru my fitness pal app that is free. In the beginning, I'd eat between 1400-1700 calories, it just varied day to day.
  • I eat eggs, ground turkey, apples, peanut butter, bananas, chicken, protein shakes, turkey burgers, broccoli, cauliflower, almond milk, low-calorie pasta, and just basically as clean and healthy as I can be.  It was a learning curve, in the beginning, to figure out what to eat, but that's why I love calorie counting because I can eat a piece of cake and still stay on my “diet”.

Since I have learned quite a bit about myself and how my body reacts to certain foods, I eat 1300-1500 calories a day.  For the most part, I eat the same types of foods.  I used to have a cheat meal once a week but now I have limited that to twice a month.  My body doesn't crave the foods anymore like it used to.  When I eat junk, I don't perform as well when I run and I get extremely sick.

HOW EXERCISE HELPED ME LOSE 100 POUNDS

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Before you begin any new fitness routine, be sure to consult with your doctor. Again, what works for you might be different, but here's how I shed some pounds through exericse:

  • I started out walking 1-2 miles a day with my kids in the double stroller, using a pedometer to track my distance.  I tried to burn anywhere between 200-500 calories per workout.
  • As time went on and I got stronger, I started to try running.  I got into running about 4 months into my journey and have just gotten stronger and built up my endurance, and eventually purchased a polar ft4 watch that tracked how many calories I burned.  I highly recommend this watch!
  • In August of last year, I completed my first 5K and then did my first half marathon in October.  Through all of that training, I lost around 50 lbs.
  • Right after my half marathon I joined a gym and have now been incorporating weight lifting into my workouts which I know has made a huge change in my body.
  • I now try to burn between 500-1000 calories a workout.

I get asked a lot how I can do so much.  Well, my body just craves an intense workout.  I love to run and running burns lots of calories.  I need to keep pushing myself and anything below that wouldn't be.

DETERMINATION IS THE KEY TO WEIGHT LOSS

Now this last one, I can't teach.  You just have to want it.  If I didn't have the motivation and desire to try each and every day, I would not be where I am.  I have had plenty of cheat meals and lots of days where I skipped my workout.  I just got up every single morning wanting more. Sure, there were days, even weeks, where the motivation was just not there.  However, I just had to remind myself that you will just digress if you don't continue, and that's extremely depressing; especially since I had already lost so much. That has made a huge change in my weight loss because it's never been something I saw as temporary. 

Thoughts like “If I work out really hard this week, I will reward myself with pizza and ice cream this weekend.” were not something considered. I didn't let myself think that way because what's the point in putting in all the hard work and then backtracking? When I started seeing results, it just kept motivating me to keep going.  I set goals for myself every single week and that made it more doable to try harder.  I can remember plenty of times running and feeling so much pain in my legs but just thinking of the number I wanted to see on the scale on my weigh-in day.   That motivated me so much to push above and beyond. 

I didn't choose the quick fix or the “diet” that would help me lose 20 pounds; I chose a lifestyle.  For so many years, I hated the way I felt, and now I finally love getting dressed every day because I love the way clothes look on me.  Instead of bottomless french fries, I can buy smaller sizes.  You need to reward yourself, especially in the beginning, but remember you're not a dog! That's why I reward myself with new clothes or a pedicure.

GET THE INSPIRATION YOU NEED TO WHIP YOUR WALLET INTO SHAPE, TOO!

Wow, is anyone else inspired? Thanks for sharing, Diana! Another great way to track your fitness and weight-loss goals is with M5 Fitness, which we've used and loved. Check it out. Happy Fitness Month everyone!

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learn how one woman lost 100 pounds in 11 months, from Fun Cheap or Free

Looking for more fitness or motivation tips?

You've got this!