The Mental Journey – Renee’s Story

A recurring feature on EM2WL is called “The Journey.”  We strive to stress the importance of staying consistent, trusting the process, and making EM2WL a lifestyle.  In featured “Journey’” stories, we get an inside look at how each person will make the process work for them, as well as demonstrating how this process looks from fresh angles.  Journey participants agree to keeping us updated periodically,  first sharing their story, then updating as their journey progresses… 

The Mental Journey – Renee’s Story

I have just began my journey on EM2WL but I am excited to share this with everyone who is on it, has gone through it, or is struggling. A little bit of background about me: I began my weight loss journey on February 16, 2013. It was one of those days where I woke up and I said to myself, “I don’t want to feel like this anymore!” I can’t explain why this time was so different compared to the other mornings I felt like this, but it was that morning that changed me forever. I joined Weight Watchers and in 2 months I was down 14 pounds.

In April, I made the best decision of my life and spent the money on a personal trainer. He then changed my love for fitness and knowledge about how to work out. I felt on top of the world when I lost 35 more pounds with his training. By March 2014 I was down 50 pounds and feeling on top of the world. I then found MyFitnessPal, quit Weight Watchers (because I was tired of paying for it) and felt that I could continue my journey on my own.

It has been since March that I have maintained my weight loss of 50 pounds. Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful that I am able to keep the weight off for this amount of time, but I still have some unnecessary weight to lose. I was becoming so frustrated with myself because I could not seem to break from the plateau I was in. I was eating between 1200-1400 calories and nothing was happening. In December 2014 I came across EM2WL. I read everything. Every blog. Every success story. The science made sense. I read more articles about eating more in order to lose weight. Everything was making sense why I was on this plateau that I could not break.

There was about a two month period prior to starting EM2WL that I stopped tracking on MFP because I was getting bored and tired of not seeing any results. I couldn’t tell you how much I was eating so instead of doing a full metabolism reset, I opted to do a 15% cut from my TDEE. Even eating at this amount was mind boggling.

One month into EM2WL and I have found the biggest struggle for me: A mental mind game. Every single day. I have been off the scale since my starting date because I know that there will be a weight gain at first. I could not bear to see this on the scale so I chose to go “scale free” until I feel confident that the number means nothing. I read and re-read the EM2WL website, the success stories, and blogs daily for motivation and reassurance that I am going to be just fine. I am an active member on MFP’s EM2WL group. I highly encourage everyone to join it! It is a big help. The people are amazing at helping you understand the process, and give you motivation when you are feeling like you want to quit.

One of the best feelings I have from EM2WL is the energy from eating all this food! I feel great! My workouts feel better, I feel stronger. This is my motivation to continue. Eventually I will get over fear of the scale. Until then, I will stay off for my own sanity. I look forward to updating with great news!

Renee

Instagram: nay_gets_fit_

Remember, EM2WL is a lifestyle, not a quick fix.  Featured Journeyers will remind us that we are all a “work-in-progress.”  If you are interested in being featured in The Journey, please contact us for more info.