How I Lost 30 Pounds Without Lifting Heavy Weights Or Running

Health is a multi-step process. I think it’s an exaggeration when someone claims “this one thing” helped them lose tens of pounds without doing anything else. Sure, you’ll lose weight if you consistently eat less and never eat sugar or carbs, only ever eat veggies and protein, or go through lots of stress that takes away your appetite, but is that a healthy process and will it build toned strength and endurance? That’s not a recipe for long-term success. You want to live this short life! What's the point of looking lean if you can never enjoy a cookies and cream ice cream with friends on a hot summer day?

Once I decided to take the weight-loss bull by the horns, it took a bit over a year for me to finally get to where I wanted to be physically. This was because I had extreme hormonal imbalances with high cortisol, worn-out adrenals, endometriosis symptoms, an autoimmune disease/digestive disorder (Crohn’s), a slow metabolism, and was medically diagnosed with angioedema (endemic swelling tendencies with poor circulation). I also had symptoms of a parasitic infection (which could create or at least exacerbate all of the above). My blood sugar was thrown off as well, and cravings were a nightmare. And yes, sometimes I was lazy about my discipline and temporarily slipped back into old habits. It happens! But, overall, I maintained and finally got as close as I’ve ever been with my short torso to that hourglass figure I desired. Before I started this “journey,” I was feeling the worst I’d ever felt in my adult life. Needless to say, now I feel my best and I even celebrated by hiking my first 14,000 foot mountain in the Rockies!

A Balanced Mindset

Mind you, I didn’t want to just “lose weight” and fit into a certain size again – I wanted to feel strong and look healthy. It’s not just “one thing” that shreds the pounds in a healthy way. It’s multiple factors of internal health, mindset, the right kind of fitness, sleep, and consistency. 

You won’t get a natural glow if your hormones are all over the place, you won’t look snatched if you aren’t getting your beauty sleep, and you won’t give off confident energy if you aren’t satisfied with how you’re presenting yourself visually. 

Now, this is simply my own experience, and it may not seem like much compared to others’ journeys, but it taught me about investing more into quality longevity as well as mindfulness, patience, consistency, and health balance. I didn’t want to get obsessive or lose my joy and I realized that in order to do this, I needed to work on mindfulness. I didn’t write out my entire daily schedule, but I did make reminder notes for myself, wrote out a clean shopping list to stick to, made sure I walked a certain amount to clock in my steps, etc. For some months, I even weighed myself every day, just so I could keep tabs on what was working. 

Eating Habits

I used Noom to help improve my eating habits, and I stabilized my blood sugar with chromium, spirulina and more lean protein in my meals. Noom helped me grow in mindfulness with how I ate, as well as what and how much I ate. I started measuring portions and checking calories and sugar and sodium grams more carefully than before – I just had to make sure I didn’t become obsessive about it. Entering meals into the Noom app helped me measure my food, and wow, is it easy to have your bites pile up without realizing it! 

When To Eat

Like the saying goes: “Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a pauper.” It’s better to start your day with a substantial amount of protein and end on a lighter note earlier in the evening so your body can finish digesting before you go to sleep so it can focus on cell repair and fat burn.

If you can’t stomach much food for breakfast, then eat a good lunch. Just remember to still break your fast with protein, be it bone broth, a collagen protein smoothie, or eggs. Protein is crucial! My days would be on a rollercoaster if I didn’t start with protein and sufficient water. My blood sugar would cause cravings, and my appetite would be so that I felt like I couldn’t get full. 

I have been a snacker for years, so that was hard to balance out. I tried intermittent fasting, and it went well some weeks, but then others, it was harder. Then I learned you’re not supposed to fast in the last two weeks of your cycle because of heightened metabolism and changing hormones. Oops. I also learned I wasn’t eating enough protein, so once I added more to each meal, it was easier to go longer without eating. Drinking lemon water helped too. If I needed an afternoon pick-me-up, I made sure to eat a protein forward snack.

Choice Swaps

Making food swaps is a very easy way to eat cleaner and consume fewer calories and fewer calorie-dense foods. For certain periods, I simply passed on foods like nuts, nut butter, coconut, grain foods, baked goods, sweets, condiments, chocolate, and super sweet fruits like bananas and dates. (I slowly introduced them back in small portions according to my cycle-syncing nutrition needs.)

• Swap chips and crackers for carrot sticks, bell pepper pieces, cucumber slices, or seaweed snacks.

• Swap munchy snacks for jerky, berries, or veggies. (I literally brought crunchy romaine lettuce pieces in a bowl to a girls’ movie night because I didn’t have chips or candy on hand, and people ate them!)

• Swap mayo for avocado.

• Swap soda pop for GT Kombucha and the occasional Ollipop, Poppi, or Zevia.

• Swap fruit juice for lemon water, cucumber-infused spa water, or cold herbal mint tea.

• Swap jelly for strawberry slices or a small drizzle of raw honey.

• Swap bread for plain Ezekiel bread (best as toast), rice cakes, or sweet potato slices.

• Swap any fried foods for the grilled version.

• Swap flour pancakes for oatmeal banana protein pancakes (egg, ground oats, banana, protein powder).

• Swap cocktails for mocktails or sparkling water.

• Swap trail mix or snacks for xylitol or stevia-sweetened gum (can help curb cravings).

• Swap sports drinks and sweet tea for iced lemon water or chilled mint or raspberry herbal tea. 

• Swap ice cream for homemade sorbet (blend frozen fruit with a bit of water and a dab of raw honey) or n’ice cream (blended frozen banana chunks with a spoon of nut butter and a date or two). Try frozen grapes or frozen dates (delish) for a cold sweet!

Hydrate or Bloat

It’s true, dehydration makes it harder to lose weight and easier to overeat. It also affects your sleep quality as well as your daytime energy and metabolism, your digestion, bowels, and snack cravings, all of which also affect your weight loss and weight management. I would see this happen like clockwork: When I consistently drank plenty of water, lemon water, sometimes ACV water, and even herbal tea, I noticed such a huge difference in my weight loss rate. And I would feel so bloated and sluggish if I skimped on good water intake!

Lemon water is one of the best ways to hydrate. Lemon juice is low in calories and helps boost metabolism, burn fat, curb cravings, and balance blood glucose. I always noticed faster results when I paired my routine with lemon water in the morning, post-workout, and/or before bed (warm water is best for before bed to burn fat during sleep).

Exercise

For years in my teens and early twenties, I didn’t know how to work out properly and tried random tutorials on YouTube. I wouldn’t use proper form, I would sometimes overdo it, then swell up, and I often didn’t stick with something long enough. I had to skip running because of an ankle injury and didn’t want to stress my knee joints.

Here are some things I did to help my body move:

• Daily walking – power walking outside or on a treadmill inclined to 12 at 3 mph. or more.

• Swimming laps – I love swimming and always feel like it helps me feel light and toned quickly. 

• Biking

• The 30-30-30 method 

• Pilates, with the app 28

I also didn’t know that, apparently, different blood types benefit most from different types of exercise. Mine is B+ which likes moderate exercise including Pilates, walking, biking, swimming – crazily enough, those are my favorite workouts and the ones that tone me up the fastest! 

I have a tendency to build muscle fast, have a short torso, and don’t have an hourglass-style body, so I felt like I was “built” to lift weights. However, when I started lifting weights for a period, my shoulders alone immediately started bulking. I didn’t like that imbalance, plus the heavy weights threw off my diet efforts. Working out heavier increases your metabolism, and then you feel hungrier, so you’re eating more. But if you stop lifting or even just take a break, your big appetite is still the same, leading to quick weight gain. I can personally attest to this issue.

I also don’t think fitness programs like P90X and CrossFit are the best for women. They were founded by men, for men. Those types of workouts are designed for the masculine body to enhance those features; they weren’t designed for the feminine physique, don’t aim for the sleek hourglass, or take into consideration the feminine clockwork of fluctuating hormones of a 28-day cycle. Instead, I recommend a fitness program like 28 Wellness – the first platform to focus on women and support their feminine physiology and hormones with fitness and nutrition synchronized to their cycle.

Sleep

Using natural sleep aids, I finally started to get deep, quality sleep, which made a night-and-day difference in my weight management. When you’re low on sleep, your appetite increases and your snack and sugar cravings heighten due to the longer functioning time and the increased cortisol, which imbalances your blood sugar.

Some sleep aids and supplements I took included magnesium citrate and skullcap extract (this is so effective, and the tincture form is the most potent, but you can also buy the supplement form). I also occasionally took melatonin to ensure I would sleep deeply, especially when I was traveling, although I know it’s not the best solution for long-term health. 

Accountability

Last but not least, we all need accountability in some form, even if we just journal it, take before pictures, share your goals with a friend or sibling, or write your goal on a calendar and cross off days as you go (that’s what I did). My Noom coach also helped me with accountability – and the occasional frustration venting when I hit plateaus. Plus, actually paying out an app fee made it official and gave me an incentive not to waste that money invested in a goal. 

Patience is key because you need it to be consistent and you won’t see results overnight. Granted, it was very rewarding after a day where I ate clean, went to bed at a good hour, and slept really well and deeply to see my weight had dropped a bit on the scale. 

Closing Thoughts

It’s important to remember that what works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for everyone else; your body, health condition, metabolism, and blood type are all factors that play a role in weight loss and healthy management. And it’s much better to start small and be consistent (adding goals as you go) rather than start too big and go too fast, then fizzle out. The two things that are true for everyone across the board are mindfulness and consistency – with these, you can chip away at any goal!

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