The 1 Simple Thing That Finally Worked to Lose 70 Lbs After Failing for Years
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When I gained 60+ pounds after marriage and having my first son, it was 3 years of trying over and over again and failing before I finally got it off. Here’s how I finally lost 70 lbs after trying and failing for years!
- From 207 to 137
- My weight story.
- What didn't work: Fad Diets (Keto, Master Cleanse, All of it)
- What worked: A Tiered Calorie Restriction
- 2000k, 1800k, 1500k, 1200k. (k=calories)
- Start at 2000k/day (Mostly Portion Control)
- Dropped to1800k/Day (Still portion control)
- Dropped to 1500k/day (making better food choices)
- Finally down to 1200k/day (healthy choices)
- I had gone from 207 at my heaviest down 70lbs to 137lbs!
- How To Start Your Own Tiered Calorie Restriction Plan:
- 1: Get your Tools
- Download my free printable custom habit tracker made specifically for this diet! Click here!
- 2: Weigh Yourself.
- 3: Know your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
- 3: Start at a higher calorie per day plan and start tracking.
- 4: Track your weight for a few weeks and when you plateau, drop down the calories.
- 5: Stick with it until you hit your goal!
- Tips to help:
From 207 to 137
(**Update 6/2023 I’ve written a complete post on how I’ve been able to maintain my 70lb weight loss after 4 years and 2 more pregnancies here!**)
My weight story.
I had maintained 130-140 lbs all through high school. But after getting married, having a kid, and developing super unhealthy eating habits in that first year after, I wasn’t even close to 140 lbs anymore.
It was the summer of 2017 when I had my big, rude awakening.
Due to horrible eating habits I developed after getting married and being pregnant, and a non-active lifestyle, I had gained quite a bit of weight very quickly. But after returning home from a family trip to Costa Rica in the summer of 2017 and seeing all the photos, I truly realized just how much I had let myself go.
I didn’t even recognize myself. I had gone from a 145 lbs at marriage to now 207 lbs and totally sedentary. I didn’t eat well, I didn’t go to the gym, heck, I didn’t even go out walking.
Seeing myself, I knew something needed to change.
But that was much easier said than done.
Attempt 1: Summer 2017
That next month I committed to meal planning and eating better. I stuck with it for 3 whole months! Then gave up when family came to town to visit. I had lost almost 20 lbs (yay!) and was weighing 190, but still far from my goal of just getting back to my pre-baby weight of 155lbs. Only to gain it all back.
Attempt 2: December 2017
I tried again that winter to get ready for my cousin’s wedding, getting down to 185 (go me!) but with the holidays and a horrible miscarriage, I gave up again.
Attempt 3: April 2018 and…. stuck.
In the spring of 2018, after another miscarriage, I decided to have another go. Only to be stopped again that May when we moved to Vegas for the summer and got pregnant again.
I remember feeling so hopeless. What was I suppose to do now? I can’t lose weight while pregnant, and after two miscarriages all I wanted was a sibling for my son and a baby that I wouldn’t have to bury, but I was so miserable with myself. I felt gross and ugly, and not ME!
Up until this point in my life I had never stuck with any fitness/diet regimen for longer than 3 months. Which meant that I literally had ZERO evidence that I was capable of losing the 60+ lbs that I had gained since getting married.
And now being pregnant I felt stuck again.
I didn’t even have an option to lose weight, and the possibility of losing another baby was enough to make me never want to try again. But also, I was terrified at the idea that I started this pregnancy at 180lbs! What would I be delivering at?! 220lbs??
I had tried over and over and over again to lose weight for 2 years only to gain most of it back. So I decided to give up and focus on my pregnancy and I’d try again in 2019 after my baby was born.
But that Christmas (2018) at 33 weeks pregnant with Mickey weighing 197 lbs, that I came up with a game plan.
I was 2-ish months away from delivering my son and decided enough was enough. No more excuses. No more starting when it was most convenient. No. I was starting my health/weight-loss journey then.
What didn’t work: Fad Diets (Keto, Master Cleanse, All of it)
I found out early on into my weightloss attempts that fad diets like Keto, or the lemonade detoxes, or anything that says you CAN eat some things but NOT others didn’t work for me.
Why?
I realized that for these diets to work for me, I would need to be able to stay on them for A LONG TIME. And even stay on them for life to keep the weight off in most cases.
For me, I knew that I personally was never going to go my entire life without eating a specific food.
I was going to eat cake at birthday parties.
I was going to have a slice of pizza.
If it’s Halloween, I’m going to eat a Reese’s.
There would always be a time when I would slip up. So if I had to be on a strict to carbs or no sugar or no something diet for the rest of my life, it just wasn’t going to happen. Life would get in the way and I’d cave and be right back at square one.
So after dabbling into fad diets, I moved on real quick.
What worked: A Tiered Calorie Restriction
I read a book once that said the actual process of losing weight it simple, just consume less calories than you burn. Which is true (it takes burning 3,500 calories to burn a pound). If you continue over time to consume less calories than you burn in a day then you WILL lose weight. The actual process is simple. Doing it is the hard part.
You can eat less food to consume less calories than you burn, or increase your exercise and activity levels to burn more calories than you consume, or a combination of both.
For me I had always done some sort of calorie restriction for weightless in the past. Usually limiting myself to 1500 calories a day (which is how I lost weight in high school and any other time in my life).
The hard part was going cold turkey from my horrible eating one day to only 1500 calories the next.
Sometimes I could do it, but other times it would be too hard too fast and I’d mess up and give up. But when I implemented a tiered calorie restriction plan it was so much easier to stick to and ultimately lead me to lose 70lbs! Here’s what I did.
My Diet Rules:
- Only eat a specific amount of calories a day.
- Weigh myself once a week (Sunday) First thing in the morning after going to the bathroom, but before consuming anything. Can’t weigh myself more than that one time on Sunday.
- Track everything I eat in a calorie counter app.
- Weigh everything. No eyeballing. (I did everything in grams because I found it to be the easiest.)
Related: How to Count Calories to Lose Weight
2000k, 1800k, 1500k, 1200k. (k=calories)
I hadn’t planned to do a tiered calorie restriction, in fact I had planned to do my regular jump to 1500 calories a day after my baby was born. But I decided that my bad eating was a habit and needed to stop right then that Christmas while I was still pregnant so I set a plan that I could start then.
*Disclaimer* Always talk to your doctor before starting any kind of diet or exercise regimen while pregnant. I spoke with mine before starting my restriction.
Start at 2000k/day (Mostly Portion Control)
Instead of jumping right to a 1500k/day diet right then, I started with a 2000k/day diet plan January 1, 2019 until I gave birth. That way I was still consuming enough calories to support my baby while still giving myself a limit so I couldn’t overeat.
Looking back, the 2000k a day portion of my diet plan was the perfect way to ease into weight loss.
At 2000 calories a day I could still eat all the foods I wanted even thinks like chocolate or pizza. I just had to control portion sizes.
So instead of eating 3 pieces of pizza, I could only have 2 or instead of a whole chocolate bar, I would limit myself to only a piece. It was so much easier to go from what I was eating, to the same food just a little smaller than it would have been to go from what I was eating, straight into small all veggies, clean eating, no sugar, blah blah blah.
Instead I could ease out of my sugar and other cravings instead of cutting them cold turkey.
Starting at a higher calorie restriction also helped me get use to tracking what I was eating and logging it.
Starting any kind of diet is hard, so if you aren’t use to keeping track of what you eat and are grumpy since all you want to do is eat cake but you’ve put yourself on a strict diet, it can be easy to give up when you forget to log a meal!
At a higher calorie restriction, I felt like I had more patience to remember to track and log my food because I wasn’t constantly hungry.
What about exercise?
During this time I was not exercising at all. Just the normal day to day with a toddler. Walking around, cleaning, picking him up, grocery shopping type of things.
Dropped to1800k/Day (Still portion control)
A week after I had Mickey, I cut my calories from 2000 a day to 1800 and stayed on that for the next 8 weeks.
I had been doing 2000k/day for 5 weeks now and was now use to keeping track of what I ate and logging it. And since 2000k was so high, I felt it was easy to stick to and got use to only eating that many calories each day.
Those 5 weeks of 2000k prepared me to actually start making changes, and since my baby was no longer inside me, it was safe to cut my calories a bit and start losing weight. Plus keeping track of my calories while pregnant helped me to only gain a few extra pounds the last 5 weeks of my pregnancy instead of potentially more if I had kept overeating. I ended up delivering Mickey at 200lbs.
After delivering Mickey, I weighed 191 lbs. So in order to know how many calories I should consume to lose weight, I had to first calculate my Basal Metabolic Rate or BMR. This is the number of calories your body burns while at rest depending on your gender, age, weight, and height. Then you can add in your activity level and see roughly how many calories in a regular day you burn.
So for me, as a 5’9″ 23 year old female weighing 191 lbs my BMR was 1687.
Which meant if I did nothing, but sleep all day that is what my body would burn.
But if I add in a sedentary lifestyle meaning little to no exercise but more than being in a coma like eating, sitting, keeping track of a toddler, grocery shopping, etc, my body would burn about 2,023 calories each day.
So now knowing that I burn about 2,023 calories a day without I decided to drop my calories down to 1800k/day. And since my burn number is higher than my consumption number, this would allow me to lose weight.
I only dropped my calories by 200 for a few reasons:
- I again didn’t want to cut cold turkey to something incredibly hard. Only dropping by a little bit would only mean cutting out a granola bar a day. But it was still low enough for me to lose significant weight.
- I was still breastfeeding so I still needed to eat enough to keep my supply up!
- I was burning extra calories because of breastfeeding. An average of an extra 200-500k burned a day so I didn’t need to drop my daily calorie intake as much to still see good results.
So knowing that I burn about 2,200-2,500 calories a day just living and breastfeeding, setting my calories intake to 1800k a day would allow me to burn 2,800 calories a week or .8 – 1.4 lbs a week without any exercise.
During this time of 1800k/day I still felt like my focus was portion control.
I could still eat all the foods I was eating before just now it was smaller (actually normal-sized now 😅) portions, and less snacking. I still had snacks, I just wasn’t eating like a monstrous vacuum anymore.
Dropped to 1500k/day (making better food choices)
I stuck to my 1800k/day plan for 8 weeks, until my weightless plateaued. (Which is also how I decided to drop from 1500k to 1200k but we’ll get there.)
I would log my weight every Sunday morning and after 8 weeks of losing on my 1800k plan, I logged in week 9 to see I had gained 2 lbs from the previous week.
Now keep in mind that depending on my period and water weight, that my weightless would fluctuate but a gain of 2 lbs after 8 weeks of losing told me it was time to drop down again. You see, as you lose weight your BMR will also go down. And at week 8 of 1800k I was weighing 177.6 lbs so I had lost 13.4 lbs, and it was easy!
So it was time to drop, and I decided to drop down 300 calories to a 1500k/day plan.
By this point I had been tracking my food for over 3 months and been very good at staying under my calories. It was a habit now and easy to do, so by now I was already thinking about meals and planning calories everyday.
Now that my portions were under control and I wasn’t eating when I was bored, it was time to look at the foods I was eating.
2000k-1800k was about portion control, 1500k-1200k was about the kinds of food I was eating.
This was the time I needed to swap out foods for lower calorie foods. Instead of regular spaghetti I made spaghetti squash spaghetti, (which is delicious btw). Instead of pot stickers and rice I would use cauliflower rice. Instead of 2% milk I bought skim milk.
- I’d buy the low calorie eggs waffles with sugar free syrup and add some strawberries for a total breakfast under 200k.
- My pot sticker and cauliflower rice with low sodium soy sauce was less than 200k and so delicious!
- I got 35k per slice bread, and low calorie sliced cheese and made bomb sandwiches that would normally be 300+ calories only 170 calories!
- I ate apple slices or low-calorie popcorn instead of potato chips too.
This was the time to get creative! And unlike other fad diets, no food was off the table, so it was easy to find ways to make any meal a low calorie meal.
Why this felt so easy:
I felt it was so much easier to change up the kinds of foods I was eating at this stage in my process vs the typical unhealthy straight to healthy eating that you typically see with starting a diet because at this point I had:
1: Gotten use to tracking what I eat and controlling that.
2: I had the motivation of my weight loss from my previous months to keep me going! I had proof that I could stick to something and that was super motivating. Plus I was on a roll making me way more motivated to keep it going. I could see it was working!
Exercise
It was the start of this time that I started to implement a workout plan. I would go to the gym 3 times a week and walk on the elliptical for 1 hour. Occasionally I would do some weights but I mostly just did cardio.
Finally down to 1200k/day (healthy choices)
After 4 weeks of 1500k/day, I had another gain week plateauing and finally dropped to 1200k/day. By now I was 167 lbs. Down an extra 10.6 lbs in just those 4 weeks!
I was on my 1200k/day plan the longest and never dropped lower than 1200. Even when I plateaued I would just keep going, knowing that I was burning more that I consumed so the next week I would show a loss if I just continued.
At this stage I had developed the self discipline needed to maintain a 1200k/day diet plan. Something I wouldn’t have had, had I tried to go straight into 1500k or 1200k cold turkey.
Those 2000k, 1800k, and 1500k weeks were absolutely essential to me sticking to my 1200k plan but also my diet in general! It built the self discipline needed to maintain any diet, which is the most important part.
By now, I knew exactly how many calories were in my favorite restaurant meals, I knew exactly what to order to still have date nights with my husband and how to estimate calories in a meal when my in-laws would cook for us.
I was a master at it all and had come up with all kinds of meal ideas and snack ideas that I could eat, feel full, not restricted, and still stay under my calories.
By now I was no longer breastfeeding my baby (supplemented then stopped mid 1500k plan). And was instead keeping up with a regular exercise plan. Still doing my hour of cardio 3-5 days a week with a little weights when I felt like it.
Finally I hit my first goal: pre baby weight of 155 lbs! Wahoo!
But I was a roll so I decided, why go just pre baby? Lets drop the extra 15 and go for pre-marriage weight of 140 lbs!
Finally in September 2019, I weighed in hoping to hit my 140 lbs goal when I weighed in at 137.6 lbs!
I had gone from 207 at my heaviest down 70lbs to 137lbs!
When I read the scale that said 137, I looked at myself and felt so proud. I remembered that summer of 2017 and bawling because I didn’t recognize my 207lbs self and now I had not only made my goal of 155lbs but I had crushed it and was down back to my high school weight.
I remember the weeks and nights of failing to control my eating and feeling like the idea of ever even being less than 185 lbs was impossible. That I would just be this self conscious blob of my old self for the rest of my life. But now I had done what I had tried over and over and over again to do and completely crushed it.
This time I didn’t give up. I didn’t fall off the wagon, I freaking DID IT! And I truly believe that it is all due to the tiered calorie restriction that I did.
The baby step approach to losing a large amount of weight was the only way to do it. It works, and it the only way that worked for me.
If you want to know if I’ve been able to keep the weight off after 2 more kids and 4 years later, you can read about that here!
How To Start Your Own Tiered Calorie Restriction Plan:
1: Get your Tools
What you will need to start your own tiered calorie restriction plan:
- A food scale. To weigh out your food. I recommend this one from Amazon!
- A bathroom scale. To weigh yourself weekly. This is a good cheaper one.
- An app to track your weight and food. I used the fitbit app to track my weight but this calorie counter app to track my food. However, you can do both in either app or another app like MyFitnessPal.
- Or a pen and paper will work to track your calories too but it is a lot more tedious!
Download my free printable custom habit tracker made specifically for this diet! Click here!
2: Weigh Yourself.
To know where to go, you have to know where you are.
Start with getting an accurate weight. Your weight will fluctuate throughout the day with your lowest weight being first thing in the morning before any drink or food and with an empty bladder. So first thing in the morning, go to the bathroom then weigh yourself to get your starting weight.
From then on, pick a day, and only weigh yourself once a week! No exceptions!
3: Know your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
How many calories does your body burn in a day right now?
Head here to calculate your BMR.
*Tip: Unless you already workout regularly (3x a week+) just stick to the sedentary little to no exercise calories burned. Then you can add in your calories burned as a day by day basis when you work out.
If you only burn 1800 calories a day right now, there’s no point in starting at 2000k/day. This will only make you gain weight. Instead, start your tier at 1800k/day.
3: Start at a higher calorie per day plan and start tracking.
I would suggest starting at the base calories that you burn in a day. So if you burn about 2,000k a day just doing your normal day to day, start at a 2000k/day diet plan. If you only burn 1800k a day start at 1800.
For me starting at 2000k/day was perfect. If you feel like your amount of calories you burn in a day is too low a number to start at, I highly suggest starting at 2000k. Just remember you don’t want it to be too easy. It shouldn’t be miserable but it should challenge you.
So set a number and start tracking. Weigh out all your food and track it in your app.
Calculating calories properly:
Read my detailed post on how to count calories to lose weight here!
I found that it was easiest to get the most accurate calories by weighing in grams.
Every food with a label has the calories listed out in portion sizes in grams.
You can see on this can of Pringles it says that 1 serving is 150 calories. And there are 6 servings per container so the entire can of Pringles is 900 calories.
It also says that one serving is 1oz or 28 grams which is approximately 15 chips. You can count out 15 chips and just eat those but for me I’ll typically pour some onto a plate and eyeball it. So here’s how to calculate the exact calories.
- Set out your food scale and set the units to grams.
- Set a plate on to your food scale and tare or zero it out so that you are only weighing your food, not your plate.
- Then add your food to the plate, weighing it in grams.
- On a calculator take the serving size amount of calories (ex: 150 on the Pringles can) divide it by the serving size in grams (ex: 28 on the Pringles can) and times it by the weight of your food on your plate (in the picture below I have 10 grams of pringles) So for the Pringles example you would do 150 ÷ 28 x 10 which equals 53.5714286. I round it up to 54 even and that is how many calories of pringles are on my plate.
Formula: Amount of calories per serving ÷ grams per serving x the weight of the food on your scale in grams = the total calories of the food on the scale.
The benefit of just always weighing your food is sometimes serving sizes say something like “approximately 1 cup” but it’s inconvenient to measure it out in a measuring cup or something like it. Weighing it out just makes everything easy and you KNOW you have the right calorie calculation not just an approximate.
Related: How to Count Calories to Lose Weight
4: Track your weight for a few weeks and when you plateau, drop down the calories.
After sticking with my 2000k/day plan, I dropped to 1800k/day, then 1500k/day, then finally 1200k/day. Always after plateauing in my weightless.
Keep track of how much you are losing week to week. When you find that you either don’t lose anything or gain weight even when you have been staying in your calories, it’s time to drop down.
**Or if you feel like you have a handle over your eating and are ready to drop down for faster results, you can drop then too. But don’t be too anxious! Proof that you can stick with your calorie plan all 7 days a week without any slip-ups for at least 2 weeks before dropping down.
In the higher calorie plans, you’ll find that its more about portion and frequency of eating control. You can typically eat the same foods you always have, just smaller sizes and less often. No more snacking on junk all day!
Once you get into the lower calorie plans you’ll find its now about the kind of food you are eating. Since you’ve controlled your portions and frequency of eating to a normal rate, it’ll be time to make healthier decision and get creative with low calorie food options!
Not a bad time to search Google and Pinterest for the best low calorie snacks, meals, and even restaurant options!
5: Stick with it until you hit your goal!
Once you get down to 1200 I suggest staying there and adding in exercise if you plateau/gain instead of dropping calories again. At a certain point you need to make sure you are still getting a balanced meal and not just eating a cucumber a day.
The last thing to do is stick with it until you hit your goal! Adjust your plan as you go and add in exercise to help it go faster!
Tips to help:
- Let your spouse and family know of your calorie restriction so they can be supportive. It sure makes it a whole lot easier when your Mother in law makes veggies instead of fried chicken when you come over for dinner!
- For me it really helped to have a zero calorie snack that I could have whenever I felt snacky! A can of diet soda was my saving grace so I always kept the fridge stalked with Diet Dr.Pepper but another good option is dill pickle slices as they are zero calories as well, I’d even ad a dab of yellow mustard to them which is also zero calories!
- Drink lots of water, this keeps you full and hydrated!
That is how I lost 70 lbs in 2019 after trying for years to lose weight! All without ever restricting what foods I can or can’t eat! I hope this helps!
Read about how I’m doing 4 years and 2 more babies later and how I’ve been able to maintain my weight loss here!
Also, If you want a little bit more, follow me on Instagram: @CassScroggins and check out my weight loss story highlights on my profile for more details!
Want to remember this post? Pin it to your favorite Pinterest Board!
The Comments
Arlin
This is so helpful! I’m curious what you do at your goal weight and what your calorie intake looks like to maintain your weight? In the past I’ve gotten to my goal weight, but never been able to maintain it for very long because of bad habits creeping back in.
Cassie Scroggins
Arlinafter I hit my goal weight I’ve been more gracious with my counting. Instead of counting now, I just keep a loose track in my mind of what I’ve eaten and try to stay around a 2200 ish calorie intake. Or if I have a bigger/higher calorie meal I try to accompany it with smaller/healthier meals and track my weight every 2 weeks to month.
adjusting my diet when necessary
Ciara
Cassie ScrogginsI just wanted to say thank you and how much I loved this post for motivation
I am a few inches shorter but I have gained about the same amount of weight since high school, relationship weight, post partum etc
I have also had troubles trying for my second and been worried that it may not be the wrong time considering my weight.. and worried about getting bigger.
This is the first dieting post that has really resonated with me.
Looking online at food scales now.
Thank you ❤️
Amy
Cassie ScrogginsAfter reaching your goal weight did you “reverse” tier your calories back up so you didn’t gain back weight?
Nallely
ArlinGirl, this is exactly what I needed to read! Thank you so much for sharing your weight loss journey! I’m so happy that after struggling for so long and everything that you went through, you finally lost the weight you wanted and most important you had Mickey! I can relate so much to this post. I’ve been struggling to loss the weight I gain after my pregnancy, but I just keep putting it off, making excuses, and just not following my plan. But after reading this, it has encourage me to actually start focusing on my weight loss. I’m definitely going to try your plan! Again thank you for sharing your journey.
AMBER
Wow! I’m so proud of you! Thank you for sharing your journey and giving me the motivation to start working on myself again. I suffered a miscarriage too, I’m sorry for your loss. I gained my weight after that, then had two beautiful children, but never lost my baby weight. My journey will begin tomorrow morning! Thank you again!
Mels
AMBERThank you for sharing this post. I am just starting to do this method and your explanation helps me a lot. I appreciate it. Please keep sharing or posting your recipes/foods that you eat.
Em
What an inspiring post! Thanks for sharing! How long would you say it took you to lose the 70lbs when you calculate the weeks in between dropping your calories?
Cassie Scroggins
Emabout 9 months to lose it all!
Siera
This is amazing, I needed this so much! I recently had a miscarriage and instead of feeling down I really want to focus on myself. Your words helped me feel as if there really is a light at the end of the tunnel. So, I thank you!
Cassie Scroggins
SieraThat is so hard. I’m so sorry for your loss. You’ve got this girl, i’m glad to have helped!
Mrs Richard
I’m gonna try it!
Cassie Scroggins
Mrs Richardyou’ve got this!
stemple
Thank you for sharing your story. It is exactly what I needed to read and while my situation isn’t exact to yours, I relate in more ways than I expected. Your action plan and positive words are the motivation I need right now as I just signed up (again after 12yrs) to Sparkpeople this weekend. Here’s to consistency and accountability for once and for real.
Cassie Scroggins
stempleYou’ve got this!
Nora Burton
How do you figure your BMR to see how many calories to start with!!! Thanks for your story that is so me😷
Sarah Arel
Hi Cassie!
I printed off your calorie restriction habit tracker you created. However I am trying to understand what the table is for. Id like to better understand what I fill in.
Thanks!
Cassie Scroggins
Sarah ArelI have a full video on IGTV on my instagram on how to use it!
Lynette
Do you still keep off the weight today???
Charlie
The calorie app link is not working..can you list the name of it?
Cassie Scroggins
CharlieYes! It’s called calorie counter by FatSecret!
carla
Commentthanks a lot for the tips, i’m very grateful, i’ve been wanting to lose weight for years and i never can.
Lyne
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Terra Brookman
Thank you for sharing. I am literally the same weight and height as your starting picture and have been up and down on all the diets. My question is, how do you calculate recipes? That always loses me when I calorie count.
Thanks again for your post. It made something click with me.
Sara
This seems like a really good idea and I want to try it. I am wondering though where should I start my k at.. according to me BMR I only burn about 1500 calories a day.. with the little exercise situation.. without that it’s only 1350ish which honestly I am probably somewhere in between!
I similar to you loss about 79 pounds from
Postpartum… I settled at 135 and was pretty happy but within the last two year I became a nurse and started working night shift and have gained almost 10 pounds back and I am not happy or comfortable with it! Trying to find something that works to feel good again!
Congratulations on your weightloss you look great!
Cassie Scroggins
SaraSo the smaller, less you weigh, and older you are, the lower your bmr will be. So if if says your sedentary BMR is 1500 I’d start at 1500!
Jordan
Hi! I had a question for you about counting calories!
I recently found this blog post and I decided to start counting my calories. I’m about 2 weeks in, and I’m loving it! However, there are days when I don’t hit my daily calorie limit. Like I’m pretty far under some days. I was just wondering if that will ruin any weight loss if I eat an inconsistent amount of calories under my limit.
Cassie Scroggins
JordanNot as far as I’ve seen! I did that quite a bit with mine (especially during my higher calorie limits) and it never negatively effected my weightlodss!
Katie Corey
So inspiring! My BMR is 2083 so what calories should I start at?
Sunel
You are simply amazing! This gives me a total new perspective on diets and healthy living. 2020 is already crazy, so let’s add some stability to our home. Better late than never. Sending you a virtual hug all the way from South Africa.
Debbie
I’ve tried everything else. I might as well try this. It sounds reasonable
Cass
Wow!! How amazing! Thank you for sharing. I feel like I read my story. You look amazing and I am feeling so motives to start this journey!!
Maddie
I am currently a junior in high school and I have really been wanting to lose weight and be confident with myself. Do you think it will be as easy for me as it was for you since I am younger?? I feel like I can do it, but I have tried other things before and they never worked for me. I also would just like to say that it is so amazing of you for sharing your journey. After reading this, I feel so motivated and actually excited about this. So Thank you so much for sharing your story. I going to start this and I hope it works for me as well as it did for you.
Carly
This is a smart way to lose weight! Just wanted to say you should not be horrified at your “before” pictures. I think you look great in your before and after photos. 🙂
Staci
I have never resonated with anything so much! This is my exact story but been struggling to lose the weight. This is genius. Excited to try it! Thank you for sharing!! And thank you for sharing your secrets and success at no cost to me!! I really needed this!
Aaminah
Thank you so much for posting this entire story with so much helpful details. It popped up on my page as a sign . I’ve been so demotivated thinking I can never get back to my goal weight again after picking up weight. But this gives me hope and I’m definely going to try it and stick to this.
Pam k
THANK YOU. You are so gracious and detailed of helping and its so simple.
KP
I would love to incorporate excercise. How do I calculate calories then?
Michelle
Just a question, do I base my calorie counting on my sedentary BMR of 1397 or my Activity BMR at 2165? And what would I start my calories at?
By the way, thank you so much for sharing this because all other diets I have been looking for limit what I can eat and I always losing out on that.
Deanna
MichelleThank you. All the research and looking for quick ways to lose weight, it’s refreshing to see how it really has to do with the basics. I really enjoyed this article.
Dipthi
This is so motivating and useful information. Thank you!
Jessica
Thanks so much for sharing all the details! This sounds like a great way to start losing weight!
Michelle
Hi Cassie.
I am glad I found your post. We are similar in that we are tall which means the weight gain sneaks up on you. I am much older than you but share a similar story. I stayed home to raise kids and then found my new purpose – in real estate investment. I have hit menopause so that nasty weight gain caught up with me again! After seeing how great you feel, I am ready to tackle it again. Thank you!
Lisa
I am down 75 of the 100lb I want to lose, and am doing nearly everything you advise here. Am curious about one thing, tho: Do you count all calories eaten, or do you deduct calories you burn thru exercise? In other words, if I eat 1700 calories today and exercise to burn 500, is that a 1700-calorie day or a 1200-calorie day?
Tatiana
This was a great post and thank you for sharing with all of us. I have been really struggling losing the last 25 pounds. I have been doing WW lost 10 lbs after my daughter was born July 2020 but nothing more!!! I have officially calculated my BMR and am exercising 3-5 days a week so I will start with 1800 calories per day (can you let me know if I read this wrong?) then I will bump down to 1500 and ultimately 1200
You have given me hope! You look amazing mama!
Xxo
Emily
Thank you for this detailed post! It’s super helpful. I’m ready to loose the weight I’ve put on since marriage and babies too. So reading your story was both encouraging and relatable. Thank you for the free printable too!
CHRISI
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ARTICLE! I HAD THE SAME PROBLEMS
AFTER GETTING MARRIED AND TWO PREGNANCIES….
THIS ALSO HELPED ME A LOT…https://bit.ly/3us5BSi
Sherri
I had been praying for and about my weight for some time when I found your story on Pinterest. God answers prayer. I’ve been following your suggestions for 8 weeks and have lost 12lbs. I will turn 65 in September and am excited to, finally. be in control of my eating. Like you, I had tried every program under the sun with successes that never stuck – my fault. But, this makes sense and I am blessed to have found you.
Meg
SherriSame for me!!
Quinallison
I’m at the point where you were when you realized you had to make a change. I’m on the brink of possibly having to take blood pressure meds because is been high the last month and I need to change my lifestyle back to the way it was before I had my baby. Thank you for sharing your story and for this! I’m hoping weighing food won’t be too overwhelming. Though I’m ready to just focus on something that fits more of my lifestyle and can improve it again.
Roxanne
What if I have been doing 1200-1500 calories for 1 1/2 years with some weeks going up to 1800-2000 calories. I have done weight watchers, Noom and now Lose it app. I track everything I eat on the Lose it app and weigh daily. I pretty much stay at 160-162. I will start doing grams . I have lost 10 pounds but want to lose 30 more pounds. I am 66 so I think it is a little harder to lose when you’re older. Any thoughts?
Ziyanda
I really enjoyed reading your weight loss journey, very simple and understandable . I will definitely do it, thanks for sharing your experience and success it is very motivating. Regards,
Z.S
April J
Thank you.
This has made more sense to me than anything that I have read or tried over the past 10 yrs. You look absolutely beautiful. You should be so proud of yourself.
I’m excited to try this approach. I also need to drop 70 lbs.
thank you for sharing Your journey and your knowledge.
I’m so excited to try this. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Donna Piedmont-Bryant
Thank you for your story on your journey. Love it !!
Kimmi
Hi, I’m 61 years old and weighing 250lbs and have found your post an inspiration, I’ve yoyo’d so many times over the years, I’m was at the point of believing there was no hope for me. But the tiered approach sounded to doable and I’m starting my journey today. Thankyou for the guidelines and I’ll keep you updated.
patricia
u are amazig
Jennifer Ann Schlag
I have struggled with my weight since losing my parents. So since 2013 I just kept gaining weight, then after losing my mom in 2018, it seemed impossible to lose, and I didn’t care. But like you, after seeing pictures of myself in 2015 when I went to Florida and I was 209, I knew I had to do something. I managed to get down to 169, then went back up to 180s, but now I’m stuck at 190s. I plan to do what you did because I love certain foods. I have already stopped snacking after 7p.m. But I wanted to thank you for your inspiring story. I only found this by accident but it has helped motivate me. I don’t do well with diets, so I like your plan better.
Julie B
Thank you for sharing your journey and such a detailed explanation of the method that worked for you! I have been not feeling like myself lately and have been wanting to lose weight but had NO IDEA where to even start. Your post really broke it down and made it all so simple to understand. I can’t wait to order my scales and start my weight loss journey now!
Shani
Hi,
so greatful I found your post! It gives me hope.
I have a similar weight story. I was 140 lbs before pregnancy… now I am weighing 209 lbs after birth and while nursing. Since finding your post last week, I have been limiting myself to 2000 calories. I am wondering if you can please share more or less what you would eat when sticking to a 1800 calorie diet while nursing.
(and then later on, when reducing your calories, what kinds of food did you eat?)
thanks so much!
mckenzie berg
THANK YOU! going to try this!
Russ S.
Very inspiring! As a man, I have struggled to lose about 60 lbs for the last six years. Your approach makes the most sense instead of all the fad diets. Thanks so much for sharing! I am starting my journey today!
April Brown
Wow, I am in very similar shoes. Major frustrations and lack of confidences due to gaining excess weight after an injury. I feel empowered, safe, and excited after reading your story and advices! Thank you for this information. I look forward to beginning my calorie tracking !! I am looking forward to this journey now, instead of scared, nervous, or unsure. Cheers!
Catherine
Good day
Thank you for taking the time to increase our knowledge wrt your weight loss program. My problem that I have experienced is that I started at 1500 for 4 weeks and then 1200 and have now plateaued. Initially my app said I should eat 2000 per day. But I ignored this. I have been on my eating plan for 18 weeks and have lost 12 kg. But now I have plateaued and even gained 1kg. What is your advice for me to drop down further. I burn about 1990 cal per day.
Bethany
This was exactly what I needed to read! Thank you for sharing! I feel the same way as you about food! I didn’t want to cut anything out either! I feel encouraged and will be faithfully putting my food into my fitness pal again. Thanks again! Congratulations on your amazing work!
By the way I think you look beautiful in both photos! But I understand the not feeling like yourself.
Samantha Vinyard
Thank you for being so transparent and vulnerable in this post. You are so brave and strong. I really appreciate your tiered system especially for those just starting. I’m 40 and am in the 1500k range. I had back surgery 5 months ago and it took its toll on my weight for sure. My struggle is consistency with logging everything I put in my mouth and sticking to my plan long term. What tips and tricks do you have for staying consistent or making tracking easier? Also, if wonder about having my goal be a certain weight. I really struggle to get to my goal weight. What other goals can I set? Thanks again.
Jeana
I think it is great to have a healthy lifestyle but you looked great before losing all the weight. I’m glad you feel better where you are now but I hope others don’t see this as something they should strive for just to be thin and be part of the social norm. Sometimes we need to be happy where we are. Age and stress levels make a huge difference on our weight and not everyone has the same support systems or finances to make these things happen. I just don’t want people to have unrealistic expectations. Be happy with yourself and tweak things as needed. You’re good enough, at all times.
Michelle
Okay, I am not a numbers person so please don’t laugh at my question. When I calculated my BMR it says 1,512. So should I set my daily calorie count for 1400? That seems low, but going with the BMR, it sounds right.
Cassie Scroggins
Michellemake sure you’re looking at the BMR + sedentary activity level calories. For example in my post above when I started my BMR was 1686 but my bmr + sedentary activity level was 2023. So with that info I started at 2000 calories. So if youre BMR + sedentary activty level is the 1512 you’ve listed, then start at 1500.
Isabelle
Thanks foe sharing your weight lost journey.
I have been overweight my hole life and been trying to loose weight forever. Yesterday I began with the saxenda injection. I’m looking forward to my my pre-baby weight aswell (180lbs). I drop 25lbs in 2020 going vegan for a year but it was hard cuz nobody’s vegan in my family. Anyway my starting weight was 275 and now at 246.4.
Thanks again, see you on Instagram 😉
Regina
I’m gonna try again. I can’t stand weighing this much. I’ve tried so hard to lose and feels like the number slowly slowly climbs. Gonna start again with the calorie counting!!
Cassandra
This!!! I am in tears reading this. I have never had an issue with weight (I was always typically under weight) until I had my son 4 years ago and I’m coming up on 40 years old and I can’t get my weight under control. Everytime I try to sign up for my fitness pal or anything like it it starts me at like 1200 calories and it’s disheartening. It never lasts cuz I’m hungry. I did my BMR and it says I burn 1712 calories a day at sedentary (I want to start working out tho) so I downloaded the app you recommended and I’m starting my calories at 1712! Thank you for this! Here’s to hoping I get me back ❤️
Kelly
This was exactly what i needed to hear! I got back. The horse again. I am also doing my fitness pal and its wonderful. I restricted calories but never cut out my lifestyle. I’m down 10lbs! Just refreshing to be I the samw bot with others who can relate
Susan
I recently lost 14 lbs. Stopped the program and have gained back 6 lbs in like a week. My goal is to eat normal food but control the calories. I was already counting calories in the other program but with the food I purchased from them. I felt good and proud I was finally lossing weight. I think like yourself restricting my food is the problem. I’ve always enjoyed food. I’m back full force to my goal weight about 140 lbs. I’ll update later plan to weigh Sunday 5-15-22.
Anna
After you reached your goal weight, did you slowly add in more calories as to not gain weight back? Or what did you do?
So excited to try doing calorie restriction how you have laid it out! Thank you for sharing!
Cassie Scroggins
AnnaAfter I reached my goal weight I slowly stopped counting calories. However since I did it for so long, I was pretty good at eyeballing what I was eating and knowing if I was overeating. When I was at my heaviest weight I was really overeating and I knew I had a problem with food. So going into this I knew I would never eat like that old self ever again. So the point was to permanently change my habits. As I continued counting calories, It created habits and I noticed I wasnt as hungry and didn’t need to eat as much food to feel full. so as I stopped counting calories I would just be mindful of the food I was eating. If I had a big lunch I’d usually have a smaller dinner. If we were at a party or something that served desserts, I would try to eat more veggies later. Once my weight was under control I really focused on 1: not overeating and 2: creating permanent healthier eating habits. Hope that helps!
Samantha
Hello! I just love this post and I want to order a food scale and start right away! How do you go about figuring out calories for foods that have multiple ingredients like …casseroles or chicken salad or salads in general??? I’ve always had trouble tracking those in the past and just give up fast.
Cassie
SamanthaHey Samantha! I have a video on how I do this on my Instagram! Look at my calorie counts story highlight! https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE4MDQ0MjYyNjk0MjY0MDgy?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=
Amy
Randomly ran across your blog and this post and this is so motivating and doable..thank you for making this. I am implementing this method today!! Starting at 1700 calories and working my way down. I do believe this will help me stay on track on the weekends.
Vanessa
WOW!! This is super inspiring as I am in the middle of the initial challenge you felt before you started the tiered plan. I have lost 20 pounds with my first born using My Fitness Pal and gained the habit of watching what I would eat. The stress of a new job found my way back to old eating habits. Over ten years later, I now have a 2-year-old in addition to my now pre-teen. Being over 40 this time has been the biggest challenge. I had a spurt of motivation where I did Keto and lost 15 pounds last year. That came and go as the latest fad. I am not close to my pregnancy weight that I was with my now 2-year-old at full term! I can’t tell you how discouraging and yet how motivating it is to look at pictures that my husband randomly shoots of me and the girls only to see a very unhappy and unfamiliar woman. It is more than just looking “hot.” It really is also about wanting to be the best wife, mother, and me that I can be! I don’t want to just be physically fit, but mentally healthy. Picking up unhealthy habits, especially with those nights where my daughter’s teething phases would keep me up with very little sleep and stress. Stress would equal going to the kitchen to eat emotionally. I started developing high blood pressure and my child-hood asthma came back. I needed to see that this was ENOUGH. That is when I stumbled upon this inspiring article. Avoiding extremes is a wonderful approach to a realistic goal of wanting to lose weight! I am not looking for perfection. I know I may blow it at times…but this – this is something I can do. This is something that will help me to develop more than a great lookin’ bod! This plan of learning a potentially life-saving habit, will help me achieve the goal of developing a lifestyle of truly living life at its fullest. Thank you so much for sharing your heart!
Mandy
This young woman is amazing. Planning her weight loss journey so meticulously and following through with such attention to detail and so much self awareness takes a lot of character.
Victoria Kling
Hey hun how long did it actually take you to loose 70lbs i need to lose 82lbs.
Lorena
Could you clarify please, you started April of 2018 and got to your goal September of 2019?
Ann Marie
Do you have daily meal plans you could share? I think that is the hardest thing for me to stay on track; not having a set plan in place for my meals.
Puradrops
You’re really knowledgeable and honest. Thanks so much for the information.
Ashley
Hi I just want to say I love your story and makes me motivated to try this approach for weight loss. I have had 2 c-sections, I am just under 5 ft tall. This time around it is very hard to loose the weight. I’ve tried a lot of things. I used to be very petite my whole life before marriage and kids. I find myself looking in the mirror at my self and getting on the scale and also just feeling frustrated at myself. I am going to start with your advice and see how it goes. Thank yiu
Christine
Thank you for sharing your story! I was 135 lbs in high school and gained 65 lbs with first pregnancy. Lost some weight and gained some back after my second pregnancy. I am now around 210 lbs. and nearing my late 30’s. I feel like I can relate to this so much. You have given me hope when I’ve felt like giving up after many failed attempts and fad diets. Thank you!
Queen Cagouya
Thanks for this interesting article !!!
Supportive
Good for you! Congratulations 🙂
Kinley Kelley
Thank you so much for posting! I am in the same situation you were in, been through marriage and having a baby in the last 3 years. I have gained so much weight and feel miserable. I am starting this plan and excited to see where it takes me!
Cassie Scroggins
Kinley KelleyIt’s so hard transitioning to married life, then mom life and everything that comes with it. You can do it!
Leigh
I’ve had a dietitian explain this to me in a different way, could not figure out what the heck they were talking about. After reading your post I’m connecting the dots because the way you explain it makes SO much more sense, and I finally have hope of losing weight again! Gonna start this ASAP! Thank you!
Cassie Scroggins
LeighYou got this! Thanks for the sweet comment!
Sarah Edgar Kelly
Thank you for this – 139 is my lucky number and so what I want to aim for! I’m 2 inches shorter than you. I had a horrible miscarriage too in 2019 and I resorted to binging food to try to bury that pain. I’m really, REALLY scared to weigh myself, however, but suspecting 200. I just saw two photos of me this week where I didn’t recognise me.
Connie
I’m so excited to start this! Going to try this straight away!
Katlyne
Hi! I just came across your page and I’m really looking forward to trying this. I’m at the heaviest I’ve ever been after three kids (over 300 😭) and so I’m hoping this approach helps me. My question right now, is how do you track the calories of things like syrup and milk? Since those serving sizes are in mL? You’re a big inspiration to me and I hope I can achieve something like you have!
Cassie Scroggins
KatlyneThe food scale does mL too but it’s actually the same as grams! So just pretend the ml says grams because it’s the same!
Sarah
Hands down on of the smartest and most realistic things I’ve read on the topic to date. I lost 66 lbs the same way. This is the magic formula.
Great job and lovely to see you supporting other mums.
Hugs
Sarah
Melissa
Wow! This is the kind of information I needed! Thank you so much for sharing! You are inspiring!
J
I came here for the fashion but it was so reassuring to read this! I’m in the middle of doing exactly this right now! I started at 1800 calories and am down to 1500. I’ve learned so much tracking my food and I am finding I’m getting to a point where I’m just eating different things now.
Ashley
I stumbled onto your website because I was looking for a fitness journal to start trying again to get healthy after walking 1.3 miles over about 2 hours on Halloween with my kids left me in so much pain. Your story is very inspirational, and I will definitely be trying this alongside revisiting some of the more popular 21 day fix recipes which did work for me a few years back– I think it’s mainly portion control I need to work on.