How I lost 8 kilos in one year (and how I kept my new weight)

It’s time for me to talk about a sensitive topic… the weight ! And mostly the evolutions of mine. If you follow me since my beginnings, you may have seen that have quickly gained weight in 2015-2016, and then lost since then. A few months after my biggest weight loss, I come back to talk about it with my heart open : why I took weight, how I lost it… Disclaimer : this ain’t a guide nor an incitation to loose weight. I just felt wrong in my shoes and decided to feel better ; so I wrote about it to share with you my personal experience. I just hope it might inspire people in my case ; but I mostly write it for me !

Why I took weight

July 2016

During my childhood and teenagehood I had an important gain of weight then loss. I was very thin being little, then frankly chubby at my nine years old until my 14. I lost all my children kilos at secondary school then high school, until I reached the “ideal” weight : 52 kilos for 1m63. Yet, I still thought I was fat.

In 2014, during my second year of university, I was still at this weight. I lived in Barcelona the first semester of the year, and yielded to the temptation of sweets, donuts and tapas. I took 2 kilos but was still having my regular silhouette.

March 2016

In 2015, I lived the worst year of my life. I have been through a very painful loss, the divorce of my parents, a stressful end of university studies… everything at the same time. Living most of the time by my own, I authorised myself sweets and fat food to give me comfort. It was so simple to just yield in and offer me a bit of pleasure in all this pain I was going through. I was doing very little sport. When I saw I had taken weight, I tried to correct it, but my efforts weren’t sufficient and I just got bored and upset. I wasn’t regular at sport, and not seing quick results and being impatient, I just dropped.

My weight loss

The trigger

July 2016

In August 2016, in my swimming suit. Next to my twin sister, I saw we didn’t have the same physic at all anymore ; she was way fitter and thiner than me. My love handles were very preponderant, and my thighs were bouncing. My face was chubby. I felt terribly bad in my skin and had just one envy : to cover myself. Between my terrible year of 2015 and 2016, I had taken 8 kilos. From 52 kilos, I went to 60 kilos.

During 2015 and 2016, I had to buy new jeans, as the old ones wouldn’t fit anymore. Then new pairs of shorts and skirts for summer. Some relatives told me I had gained weight. I didn’t like my reflection in the mirror. I was so bad in my body that I was convinced that doing sport wouldn’t work anymore and that I was doomed to gain weight and not loose.

When I arrived to Rotterdam, everything changed.

A new sports routine

September 2016 in Rotterdam

If you follow my blog for a few years now, you may know I did an Erasmus in Rotterdam from August 2016 to January 2017.

The very first change there as the bicylcle : it was the main transportation there ! I hadn’t been on a bike for years, and was then used to public buses. Yet, to follow my friends on nights out, and shopping sessions, I had to bike again ! I went to the university by bike as well, 25 minutes going, 25 minutes coming back, without counting the strolls I would do with my friends in town. Naturally, doing sport came back into my daily life.

October 2016

For my biggest luck, I became friend with very sportive girls. When they arrived in Rotterdam, they took their subscription to the gym of the campus and went there often. I followed the trend and went with them. I quickly appreciated to spend my energy and remodel my body by having fun. Little by little, I became more diligent in doing sports than my own friends, going there on saturday mornings to do 1h30 of cardio…. by bike !

When I hadn’t done enough sport to my taste during the week, I was doing sports at my flat following videos of fitness on Youtube. Juliana from the channel Fitness Bien Être or Sissy Mua were my favorite coachs (french only).

A new feeding routine

One of my other biggest chance was that I moved in a city were eating healthy was a habit. In Rotterdam, you may have fries with mayonnaise or fried meatballs. But you mostly have a huge market on tuesdays and saturdays were I could buy all my veggies and fruits of the week for less than 6 euros (10 avocados would cost 1€ !). Once again, I went there with my friends, and we were doing our market exchanging healthy recipes and tips.

Thanks to the market, I started to integrate healthier recipes into my feeding routine. For the breakfast : banana and spinach smoothie with a bowl of muesli and yogurt. Lots of salads and starches for the meal. Vegetables soups at night. Of course, I didn’t drop cakes nor pizzas nor burgers. But I found it so much fun to eat healthier that I didn’t it all the time ; and with all the sport I was doing, I didn’t feel guilty anymore when I ate some.

I didn’t have a balance at my place, but I would seen my jeans becoming larger for me, and my body toner. It’s only when I came back to my parents occasionally that I was able to weight myself. That’s how, in december 2016, I realized I had lost 4-5 kilos since the summer. Victory ! But I didn’t stop there.

How I stabilized my weight

March 2017

In january 2017 I came back to France. I had to say bye to the daily hour of biking, the subscription to the gym. I came back to an intense study rhythm, with my thesis to write. I suddenly had less time to do sports.

That’s when the association Free Athletes intervened. Looking for means to do sports in groups in Nantes, I found this groupe of sports addict that would give classes of fitness on sunday mornings and organize running sessions on tuesday nights. Not only the hours and days were perfect, but everything was free ! I then came being curious, and quickly became addicted.

Sports session with Free Athletes

Every sundays at 11h, I would do sports in group outside. During one hour, you jump, you do abs, you run, and you have fun while sweating with people of all age and two super energetic coachs, Stéphane and Serge. This way of doing sports freely and with enthousiasm helped me to build my fitness routine at my rhythm and mostly to continue loosing weight while having fun !

This is how, in june 2017, I realized I had lost 2 to 3 additional kilos from the winter. I was doing 52 kilos like before. Yet, I was going every sunday at the fitness sessions, but I completed sometimes this by fitness at home and running sessions.

Results : I succeeded to build myself a “no pressure” sports routine, that allowed me to do sports twice a week while having a blast.

Regarding the feeding routine, I continued to eat normally and healthy, without depriving myself of some cheat meals !

Et depuis ? What about today ?

April 2018

Since mid 2017, I totally reintegrated sports into my daily routine. I subscribed to the gym and try to do sports twice a week. I do running, pilates, CTC or fitness at the gym or at home. I almost stopped eating meat and fish and eat mostly vegetables and fruits. I still eat a steak some time to time at the restaurant, and never say no to a biscuit or chocolate for dessert.

This winter, I took back 1 or 2 kilos, that I quickly lost doing sports again. I try not to fix myself on my weight. The important is that I like my reflection in the mirror and that if not, I try to workout to fix what I want ! Every days aren’t easy and I can still complex about my body… but doing this article (which was very tough, trust me !) and watching all the path I have made, I am SO PROUD ! The road has been long, but I can finally say I feel good in my body and skin. I did it, thanks to my motivation, my friends, and free athletes !

The final word would be not to drop it too fast : don’t feel discouraged if your efforts aren’t paying right away, if you don’t like your reflection or if people tell you mean things about your weight. Find elements of motivation (doing sports with friends, the pleasure of cooking healthy, finding back your silhouette for summer) with honest goals. For instance, I wanted to be back at 52 kilos, but I didn’t know for when ! It finally took me one year to do so. And the most important ? Do it for YOU !