In the beginning…

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

When folks hear I’ve maintained a 125-pound weight loss for over six years now, I’m (almost) always immediately asked, “How did you lose the weight?” And sometimes, I’m ashamed to be open and honest about my weight loss journey.

No, I didn’t have any surgeries, take gimmicky fat burner supplements, follow a fad diet, or rely on meal replacement shakes to lose weight. But what I did to lose weight wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.

To release 150 pounds in just 11 months, I switched to a lower-calorie way of eating and exercised every day (sometimes twice a day). It wasn’t a miracle; it was constant mindfulness and hard work.