5 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Lost 70 Pounds (And Kept It Off)

Nikki Madoch (@nikkigetsfit) is a weight loss influencer and YouTuber who shares about her health journey via social media outlets. In one of her viral videos, she reveals things she didn’t know – but wished she had – before losing weight. “I'm just talking about five things that I wish that I knew before I started my weight loss journey,” she says.

“These are just some of the things that I wish I knew before I started my journey of losing 70 pounds because it's definitely been such a learning experience,” she added. “I have had to completely change the way I think about things. I've had to switch my lifestyle around and really think about things differently to have success with this healthier lifestyle.”

You Need to Be Motivated By More Than Just Looks

“The first thing that I want to talk about that I wish I had known before I started was what was going to motivate me to lose weight. Because one thing that I feel like always caused me to just not have success with losing weight was my motivation behind it,” she says in the video.

“My reasoning behind why I wanted to lose weight for so long, I just wanted to look better. I wanted to have a flat stomach. I wanted to look like other people, and that was all it was. I just wanted to look like other people. I just wanted to be thin. I wanted to lose weight. Those were the only things that motivated me because it was what other people thought. I wanted other people to think better of me.”

Instead, Be Motivated By How You Feel

“This time around, I completely changed my way of thinking because it became a little bit more of a health scare, and I just stopped trying to think about what others thought. It almost became like, okay, this needs to be about me now.,” she says. “As I started my weight loss journey, honestly one week in, I could not believe how much better I felt after just one week.” She says she started focusing on portion control and fueling her body with healthy food, “and that motivated me more than I ever knew it could.”

She maintains “that has been what's motivated me, my entire journey. What's kept me going is how good I feel when I take care of myself: when I eat healthy, when I nourish myself, when I eat enough when I drink enough water, when I get enough sleep, when I exercise and move my body in ways that I enjoy, those things make me feel amazing. They genuinely make me feel good.”

That She Would Have More Body Dysmorphia

The next one? “I didn't know that I would have more body dysmorphia as I lost weight, and that was something that was kind of shocking to me because honestly, at my heaviest, it had gotten to the point where I just didn't care,” she says.

“Then, as I started losing weight and started focusing on every little thing, I would feel better about how I looked, but at the same time, I was noticing every little part of me. I felt like I was looking in the mirror a lot. I was checking out my stomach and my legs and just every part of me, my arms. I was so self-conscious about my loose skin that I was developing as I was losing weight.”

Be Prepared for the “Mental Game”

“I started to develop so many tendencies of just body dysmorphia, and it really got to me way more than I ever expected,” she says. “At my heavier weights, I wasn't as hard on myself about my body because I just gave up. So it was just a whole other mental game that I had to deal with going through weight loss.”

Use Your Weeklies

“The next thing that I wish I knew before I started my weight loss journey is specifically with Weight Watchers. And that is to use my weeklies,” she says.

“So when I first signed up and heard about the Weekly Bank, I kind of thought that was just like a bonus. You didn't really have to use those points and shouldn't use them. Like I thought that you would actually lose weight if you didn't use them. And so for the first couple weeks, I was too scared to use my weeklies, and I feel like, again, so many people say this, but then I started to realize, like, okay, I want to eat more. I don't want to restrict myself; I want to feel like I'm eating more and more nourishing foods, and I don't know if I lost all the weight or not eating enough, then I'd have to maintain the weight. Not eating enough is a mentality I had. So I was like, I might as well take advantage of all the points that I have.”

You Will Lose More Weight If You Use Them

“I started to eat my weekly points and very quickly noticed that it actually helped me to lose more weight. The weeks that I would use all my weeklies were always my best weigh-in weeks. I don't know if it was just a coincidence, but I think that I was just really nourishing my body, and it was just what worked for me to use my weeklies. And I hear a lot of people that have success when they do,” she says.

Don’t Eat the Same Things Over and Over Again

“The next thing that I wish I knew before starting my weight loss journey is that it is very easy to get burned out of things, and it's very important to switch things up. I learned pretty quickly in the beginning that first of all, especially when you're on WW and you find low-point things, it's exciting, especially when there are trending low-point things within, like the Weight Watchers community, and it becomes such a thing. And I would do that and get so burned out of stuff. So even like blackened chicken from Tyson, which I still love that chicken, but I burn myself out of that so quickly,” she says.

Sprinkle in New Stuff

“I go through phases, but I always have something new to mix things up, and that helps so much to stay on track because getting bored and feeling like it's just boring and repetitive sometimes can be hard to stay consistent with because I don't know, it's boring and you don't want to do it. You don't have something to look forward to,” she says.

Don’t Focus on the Number on the Scale

Her last item on the list? “Just realizing that weight and the number on the scale is not everything. I know everybody is self-conscious of their weight, but I've been so self-conscious about my weight,” she says. She explains that the number on the scale doesn’t always matter. “My body is so much more toned and strong than it was two years ago when I weighed 180 pounds,” she says.

Instead, Take Progress Pictures and Measurements

She adds that when you incorporate resistance training and weightlifting, “it's going to make a difference because muscle takes up less space than fat. So even if you weigh more and you have more muscle, you will look smaller.” She recommends taking progress pictures and measurements instead of relying on the scale. And if you enjoyed this article, take advantage of these 15 Quick Ways to Lose Body Fat Percentage in a Week.

If you have a lot of weight to lose, it can seem hopeless and impossible. However, Samantha Costa, a 23-year-old influencer, lost a whopping 60 pounds in 3 months. In a viral YouTube video, she explains exactly how she did it, and a lot of it had to do with shifting her perspective and overall approach to weight loss.

Losing 60 Pounds in 6 Months with PCOS

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She starts with her backstory: In 2018 she was diagnosed with PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome), which resulted in weight gain. “I fluctuate weight a lot and it also affects my periods. With that being said, because I was diagnosed with PCOS, I put on a lot of weight very fast, and it wasn't a type of weight that was healthy,” she said. Costa, who is five-foot-one, topped the scale at around 200 pounds. “Being in a place where I knew I wasn't healthy was really scaring me.” At the time she was able to drop 50 to 60 pounds in “five to six months” by going to Orangetherory and eating right. “I think I weighed around 196 pounds and I got down to around 135,” she specified.

Related: #1 Way to Flatten Your Stomach for Women, According to a Pelvic Floor Expert

The Power of Whole Grains

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Her main dietary change at the time involved swapping out white carbs with whole grain and whole wheat. “I literally had grilled chicken, pasta, grated cheese, and tomato sauce every single day because that's what made me happy,” she said. After graduating from college in May 2022, “and I honestly was a very steady weight of around probably 129 pounds to 140 throughout all of my senior year of college,” she felt like she was at a healthy weight for herself around 135 pounds. She spent the summer lifeguarding. “I was having a really fun time, and honestly everything was going very well,” she continued.

A Stressful Job Ruined Her Health and Happiness

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However, in August she started her “big job at a big four company” and it was “the downfall of everything,” she claims. “I'm not going to talk too much about it, but the stress of that job, which I am no longer working in, was very, very hard for me.” She stopped working out and spent most of her free time isolating. Over a period of about 7 months she probably gained 60 to 70 pounds, and was “very, very sad,” she says. “I wasn't happy with how I looked and I was having a hard time with it, but it was more that I knew I wasn't healthy and I knew I needed to get healthy because of this. I would always tell myself, ‘You know what? You did it once. You can definitely do it again.’”

From 10,000 Steps to 500

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She couldn’t motivate herself to go to fitness studio again, “something that I used to love going to do,” she says. While she used to walk 10,000 steps a day, she “was lucky if I hit probably 500 steps a day because I was always at my computer, always doing something for work, and there was really just no time for me to do it.”

She Lost 10 Pounds in a Week and Kept Going

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Every day she looked in the mirror and told herself “in three months from now, you will look so much better. You'll feel so much better, which is the most important, and you will want to do things because you started.” Eventually she started seeing progress, claiming that she lost 10 pounds in one week, which she knew was water weight. Within a few weeks she noticed a “little bit of a difference” and once she started to see that difference, “it was a lot easier to believe in myself and notice that there was real progress happening and that there was change happening, which allowed me to keep going within my journey.”

Related: 11 Shoulder-Sculpting Workouts for Impressive Definition

The Secrets to Her Success

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She revealed that she did keto, which is “very hard to sustain,” she admits. “It was very hard for me to eat a certain amount of carbs every single day, and it was very hard for me to cut out sugar. I'm someone who loves sugar, but I knew that in order to be in a healthy place again, and in order to get to my goal in the most efficient way, especially with summer coming up, I needed to do something that would really change and really allow my body to adapt.” She also emphasizes the importance of protein. “Eating carbs is something that obviously we all need. I am not saying don't eat carbs. Please eat your macros. Please eat carbs. Please allow yourself to have the energy that you need. I'm just saying what I did was I lowered the amount of carbs that I ate, but I was still eating enough to feel energized to be able to go to the gym and to give my body what it needs.”

She Increased Intake of Proteins and Exercised

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Amping up your protein intake may help you lose weight. According to clinical trials, consuming more protein than the recommended dietary allowance not only reduces body weight (BW), but also enhances body composition by decreasing fat mass while preserving fat-free mass (FFM) in both low-calorie and standard-calorie diets. She also went back to fitness studio four to five times a week, starting with gentle workouts and working her way up to more intense ones. She also recommends taking rest days.

Stay Motivated and Positive on Your Journey

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“In the beginning, you're probably going to feel like you can't do it and it's probably going to feel impossible, and if you are someone who doesn't feel like that, I give you so much credit because I've been there so many times and I felt like it was impossible every single time,” she adds. “The number one thing I want to tell you is to prove yourself wrong. Prove every single person that may have doubted you wrong. The only thing that matters is that you believe in yourself. The only thing that matters is that you have the mindset that will allow you to feel better, and every single time you question yourself, make one of those videos, take progress pictures, tell yourself that you are so much better than you were even one day ago, and if you are really having trouble starting, just try for one day.”

Related: Fitness Expert's $5 a Day Meal Plan for Fat Loss

💪🔥Body Booster: Increasing your protein intake and decreasing your carbohydrates is a scientifically backed tactic for weight loss. However, you still need a sufficient amount of carbs to stay energized.

Kiki (@kikivirk) is a weight loss influencer who has amassed a social media following for sharing all the tips and tricks that enabled her to lose a whopping 60 pounds and keep it off. In one of her viral videos – viewed over 8 million times, Kiki reveals the biggest weight loss mistake she made on her journey – and also what ultimately led to her weight loss success.

She Says Doing High Intensity Workouts Were a “Huge Mistake”

“I was so motivated to lose weight and I wanted to see results fast, but I didn't do my research and I jumped straight in, literally into a high intensity, 90 day workout plan. Huge mistake,” Kiki says in the video.

After 45 Days She Hadn’t Lost Weight

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After a month-and-a-half, she didn't feel like she'd lost any weight. “I was overdoing it. The long, painful HIIT workouts were actually doing my body no good. They were causing it too much stress and loads of other problems,” she says.

Related: 5 Pilates Exercises for a Flat Stomach in 14 Days

She Had “Weight Plateaus” and “Felt So Hungry and Fatigued”

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In another video, she specified that she was doing “high intensity cardio” five times a week in hopes it “would burn fat fast and give me my dream body,” she explained. “But instead, I had weight plateaus and felt so hungry and fatigued.

Her Fat Began to “Melt Off” When She Started Strength Training

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“Literally, as soon as I started strength training and less cardio, the fat began to melt off, and the lean muscle mass I gained gave me the tone look I'd always wanted,” she continued.

Her Program: LISS, Walking, Strength and Resistance Training, and a Short HIIT Workout

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Her program starts with doing 45 to 60 minutes of LISS cardio four times a week. She also walks 7 to 12,000 steps every day, does strength and resistance training three times a week, and a 15-minute HIIT workout once a week.

Related: Patrick Mahomes' "Natural Dad Bod" Has Everyone Talking. Here's How to Ditch It, According to Expert

An Expert Weighs In

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“What she says is definitely spot on,” says Kendra Gamble, HIT Fitness Training, Huntingdon Valley, PA, NPTI Certified Personal Trainer and Nutritional Consultant. “Intense cardio and intense HIIT more than twice a week will do the body more harm than good and is not the way to lose fat and get that toned look.” Instead, she agrees that “increasing your everyday steps is more of the most important and beginner things you can do to start losing fat along with getting your diet right.” Unfortunately, “fat loss is not an immediate thing and will take time and dedication but she explains it all perfectly.”

💪🔥Body Booster: If you are a beginner trying to lose weight, starting by increasing your steps and modifying your diet instead of going overboard with higher intensity workouts.