I Lost 120 Pounds and These 5 Major Habits Help Me Stay in the Best Shape of My Life

Do you have over 100 pounds to lose but are not sure where to start? Making a few simple changes can make a huge difference. Louise Rodhouse, 27, from Slough, UK, dramatically changed her lifestyle in 2020 after topping the scales at 269 lbs. She shares her weight loss journey and the major habits she adopted to help her drop 120 pounds with Truly.

She Struggled with Her Weight Her Whole Life

"Throughout my whole life, I've always struggled with my weight. Probably about six years old. I remember noticing that I was bigger than the other children. As I got older, I started to get more self-conscious of my weight. I always felt like the odd one out of a group of friends and with other girls. If I got into a little argument with a friend, they would call me fat. I did go home after school, and I would just eat like that, which was kind of my comfort," Louise says in the video.

Her Relationship with Food "Wasn't the Best"

"When I was overweight, my relationship with food wasn't the best. I used food as a comfort and when I felt sad, I would eat. When I was happy, I would eat. When I was bored, I would eat. Every time I would eat to make myself feel better. I would end up feeling worse after and then because I felt worse, I would eat again. I felt like it was a vicious cycle," she explains.

She Gained More Weight with Her Pregnancies

"As I got older, I became more self-conscious about my weight. I always felt like the odd one out in a group of friends," she says in the caption. She became pregnant with her first son at 19 and "gained weight very quickly." This impacted her mental health, too, "every time I felt bad about myself, I would eat, and then I would feel worse," she said. "I was just really down about myself. I had really low self-esteem and low confidence. I felt myself going into this darker and darker place."

She Hit Rock Bottom After Buying a New Outfit

However, it was after a shopping trip that she hit bottom. " I bought this outfit, the buttons kept popping open where my belly kept popping through it. That was the moment I thought, I'm not doing this anymore, I deserve to feel good about myself."

Her Eating Habits Have Changed

"Now I'm able to still eat food that I enjoy," she says, noting that her palate has changed. "I love eating fruits and vegetables, and I feel like I enjoy food a lot more now. When I started actually eating healthier, I felt so much better just in myself. I had so much more energy before I lost weight. Prior to losing weight, she would have "either a cup of tea with biscuits" or "four slices of toast with chocolate spread or peanut butter," and it "wouldn't keep me full," she admits. "Today, I'm making protein oats. We have lots of fruits. I love my protein In the morning."

She Started Tracking Her Calories

She also started tracking calories "and learning about foods and looking at nutrition labels and seeing what was better for me," she says. "It taught me that a chocolate bar was not gonna fill me up and it was like three, 400 calories. Whereas I could have a big bowl of oatmeal that will keep me full till lunchtime."

She Starting Walking

Walking was a big part of her routine. "I literally just went to the gym, and I went on the treadmill. I did that for 20 minutes on an incline. I got a Fitbit to help track my steps," she says.

She Also Started Lifting Weights

She also started working out with a personal trainer. "About eight months into my journey, I'd lost about 85 pounds, and I decided that I wanted to start building muscle, so I started weightlifting. It's been the combination of weightlifting and just moving more that has helped me lose weight," she says.

She Took Progress Photos

She also took progress photos. "I never thought I would ever show anyone these pictures. Taking pictures in my briers was more of an accountability thing to make myself realize, 'Okay, this is what I've done to myself.' As hard as it was to actually take the pictures. I'm really glad I did because I can look back on it, and I'm really proud of that person who did that."

She Is Now Training for a Bikini Competition

"At my heaviest, I weighed 269 pounds, and I currently weigh 145 pounds. In total, I've lost 124 pounds," she exclaims. She is also working toward her first bikini competition. "I'm excited. I'm nervous, but I'm excited at the same time. Two years ago, the old me would never have dreamed that I would be doing this. I didn't even want to look at myself in the mirror, let alone stand on a stage in a bikini in front of strangers."

Start Small, She Says

However, now she has learned to be herself. "I'm gonna be proud of everything. Loose skin, stretch marks, everything. I'm gonna be proud. I've worked for this. My advice to anyone who is going through their own weight loss transformation is to not be too hard on yourself. Start small. Don't try to change everything all at once because when you do that, it can be very overwhelming," she says.

RELATED: 5 Weight Loss Mistakes That Kept Me Fat

Change One Thing at a Time

Just change one thing at a time, even if that is going for a 30-minute walk a day. As long as you are making gradual, small changes, just know that you are gonna get to that goal. Just keep going. Just pick yourself back up and just keep going. You can't fail if you'd never give up." And if you enjoyed this article, take advantage of these 15 Quick Ways to Lose Body Fat Percentage in a Week.