I Lost Over 90 Pounds After Years of Trying to Lose Weight the "Wrong Way"

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.

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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.

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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.

Carla, 23, from Melbourne, Australia, lost 90 lbs in one year after a health scare made her reassess her relationship with food. She opened up about her weight loss journey in an interview with Truly. “At my heaviest, I weighed 230 pounds, and now I weigh 140,” she says in the viral video. “I had such a bad relationship with food. I just couldn't control myself. I would be eating way too much. I turned to food as a comfort. Men used to say that I would look prettier if I lost weight.” She also reveals the three basic things she did to lose weight and keep it off.

She Hit Bottom

Carla decided to lose weight after a health scare landed her in the hospital. “I was incredibly insecure, and I went into the weight loss journey for the wrong reasons, and it backfired on me heavily. It turned into an eating disorder, and then I ended up putting on the weight after I was laying in bed, crying all night, saying, ‘I need to make this change. I don't wanna live like this forever.’ And that was my big turning point,” she says in the video.

She Struggled With Her Weight Since She Was 12

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She was 12 or 13 when she started to realize she was overweight. “Coming into high school, you really start to care about how people see you, I find. And I just became very conscious of it,” she says. “When I was 16 years old, I lost 55 pounds, but I wouldn't say that I did it in the most healthy way. I did suffer from an eating disorder, and I also had a bit of body dysmorphia. So every time I looked in the mirror, I would just see myself as much heavier than I really was when I was just, you know, pretty underweight.”

She Suffered From Disordered Eating

“At one point, I had such a bad relationship with food. The food was very scary. It was very nerve-wracking back then to go out to eat with my friends because I just couldn't control myself. I would be either eating way too much, or I would have these urges to go to the bathroom and purge it,” she says. “I was always afraid of trying to lose weight because I was scared that I would go back into that really bad cycle and that bad mentality. But I was pretty. I would say I am. I was confident and confident enough in myself when I was overweight in 2020, and I just wanted to make sure that I knew that I was beautiful, whether I was overweight or not.”

She Ended up in the Hospital

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“I remember I was in hospital due to ulcerative colitis. I was in and out of the hospital three times in a span of a year I can remember. And I remember the last time that I was in the hospital, I was laying in bed crying all night, saying, I need to make this change. I don't wanna live like this forever. And that was my big turning point,” she explains. “And as soon as I got out of that hospital, I started doing my research on weight loss. And I tried to ingrain in my brain that we're gonna do this right this time, and we're going to do this healthy.”

First Basic That Helped Her Lose Weight: She Stopped Ordering Takeout

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One thing she did? “I deleted all my fast food apps for no temptation at all,” she says. Prior to losing weight, she “really didn't care and I would eat whatever I really wanted and I would get a lot of Uber Eats,” she says. Now she only gets it “a handful of times a year,” adding that “it's very special every time that happens.”

Second Basic That Helped Her Lose Weight: She Did Online Workouts

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The next basic thing that helped her lose weight? Online workouts. “I would grab my laptop, go on YouTube, search up some workout videos and follow them in my living room or even outside,” she said.

Third Basic That Helped Her Lose Weight: She Shared Side By Side Photos

“At my heaviest, I weighed 230 pounds, and now I weigh 140. For me to finally see results after two months, it felt very rewarding,” she says. “And putting those side-by-side photos of my before and after just made me more motivated to keep going,” she says.

The Response Has Been Astounding

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The response has been astounding. “I've gotten a bunch of different comments from men about my weight previously and even now. There are guys who would've never looked in my direction prior to me losing weight who now suddenly care about me. Guys that would maybe even bully me before they suddenly want to get to know who I am. I feel like showing my weight loss journey on social media shows that, literally, anyone can do it. I'm just a normal girl, normal adolescent girl, and she was just able to do it,” she says.

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She Wants to Become Stronger

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“Losing weight working out makes me feel so much stronger. Not just physically but also emotionally and mentally. I'm excited to grow more muscle. So that is going to be, I think, the end goal at the end of the year, just building more muscle and becoming more stronger,” she says.

Know Your Goals and Hold Yourself Accountable

“You literally have all the resources that you need within yourself. Definitely holding yourself accountable, reminding yourself what your goals are daily, regularly, all the time,” she says. And if you enjoyed this article, take advantage of these 15 Quick Ways to Lose Body Fat Percentage in a Week.

Do you want to lose weight the right way? Leanne Ellington, 41, stopped weighing herself after she topped the scales at 250 pounds. However, she decided to change her life and embarked on a weight loss journey, going on to lose 90 pounds. Here is everything she did to get down to 160 pounds.

She Was Overweight as a Kid

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Leanne’s weight struggles started when she was young. She explains that she was an “overweight, sedentary, unhealthy” kid and teenager, “and I brought that into adulthood with me.

She Stopped Weight Herself Because of the “Shame”

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“I stopped weighing myself after I reached 250 pounds. The shame became too much to bear,” she continues.

She Hit Her “Enough Is Enough” Point in Her 20s

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“I hit my ‘enough is enough’ point in my early 20s when I realized that I was a shell of a version of myself, and I was not showing up as a reflection of who I was created to be. Yes, it was about the weight, but it was more about getting my life back,” she continues. “Now I weigh around 160 pounds.”

Initially, She Lost the Weight Doing the Wrong Things

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Leann reveals that her weight loss journey didn’t get off to the healthiest start. “Unfortunately, I did it in all of the wrong ways, and I gave myself disordered eating and a horrible self and body image to get there,” she said about her initial 100-pound weight loss. “All in all, it took about a year.”

She Then Would Gain and Lose 20 to 40 Pounds at a Time

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After that, she went through the "bounce back effect" over and over. “I would gain/lose, gain/lose 20 to 40 pounds at a time until I healed the root problem,” she says.

She Discovered Strength Training

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This was when she discovered strength training. “I was fortunate enough to learn about the power of resistance training pretty early on, so I was able to functionally train (and tone) my entire body along the way. That was one of the ways I also prevented excess skin,” she says.

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She Eats Mostly Nutrient-Dense Foods

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As for her diet, Leann eats mostly “nutrient-dense, hearty, and delicious foods,” she says. “But I allow myself treats from time to time, never depriving myself. Deprivation and restriction is the opposite of freedom. But also, it's about making sure that my day-to-day way of eating is delicious and filled with foods that I can enjoy so that I don't ever feel deprived or restricted.”

Nothing Is Off Limits

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“Nothing is off-limits for me. I eat in a certain manner most of the time because I’m always focusing on how I want to feel (and eating foods that will help me reverse-engineer that). But I’m human, and allowing myself a delicious warm chocolate chip cookie or a slice of my favorite cake with buttercream is part of how I create balance in my life. Because if loving warm chocolate chip cookies is wrong, I don’t want to be right,” she says.

She “Retrained” Her Mind

What was her biggest achievement on her weight loss journey? “ It has more to do with the way I retrained my mind, my brain, and my heart when it comes to food and my body,” she says. “I completely healed and changed my relationship with food and my relationship with my body. I stepped into a new identity that reflects the woman that I want to be, rather than just focusing on a number.”

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And Stopped Using Foods as a “Coping Mechanism”

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She adds that when she was just focusing on a number as her definition of “success,” it kept her “chained inside a prison of restriction, deprivation, punishing my body, and doing things that didn’t serve me,” she says. “When I healed what was happening in my brain and learned how to be emotionally available to myself without using food as a coping mechanism, everything shifted.”

You Must Change Your Identity to Get Rid of Old Thinking

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“My biggest setback was the realization that I lost 100 pounds and totally made over my body, but my self-image was still seeing myself through (what I call) fat goggles,” she says. “Because I never changed my identity and self-image, I just brought the old way of thinking with me. But that was also a blessing because it forced me to go heal the problem and address the root cause of my relationship with food and my body. “

You Can’t “Positive Think” Your Way Through Body Struggles, She Says

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“I think one of the biggest misconceptions when it comes to body image is just to ‘positive think’ your way through body image struggles, but that never allows you to reconcile what’s actually happening in the present moment,” she says. “And those struggles will keep coming back if you don't address them.”

Feel Your Feelings

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“Now I've learned how to feel those feelings and hold space from them (even when they aren't fun), but then aim for peace and acceptance in that moment instead of slathering on ‘fake positivity’ because those emotions are so much more attainable in those moments,” she says. “And this is how I've learned to be emotionally available to myself in those negative body image moments -- instead of ignoring them, stuffing them down, or using feel-good affirmations that don't necessarily resonate.”

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She Is Happy That More People Are Talking About Body Image Struggles

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“Honestly, I’m a bit biased, but I do love that disordered eating and body image struggles are becoming more of a mainstream topic,” Leann admits. “15 years ago, when I first started my journey, it wasn’t being talked about, but it’s so important. Integrating the mental, emotional, and social aspects of health and fitness is critical.”

She Is Following Positive People

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A big part of her social media strategy is more based on who she is not following. “It’s really important to me that I’m not following anyone that is perpetuating an unhealthy version of health,” she says. “For me, it’s more important to follow people who are helping spread positivity on the mental/emotional side of things. Because when that is in balance, all of your physical goals become possible. And without it, the physical stuff falls by the wayside. Her favorite account? The Good Quote.

Be the Best Version of You

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Her biggest piece of advice? “Make sure that you’re stepping into the identity of the version of you that would have that body, that would have that relationship with food, and that would have that confidence in herself,” she says.

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It’s More Than Just Your Weight

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“It’s not just about your weight; it’s your thoughts about your weight. It’s not just about the food. It’s your thoughts about the food. It’s not just about your body. It’s your thoughts about your body. All of this matters so much more than the food or the workouts or the weight,” she says.

Stay Focused and Be Patient

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“For me, it’s about staying focused on the long game and thinking big-picture. When I'm only following my desires for the short-term gratification trap or rapid results, it's always at the expense of my health and goals AND at the expense of my happiness. Be the tortoise, not the hare,” she says.

Her Favorite Motivational Quote

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Her favorite motivational quote when it comes to fitness? “You will act like the sort of person you conceive yourself to be,” from Maxwell Maltz.

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Follow Leanne Ellington on Social Media

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For more on Leanne Ellington, Author, Educator, & Podcaster, head over to her website. You can also follow her on Instagram. And if you enjoyed this article, take advantage of these 15 Quick Ways to Lose Body Fat Percentage in a Week.

Do you want to lose weight by making a few simple changes to your diet? Katie Dunlop (@LoveSweatFitness) is an influencer who lost 45 pounds and went on to become a certified personal trainer, helping others achieve their weight loss goals. In a viral YouTube video, she “really racked her brain” and revealed everything she did – and stopped doing – to lose 45 pounds “and keep it off for like eight-plus years now,” she says.

I Stopped Over Exercising

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“Number one thing I stopped doing that helped me lose all of that weight was over-exercising,” says Katie, explaining that what she did for years caused her “to fail” because she would go like full throttle crazy thinking I needed to work out for an hour or two hours every single day.” However, after a few weeks, she would “crash and burn so hard and end up doing nothing for probably a month or two.”

Why? Because It Leads to Burn Out

“So it's like these big highs and lows, right? You like to go full craziness, and you just get burnt out.,” she says, adding that your body “can’t handle that mentally” and “you get tired and exhausted.” And “if you're not setting up goals in a strategic way and giving yourself micro-goals, you're gonna end up failing because you don't have that constant motivation. You're not seeing results right away, and all you're feeling is exhausted and tired, and that does not work for anyone. So I had to give up over-exercising and find a way to move my body every day and start healthy habits and really just start to build.”

Commit to 10 Minutes of Exercise Daily

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“I just committed to 10 minutes every single day, and that usually turned into more than 10 minutes. But 10 minutes was super manageable, and it made sure I wasn't overdoing it so that I could be consistent over time,” says Katie.

I Stopped Weighing Myself Daily

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“Number two thing I stopped doing every single day, and this is one that if you take nothing else away from this, this is the one you need to make sure you do. I stopped weighing myself every day,” says Katie. “I literally went through a period of time where I would weigh myself every single day.”

Why? Body Weight Fluctuates Daily

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“And here's the thing, you guys: Your body weight fluctuates every single day,” she points out. “It can depend on how much food you've had, if you've gone to the bathroom if you've been drinking a ton of water if you're on your period. All of those things and more can impact your body a couple of pounds here and there. So, if you're weighing yourself every day, it is going to be devastating and discouraging when you're trying to reach goals and make changes. If you're seeing the scale go up and down and up and down, you gotta stop doing it.”

Instead, I Weighed Myself Every Four Weeks and Took Photos and Measurements

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“What I started doing was setting a goal for myself to weigh myself every four weeks, but I also started taking photos and measurements. And those two things are really important because there's more than just this number on the scale, right?” says Katie. "If you have a standard scale, all you're gonna get is a number. And what does that mean? Like there's so much more to it than your actual weight, and things change as you start to live a healthy lifestyle.”

I Also Invested in a Comprehensive Scale

“The other thing I did was I started to use a better scale, like one that actually gives you more information,” she says, revealing that she splurged on the Body Analyzer from Vanity Planet. “You guys, this is the best at-home scale you can get because it not only tells you your overall weight, but it breaks down your water weight, your bone density, your muscle mass,” she continues, “so you can get more information and understand as you're making change, if you're gaining fat, if you're gaining muscle, like how much water weight is in there.” She recommends using it once a month.

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I Stopped Comparing Myself to Others

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“The third thing I stopped doing, and this one is tricky, I stopped scrolling so much,” she says. “I literally used to get trapped on Facebook and Instagram when it first started coming around and just scrolling and scrolling and looking at people and comparing myself and scrolling through magazines.”

It Was “So Unhealthy”

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“We're constantly bombarded by images of people that we think we're supposed to look like. I compared myself to my friends. I compared myself to other women I saw in real life and on TV, and on the internet everywhere. And it's so unhealthy. Like it was probably one of the most emotionally draining things that I was doing for myself,” she explains. It “was really causing me to get back into these depressed moods that wouldn't allow me to have the motivation to keep going because I'd be like, ‘I can never get there. I'm never gonna look like that.’ But the thing is, you're not supposed to look like that,” she points out. “You're supposed to look like you like the healthiest version of you that you can possibly be.”

If I Scroll and Think Negatively, I Stop and Say Something Positive

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“What I started doing is I gave myself a little bit of a rule. I would say I could scroll all day long, but the second that my brain started either thinking negatively about someone I was looking at or thinking negatively about myself, I had to stop, and I had to say something positive. And I think that's good because depending on your mood, it can really dictate and impact how you feel and how you perceive information and like how you see things,” she points out. “So just flip the script, be positive, and you'll feel so much better.”

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I Stopped Netflix Binging

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“The fourth thing I stopped doing was binging so much on Netflix. And this one's hard 'cause I really love shows and movies. I just always have. But it's so easy to get sucked into like the Netflix or whatever, TV, YouTube, vortex when you're like off work, and you're tired, and you just wanna sit on the couch, and you then go into like watching land and then you don't get your workouts in, or you're like more likely to snack mindlessly, right?”

Instead, I Did Productive Things

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“So I stopped binging, but sort of, I just flipped it. So I was like, okay, well, I'm not gonna just like sit here for three hours and watch a bunch of TV 'cause now I'm not being productive. I'm getting more tired and not wanting to go do things even more,” she says.

My Rule Is, I Can Watch My Shows While Doing Cardio

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“So now my rule is I either have to be on the treadmill doing cardio to watch my Netflix shows, or I have to have already worked out,” she explains. “So if it didn't already work out, then I'm not gonna watch it. Or if I really, really wanna watch it, then I like to go to the gym and go on the treadmill.”

I Gave Up Diets

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And the final but most important sacrifice she made? “You gotta give up diets,” she says. “So we all have a diet, but you need to stop being on diets. The difference is that a healthy diet is just like how you fuel your body and nourish yourself every single day, right? Your diet is your nutrition, how you're feeding yourself.” She says that she tried every diet under the sun, “and I ended up sick after most of 'em. If I ever lost weight on them, I gained it all right back, which is like fluctuating up and down, jacked up my metabolism.”

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I Added Healthier Things Instead of Being Overly Restrictive

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“You have to find something that works in your life that you can maintain long term all the time,” she continues. “So I focused on adding healthier things into my diet all the time. Instead of cutting stuff out and restricting, I would add things in, add more veggies, add more water, like add more of the good stuff so you have less room for the bad stuff. And then I would start eliminating certain things where I'm like, okay, well, I know these really, really bad processed carbohydrates aren't good for my body. And so, what can I swap those for? That's a healthier option without giving up carbs because we need them.”

💪🔥Body Booster: Start with just 10 minutes of exercise each day. Keeping it short and simple makes it easier to stay consistent over time.