What a drastic change! Clearly, whatever the couple had been doing, was working. Their biggest tip at this point? Healthy eating should never be about dieting. Danny and Lexi saw each healthy choice as being part of a new and permanent way of living. This meant no extreme, short-term fixes, no rushing, and no depriving your body of the nutrients and energy it needs.
Instead, Lexi embarked on a mini-mission: taking all her favorite comfort foods and inventing healthy versions that would satisfy her cravings, while nourishing her body and propelling her forward on her healthy living path.
Tip: Free Gym Trials Are Your Best Friend!
Things had improved and the two were dropping the pounds. What helped was not continuing to forge ahead in a gym that wasn’t working for them. Instead, Danny and Lexi shopped around, finally finding a place that fit them. It wasn’t too crowded, meaning they felt less self-conscious and also had free reign over the equipment.
There’s nothing worse than losing your momentum waiting for a machine to free up… apart from being on a machine and having someone impatiently waiting for you to get off! Lexi explained that the couple took advantage of the free trials most gyms offer to make sure they had the right place before committing to membership. Doing this allowed her to discover things she never knew were there to help her. “I found a machine called the CrossRamp that didn’t hurt my joints at 485 pounds — I fell in love with it.”
The Hardest Part of Weight Loss: What to Do About Food?
While working out is certainly important, the biggest part of weight loss comes down to diet. This part of their new lifestyle was just as hard as the exercise, if not harder. All the comfort foods, the restaurant meals, the takeout, and the unhealthy snacking had to go. Everything they were used to had to change and, in place of their old comforts, they had to learn to cook healthy meals for themselves.
We’re sure Lexi thanked her lucky stars every day that Danny decided to embark on the weight loss journey with her. Trying to give up junk food while your partner is indulging on the couch would be next to impossible. However, with each other’s support, the pair slowly learned to cook better meals, all designed to assist them in reaching their goals.
Maintaining Motivation With a Strong Support System
As we all know, staying motivated is perhaps the hardest part of achieving any New Year’s resolution. At a certain point, the excitement wears off and the daily grind of it all starts to feel monotonous. This is the point at which many people lose momentum. The gyms that were so packed in January and February, quiet down again by March. Dreams are traded for the comfort and familiarity of old habits.
This was not the case for Danny and Lexi. The reason? They had each other. Whenever one was flagging, the other would bolster them up. Between them, they always had enough motivation to keep them set on their goals. Before they knew it, they’d hit the 30-day mark, winning the bet with their friends. They were already looking like different new people.
The Joy of Finally Seeing Major Results
With the results now really starting to show, Danny and Lexi picked up the pace and threw even more energy into their health endeavors. Feeling more confident and less self-conscious, Lexi began taking classes at the gym. With all the new people she met, this ended up being one of the best decisions she made in her weight loss journey. Her support system and accountability network were growing by the day.
Lexi also had a crazy amount of fun in the classes and fun is one of the key components of sticking to an exercise plan. If you’re enjoying it, then why wouldn’t you want to stick to it? Lexi’s favorite class was Pulse, a music-fuelled dance workout. In her words: “we can do a song full of squats and even though my legs are burning, it’s so much fun that I don’t even notice.”