June 4 has become an important day in my life. It is almost as important, if not more so, than my birthday or anniversary. It is the day that I consider as my personal triumph day. It is the day that I said, “Enough is ENOUGH!”

I gave myself one month, to July 4, to lose 10 lbs. We had a boating trip planned for that weekend, and I wanted to look better in a swimming suit. I started looking through a Weight Watchers guidebook and seeing what I needed to improve! I calculated how many points I was supposed to eat and, let me tell you, I was shocked! But two years later, I am down almost 50 pounds and look and feel my best ever! Here are my tips and suggestions to help YOU on your own success story!

KEEP A FOOD JOURNAL

Every day, I wrote down and calculated every single point that I consumed. It is amazing, how one handful of chips, or a handful of M and M’s can add up to so much! It really helped me to see that I needed to cut out the “grazing” and save my points for my meals and nutritious and filling foods. Weight Watchers is a great plan to follow and very easy! It has a guide that assigns points to almost every food out there! Weight Watchers also allowed me to have an “extra” 35 points a week, which I saved mostly for weekends or if I knew I would be eating at restaurants that week. It was easy to give that up when I saw in black and white, that I was “saving” my points for something special!

DRINK WATER

In my same food journal, I would mark beside my days how many glasses of water I drank. My first month, I lost my ten pounds and more, mostly due to drinking water and getting rid of the water weight! I aimed for at least 5 glasses a day, which for me was a lot! Water is so good for your body; it gives you more energy, makes you less tired during the day, and also helps keep you feeling full. I would also try to drink one glass of water before my evening meal, which was usually my largest meal, to help me eat less.

TAKE A BEFORE PICTURE

Yes, I know who wants to look at themselves when all you see is FAT, FAT, FAT! But believe me, when I look at pictures now of myself two years ago, I feel a personal satisfaction that says, “YEA, I DID IT!”

EXERCISE

Find a great exercise that is right for YOU. For me it was Curves. I only had to take out a half hour out of my day, and it made me feel great! In the summer, I also took walks and even started biking again! Don’t expect to feel like working out every day, but once you start to get in a routine, you will probably find that you NEED to work out. In my same food journal, I would make a mark and try to work out in some way at least 5 days a week.

DON’T GIVE UP

So many people hit a plateau or go on an eating binge and just say, “Oh, well my diet is ruined now!” NO!! Get out that before picture and say to yourself,” I AM WORTH IT!!” Just vow to yourself, you WILL do better the next day! Don’t beat yourself up if you do splurge on an extra cookie (or two)! Just think, “OK, I messed up, I will walk a little longer tomorrow, or not eat dessert tonight”. You will find that you do need to splurge or you will completely quit. Nobody can live off lettuce, carrots and water their whole life!

FIND YOUR SUPPORT

For me, my husband was a great emotional supporter. Find a friend, co-worker or family member that will encourage you and help you stay on track. My husband gave me a diamond necklace on my six month anniversary of losing weight, because he was so proud of me!

SET GOALS

My story all started on June 4 when I set my FIRST goal for losing ten pounds that month. I ended up losing 13! I would write in my food journal, my weight of the week and my end goal! Every week I would do this, to strengthen my resolve! So, when we planned a vacation to Cancun in January, I set my SECOND goal of losing 20 more. I knew I had something to work for and every time going to Curves seemed like too much of a chore, I hauled out my little black dress I wanted to fit into wear there, and said, “Ok, I need to do this!” I ended up losing 40 pounds all together by the time we left for Cancun! I had never felt so accomplished in my life!

TAKE PRIDE IN THE SMALL ACCOMPLISHMENTS

The most fun about losing weight was buying all new clothes! My husband joked he never knew losing weight could be so expensive! Set a goal for five pounds or ten and reward yourself when you reach them! It was so much fun putting away all my fat clothes and filling my closet with size smalls for the very first time! I also had one person come up to me and said “You inspired me to lose weight! I looked at you and said, if she can do it; I can too!” She also lost 45 pounds! What a great feeling that was to hear that!

I hope that these tips help you start your own personal weight loss success story! YOU CAN DO IT!

The best way to start out is to have positivity imbibed within yourself that you can do it and while it isn’t that easy, it’s no rocket science either as you just need to eat healthy and exercise on a regular basis and for protein supplements, do read about leptitox reviews that would give you an idea what a miraculous product it is.