Cierra lost 22 pounds

Cierra lost 22 pounds. Nutrisystem, weight lifting and increasing the incline when walking on a treadmill was all part of this military mom’s success. Check out her story.

My story is common. I was in shape as a little girl. Then, I began to gain weight around age 7 or 8. I was overweight all throughout elementary and middle school.

During the summer before my freshman year of high school, I was a typical broke, hungry teen. I had no money for any extra food during the day while my parents were at work, so my first extreme weight loss came accidentally that summer. I kept myself full by filling up a milk gallon jug with water and drinking a gallon a day.

Fast forward to the year after I graduated from high school: I joined the  military at a “healthy” weight, but I was not in shape at all. I was able to drop weight again during boot camp with all of the running and exercise we did. After boot camp and over the last decade, my weight would yo-yo up and down.

I delivered twins in June 2018, and my weight shot up to 222 pounds (my highest weight). I’m only 5’4″, so that was pretty high for me. After the delivery, I lost seven pounds almost immediately, but breastfeeding didn’t allow much more weight loss. I held steady at around 215 pounds for about six months.

In January 2019, I had to stop breastfeeding because of my extreme travel schedule with the military, so I took it as an opportunity to kick my weight loss into gear. I joined a local gym and started Nutrisystem.

Although Nutrisystem and the weight lifting helped me lose the first seven or eight pounds pretty fast, it wasn’t until I started incline walking on the treadmill that I was really able to get my numbers down.

I’m finally below 200 lbs again and still losing. I’ve lost 17 pounds since January and hope to lose 30 more within six months!

I’ve learned that I need to remind myself that I’m in it for the long haul. So that means there will be days when I fall off the wagon or don’t feel like eating right or working out. As long as I keep pushing forward, that’s all that is important.

Advice for others who want to lose weight: Keep at it, even when it seems like slow going. Your journey is yours and no one else’s. Take lots of pictures because they’ll be worth more than the scale.

Please follow my journey on Instagram: @larkefit.