Nikki’s weight loss journey might be the most inspiring weight loss story you have ever heard. I have the honor of sharing her story here at The Iron Pan with you.  Nikki started her weight loss journey at 629lbs. She’s in the middle of her journey, and now weighs 370lbs, for a total weight loss of 259lbs! She accomplished this feat without weight loss surgery.  She's now truly living and loving her life! Nikki shares her weight loss journey, including some seriously impressive workouts on her Instagram page. She has some amazing insights into weight loss that I hope can help you in your journey!

She Tried To Lose Weight Her Entire Life

“I’m 36 years old, I’ve been losing weight for as long as I can remember. I’ve been fat for as long as I can remember. I was the fat girl in Primary school, and in Secondary school I was put on a total food replacement diet. I didn’t eat for months, just had shakes. This was all done under the supervision of a Doctor. But, as soon as I started eating the weight came back and it brought friends.”

Nikki eventually found herself stuck in a cycle of takeout, weight gain, and resulting tiredness. She worked from home, and had her food delivered. Walking was difficult, so she became more and more sedentary. She failed at losing weight her entire life, but she eventually succeeded! Most people make several attempts at dieting before they succeed. Failure is a part of the process of success. Don’t be discouraged to try again. Avoid the things that are almost guaranteed to fail, like extreme diets. Instead, try to make healthy habits that stick with you over the long term. She now rarely gets takeout.

“I’d rather travel to a restaurant and sit and eat, plan my food around it than order a burger that I don’t even enjoy anymore. We also stopped getting our groceries delivered, we instead went shopping together. This is something I wasn’t physically able to do before losing some weight and exercising – so it meant a lot being able to walk around the store without being in pain or out of breath.”

Routines and Habits Make It Much Easier

Extreme diets didn't work for Nikki, like they probably haven't for you, either. Instead, Nikki relied on doing the difficult work of making a routine, which then turned into a habit. Our brains like habits, because they make doing things so easy, they’re automatic. They take much less energy to do than to make decisions all the time. If you’ve ever driven home from work and forgot how you got home, and why you always order the same number meal at the drive thru, you can thank the power of habit for it.

You can use this same power to your advantage in your weight loss journey. You do this by forcing yourself into a routine. Once you find yourself automatically doing the things you need to do for your weight loss, then you know you’ve established a habit. The key is to understand that the process does get easier – you just have to push yourself until it is actually so easy that it’s automatic.

“I found getting into a routine was the most difficult part, once in the routine then you are just going with the motion – but until that motion is in full swing, I found it quite difficult."

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg and Atomic Habits by James Clear are both bestselling books that talk about how to harness the power of habits to achieve your goals automatically.

Exercise Was Her Game Changer

Nikki credits exercise for her weight loss success. She’s found a love for fitness that has helped keep her on track. Exercise helped her go to sleep earlier, which made her calorie deficit easier to maintain. Late night cravings don’t bother you when you’re sleeping! It also helped her continue working on her weight loss journey, while she wasn’t seeing results.

“[...] prior to this I’d never actually done any exercise. I’d always just gone with diet only and eventually I’d stop doing the diet. This time though I was going swimming daily – I was doing something else to better myself and I was able to see results quicker. The scale obviously went down quite quickly as it generally does with someone who was my weight, but the benefits from exercise were there and more visible than the weight I’d lost. I was able to move around, walk more – stand for longer periods of time. I’d lost a good 100lbs maybe more before I noticed any physical differences in my looks, so having that affirmation daily from exercise that my body was getting better kept me on track.

I met some amazing trainers and I absolutely LOVE my gym classes. I don’t think that I would have been as successful without it. I know that you don’t need to exercise to lose weight, but also, I know that my regular exercise regime kept me on track and I love every minute of it. For me exercise and healthy eating go hand in hand.”

Nikki is not alone with this. The National Weight Control Registry tracked over 10,000 people since 1994 that have lost and maintained their weight loss. The registry reports that 90% of people who lost and maintained weight exercise for at least 1 hour per day. Nikki didn’t jump into a spin class or HIIT training right off the bat. She started swimming, which is easier on the joints and helped her gain mobility, strength and quick weight loss. Many people do not like exercise because it is taxing and hard. So don’t make it that way! Make it something you enjoy doing, and you will find that you are able to do more and more over time, and those exercises that may have seemed too hard become lots of fun!

Her Diet was Delicious, Nutritious and Easy to Make

Most nights she cooks a stir fry for dinner. This habitual meal allows her to control calories, enjoy the taste and get in key nutrients. Eating the same thing every day might be too daunting for you, so find a number of habitual meals – anywhere from 3-5 to 5-10 meals that you rotate that help keep you moving toward your goals. The Iron Pan’s Instagram page has a lot of meal ideas that are tasty, nutritious and are low in calories. Nikki was kind enough to share her recipe that you can adjust to your taste:

Nikki’s Weight Loss Success Stir-Fry

100g Red Onion
200g Bell Peppers
300g of Mushrooms
170g Beef Strips
200g Udon
And 40g Hoisin Sauce

Nikki tracks her calories on MyFitnessPal. Her recipe is 639 calories. The star of the show are the mushrooms, as they are filling for few calories. She switches up the taste by switching to Teriyaki sauce, swapping beef for chicken, or adding cherry tomatoes.
If you are wondering what calories you should be aiming for with weight loss, you can use this weight loss calculator:

 

 Nikki faced the same dilemma of many mothers out there. Her kids’ food preferences meant making different meals, which meant being faced with the temptation to “pick at everything” was constant. She found that working out early helped her be tired enough to go to bed earlier. The earlier bedtime helped her not overeat at night, a common pain point for many dieters.

“I found for me that once I was in a routine, my gym schedule was good, I’d worked out in the morning, and I’d go to bed earlier then I was able to stick to a calorie deficit.”

Expect Setbacks and Don’t Let Them Stop You

Nikki went from 629lbs to 407lbs in just over a year. Then she found out she was pregnant. The 2020 pandemic shut down gyms, so she couldn’t do her normal exercise. Her weight loss stalled and the pounds came back.

“Watching the weight go up during pregnancy was so incredibly difficult – so for my mental health I had to stop weighing myself and not be concerned about my weight until after baby was born.”

 

Time Is An Essential Ingredient to Weight Loss

Nikki started her weight loss journey in January 2019. Three years later, after a pregnancy, C-section recovery, Covid gym restrictions, gaining back 100lbs and losing it again, she’s at 370lbs! It took her a year and 100lb weight loss to see results in her appearance. She saw fitness and quality of life improvements much sooner.

“It was maybe a month of swimming daily before I noticed I could walk for longer; I wouldn’t get red or puffy when walking. My husband noticed one day when he proudly declared that I’d been stood in the kitchen with him for over 40minutes and I hadn’t had to sit due to my back seizing up. Moving my body more helped me to be able to enjoy my body more and for me to be able to do more things. I truly believe that without adding in a fitness program early I wouldn’t be as mobile as I currently am at my current weight.”

And mobile she is! Her Instagram page is full of videos of her boxing, spinning on the bike, jumping and doing other things that are very inspiring for anyone, let alone someone who was once over 600lbs.

Weight Isn’t the Only Metric

Her weight fluctuates during the month like most women, around her menstrual cycle, as much as a variance of 15lbs, but she focuses on how her weight changes in the long term, not the number it might say from one day to the next. Scales are a helpful way to measure success, but they aren’t the only one. Many people find weighing helpful to stay on track. Scales can be a great tool to maintain weight loss. Having a 5-10lb range helps you keep regain under control, and reign in weight gain before it becomes more difficult and time consuming to lose. Nikki, like most of us, have a love/hate relationship with the scale.

“While logically I know that the scale doesn’t dictate my journey and doesn’t give the full picture. It doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have the ability to ruin my day. So, I don’t weigh myself as much now – I take measurements and photos and look at different clothes to see how they’re fitting.”

Losing Weight Has Helped Her To Truly Enjoy Her Life

Weight loss has allowed Nikki to have another child and live her life to the fullest. She travels, goes to the cinema, shopping, comedy shows, fitness events and other activities that were too hard for her to do before. She can also give back – she’s able to give blood now that her weight is under the limit.

“I wanted a life, I wasn’t living before. I was essentially a shut in before – I never left the house; I’d avoid going anywhere. I even waited until it was dark out before putting the bins out to be collected. What I had wasn’t a life. I’m actually living a life now; I haven’t lived a life in so long and it’s so bloody good to be able to do it. I'm living and loving my life."

Nikki’s Message to You

“Don’t give up on yourself, one day it will stick – just keep getting past that first day, and the next day and then the next. Take it one day at a time and learn to love yourself. You’re worth the effort it takes to get to where you want to be.”

We wholeheartedly agree with Nikki’s message to you! Join our newsletter to get more inspirational stories like these delivered to your inbox, along with tips that help make this weight loss journey easier, and tastier!

Leave a comment about your own weight loss journey or tell Nikki how she's inspired you!