The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that consistency beats perfection.

I lost 45 lbs, and the biggest reason is that I stopped trying to be perfect. I started at 225 lbs. Today my moving average is 180.6 lbs, and my lowest recorded weigh-in so far is 179.8 lbs. People usually see the final number, but they don’t see what happened behind it.

Back in 2017, I got into bodybuilding and lost weight all the way down to around 140–145 lbs. I had finally reached the point where I needed to learn how to maintain my weight instead of losing more.

Then COVID happened.

The gyms closed, my routine disappeared, and I never really got the chance to learn maintenance. Over the following years, life happened, my habits changed, and eventually I found myself at 225 lbs.

This time, I decided I wasn’t going to chase perfection.

I quit alcohol cold turkey after Christmas dinner, and surprisingly I never craved it.

Food was my real challenge.

I still smoke cannabis-heavily, so the munchies are very real. Every month my period also brings intense cravings. There were days where I ate more than planned. There were days where I wanted pizza, chips, burgers, or desserts.

The difference this time wasn’t that I stopped eating those foods.

The difference was that I stopped letting one bad day become a bad week.

I’d enjoy my food, drink plenty of water afterward, and the next morning I’d eat my usual breakfast, track my calories, and carry on like nothing happened. No guilt.

No punishment.

No “I’ll start again on Monday.” A few days later, the water weight would disappear, and my moving average would continue downward. I still eat pizza.

I still eat burgers.

I still eat chips.

I still eat desserts.

I simply learned portion control and made those foods fit into my calorie budget. I wanted this to be a lifestyle, not another diet I’d eventually quit. Most days I eat around 1,550–1,750 calories. I weigh almost everything with a food scale because I learned that I was terrible at estimating portions.

Money has also been tight, so I don’t have a gym membership anymore. Instead, I do bodyweight workouts at home about three times a week and walk whenever I can. It isn’t glamorous, but it proves you can make progress without expensive equipment.

Another habit that completely changed my mindset was weighing myself every morning.

Not because I expected the scale to go down every day.

I weighed myself because I wanted data.

Hormones, stress, sodium, digestion, and water retention all affect the scale. Looking at my moving average instead of one number helped me stay calm and trust the process.

If there’s one thing these last seven months have taught me, it’s this: Weight loss isn’t about motivation. It isn’t about never eating your favorite foods again.

It isn’t about being perfect.

It’s about making the next good choice, even after you’ve made a bad one. That’s how I lost 45 lbs.

I’m still working toward my goal, but I finally feel like I’ve built habits that I can keep for the rest of my life.

If you’ve got any questions about calorie tracking, bodyweight workouts, dealing with cravings, or anything else that helped me lose 45 lbs, don’t be shy to ask. I’d be happy to help however I can. 💚