'I Finally Ditched Quick Fixes Like Liposuction And Signed Up For The Noom App—And I Lost 50 Pounds'

From Women's Health

My name is Siani Peterson (@nurse_siani), and I am 26. I live in San Antonio, Texas, and I am a pediatric nurse. After diagnoses for prediabetes and hypertension, I signed up for the Noom app to aid my weight loss effort and lost 50 pounds in seven months.

Growing up, I had always been the "bigger girl." I was the bigger friend, the bigger cheerleader—just the bigger [fill in the blank]. But things started to spiral out of control with my weight during my divorce in July 2016, and continued as I started nursing school in January 2017.

I was beyond stressed and I turned to food. I ate to cope with my feelings, and out of boredom. Eventually, my weight led to health issues. I was diagnosed with both prediabetes and hypertension.

This led me to try quick-fix ways to lose weight. I had liposuction twice, as well as the lap band procedure. But they both failed for me simply because I was not willing to make the commitment to change my lifestyle. At 24, I had hit my highest weight of 255 pounds.

But the motivation behind my current weight loss? I hated the thought of being the overweight nurse telling my patients how to be healthy when I knew I wasn’t.

I saw an ad for a program called Noom, and they were offering a free two-week trial. I figured, what else did I have to lose besides some weight? I was willing to try anything (other than going at it on my own) at that point. My turning point came when I joined Noom on December 1, 2019. I was 25 at the time.

Noom works for me because it holds me accountable.

I use the app, which has a calorie tracker and a step tracker. I’m able to enter in what I eat, and the food log is honestly 90 percent of why I have lost weight. I also like to see how active I am, and it also has a weight tracker that tells me how much progress I’ve made. I only eat the number of calories that I need a day to give me adequate energy and still allows me to lose weight. I like to say, “This is what works for me. This is what works for Siani.”

Here’s what I typically eat in a day:

• Breakfast: Four pieces of turkey bacon and a scrambled egg with American cheese

• Lunch: Wedge salad with bacon, blue cheese, and crispy fried onion

• Snacks: Grapes, Asian pears, apples, bananas, and blueberries

• Dinner: Oatmeal or steak asada with refried beans

• Dessert: Ice cream, if I decide to have dessert

Before I started this weight loss journey, I *detested* exercise. But six months in, I hit a plateau.

So I just recently started exercising in July 2020. Now I can’t get enough of it, and I broke my plateau since adding it in. I rotate leg day, an arm and chest day, and a cardio day. If you wanna sweat, do the StairMaster for 20 minutes!

These three changes helped me see the most noticeable results in my weight loss.

• Change one: I tried to be as consistent as possible. This won’t work any other way. Even if the scale doesn’t move, trust me, you are losing. You will see it when you look at your fine self in the mirror.

• Change two: I accepted I would have slip ups. I live in San Antonio, with all the Mexican food I can ask for. I accepted that I would give into temptations here and there and decided I wouldn’t be too hard on myself when I did. My motto is just: Dust it off and try it again.

• Change three: The glow-up is internal, sis. You have to do it for you. However, losing weight is not a cure-all. You have to be right within yourself before it reflects on the outside.

I have lost 50 pounds in seven months using Noom.

You have to hold yourself accountable when it comes to weight loss, but it’s okay to use extra tools. I used Noom to take all the guesswork out of eating. I also purged my house of junk food to set myself up for success.

Although I lost my initial 50 pounds through diet alone, I'm starting to find exercise that I enjoy. I have fallen in love with weightlifting.

I want to encourage other women and remind them of some motivation words that I love: “You are that girl, you will forever be that girl, and now you a going to show them you are that girl, period.”

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