How I Changed My Fat-Girl Mindset and Lost 50 lbs
I lost weight by eating less. What a concept, right?
I’m not one to sugarcoat things. I say it like it is, no beating around the bush, and especially no coddling or spoon-feeding.
At the most basic level, losing weight requires consistently taking in fewer calories than your body uses. If you have hormone issues, seek medical help. If genetics are working against you, that doesn’t mean you’re doomed. It means you may have to approach weight loss differently.
If you’re happy being fat or overweight, or maybe you don’t like hearing things you probably should have been told 5-10 years ago, this chat is not for you. If you are interested in learning about how I actually lost 50 pounds, no fluff, no gimmicks, stay tuned. Better yet, put your headphones on and go for a damn walk, because that’s the first lesson.
Get Up and Go Walk
I started out by walking 8,000-10,000 steps every single day. Even on weekends and on my period. Even when I ate something I knew I was going to regret. Especially when I ate something I knew I was going to regret.
For my first 20 or so pounds, I made sure to get a minimum of 8,000 steps every day. At most, I was getting 10,000 steps every day. And I mean it. When the step counter hit 10,000, I was DONE. No more, no less. But I increased the count as time went on and pounds went bye-bye.
For the last 10 pounds, I upped my step count to around 20,000 steps a day. YEAH. Twenty thousand steps every single day.
I want to lose about 10-15 more pounds. I’ll probably, eventually, need to walk more or start doing some strength training, along with Pilates.
Now it’s normal for me to get a minimum of 10k steps daily by running errands, cleaning, and recording content. By 5 PM when the UV hits 2 or less, I get my ass outside and walk another 10,000 steps. I listen to my “saved for later” YouTube playlist. They’re inspirational and motivational videos that remind me why I will never, ever, EVER get fat again.
No more fat-girl mindset. No more: “Save me a slice!” or “I’ve been good all week, I deserve a little something.”
Focus on a Mindset Change
I know what it’s like to be ashamed to ask for a bigger size in the fitting rooms. Or look at and admire the girls and women my age throughout my life, and think, “I wonder what I would look like and how different my life would be if I were thin.”
I would try all the fad diets and one-week miracle workouts, look in the mirror, hate my body, and then open the fridge to comfort myself.
It’s a horrible cycle that cannot be stopped unless it’s a wanted change. And I mean, you truly, deep down in your core have to want to do everything and anything to change this self-battling cycle.
Doing meditations, saying affirmations, listening to motivational or hard-truth speeches, putting signs up on the fridge or in your car can help to a certain extent. Taking accountability and having a mindset shift can help you make the changes necessary to lose weight.
But here’s the thing: you can have a changed mindset and take all the accountability your little heart desires, but if you haven’t actually started making any changes, you’re just another person who knows everything and does nothing. Pity.
Changing the Mindset Behind My Habits
I’ve been fat all my life. Since early childhood. There was never a shortage of indulgence in my home. And I’m grateful I wasn’t on the other end of that. However, it would have been life-changing if someone stopped me and said something. But no one did because they were right there eating the same garbage and same portions with me.
You know how some people blame their family tree and say, “I’m fat because of my genetics”?! Well, I’m here to tell you: genetics can play a role, but so can the habits and mindset you grow up around.
Eating to cope instead of actually speaking your mind or talking about a situation can be detrimental. Or celebrating every single little part of life with a whole feast. Look, I’m all for celebrating life, but there are other ways to do it instead of stuffing ourselves.
You say, “It’s just part of our culture,” knowing damn well you blaming your “culture” for your fat-girl mindset and your overweight body isn’t doing you any good.
Not taking accountability is a detriment to your mind, your body, your entire life. And you know this!
Use Tools to Guide You
I know that sometimes we need a boost of encouragement from an outside source, a little cheat code, if you will. Because hell, when I started my weight loss journey in February of 2024, momentum started to slow down after six months. I know everyone and their mom claims, “Once you get into the rhythm and momentum of losing weight, it gets easier!”
BITCH NO IT TF DOES NOT!!
I know it can sometimes feel like the more you lose, the harder it gets. For me, there was no momentum. My brain creates weird and wild fat-girl thoughts. Anything it can “think” of to keep me from losing more weight.
Call it self-sabotage, call it evolution from caveman days, call it “I don’t want to lose my boobs and butt” or “I’m too busy and don’t have time,” etc.
There are so many excuses and sabotaging ideas my brain can and will come up with to get me to stop losing my stored resources—aka the extra fat on my body.
You Don’t Have to Explain Yourself
Having an external motivating shot, pill, powder, whatever, isn’t the worst thing you could do. If you’ve been wanting to lose 5 to 100 pounds and keep telling yourself you’ll do it later, maybe it’s time to try something different.
And before you know it, “later” has turned into years of going up and down the scale, trying another diet, falling off on the weekends, and promising yourself you’ll start again Monday.
Don’t wait until your health starts forcing you to pay attention. Your body is basically saying, “You didn’t care then, why should we care now?”
So you say, “But I don’t want to take any of those helpers! I want to lose weight naturally, the old-fashioned way!”
Mmmk, and how’s that going for you? You’re what… 20-something? 30-something? 40-something? Still on the same diet you were when you were 18; still sabotaging yourself on weekends, still bloated, fat, and gassy.
Using a Tool Doesn’t Mean You’re Not Doing the Work
Some weight-loss medications can help reduce appetite and change how your body responds to food, but they aren’t a substitute for actually changing your habits.
Yes, setting an eating schedule can be helpful. Just because you’re not hungry on your little helper doesn’t mean your body doesn’t need nutrients.
The goal, at least for me, was never to take something and magically wake up with a completely different relationship with food. I wanted to use the tool as support while I worked on the behaviors and mindset that got me here in the first place.
And if you decide to use something to help you lose weight, you don’t have to announce it to the world. It’s nobody’s business.
Your Weight Loss is Personal
Do people ever ask you ridiculously personal questions like, “How are you coping with your childhood trauma? Are you still constipated? What does your dirty laundry smell like? How’s that UTI doing?”
Probably not. Okay, I mean maybe your mom, best friend, or doctor might. But all these questions are personal. And so is your weight loss.
When people ask, “How did you lose weight?” you can simply say, “The normal way, eating less.” And maybe even sneak in, “You should give it a go, it changed my life, it might change yours too!”
Again, it’s nobody’s business how you lose weight, why you lose weight, how much weight you want to lose, or any other bodily secrets you may possess. Our society is so concerned with what other people are doing to their own bodies just to critique every single part of it; it’s almost dystopian.
If, however, you truly want to share your weight loss journey like I am, then of course do so. You can choose what to share and what to leave out of your story. You absolutely 100% do not owe anyone anything regarding your body and what you do with or to it (again, besides your doctor and maybe your mom).
Weight-Loss Shots and Oral Birth Control
I can’t take “the shot” because some of these medications slow down how quickly the stomach empties. For example, tirzepatide can delay gastric emptying and can affect the absorption of some oral medications, including oral hormonal birth control.
So if you’re considering one of these medications and take prescription medication, especially the birth control pill, talk to your doctor about potential interactions before making any changes.
My Experience with Phentermine
Now I’ve been on a little something called phentermine since January of 2025. This is what I chose to use through a medical weight loss clinic. It suppresses my appetite and gives me some energy throughout the day.
For me, the higher dose came with side effects like a racing heart and constipation, so please seek medical advice if you experience side effects.
Breathing exercises helped me when my heart was racing, and my go-to Miralax helped with the constipation. After the medical clinic lowered my dose, the constipation went away.
I, too, have fat-girl mindset thoughts slip in and try to stop me. Please remember that phentermine is intended for short-term use. We’re simply using this tool to help us shift gears and make the mindset change we should have made years ago. I share more about my Phen pill journey in my YouTube membership videos but here’s the nutshell of it.
How My Phentermine Dose Changed
I started at the highest dose they prescribed me and took it every day. Sometimes I would break the tablet in half and take half in the morning and half in the afternoon, as recommended by the medical clinic.
After losing weight, the medical clinic lowered my dose and switched me to a capsule (I haven’t had constipation with the capsule!). I take it every day or every other day, according to the plan my medical clinic gave me.
This makes me take a look at reality and see whether my mindset has actually changed, or if it’s just the tool working.
Learning to Eat Without the Pill
I’ll be honest, some days when I don’t take it, I see myself reaching for more: more food, a bigger serving, dessert. But the fact that I am realizing it, rather than stuffing food in my mouth unconsciously and then wondering how the scale went up, makes it all worth it.
Realization comes first. Accountability comes next. Then comes action.
So I’ll put my fork down and push my plate away, say no to the little voice in my head dying for a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte with an extra shot of espresso, light whipped cream please. I don’t need it, you don’t need it, and your dog definitely doesn’t need it. There is a time and place for indulgences, but every day is not it.
With all that being said, if you think you may need a little help with your fat-girl mindset, do your research, weigh the pros and cons with your doctor, and go from there.
Using My Corset as a Tool
Oh, also! Adding a corset into the mix to use as another tool for weight loss? CHEF’S KISS.
If you can’t take pills or shots for whatever reason, I’ve personally found that wearing my corset can make me more aware of how much I’m eating and less interested in continuing to eat past the point of satisfied.
Here’s a blog post that dives a bit deeper into this theory of mine: Corsets and Weight Loss: How Waist Training Helped Me Lose Weight.
Realization
My cut-off point was when I was 2 pounds away from 170 pounds. At 5’2″, that put me in the obesity range. I was still wearing my corset, so the fat was accumulating in less obvious ways, but nevertheless still accumulating.
I’m glad I made the realization that something drastic needed to be done ASAP. I knew that obesity ran in my family for reasons I will keep to myself. And I was not going to climb higher up that obesity tree. That was my realization.
Accountability
I stopped blaming every external source for my overweight reality and made the decision to take responsibility for my weight. And yes, it hurt my ego, and I cried to my husband, my mom, and my YouTube subscribers about my lack of control.
I blamed no one but myself because I knew that the only person who could make changes to my habits was me. Nothing or no one was forcing food into my mouth. My choices were my own, and I had to take responsibility for them.
Total and complete accountability is hard, but for me, it was necessary.
Action
Forcing myself to get outside and telling myself I would just get to 8,000 steps was pretty hard. But my body adapted. Walking around my backyard or neighborhood while listening to some of my favorite creators on YouTube made the walk go by fast and made it, in a way, fun.
I would (and still do) curate a playlist of everything I wanted to listen to on my walks and see how many steps I could get to before the playlist was over.
I hadn’t even noticed that I hit 10,000 the first time. But I did notice how my body felt afterward in the beginning: heavy, heaving, pulsing. I started getting pain in my hips from walking so much and thought maybe I should lessen my count.
Instead, I kept increasing my steps as my body adapted. I eventually raised my limit to between 12,000-15,000 steps because I was determined.
After losing more weight, the pain stopped, my hips strengthened, and I was doing 15,000 steps with ease. Adding another 5,000 steps was nothing.
My Next Steps
At the time of writing this, I’m about 120 lbs. My next goal is 110 lbs. I want to start working out again because I don’t want to end up skinny-fat. So Pilates and yoga are on my to-do list.
I truly hope this has helped you get a basic understanding of what I did, what I’m currently doing, and the mindset changes I made to lose weight.
If you want to learn more about what I ate to lose weight, read: My Eating Habits and Food Choices for Weight Loss.
♡, S