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3 Changes You Can Make To Lose Weight in 2026

Disclaimer: I am not a Dr. or a nutritionist. The information I have provided in this article is from my personal experience of weight loss. You should always consult with your Dr. when making any changes to your diet or exercise routine. I am not prescribing that you should follow my plan or that it will work for you like it did for me. These are only suggestions that worked for me during my personal weight loss journey.

Losing weight is one of the most difficult things to do because we need food to survive! It’s everywhere, every day in our faces begging us to take part. It’s not like you can remove situations that contain food like an alcoholic can choose not to attend parties with liquor. You have to learn to manage your food intake every day, every meal, every hour, and sometimes every minute.

I recently lost 50 pounds and the three things I learned about weight loss I’d like to share with you if you are on a journey to lose weight naturally. I don’t like the idea of introducing medication if I can take steps on my own to achieve results, so this post only includes natural remedies that you will find in your own kitchens and in your own minds.

The first thing I would do if I needed to lose 50 pounds again would be to plan out exactly what I was going to eat. I’d have a target of protein and fiber for every day and an average calorie count I’d like to stick to. When I’m in a deficit, 1500 calories works best for me. It’s not too low that I’m starving all day, but it’s not too high that I’m struggling to lose weight. If you are a bigger person or are very active this might be too low for you. I would recommend figuring out your daily caloric needs prior to establishing a calorie deficit. There are many online calculators called basal metabolic rate calculators. GymGeek.com is a good place to start.

I would plan out two meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner that meet my calorie needs, purchase the groceries and stick to the plan. Make sure each meal contains at minimum, 25 grams of protein and aim for 10 grams of fiber. This gives you a rotation of 2 breakfast choices, 2 lunch choices, and 2 dinner choices that are full of enough protein and fiber to keep your satiety in check throughout the day. This feeling of fullness will ensure that you are not wanting to snack all day. I would also recommend figuring out two snacks with 10-15 grams of protein and a few grams of fiber. So if you are hungry, you have a snack at the ready in a hangry moment so you don’t derail your progress in a moment of extreme hunger. These protein and fiber suggestions are something that work for me but you may require more protein and fiber so plan according to your nutritional needs.

Do not stress so much over calories in the beginning. You will notice as you begin to feed your body what it needs that it will begin to crave less food because the food you are eating contains the nutrients to keep you full between meals. And never skip a meal even if it’s morning and you are not very hungry, it’s important to feed your body in the morning to get your metabolism engine running. Fad diets don’t work because they leave you hungry and pining for real food. Eating Whole Foods that contain healthy amounts of protein and fiber will help keep you full throughout the day. If you don’t believe me, give this a try for a week or two and watch your body change before your eyes!

The second thing I would do is add half my body weight in water and add some necessary supplements. If you are not a lover of water, adding an entire freshly squeezed lemon to 30 ounces of water in the morning can help add some flavor and vitamin C to your daily dose of H20. I also add a splash of organic apple cider vinegar with the mother to ensure I’m getting some gut healthy probiotics with my morning refresh as well. The flavor takes a little getting used to, but I love it now and feel more awake when I drink it. I also have less aches and pains and the extra vitamin C is helpful during cold and flu seasons.

The supplements I recommend are a good multi vitamin, chromium, and vitamin D if you know you are deficient. I live in Minnesota and when I had my bloodwork done I was surprised at how low my vitamin D was even while taking a multi vitamin so I added an additional supplement to ensure I am at optimal levels. I also added chromium because it may support metabolism. It is a supplement, so it is not proven to help metabolism, but I take it anyway in the hopes that it is helping to support my metabolism.

The third thing I would do if I wanted to lose a large amount of weight, is to change my attitude about weight loss. Instead of thinking that it will never happen for me and that I am stuck in this overweight body, I would suggest telling your body that you are going to lose the weight and become healthy. The words that you tell your body matter in how you take action. If you believe that you are capable, you will begin finding ways to make the weight loss possible.

I found that one thing that would help me stay positive towards losing weight, was taking a daily thirty minute walk. The walk serves two purposes. One, it helps me to keep a positive attitude and two, it is helpful to raise your metabolism. Once your attitude about your capabilities has changed, you will find that you want to create more opportunity to add movement into your day. Suddenly walking for thirty minutes is not enough. You may want to add a bike ride or lifting weights to your routine. And the more you accomplish, the more your body will crave that growth. This growth fuels your mindset just as much as the nutrition does, and you will find yourself meeting your goals without even trying.

Adding these three steps into your routine won’t happen overnight, but over the next four weeks try adding one step at a time. Each step can build on your momentum towards weight loss and can easily become a way of life if you add them slowly. Doing everything at once can be overwhelming, and weight loss is a lifestyle choice, not a tourist attraction. You don’t just want a bikini body for one summer, or one vacation. You want to be able to maintain your bikini body year round. Starting with these three steps will help you get to lasting, and sustainable results.

I believe in you!

We got this!

Sandra Alynn

Disclaimer: I am not a Dr. or a nutritionist. The information I have provided in this article is from my personal experience of weight loss. You should always consult with your Dr. when making any changes to your diet or exercise routine. I am not prescribing that you should follow my plan or that it will work for you like it did for me. These are only suggestions that worked for me during my personal weight loss journey.

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How I lost 50 Pounds Naturally

I once saw a picture of myself that my daughter took that was so devastating it drove me to take action. It wasn’t the way I looked that bothered me so much, even though I looked like an overweight, tired mom of two for sure. Losing weight wasn’t a vanity metric for me at the start. What I saw, or didn’t see, which is what became most important to me. It was the sparkle. The sparkle had died in my eyes and I could see it plain as day in that photo. That even though I had attained what I thought was the peak of adulthood, I was drowning inside. I had gotten a masters degree, gotten married, been promoted, had two children and purchased a beautiful family home anyone would be happy to live in, but I wasn’t happy.

It was then that I realized that success for me came in the form of growth. And in that photo I had lost the one thing that kept me thriving, which was the desire for more. But more for me wasn’t a new car, a new home, or a better vacation. More for me was more energy, more creative projects, and more personal developmental and growth. When I had my babies time stood still, as it should. I dove into motherhood ready to tackle all the things. I learned how to care properly for babies, then toddlers, and now school aged kids. But somewhere in between changing diapers, feeding my kids and doing the laundry, I lost track of me.

I used to work out and find time to play with my friends, but now everything in my life circled around work and kids. There was no planning of anything for my self development. I had even gotten a job where the typical conference a year wasn’t even an option. I was stagnant and needed a complete overhaul of focus so I could be more. Because you can’t pour from an empty cup, and in this moment my cup was empty. I was out of gas and needed to take a moment to reevaluate how to move forward.

What I started with was nutrition. I realized that my energy was not what it used to be, and in order to feel better I was going to have to fuel myself better. The very next day, I vowed to eat only single ingredient foods. I cut out all the packaged foods and went back to if it didn’t come out of the ground, off a tree, or from an animal on land or at sea, I’m not eating it! And I stuck to that every day for six months straight.

It wasn’t always easy, but it was worth it. I began to feel the inflammation come off of my joints. At the time, I suffered from a lot of tailbone and lower back pain and I noticed that as time went by, I felt less and less joint pain. I also added a freshly squeezed lemon to my water every day, and I think this too helped with inflammation and joint pain. I also noticed that I wasn’t getting sick. I typically would get what my kids picked up from daycare, but I was flying by the winter season without a cold in sight.

After a few weeks of eating Whole Foods I started to add more movement into my day. I was having more energy from the food I was fueling my body so it felt pretty natural to add walking in. I started with walking for a half an hour a day non negotiable. That was pretty easy to accomplish and by two weeks, I had upped it to sixty minutes of walking every day. That was more difficult, but I did that for a few weeks before I remembered the fitness AP on my phone for my watch had sent me some workouts that I could follow if I paid $9.99 every month. Now that’s the cheapest gym membership I ever had, so I signed up and I used the dumb bells I already had in my basement. I had five pound dumb bells, 8 pound dumb bells and a 20 pound dumbbell set. I realized really quick i needed to purchase 15 pound dumb bells, so I bought some of those and I was set! The workouts consisted of using full body weight with the dumbbells. They were full body workouts and I did them every other day, no exception, and that is when things started to change.

The weight began to fall off my body and by month three I was already down thirty pounds! I was at a place in my life where I wasn’t eating well and moving my body and the inflammation was really high. I was carrying a lot of water weight, and the movement mixed with the Whole Foods allowed my body to drop the weight pretty quickly in the beginning. And that win on the scale is what motivated me to keep going. Once I had taken off a lot of the water weight, it was time to build some real muscle and the twenty pound dumb bells weren’t cutting it any longer. I needed to either purchase an at home gym, or join a gym so I could stay consistent in my gains. I eventually decided on Anytime Fitness to meet my needs. It was close to my house and had all of the heavy weights that I needed.

I easily picked up a routine of working out at Anytime Fitness on my lunch break. Over the next few months I ended up losing a total of fifty pounds. All from eating real food and lifting heavy weights. I was in the best shape I had been in a decade and I was full of energy. I had added in supplements and could work all day, workout at lunch , and run around with my kids until bed time. All without getting sick or even a pulled muscle. By showing up for myself every day, even when it was difficult, I created a lasting routine that I still am using today.

I had lost the weight, but more than that I had gained back the sparkle I had been missing. The little piece of me that reminded me that my thoughts, and my dreams are just as important as everyone else’s. That year I went on to get my motorcycle license and purchased a motorcycle. I made a bucket list of plans that I wished to accomplish and I am still working on this list today. Heck, even this blog is a result of a bucket list item that I am working on. To become a better writer and connect with a community of people, just like me. To keep the spark alive, to learn, create and find my joy.

If you are on a journey, any journey, please drop it in the comments and subscribe! I’d love to hear what you are working on or what you have accomplished!

I believe in you!

We got this!

Sandra Alynn

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How I started writing my first book

I began my writing journey the day after my aunt’s funeral. Strange, I know. I’ve wanted to be a writer my entire life and have tried to write in the past, but I always threw in the towel after a few days. I doubted that anyone would ever want to read what I wrote, and wondered why I thought I could write any better than anyone else. The stacks of doubts had climbed to mountains of various reasons of why it couldn’t be me that would succeed.

I measured myself by reviewing other writers books, blogs and social media pages thinking that I don’t have what it takes to be that good. And then I’d worry, what if it did work out and people saw my face and judged my writing, and everything I’ve done in my life up until this point. What if I just wasn’t good enough. Or what if I was, but only once. What if I wrote one thing that people liked never to write anything of value ever again.

You see, I had never even started writing and I was already convinced it wasn’t going to happen for me. The thing that I didn’t know back then, that I have learned through experience is that it doesn’t matter how good I am at writing. The accomplishment for me was in doing what I said I was going to do. Setting out to complete a monumental task that I had placed on my bucket list as a child. It was the journey of learning to write that was going to make me a better writer. I wasn’t just going to wake up one day and know how to string a sentence together that people were going to want to read. I had to wake up with the intent to write, and sometimes a good sentence or paragraph would find me.

After watching my aunt enter a hospital with a urinary track infection, only to pass away after spending two weeks attached to a ventilator, did I suddenly realize that I needed to work on writing my first book. Seeing my family grieve the unexpected loss of my aunt reminded me that life is too short to waste it on doubts. Someday it will be me in that hospital bed, and the feeling of regret that I would never make it as a writer would haunt me. The unknown, untapped potential would gnaw at my soul. It was in this moment that I realized I didn’t care if anybody read this book. It was more important that I complete a dream that I had envisioned as a child. A dream that no matter how many accomplishments I wracked up at work, it never dimmed.

I couldn’t tell that little girl inside of me that I had failed one more time. And somewhere in the act of writing, I realized, that showing up to write is half the battle. The feeling of doing something that I wanted to do that was difficult every day was forging a path of self development that I hadn’t realized that I needed. Each word count milestone was a testament to respecting myself. Each time I woke up early to write another 500-1,000 words I recognized a determination and discipline that I thought was not attainable for me. It was in this process of writing my first book that I recognized the creativity I held as a child was only a keystroke away as an adult.

Every morning I wake up to write is a day that I fulfill my dreams of becoming a writer. There is no good or bad writing for me, as long as I show up and complete the goals I set out to accomplish, I am honoring the little girl that lives inside of me.

I believe in you!

We got this!

Sandra Alynn

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Building Confidence While Losing Weight

I’ve struggled being confident in my abilities my entire life. I would envy the girls in school that could wear what they wanted, say what they wanted and make mistakes without falling apart. I’ve always been afraid of drawing negative attention. Deep down all I ever wanted was to do well and be successful at what I put my mind to, but I often found myself getting in the way of spreading my wings.

I am older now and have children, but the fears of childhood have chased me here. No matter how much I’ve accomplished or how hard I’ve pushed myself, the fear of failing looms over me like a wet blanket I can’t seem to shake.

One day I woke up, looked at a photo that my daughter had taken of me, and I didn’t even recognize who I had become. I was overweight, lost in a mound of clothes, sitting like I was uncomfortable and the spark in my eye had died. Where was the girl that twirled circles in the back yard dreaming of being so many different things. I could see how I had allowed life to push me into a box I didn’t want to be in and decided in that moment that I wanted to make a change.

In that one moment I promised myself that I would never be that girl in that photo ever again. I vowed to begin a journey to get fit and healthy and finally do some of the things I had always wanted to do as a child.

That personal vow gave me the momentum to change my life.

On January 10th 2023 I embarked on a journey to lose weight and get in the best shape of my life. I dove head first and began eating single ingredient foods that I enjoyed the taste of and cut out all sweet treats. I drank more water and mixed it with a freshly squeezed lemon every morning and I switched to black coffee.

Once I got the nutrition plan ironed out, I began to exercise in my basement using the dumb bells that I had available that went up to twenty pounds. I used the apple fitness ap to track my steps and used their full body workouts to lift weights every other day. I also dusted off my old treadmill and started walking thirty minutes a day.

In three months time I had already lost thirty pounds! It definitely wasn’t easy to stick to the plan. Every day I was sore from exposing my body to new movements and growing muscles I hadn’t seen in almost a decade. Every time I wanted to quit I would remind myself of the girl in that picture that changed everything for me. I would remind myself that I could choose the pain now or be in pain forever. I would tell myself that my kids deserve a healthy mom. I would tell myself that I’m deserving of a healthy body. Slowly, I began to see changes. I took photos and measurements and it was proof my body was changing. I tried on clothes and noticed how they were getting loose or too big to wear. I put on a pair of jeans I hadn’t worn in over five years. I told only my parents and a neighbor what I was doing.

Not everyone was excited. My husband struggled the most with the changes. Me taking time to work out was foreign in our relationship. Even with the stress of navigating the new lifestyle, I pressed on. I received thoughtful check-ins from my mom and my neighbor. I joined instagram after three months of consistently losing weight and found a community of online supporters cheering me on. I went on to lose 46 pounds that year.

Losing the weight was only a small piece of the journey. I had found something even better than smaller jeans. Confidence. Confidence in my ability to show up for myself. The confidence to make a promise or a goal and stick to it. I realized going through that journey that I could trust myself and that gave me confidence to stand taller.

If you are struggling to find your way, taking action on small, achievable goals can give you the win that helps you gain momentum. And the momentum will bring you confidence to stand taller in your smaller jeans.

We got this!

Sandra Alynn

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3 Things I’ve Learned Writing My First Novel

I began my writing journey as an avid reader. I don’t have any special skills or knowledge of writing books. I just like to read lots of books. I didn’t take a class, watch a You Tube video or even read any articles on how to write a book. But I did research what software to utilize and I settled on a free option available to me because I’m a brand new writer. I didn’t want to spend any money up front when even before I began my book I truly wasn’t even sure I would finish it.

The first thing I learned was that writing a book is a very large project. The type of novel I’m writing needs to be at minimum 60,000 words. That’s a LOT of words! I realized early on that I would need to set a goal for a word count that I could squeeze into my daily routine without feeling burnt out. For me, I set that goal of 500-1000 words a day as the target. I learned quickly that shooting for 500 words a day was a more attainable goal because I work full time and have two children to take care of.

I wake up early most days of the week to get my 500 words in and find that is the most sustainable approach. When making a word count goal, it’s important to factor in your life and stamina or burn out is a real concern.

The second thing I learned is that writing a book can be a lonely venture. Not all of your family or friends will understand or be on board with your plans. They might become upset when you discuss it because of so many different reasons. Such as jealousy, fear you will fail and be disappointed, to maybe they are not open to the idea of you changing. And you will change. Writing a book takes discipline and consistency. Meeting your goals will begin to improve how you view yourself. Your self esteem and confidence will sky rocket the further you get into your book. Not everyone will be happy to see you grow.

The third thing I learned was that consistency eats motivation for breakfast. At some point you will want to throw in the towel on your entire book and doubt that you will ever be able to finish it. Even though you are so close to the end you will try to burn it all down!

DO NOT give in! DO NOT back down. This is the body’s reaction to you leveling up in your personal development. Your brain thrives on everything staying the same even if it’s not the right path. Things staying the same make your brain feel safe. The unknown will always bring about thoughts of fear. Keep going! Everything you want is on the other side of that fear.

I believe in you!

We got this!

-Sandra Alynn

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About Me

Sandra Alynn About Me
Hello & welcome to my family and lifestyle blog! I’m a mom to a toddler and as you can see I have a little one on the way any day now! I’m excited to share this beautiful journey called LIFE with you! In my blog you can expect to see updates on my new arrival and helpful articles about LIFE! I enjoy blogging about family, nutrition, and safety. I started this blog as a way to improve my writing skills and connect with others. I hope you enjoy my posts and stop by again soon!

Sandra Alynn