Last year was transformative for Ree Drummond also known as the pioneer woman. The star has lost 55 pounds since January 2021 and has since kept it off after she decided she wanted to start before her daughter’s wedding in May. Little exercise and a hectic work schedule had brought the Food Network host to her heaviest weight, but not for long.
In June, he weighed 43 pounds less and explained how reduce calories, building muscle, increasing your protein intake, eating less sugar, cutting out alcohol, tracking your weight with an app, and other habits were essential. she admits in a new blog post which he thought would be the ultimate weight loss roundup, but has since lost even more pounds and is sharing everything the experience taught him.
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Starting in January, Drummond went all out and focused on changes like calorie counting and working out that once summer came, it felt like daily life.
“The initial, more intense stage doesn’t have to last forever,” she says that she is “glad I was so strict in that first stage, because it ended up being a good crash course that prepared me to move forward.” with that discipline it actually allowed me more freedom later in the process.”
“I can’t stress this enough,” says Drummond in the blog post. “Building muscle, not just the smaller muscles in your arms, but also the larger muscles in your legs and glutes, will fuel your weight loss like nothing else and set you up for more success.”
The moves she said helped burn the most calories in the first few months were squats, lunges, and deadlifts. Good news, these are also some of The 5 best exercises to develop better glutes, says the trainer.
Once he started paying more attention not only to what she was putting on her body, but how manyDrummond began to break the spell. “I trained my body to get used to smaller portions, well, I should say more normal,” he says, noting that a year later I’m still “eating all the foods I love, but my body is satisfied with much less.” .”
Although he gave up alcohol in the first half of the year, Drummond admits that having a social drink from time to time is not a bad thing. She says she swaps sugary, caloric drinks like daiquiris and margaritas and other sweet cocktails for things like Ranch Water, which is clear tequila, lime juice and sparkling water over ice, or a White Wine Spritzer, made with a small amount of cold water. white wine, sparkling water, and lemon wedges, because they are more hydrating and help you not drink as much. Basically, it’s like having “two drinks for the calories in one,” she says.
In addition to building muscle and getting used to exercising, Drummond explains on her blog that daily movement helped her achieve her goals. After the initial weight loss, she strayed from her routine and only exercised two or three times a week, but on the days she didn’t, she could feel the difference.
“So I made sure I was more committed than ever to using my standing desk, setting myself aside for frequent breaks, and getting myself in a position to move more,” she says, noting that little habits like this have stuck. “Today, I still use a standing desk and don’t allow myself to collect too much dust during the day.”
The act of stepping on a scale can be triggering, Drummond admits, but seeing the number for her wasn’t about obsessing over every ounce she wanted to lose. “Before I decided to lose weight last January, I don’t think I had stepped on a scale for two years,” she explains. “I deliberately didn’t weigh myself because I never wanted to know. Not seeing that number go up over time, it was easy for me to tell myself it was probably just a few pounds.”
Instead, he now helps her identify trends in her body. Includes screenshots of your weight tracking through the Happy Scale app. Here’s what he says about what the habit is like now:
“I’m settling just below the original goal weight I envisioned for myself, which was intentionally realistic by the way! I wasn’t struggling to be a pre-marital, pre-baby, pre-thirty weight! 😊 Just a good weight where I thought I would feel and look better, and where I felt I would be able to maintain and be successful in the long term.
“There is nothing on my list of forbidden foods!” Drummond tells about his life after weight loss. If nothing! As the first lesson he learned, the first months of 2021 were more strict in terms of his diet of few sugary foods and no alcohol consumption. He now follows two thoughts: “First, my portions are much more reasonable. Second, I continue to pay attention to the daily proportions that I dedicate to both high-protein foods and foods with wasted calories.”
Drummond says in his blog post that he now views some foods as calories that are not as beneficial and nutritious as others. These “wasted calorie” foods include sugary sodas, cookies, cakes, chips, donuts, and other similar foods. She now tries to think of eating a “Rhode Island” size portion of these foods instead of a “Texas” size.
“Using the donut as an example, some days I eat half the donut. Some days I decide not to eat the donut. Other days I take a bite out of the donut. Heck, there will be a day every now and then when I’ll eat the whole donut,” he says, noting that “there’s no hard and fast rule, but I’m more aware of that now.”
While one 53-year-old woman says her daughter’s wedding in May was a great motivational tool for her initial weight loss, Drummond says being consistent with adding more exercise and controlling portion sizes, and changing the way you eating is easier than concentrating all efforts on One thing.
“I’ve been able to experiment with different approaches: building muscle, eating more protein, moving/standing more, working out on the rowing machine, recording my daily weight, etc.” she explains. Doing this has allowed him to have more control over the changes that come with life.
The star is hesitant to say her weight loss was a “lifestyle change” because she never wanted to change her lifestyle. Instead, he says the experience has been something of a perspective shift in portion sizes, movement, protein intake and more, as he sees those things differently a year later.
She then shares a before-and-after photo, not to label one “bad” and the other “good,” but because “it’s helpful for me to see the distance I’ve come and know the changes have been good for me,” He says.
Her lifestyle is the same: She does the exact same things every day, like “living on the ranch, filming my cooking show, working on cookbooks and my product line, and being a wife and mother to a bit weird” as it was a year ago. . The only difference is her weight loss and the lessons she has learned!
“Today I feel stronger, more in balance (both physically and mentally) and I have more energy to walk. I’m wearing clothes that I didn’t feel comfortable a year ago, I feel better about my appearance and I’m smiling more”, ends the publication staying “But to close the circle… it hasn’t changed my life itself. I still have cow manure in my garden, for example. It is on top of the snow and it is ruining the dreamy winter atmosphere. 😂 I have to go clean that up now, but at least that will help me get out and move!”
For more, here they are 15 Underrated Weight Loss Tips That Actually Work.