What It Took for Me to Lose 120 Pounds in Just Over a Year
The Lifestyle
Before: 264 lbs
After: 144 lbs
After losing her mom to leukemia complications when she was just 9, Ashley Nunn began relying on a diet of processed food. With no regular exercise, she hit 165 pounds as a teen and stayed there through her mid-twenties.
In 2006, at 25, she had twins and used sweets to cope with her postpartum depression. Ashley's weight climbed to 225 by 2012. Two years later, she reached a high of 264, forcing her doctor to prescribe five meds to lower her high cholesterol, blood pressure, and glucose levels. If her habits didn't change, he insisted, her health would be in serious jeopardy. That's when Ashley realized that her kids could lose their mom even sooner than she'd lost hers.
1/6 Photograph by Shutterstock June 2014
Ashley started walking 30 minutes a day, three to five days a week. She set a goal of losing 80 pounds, traded fast food for clean home cooking, and eliminated all sugars (even natural ones, for the first six weeks) to rein in her pancake cravings and four-sodas-a-day habit.
RELATED: How to Eat Clean to Lose Weight
September 2014
2/6 Photograph by Shutterstock September 2014
After losing 50 pounds, Ashley returned to the doctor for a check-in to show him she was turning things around. To keep up her progress, Ashley increased her walking to 90 minutes, five days a week, and continued a diet of lean meats, veggies, and whole grains.
December 2014
3/6 Photograph by Ross Mantle December 2014
When she reached 190 pounds, Ashley transitioned from walking to jogging on the treadmill, one hour a day, five days a week. She also supplemented runs with fitness YouTube videos (her favorite: Dance Fitness with Jessica).
RELATED: 4 Ways to Make Your Solo Sweat Sesh Feel More Like a Workout Class
February 2015
4/6 Photograph by Shutterstock February 2015
After blowing past her goal and weighing 170 pounds, Ashley decided to reward herself by hiring a personal trainer for 10 weeks. Her coach taught her how to lift weights, and by the last session, she curled 40-pound dumbbells. Oh, and she happened to lose another 25 pounds. (Get after your weight-loss goals with these moves from Women's Health's Look Better Naked DVD.)
May 2015
5/6 Photograph by Ross Mantle May 2015
Almost a year after she set out to get healthy, she began dating her now-fiancé, who's trying to drop 40 pounds himself. So the active couple planned their dates around hiking, running, and kayaking.
September 2015
6/6 Photograph by Ross Mantle September 2015
At 144 pounds, 35-year-old Ashley says she feels much more energized. "I can run up the steps of our city's capitol building 10 times in a row—I feel like Rocky!" she says.
This article was originally published in the July/August 2016 issue of Women's Health, on newsstands now.
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