 Hi friends welcome back to my channel and a very special welcome if you're new here. My name is Jen. I'm a certified weight loss and nutrition coach and I'm on WW personal points. Happy Sunday friends. You're probably wondering where's my home tour. Well we ended up getting all of the flooring for my office which is installed here behind me as well as all of the trim in to put all new molding in trim in our house. It's been a construction zone this last week so now I'm not quite ready to film that home tour. I wanted to wait until the new floors were in the new trim was in rather than sharing my home tour in a construction zone. I decided to go ahead and wait another week or maybe two weeks before putting out that video. It actually worked out really really well because I asked over on my YouTube community page my Facebook group and over on Instagram for you to send me all of your questions regarding me just hitting 100 pounds lost. Any questions that you have for me on my journey what I did to lose 100 pounds or just your questions in general and I ended up with a front and back little note paper here full of your questions so I thought what better time than to do a minus 100 pound Q&A. So if you're excited give this video a big huge thumbs up. Make sure you're subscribed and your bell notification is turned on because I upload five days a week and I have lots and lots of really fun content coming your way. Make sure you check out the description box down below for nutrition coaching. I do offer personalized macros and calories highly recommend as well as one-on-one coaching if you want to get your questions answered and chat with me directly. Links discounts to all of my favorite things and of course come on over join my Facebook group that's a great way to keep up with me day to day. I have lots and lots and lots of questions to answer so let's jump in. Thank you to everyone who asked questions. I did end up getting a lot of repeat questions. There was a lot of things you guys really wanted to know so I'm just going to go down the list answer your questions. I'm going to do this in more of a rapid fire style only because I have a lot of questions to answer and I have a feeling this video is going to be long without me going into extreme detail. Now I do have several other videos pertaining to losing 100 pounds coming out that will go a little bit more in depth into my journey but I absolutely wanted to answer all of your questions. So question number one is how long did it take you to lose 100 pounds? So I actually started my weight loss journey in 2019 and it's 2022 so it took me from 2019 to early 2022 to hit 100 pounds lost. Now there's a lot of things that play into that. There was a lot of things that I wasn't doing early on in my journey that I really started putting into momentum and picking up full speed the last couple of years and that's really helped me get to where I am today at over 100 pounds lost. Question number two is how do you manage your cravings? Now first of all cravings are absolutely normal. We all get cravings but it's how you deal with those cravings. My number one tip for you when it comes to managing your cravings is to always ask yourself two questions. Number one are you actually hungry or are you just hungry because the food sounds good, looks good, smells good? Ask yourself check in with yourself to see if you're actually hungry and number two whatever craving that you're having wait 10 minutes 15 minutes get up and do something else and in 10 or 15 minutes you're still craving that food absolutely enjoy it but when those 10 15 minutes pass chances are that craving is going to pass as well so always ask myself the question on whether or not I'm truly hungry and I do allow a little bit of time in between the initial craving and whether or not I indulge in it. Question number three is how do you create balance and how do you stop yourself from getting off track? Well I don't stop myself from getting off track I have been off track so many times during my journey that I can't even count. However I do try to have a balance I enjoy all foods nothing is off limits nothing is restricted I don't tell myself that I can't have certain foods I enjoy everything and that's how I create a solid balance it's also helped me stop binging it's also helped me really cure my relationship with food by having a balance and making sure that I allow myself all foods and like I said I have gotten off track I get off track pretty regularly but the best piece of advice that I can give you is when you're off track don't beat yourself up and just get back on track whether it's the next meal the next day whatever your situation is the only thing you can do to get off of track is to get back on track. Next is how much extra skin or do you have any extra skin after losing 100 pounds? I absolutely have extra skin mainly right here I mean it's not terrible but you can see that there's some skin here now there is still a little bit of fat there but there's definitely going to be some loose skin there but the place that I have loose skin most prominent is on my inner thighs I'm very fortunate that I don't have a lot on my stomach area but I do have it here on my arm and really and quite a bit on my inner thigh but I always tell myself who sees your inner thigh I mean how many times are you waltzing around in a swimsuit and my husband doesn't give a rip about the skin on my inner thigh and it's just something that I don't let bother me it's my battle wound for losing 100 pounds and honestly I'd rather have lost 100 pounds to and deal with a little bit of loose skin. Next is do you feel fab because you look fab 100% I feel amazing I've told a few of my coaching clients that this is by no means the thinnest that I've ever been but this is hands down the healthiest that I've ever been in so many areas physically mentally spiritually this is the healthiest that I've ever been I feel absolutely incredible the next question is did you plateau and if so how did you push through fortunately for me I never hit a plateau I want to clarify what a plateau is a plateau isn't when you stay the same weight for a few days even a week even two weeks a plateau is generally when you stay the same weight for well over a month and lucky for me I never had that happen now there were weeks that I stayed the same weight there were days that I stayed the same weight but I never entered into a plateau I will give you a couple of quick tips though if you do encounter a plateau change up the foods that you're eating change up the activity that you're doing and really focus on protein those three things should help you break the plateau. The next one isn't really a question but she asked if I would share my favorite moments that I've encountered along my journey and instantly when I read this one thing popped into my mind and that is the fact that I can now cross my legs I haven't crossed my legs in years and it took me about 80 pounds lost to be able to cross my legs and now I cross my legs all the time my legs are crossed right now sitting at my desk it is such a huge moment a huge nsv or non-scale victory for me that I can comfortably cross my legs comfortably the next question is when you eat out on Saturdays what do you eat and do you track it so if you follow my channel you know that we either go out for dinner or have takeout or support a local restaurant we do something out to dinner related on Saturday I still track it I still account for it I still make sure that it fits into my day but I also enjoy whatever meal I'm having my rule of thumb with eating out especially in the last few months is once my meal is delivered to me and I do order whatever I want maybe it's a burger and fries maybe it's pizza whatever sounds good on the menu I go ahead and order it but when my when my meal is delivered I immediately ask for it to go box and I put half of my meal away that way I'm not tempted to eat the entire plate and honestly I'm satisfied with a quarter or half of a restaurant meal because we know the portion sizes are so large that I'll just immediately put half of my meal away and bring it home with me for leftovers that way it prevents me from overeating but I still get to enjoy whatever sounds good to me on Saturday I track it whatever the tracking is whether it puts me over my calories my points I track it and I move on and I just remember that no food is bad or good and that once a week eating out isn't going to derail my progress the next question is what is your workout routine now before we move to Arizona you know that I went to Jazzercise three to four days a week that was my intention once we moved to Arizona was to join Jazzercise in Tucson well when we purchased our home we are in a rather large community and part of our HOA part of the community is a full service gym and it's a beautiful gym so for me it doesn't make sense to go pay to join Jazzercise when I have a gym literally five minutes from my house I mean I can walk to it and it's included in my HOA so my new workout routine I haven't started yet full transparency I haven't worked out a single day since we moved to Arizona which was about a month ago but starting this next week I have officially penciled it into my schedule and I'm going to go three days a week to start to the gym and walk on the treadmill use the elliptical once I get back into a more regular exercise routine I'll start incorporating some weights into my routine but I'm ready to just get back into the gym even if it's only three days a week for 30 minutes it's better than nothing it's just going to make me feel better and help tone up and lean out my body as I continue to lose weight the next question is what is your calorie and protein intake now I'm hesitant to answer this only because my calorie and protein intake isn't going to be your calorie and protein intake every body is different every single person needs different calories different protein fats carbs everybody's different I do offer personalized macros and calories this is what I would recommend if you want to know how many calories protein fats carbs that you should be eating every day the service that I provide will give those to you and be personalized to you I would recommend that so that you have your calories and protein and I have my calories and protein I will also say on a side note that I do eat a pretty high protein diet because protein keeps you full helps you lose weight and is something that is really important to me to make sure that my diet is well equipped with protein the next question is are you still doing w w I actually get this question a lot which is interesting because I share a lot of w w content here on my channel so the answer to that question is yes I am still doing w w but I also track calories and if you didn't know for me calories and protein are number one I hit my calorie goal every day I hit my protein goal every day and wherever my w w points fall is where my points fall most days to be honest with you I'm well over my w w points because it's more important for me to eat enough and hit my calorie goal and to make sure that I'm fueling my body and my weight loss with protein but yes I am still on w w the next question is an excellent question and that is how do you combat how do you combat the fatigue of constantly tracking what I do is I don't track when I get exhausted from tracking when I encounter tracking fatigue I take a day or two or three or a week off from tracking we know what we should be eating we know what foods our body does best with we know what foods are lower in calorie lower and point higher in protein whatever you're following we know what foods are beneficial for us so I just focus on those foods and I take a little bit of a tracking break because honestly I don't want to track the rest of my life I want to heal my relationship with food enough that I don't have to track forever so by taking little tracking breaks it helps combat the fatigue of tracking and it also allows me to see where I am on my journey when it comes to more intuitively eating and not tracking all of my food and I will tell you that I've never gained weight on a week that I haven't tracked for a day or even the entire week so take a break if you're fatigued take a tracking break the next question is do you ever fall off the wagon and if so how do you get back on track now I kind of answered this already but yes of course of course I get off of track of course I fall off the wagon and what I do is I tell myself that I'm getting back on track the next day that doesn't give me the whole day that I'm off track or off the wagon to go crazy with my food but I tell myself it's okay that you over indulge today not even that I'm off track that I over indulge today you just need to get back on the wagon back on the horse back on track tomorrow and when the next day comes I go back to eating the foods that I love that fit within my points and calories the next question is one that I get over and over again and it was a frequent flyer in this Q&A as well and that is how do I stay motivated how have I stayed motivated for the last three years to lose this weight I have two pieces of advice for you when it comes to motivation number one is to set small goals if I would have told myself in 2019 my goal is to lose 100 pounds halfway into 2019 I would have given up because those 100 pounds were not coming off very quickly so instead I like to set smaller more obtainable goals so I'll tell myself my goal is to lose five percent of my body weight that's a more attainable goal that's a goal that's going to happen quickly which when reaching these goals gets us motivated and excited to keep going and once I lose five percent I go to 10 percent then 25 pounds then 50 pounds and I just set small goals that keep me excited throughout my journey and the other piece of advice I have for you or the other thing that I want to say when it comes to motivation is motivation comes and goes it's fleeting you're going to be super motivated sometimes and you're going to be completely unmotivated sometimes and that is absolutely okay and normal results is what keeps us motivated even for me seeing results consistently there's still times that I'm not motivated and those are the times that I maybe take a tracking break or I don't focus so much on food and just enjoy other pieces of my life but we're all going to encounter times where we're unmotivated and you just have to spark joy again you just have to do something or set a goal that's attainable and write down the road for you that's going to get you excited about your journey again and also remember your why why are you on this journey that alone should help keep you motivated the next question is how do I combat emotional eating I have to say that I'm lucky in the aspect that I'm not really an emotional eater I'm a board eater I eat when I'm bored I always think I'm hungry when I'm bored and honestly 99.9 percent of the time I'm not truly hungry I just think that I'm hungry because I'm bored on the other hand I'm very rarely bored because as you know I am very very busy between nutrition coaching youtube family life taking care of my dogs a new home and also I'm in the process of getting my real estate license down here in Arizona so there's not a lot of moments when I'm bored however when I find myself emotionally eating or board eating is at night when I'm watching tv that's when I think I'm hungry and that's when I think I need a snack so what I do is I save my dessert or my final snack or meal of the day for the evening when I'm watching tv it's already figured into my day so I'm not over indulging it's figured into what I'm eating for the day and I allow myself to have a snack or dessert while I'm watching tv that one snack or dessert takes away that emotional eating or that boredom eating and I'm also still staying on track so when you feel like you are going to emotionally eat or in my case board eat check in with yourself ask yourself if you're truly hungry and again kind of take those same tactics and wait a little bit before you actually eat whatever foods you may be emotionally eating the next question is a really good one and this is how do you stay on track for dinner especially when you have nothing planned or prepared as you know I do a meal plan every single week that's how I build my grocery list so for me I don't encounter this very often because I do plan out especially all of my dinners for the week I also meal prep every Sunday for my breakfast lunches and snacks for the week but there are days that none of that sounds good maybe I don't want that food for breakfast lunch or dinner so those are the days that I encounter this question what do I do if I don't want or don't have something planned or prepared my number one tip for you would be to make sure that you have healthy options on hand whether they're prepared or prepped or not make sure that even if you have a grab and go meal that it's healthy and that it stays within your points or your calories I also make sure that I have several snacks on hand that if dinner doesn't sound good maybe I have a snacky dinner or maybe I have breakfast for dinner I make a fun little snack plate with cheese and crackers and fruit and vegetables and dip you can really eat whatever you want for meals just make sure that you have healthy options on hand so when you're not prepared and things aren't planned you have healthy options to reach for the next question is do you avoid eating too many zero point foods this is a really good question and the answer to this question is yes just because ww assigns a food zero points or as a lot of people call it a free food I'm not a fan of that term because no food is free the only thing that is free is water everything else has some type caloric value whether it's very very minimal it may even say zero calories on the food item but there is still a little bit of calories and everything other than water zero point foods included so I prefer to call them zero point foods rather than free foods and honestly a lot of these zero point foods are pretty calorically dense potatoes rice even lean meats are really calorically dead even on fact Greek yogurt has a lot of calories so you have to be mindful of how much zero point foods that you're eating ww suggests that you eat one serving of zero point foods and if you're still hungry reach for some additional zero point foods rather than some other pointed foods gravitate towards those zero point foods to get you satisfied in full however the recommendation is to stick with the serving size because don't forget they do have calories so you absolutely can overeat zero point foods the next question is what has been your biggest struggle on your weight loss journey this is easy my biggest struggle has been finding what works for me consistently and long term consistency is the word you need to remember that is the key to weight loss success is whatever you're doing do it consistently and that's been my biggest struggle I'll do ww I'll eat two little calories I'll eat too many carbs I'll eat too many processed foods I'll focus on fat free food sugar free food I've done it all on my journey and it's the biggest struggle for me is finding what actually works for me long term what can I actually stick with what foods do I enjoy but also help me on my journey I always say whatever you eat to lose weight you have to eat when you maintain your weight so for me I'm not going to eat that free cheese that I hate for the sake of losing weight and then when I get to maintenance go to regular cheese I'm going to eat regular cheese throughout my entire journey and that's been the biggest struggle for me is finding what works for me consistently and long term and sticking with it and we're all different so what works for me may not work for you and just finding the foods and the lifestyle and the patterns that consistently work for me that see the biggest results on the scale that make me feel the best and that help fuel my body and get me closer to my goal the next question is also a fantastic one and this is what is the biggest lesson that you've learned from gaining all of this weight in the first place a short little back history on me back in about 2004-2005 I lost 125 pounds on Weight Watchers and this was the old school program you know the slider the slider Weight Watchers tool and I was about five pounds from my goal weight and I stopped going to Weight Watchers and over the course of the last 15 to 20 years I gained back a big portion of that 125 pounds almost all of it and the lesson that I learned from that experience is you can't go back to the way that you ate before you lost weight if you go back to those same portions those same foods the same patterns that you had when you were heavier you're going to gain all of your weight back trust me trust me I know it goes right back to whatever you do to lose weight you have to do to maintain your weight so whatever patterns you've developed whatever foods you're eating whatever lifestyle you're following whatever exercise routine whatever you have to stick with that once you've reached your goal in order to continue to be at a healthy weight and maintain that weight loss if you revert back to old patterns you're going to gain the weight back so that's the biggest lesson that I've learned and that's why I can tell you confidently that I will never ever ever gain this weight back because whatever I did to lose it I'm going to do for the rest of my life next question how much water do you drink and do you add any flavor I drink about a gallon of water every single day no less than about a half of a gallon but that took time to get there I didn't just wake up one day and drink a gallon of water I had to take baby steps started with a quarter of a gallon then a half a gallon then three quarters of a gallon and then was able to work my way up to a gallon of water every day the recommendation this is a question I get a lot from my coaching clients is how much water am I supposed to drink depending on who I ask I get a different answer well the rule of thumb is eight eight ounce glasses of water every day which is 64 ounces or half of a gallon so that's my recommendation to you if you can get in 64 ounces of water every day you're well on your way to reaching whatever water goal you set for yourself and as far as flavoring my water goes yes I do flavor my water but I opt for natural flavoring lemons limes cucumbers fruit I fill up my half gallon or gallon of water jug at night with whatever fruit I want to put into it and you guys know that we do have a couple of lemon trees here at our new house in Arizona so lemon spend my go to because I have an over abundance of lemons I'll slice up a lemon throw that into my big jug put it in the fridge and when I wake up in the morning not only do I have a nice cold water for the day it's infused with lemon or fruit or whatever I've put into my water today my water is infused with cucumber which is one of my favorites it's so refreshing I do stay away from water enhancers like crystal light or the little packets because they're just full of a lot of artificial sweeteners and artificial ingredients and chemicals that I just choose not to eat however how whatever makes you drink your water do it and if that includes water enhancers and that works for you you keep doing that girl as long as you're getting in your water you're well on your way to having a healthy water intake the next question is what was your aha moment or what made you go girl you need to lose weight there were several a lot of them had to do with my physical being my knees hurt all the time my lower back hurt all the time but really that one moment or that aha moment was a photo and I think this is pretty consistent across the board for people we think we're smaller than we are I thought I was smaller than I was and then when I see a photo of myself I instantly thought wow you've gained a lot of weight you really need to do something about this so besides the physical aspects seeing photos is a really good indicator of where your body is and whether or not you may want to embark on a weight loss journey that was the aha moment for me the aches and pains that my body had and then seeing photos is when I decided it's time it's time to make a change the next question is are you leaning towards a low carb diet so let me put this out here right now I will never ever ever follow a low carb diet I will never do keto I will never restrict or eliminate any food any food group or any macronutrient and carbs are a macronutrient however because I have a thyroid issue because I suffer from inflammation and bloating I eat a lower carb diet based on my doctor's recommendation now I don't eat low carb I still eat about 100 grams of carbohydrates every day I just really focus on protein and healthy fats because that's what makes my body feel better and that's what my doctor recommended again we're all different every body is different some people thrive on a higher carb diet some people thrive on a lower carb diet whatever you choose to do I would recommend that you speak with your physician before making any changes and definitely take advantage of personalized macros and calories so you know what your carbohydrate goal should be to see the biggest weight loss success the next question is how do you deal with food pushers I actually just had this question from a coaching client the other day as well we all have food food pushers in our lives whether that's our spouse our kids our family our friends we have people that say just eat the cake I made this cake just for you let me send you home with this big slice of cake we all have food pushers in our lives whether these pushers are intentional or not intentional but my strategy for dealing with this type of situation or these types of people is I will just ask for a small serving piece amount of whatever food that they're pushing that way I can still enjoy the food still try it out especially if they cooked it themselves or baked it and they really want you to try it and you don't want to be disrespectful just ask for a small amount take a few bites it doesn't mean that you have to finish it but take a few bites and then set it aside and in these in the event that you have a food pusher who wants to send lots of unhealthy leftovers home with you politely decline and if they insist take them home and throw them away it's okay to throw food away it's better that you throw that away than eat it and put yourself out of a calorie deficit or over your points and have a gain on the scale you can politely decline with a food pusher if it's someone really close to you you can have a heart to heart conversation with them let them know that you're on a weight loss journey and these foods just don't fit into that journey but if you're encountering a food pusher that you don't feel comfortable having that conversation with ask for a small piece politely decline in worst case scenario if they insist to send the goodies home with you just throw them away the next question was tell me a little bit about what coaching opportunities you have available and do your coaching sessions and macros and calories include your monthly meal plan all of my coaching opportunities are on my website i'll put my website right here for you and it is always always always linked in the description box of all of my videos i offer personalized macros and calories and one-on-one coaching sessions i also have four recipe ebooks that contain lots and lots of recipes breakfast lunch dinner snacks and desserts all of that is on my website all of my coaching services are a la carte which means that one-on-one coaching is separate from macros and calories i have a lot of people who just want coaching or just want macros and calories now in the event that you're interested in both you can just add both of the items to your cart and check them out at the same time and i'll reach out to you to get your macros and calories and set up our one-on-one coaching session my nutrition coaching is also completely separate than my monthly meal plan in my facebook group i offer a monthly meal plan it is 25 a month and it contains 20 dinner recipes for breakfast lunch and snack recipes points are included calories are included all of the recipes are revised to fit lower point lower calorie and that is a service that i've offered for well over two years it's a very popular service but it is separate than all of my coaching services so if you're not in my facebook group definitely come over join us there if you're interested in my monthly meal plan and you don't have facebook my email is always down in the description box just shoot an email to me and i'd be happy to send you the information for my monthly meal plan so that you can sign up but remember all of my services are a la carte and last but not least for the questions is w w or calories which is better i actually did an entire video on this where i talked you through w w versus calories i'll link that video down below for you but the short answer is whatever one is best for you whatever one works for you whatever one you can stick with whatever one you can be consistent with and whatever one is long term success for you that's the program you need to follow whether that be w w or whether that be calories in my opinion there's pros and cons for both and i do deep dive into that in the video so again i'll make sure that's linked down below for you wow that was a lot of questions again i really appreciate you guys reaching out and asking your questions i'm always happy to help and answer your questions i hope that this really helped you out gave you some motivation let you know some of the tips and tricks that i've used to lose over a hundred pounds and definitely stay tuned for lots and lots of tips and tricks videos and how i lost a hundred pound videos i have a lot of them up my sleeve for you guys so definitely make sure you're subscribed and your bells turned on so you don't miss a single video don't forget to give this video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it and of course if you have any more questions please leave them down down in the comments i'd be happy happy to answer them for you don't forget to check out the description box for everything we talked about today the w w versus calories video nutrition coaching my facebook group my email everything's down in the description box for you thank you guys again so much for asking your questions of course for your love and support it means the world to me i feel really truly blessed to have each and every one of you in my life so thank you again for everything and i'll see you all in the next one bye