When he was growing up, Bri Blank Alexander knew she was overweight, but she did not have a problem with it. “I was happy. I had so many friends and a loving family,” she said TODAY, but because of her weight, she got rid of as much physical activity as possible.
TODAY she had her first contact with Alexander in 2018, when she recounted how she stepped on a scale in January 2012 at the age of 19 and the number she saw shocked her – 306 pounds. “I knew I had to make a change,” she said.
She researched healthy eating habits, taught herself to cook, started exercising and started recording her calories with the MyFitnessPal app, averaging 1200 to 1,300 calories a day. After nearly two years of slow, steady progress, she lost 150 pounds. Along the way, she built a business – Bri Healthy – and an Instagram platform where she inspires other people to make healthy changes.
Initially, it was easy to maintain her weight. She added 300 calories to her daily average over the weekend plus a delicious meal with dessert. For years it worked just fine.
It will be nice if the story ends there. But the truth is that Alexander not only achieved her goal weight and settled him there happily forever. It was an ongoing challenge for her to maintain her weight, but her self-love kept her grounded by the ups and downs.
Falling in love proves a challenge to maintain weight
In 2016, she met her now husband. “He’s one of those people who can eat what he wants and stay lean,” she said. He eats things like processed foods and packaged cookies – things that are designed to be delicious. Alexander would eat them too.
‘When I first started eating it, I felt like I had been missing them for a long time. Feelings of ‘I can have such things again’ came to mind. Anything that is moderate is fine. But I got a little too comfortable, ‘she said. Eating what worked for her husband rather than what worked for her led to weight gain.
“I really started looking at myself like a failure,” she said. ‘My whole journey was’ Bri Healthy’. I’m this girl who lost all this weight, and I show it to people. I started to feel so disconnected from myself. I asked, ‘Who did I become? How did I get myself here? ‘”
She tried again to lose weight and her earlier strategies did not work. Therefore, she asks herself what is different. ‘And it came to me – then I was nice to myself. I loved myself. “I did not break myself down,” she said. “After I loved myself more and spent energy on it, the weight started to drop.”
She comes in at a weight that is higher than her lowest weight, but feels comfortable for her and healthy for her body, and keeps the weight long.
Enter 2020 and the COVID-19 Pandemic
Alexander followed the idea of eating intuitively and ‘fit all foods’, where you honor what your body wants and feed yourself what you need. She supports the idea for many people, but has found that it does not work so well for her. If she wanted a muffin, she had a muffin, but she wanted a muffin every day. Or she would choose healthy food during the day and then eat food at night.
Her less healthy food choices increased during the pandemic. On top of that, she started eating a lot more takeaways. And she missed a lot of exercise – not only the group exercise classes she enjoyed, but also the daily activity of walking and climbing stairs in New York City.
A few months ago, she stepped on a scale and saw that although her weight was less than 200 pounds, it was the highest since her original weight loss success. “I was not upset about myself. But I try to keep my intention to be healthy in my mind, ”she said.
Love herself through her weight loss journey
She is focusing again on her weight loss efforts. “I try to keep myself in mind knowing that I can do it and that it is for my health,” she said. “I’m still figuring it out. And I think the power lies in admitting the vulnerability, because we always find out. Life is a journey. It is not static. ”
She keeps track of her calorie intake again and aims for 1700 calories a day. “It feels very liberating to me. “Progress is slowing down, but I do not feel that I am limiting myself,” she said. She finds a balance between freedom and accountability.
Alexander intends to return to her favorite weight, not her lowest weight. It is a weight she maintains for a long time, where her clothes fit and where she feels comfortable. “This is where I feel light and free,” she said. ‘I’m about 12 pounds away. It feels achievable. ”
“On this journey, I have loved myself where I am and my body appreciates where I am, on every level,” she said. ‘I’m so proud to allow myself to enjoy this journey, to trust the process and even to keep it through all the challenges. I like to learn more about myself and I know I will find the balance I want. It’s not always easy, but it’s always worth it. ”