• Alaias Bertrand lost 75 kilos by focusing on his health rather than his appearance.
• She had already tried a series of fad diets, but they made her obsessed with food.
• Surrounding herself with people who share the same goals has helped her stay motivated.

Alaias Bertrand lost 75 pounds in three years and kept the weight off for seven years. After years of not being able to hit her weight loss goalshe realized that the key to success was to make the journey enjoyable.

As a freshman in high school, Bertrand, now a 25-year-old content creator and marketer based in Florida, was told by a doctor that she was labeled obese. It came as a shock but prompted him to evaluate his daily habits and decide to lose weight.

Growing up, she exercised a lot, but her diet was poor.

“I really didn’t have any form of diet or care. I just ate whatever I wanted when I wanted,” Bertrand told Business Insider. “Super processedhigh in carbohydrates and sodium, and most likely also sweets because I’m a big sweet tooth.”

Bertrand first tried to lose weight through restrictive diets, including keto and intermittent fastingbut they made her preoccupied with what she ate and didn’t work long term.

“I feel like I’ve tried everything under the sun. Nothing worked,” she said.

Looking back on her habits, Bertrand explains that it was when she began prioritizing her health over her weight that she naturally began to lose weight.

Bertrand shared the three biggest lessons she learned from her weight loss journey.

1) You can’t be ashamed of losing weight

When Bertrand limited what she ate to lose weight, it came from a feeling of shame, she said. And it didn’t work.

She didn’t like the way her body looked and thought she needed to change it so she could love and accept herself. “When I first started, I thought I honestly hated myself, which breaks my heart to say it, but I really didn’t have a lot of confidence in myself,” she said.

Once she started making healthier lifestyle choices, like eat more fresh produceshe naturally felt better in her body. It made her realize that she never hated herself, but rather the choices she made.

Over time, his adjustments became less about needing to look a certain way and more about needing to feel a certain way. “I want to feel good in my body. I want to feel confident,” she said.

2) Find healthy habits you love

Bertrand learned of this discovery healthy habits that you enjoy is the key to lasting weight loss.

Losing weight healthily means living a healthy lifestyle and being consistent, she said. Choosing something for six months and then stopping won’t work, which is why, she says, it’s helpful to choose habits you’d be happy to follow every day.

“If you love walking and you think I can walk every day for the rest of my life, then do it,” she said. “It’s going to add so much value to your life, and it doesn’t seem like a strain.”

3) Find someone to hold you accountable

If you want to lose fat or start eating healthier, find someone to hold you accountable, she said. Friends or a community, as well as a coach or trainer, are all good options.

Adding a social element to your fat loss journey will likely help you stick with it, said Bertrand, who was on his college track and field team.

In a 2015 longitudinal study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine examining the behavior of 3,722 married or cohabiting couples, each partner was significantly more likely to lose weight over a four-year period if the other tried to do so as well. .