As a person who has struggled with her weight almost her whole entire life, I completely understand when people say losing weight is hard. At the age of 17, I was diagnosed with PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome), which is a hormone disorder that greatly affects my weight, hormone balances and much more. Once I was diagnosed with PCOS, it explained why it had been so hard for me to lose weight. Since I am on medication that regulates my hormones and other side effects of my genetic disorder, it is much easier for me to lose weight. I have recently started a new diet and workout regimen and has proven to be successful. I have lost 35 pounds in about three months and I could not be happier. However, this did not happen overnight. These are some tips that I found to be very helpful in succeeding in weight loss, especially for lazy, food-lovers like me!

1. Start off small!

When I first decided to start losing weight, again, I took a different approach than I had never tried before. For a very long time, I have been on and off dieting and every time I started my diets cold turkey. I gave up all junk food and started working out everyday. This time around, I started off small. I started by trying to have one healthy, wholesome meal a day and working out for thirty minutes every other day. When you start off small, you don't get overwhelmed and don't feel like you are depriving yourself. I'd still eat what I wanted, but tried to make healthy substitutions. Instead of working out for an hour everyday, I’d make small changes like taking longer routes to class or always taking the stairs. I slowly started increasing my exercise and healthy eating more and more each week.

2. Use MyFitnessPal to track your food intake.

Ever since I started losing weight again, I needed something to track my food and exercise. My friend, Molly, told me about an amazing app called MyFitnessPal. I wasn't sure if I was going to like it at first, but I am in love. This app makes tracking your food so easy! Wherever I am, I can easily go onto my phone and search for whatever I am eating or if there is a barcode on the wrapper of what I am eating, I can scan it and log my food instantly. You can track your calories and exercise, which gives you the option to eat whatever you want. You can also become friends with other people who have MyFitnessPal who can cheer you on through likes and comments. The best part of this app is that it is free! Also, you can set goals for yourself on the app too! Logging your food intake everyday definitely gives you some perspective on the amounts of food you are eating. Once I started logging my food, I started eating much less.

3. Using a Fitbit or pedometer is a great way to motivate yourself!

I am totally addicted to my Fitbit because it is so motivating for me. I get to see how many steps I am taking along with how many miles I have walked and the amount of calories I burned that day. When you reach your goal amount of steps, your Fitbit cheers you on by sending you a message that you have reached your goal. And that's not even the best part! You can challenge your friends through Fitbit and this is really what motivates me. I am an extremely competitive person so, I always challenge my Aunt Liz to see who can take the most steps in a day or week. We are both very competitive people and we push each other to get more steps in. It is really a great way to get exercise and have some competitive fun with your friends. While I am in a challenge, I find myself walking the longest possible routes to my classes around campus to get more steps than my aunt!

4. Find a friend who will do it with you!

After a few weeks of being on my new regimen, I found myself slowly starting to become unmotivated again. In fear of giving up, I told one of my close friends, Molly, about how I was on this new diet and workout plan, and that I was becoming unmotivated. I don't know how exactly it happened, but she started working out and dieting with me. We would go to the gym together almost everyday of the week and it was great! Sometimes commenting to Molly that I was going to the gym with her, forced me to go to the gym, even when I really didn't want to. Each of us would text each other to see how we did for that day. It was a great way to see that someone else was also doing the same thing as me. Also, it was really great to have Molly motivate me when I started to lose motivation again and also to reassure me that one little slip up would not take away all of my progress. My workout and diet buddy has definitely been a piece of why I have stuck with my regimen and why I have succeeded. Thanks a million, Molly! Workout buddies for life!

5. Cheat snacks will help you feel sane and they will not ruin your progress!

This is the tip that I probably have struggled with the most. Having one cheat snack or cheat meal will not take away all of your progress. My whole life, I have thought that once I had one cheat meal that I had ruined all of my progress and ultimately gave up on everything I had been working towards. I felt like having one cheat meal was one of the worst things that you could do on a diet, but I now realize that I was very wrong. Cheat meals will keep you sane on a diet. They will remind you that you don't have to eat grilled chicken and salad for every meal of the day. Having a cheat snack or meal once a week will make you more successful at a diet plan than cutting out all junk food and snacks. When you have a cheat snack, you feel like you are not depriving yourself of everything that you love to eat (because I am in love with good food). The thing to remember about cheat meals is to get right back on it after! This will make you very successful with your diet and make your soul / tummy very happy.

6. Watch Netflix on your phone to make workouts go by faster.

I usually workout for an hour, six days a week. Although an hour of watching the latest episode of "House of Cards" may seem to go by quickly, it is not so fast when you are dying on an elliptical machine. To make time go by faster, I downloaded the Netflix app on my phone and I will allow myself to watch one hour of my current Netflix show on my phone while I workout. It definitely makes time go faster. Also, during the days you have no time for your favorite TV show, you still get to indulge in a TV show while doing something productive.

7. Do not weigh yourself every single day!

In my previous attempts at losing weight, I would weigh myself nearly every single day. I have realized that this is very wrong. Everyday your weight is going to change either by gaining muscle, having water weight, etc. I only weigh myself once a week. This will give me an estimate on how I am doing and if the number is still going down. If you weigh yourself every day, you are going to become obsessed with your weight and when you do not see it go down, this will hurt your progress. You will think that you're gaining weight and no progress is being made, but in reality you probably aren't gaining weight!

8. Realize that weight isn't everything about a person.

It is a really positive thing when people consider losing weight. It will help them become healthier, happier and more confident. Since I started losing weight, I feel so much more confident when I walk around campus. I feel more comfortable in the clothes I wear and even if I am the only one who knows it, I know that I am working on myself. A lot of people are quick to judge by someone's appearance. I am still larger than most girls, but I know that I am improving myself. It is important to know that looks are not everything and if you are planning on losing weight, do it for yourself. Everyone should be comfortable in their own skin and it is important to realize that every person is slaying the game in their own way. So the next time you look in the mirror, realize that you're killin' it!