My Weight-Loss Journey

 Hi! My name is Hannah Richter.

That is me ^ with my husband, Andy.  We have been married for almost three years now and are the proud parents of this little bundle of squeaks (seriously, he is basically a squeak toy!)

-We currently reside in the Greater Philadelphia Region in Pennsylvania after relocating in August 2014 from Harrisonburg, Virginia.
-I have a B.A. in Liberal Arts with a concentration in Psychology
-Less than a month after finishing college, I started massage school and am now an L.M.T.
-I lost 32 pounds between May and September of 2014 and have NEVER felt better in my own skin

May 2014 at 158 lbs:

October 2014 at 126.6 lbs:

So here's the thing- before my loss, I was never terribly overweight or obese, but I was simply not comfortable with myself, found myself being really self-conscious and finding ways to hide.  I gained TWENTY pounds while I was in massage school and I didn't even realize it until after it happened.  I stepped on the scale one day it was WAY higher than it had ever been before.

I was forever on the roller-coaster of weight loss and gain pretty much throughout high school, when I got to college in 2009, I was sitting happily at about 134 exercising between 5-6 days a week.  I felt really good about where I was - and I maintained that all the way until my senior year.  When my husband and I got married at the end of 2011, that is when my weight gain went really downhill (uphill?) I do not believe it was a case of "as soon as you get married you let yourself go," I truly believe it was the case of needing to learn how to cook for two and things that we both would enjoy...

I have always loved cooking and baking, but now that I was living with the man of my dreams I suddenly switched to the mindset of "MAKE ALL THE THINGS!" Okay that's a little silly to say.  But I wanted him to eat well.  I made really healthy food, but instead of paying attention to appropriate portions for each of us (he was 200+ lbs at the time) we were suddenly "splitting the leftovers." This is SO left field when it comes to the laws of weight loss it's not even funny. Though remember, I wasn't trying to lose at this point because I was happy with where I was at.

In Summer of 2012 we had the epic opportunity of living at my grandparent's lake house in Warsaw, Indiana before Andy's job started in August.  It is a BEAUTIFUL, completely unplugged cottage overlooking the lake.  My most treasured memories there are fishing with my grandpa, skip-bo with my grandma, and staying up late discussing those questions we'll never have answers to about life with each of them. During the day times, the most common thing to do (other than fishing of course) was an endless amount of reading.

That said, Andy and I decided that while we were living there for two months, we were going to commit to completing Insanity together!  We had the time to do so, and we both love having a goal to work toward.  We kept saying things along the lines of "we're 5/8s of the way through!"
It was literally an INSANE workout, but we did it!

After our LAST Insanity Workout in August 2012:

Our whole Insanity journey we did wrong.  We were living at the lake house, just the two of us, for two months.  We were eating homemade macaroni and cheese, grilling out, lots of casseroles, anything comfort food, and other than doing our workout every day, all we did was sit on our butts and read.  It was vacation after all.  So though we did get good results they could have been much more amazing had we followed any of the meal suggestions provided through Insanity.  Instead, we flipped the food pyramid upside down and then followed that.

Feeling pretty accomplished after completing the progam, I decided to take a week off (which is good to do occasionally!) My week then turned into two, then into six, before I suddenly ended up heavier than I was before I started, thus where I was when I graduated from massage school.  158 lbs. And feeling stuck once again.  I want to reinforce that I don't believe that I was overweight at 158 lbs, but I certainly was not at the healthiest weight for my height and body type.  How I feel about myself is not based upon my weight, nor should anyone's.  How I felt that drove me to make the changes was that I KNEW that there was a healthier me somewhere inside, emotionally and physically.  I wanted to change how I felt in my own skin, be comfortable, and confident, which I struggled with my entire life.

After suffering a knee injury from training for a half-marathon (which I never completed because of my knee), I decided I needed to do it right this time.

In May of 2014 I decided to join Weight Watchers to redefine my relationship with food.  Despite my weight gain, I had always made healthy food choices as far as clean-eating standards go.  My biggest shock after day 2 of WW was how little I felt like I could eat.  I felt like a bird.  My body was SO not used to that, obviously, because in my very first week I lost six pounds.  After about two weeks my weight loss steadied out and I was losing at an average of about 1-1.5 lbs per week.  After I hit the 15 lb loss mark, I began incorporating T25, and Insanity workouts to change up my daily walks. I used them sparsely because my knee wouldn't allow me too at the time.

The weight kept falling off, until I met the grand loss total of 32 lbs, and I was finally able to run again.  Not only run again, but running at a whole mph+ faster than I was when I was toward the end of our training earlier this year! I can now happily report that I can do T25, and am in my second successful round of Insanity, this time, doing it RIGHT with the food!

Literally all I needed to do was re-examine my portion sizes and clean-eating.  It is absolutely true that 70% of weight loss is what you eat, and 30% is exercise.

I am now exercising 5-6 days per week, once again, following the 80/20 law of clean-eating, and having a much greater appreciation for my body because of how I feel in it. Between Andy and I, since May of 2014 we have lost a combined total of 52 lbs and are so enjoying this journey together!

Because of this path that I have gone down, I have decided to become health & fitness Coach and motivator for others, because if I can do it, then anything is possible! Click here to get your FREE team account to sign up to have me as your coach, get involved with a challenge, and let me support you along your way!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this (lengthy) journey of mine. I had a lot of trial and error, but through my struggle and success I am so thankful because I have unlocked a deep passion for motivation and encouragement for those who have the desire to get healthy, get fit, and live their lives confidently!  If this sounds like something you could identify with and want to see what we can accomplish together, please feel free to e-mail me at hanwenger@gmail.com.

Thank you!