A woman who lost 75 pounds shares the 3 biggest lessons she learned about losing weight and keeping it off
Alaias Bertrand lost 75 pounds by focusing on her health over her appearance.
She says that she had earlier tried a series of fad diets but that they made her obsess over food.
Surrounding herself with people with similar goals helped her stay motivated.
Alaias Bertrand lost 75 pounds in three years and has kept the weight off for seven years. After years of failing to hit her weight-loss goal, she realized the key to success was in making the journey enjoyable.
As a high-school freshman, Bertrand, a 25-year-old content creator and marketer in Florida, was told by a doctor that she qualified as obese. It came as a shock but prompted her to evaluate her daily habits and decide to lose weight.
Growing up, she played a lot of sports, but her diet was poor.
"I really didn't have any form of diet or care. I would just eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted," Bertrand told Business Insider. "Super-processed, high carbs and sodium, and most likely also sweets because I'm such a sweet tooth."
Bertrand initially tried to lose weight through restrictive diets, including keto and intermittent fasting, but they made her preoccupied with what she was eating and didn't work long term.
"I feel like I've tried everything under the sun. Nothing was working," she said.
Looking back at her habits, Bertrand said she didn't start naturally losing weight until she prioritized her health over her weight.
Bertrand shared the three biggest lessons she learned from her weight-loss journey.
1. You can't shame yourself into losing weight
When Bertrand limited what she ate to lose weight, it came from a place of shame, she said. And it didn't work.
She didn't like the way her body looked, and she believed she needed to change it to be able to love and accept herself. "When I first started, I thought I honestly hated myself, which it breaks my heart to say, but I really did not have a lot of confidence," she said.
Once she started making healthier lifestyle choices, such as eating more fresh produce, she naturally felt better in her body. She realized she never disliked herself but rather the choices she was making.
Over time, her adjustments became less about needing to look a certain way and more about feeling a certain way. "I want to feel good in my body," she said. "I want to feel confident."
2. Find healthy habits you enjoy
Bertrand learned that finding healthy habits you enjoy is key to sustainable weight loss.
Losing weight healthily means leading a healthy lifestyle and being consistent, she said. Picking something up for six months and then stopping isn't going to work, so it helps to pick habits you'd be happy to do every day.
"If you love walking and you're like, 'I can walk every day for the rest of my life,' then do that," she said. "It is going to add so much value into your life, and it doesn't feel 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, a community, or a coach or trainer are all good options.
Bertrand, who was on her college track-and-field team, said adding a social element to your fat-loss journey could help you stick with it.
In a longitudinal 2015 study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine that analyzed weight data from 1,556 older married or cohabitating couples in England, people with BMI readings considered overweight or obese were more likely to lose weight over a four-year period if they had partners with high BMI readings who lost weight during that time as well.
Correction: November 13, 2024 — An earlier version of this story incorrectly described a finding of the JAMA Internal Medicine study. The study's analysis of weight loss was based on measured weight loss, not whether either partner was trying to lose weight. The story was also updated with more context about that finding.
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