You’re about to meet a real legend; a 70-year-old woman who lost a whopping 84 pounds in 5 months. Let’s find out how she did it.
The Motivation
Denise Richards is an amazing example of discipline and willpower. She lost the 84 pounds for a range of reasons, but mainly because she wanted to look and feel better. According to Richards, she wanted to “look young and feel young” and she decided that weight loss was the best way to achieve that. After all, who wouldn’t like to look and feel their best at any age?
Denise Richards has been struggling with her weight for most of her life. She weighed over 300 pounds when she was young and would often hide food to avoid gaining weight. In fact, she gained a reputation for being a “heavy-metal eater” because of her appetite.
The Diet
Richards started out with an easier diet; she eliminated all refined sugar and flour from her food intake. Instead, she relied on whole foods like vegetables and lean protein. She also limited her alcohol intake and ate lots of fiber to keep her digestive system moving. She stuck with this diet for a couple of months and lost about 14 pounds. However, she says that it wasn’t sustainable because she wasn’t eating the right foods and was relying on artificial sweeteners and flour substitutes to make her foods taste better.
At this point, she decided to take a harder look at her diet and started eating plenty of vegetables and lean meat again, but this time she also incorporated more whole grains and fruits. She also increased her water intake and decreased her alcohol intake. This is when she lost about 28 pounds in 5 months, which is the majority of the weight she wanted to lose.
The Training
Like many people who want to lose weight, Richards wanted to get in shape. However, she wanted to do this in a sustainable way and avoid going back to her old ways. Instead of doing a traditional workout, she did some research and learned about functional training, which helps you build stamina and strength while moving around. This training built her muscles and allowed her to spend more time doing what she loves – hiking, camping, and traveling.
Richards found a local hiking club and started joining their excursions to get a workout and enjoy the wilderness. She also did a lot of research on the subject and started reading books on wilderness survival and outdoor cooking. This made her feel like a real badass and motivated her to work out even harder. She started seeing results and felt confident that this was the right way to lose the weight. She credits her new found courage and confidence to her training.
At this point, she decided to take her workouts to the next level by joining a gym and getting a personal trainer. The main thing her trainer helped her with was figuring out how to eat healthy while working out. Just how does one lose weight while being so active? By ensuring that you get the nutrients your body needs to function at its best. This trainer helped her learn how to cook healthier meals and how to choose the right snacks and drinks to fuel her workouts. He also helped her find the right attire for her body type – something that most people find difficult because of their weight. Her trainer was an important person in her weight loss journey and she credits much of her success to him.
The Behavior Change
Richards knew that her workouts were helping her, but she also knew that they weren’t everything. In order to keep the weight off, she needed to make changes to her everyday routine. This included getting up early to do yoga and meditate, staying hydrated and drinking plenty of water, and preparing healthy food choices for herself and her family. Most people who lose weight focus on their diet and forget about the rest, but Richards knew that this was just the beginning. She knew that if she wanted to keep the weight off, she needed to make permanent changes to her behavior and how she thought about food and her body. For this reason, she became an expert at meal planning and shopping for healthy food. She would often cook a meal for her family and herself, trying out new recipes and gathering ideas from different cultures and cuisine’s.
The Supportive Social Environment
Richards also credits the support she got from her family, friends, and fellow hikers for helping her get back on track after her husband had a stroke. This resulted in her taking on a more active role in caring for her family. During this time off work, she took up baby-watching, which she says she really enjoys. Now that her parents are starting to get a little grey, she finds herself watching them more and more.
She also joined a mom’s group and started meeting other women who were also struggling with their weight. This group became an important source of support for her during this time and she credits a lot of her new found motivation to them. They helped her realize that she isn’t alone in her struggle and that she can strive for a healthier lifestyle.
In addition to these sources of support, Richards also found an online group of women who were also struggling with their weight. This group was very helpful for her during this time and encouraged her to keep moving forward and to not give up. With so much support from family and friends, as well as from her fellow hikers and members of online communities, Richards started seeing some incredible results. After 5 months of following a strict regime, she had lost a remarkable amount of weight and was finally able to get back into her old clothes. However, she decided it was still too much weight to lose and instead of trying to lose more, she decided to keep the weight off by watching what she eats and staying hydrated. This is when she started gaining her incredible physique—the one that got her into all these trouble in the first place!
What are your thoughts on this story? How did Denise Richards lose 84 pounds? Leave us a comment below!