We all know the simple formula for weight loss: eating healthy and working out. It's been ingrained in us since childhood, but that doesn't make it any easier to consistently eat healthy or to meet our exercise goals every day. In light of these challenges, some dieters have tried setting certain rules or challenging themselves to things that once seemed impossible. The latter was the case for 42-year-old Jennifer Brown, who kick-started her weight loss goals and dropped 100 pounds with one "very basic" lifestyle change.
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Brown, who is based in Iowa, began working out in 2019 after she was diagnosed with high blood pressure and told she had high blood sugar, she explained in a July 20 TikTok video.
"I spent a lot of years not treating this properly, and I owe it to myself to take care of my metabolic health, as it is the key to so many of our body's functions," she told Newsweek in a new interview, sharing that she was also diagnosed with diabetes in 2019.
Following the diagnosis, Brown started taking action at the "very basic level of just changing what I was eating and walks outdoors," she told the outlet.
Brown noted that just walking helped her drop 70 pounds, but in Jan. 2022, she started running a mile a day—something she never thought she could do.
"Randomly, I decided to progress and decided that the best place to start [running] would be with one mile a day, no matter how long it took. That was in 2022 and I've been running ever since," she told Newsweek. "I've tried my whole life to lose weight but never like this, where I just used the mindset of 'just do something every day ... no matter what.'"
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Brown said that running was "so hard" at first, but she eventually built a habit. In combination with diet changes (eating in a calorie deficit and quitting soda and alcohol), running helped Brown lose a total of 98 pounds, she explained in the July TikTok.
Also in the TikTok, Brown noted that she is a "binge eater" and previously "used food to deal with emotion and stress." To help achieve her weight loss goals, she told Newsweek that she consulted a dietitian who helped her learn "to eat to the point of being satisfied, which was a feeling I never knew."
"I have changed ALL of my habits, but not overnight," the text overlaying the TikTok video reads. "This process has taken me 5 years, lots of tears, lots of failing."
But while Brown went from 342 pounds to 244 all on her own, her weight loss then "stalled," prompting her to consult with another doctor. She was prescribed Mounjaro, which is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for "blood sugar control in adults with type 2 diabetes, as an addition to diet and exercise."
With Mounjaro added to her existing exercise routine and diet, Brown was able to drop another 84 pounds in under a year, she told Newsweek. She also noted that she'll "most likely" continue taking the drug for the rest of her life due to her diagnoses.
"Reducing the food I eat, using the medicine as a tool and working on my mental health [is] how I have seen continued success, oh, and consistency," Brown explained in the July TikTok.
Brown said that she was down to 158 pounds as of Nov. 17—a weight she feels content at.
"This is the first time in my life I've been in a normal-sized body and I need to learn how to live in it," she told Newsweek.
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