Embarking on a weight-loss journey can be overwhelming initially, but it doesn’t have to be. Just ask online fitness coachLiza Marie Pasquale, who lost 100 pounds in one year by habit stacking, i.e. identifying micro health/fitness goals (like cooking at home vs. takeout) and slowly—emphasis on the slow part—building on them. “When it comes down to losing the weight, it doesn’t need to be that complicated,” Pasquale encouraged viewers on TikTok. And now, Pasquale is sharing “the secret sauce” behind her 100-pound weight-loss story, which didn’t include a gym membership for the first year.
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“I’ve tried everything in my life to lose weight,” Pasquale said in a pinned TikTok video, originally posted in January. “Every single diet I tried and I failed because I tried to be perfect with everything. I expected immediate results. I over-complicated things.”
After holding herself “to such a high standard that it was unrealistic,” Pasquale said she prioritized small, attainable habits to help kick-start her health transformation.
Between mindful eating and nightly neighborhood walks, Pasquale lost 100 pounds at home before ever stepping foot in a gym. “The power of walking is so strong,” she told followers.
During those first two months, Pasquale went on nightly walks with a friend almost daily. These lasted anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour. At month three, she bought an Apple Watch to start tracking her walks, setting a daily goal of 10,000 steps. This all stemmed from wanting to be able to climb her home staircase without feeling out of breath, she shared.
By month four, Pasquale had lost 30 to 40 pounds, with walking being her only form of exercise.
@lizamarie_fit I lost 100 pounds AT HOME !!! Here is my biggest weight loss tip that got me to where i am today. 140 pounds down and maintained for 3 years! #athomeweightloss #weightloss #natualweightloss #weightlosstips #100poundsdown
“This is the first time I ever saw a chunk of weight go down,” she said in the clip.
On a roll, Pasquale decided it was time to introduce a new habit: Incorporating two to three at-home workouts per week. Another four months went by, and Pasquale dropped an additional 40 pounds.
“When it comes to losing weight, and when it comes to fitness, if you are striving for perfection, you are setting yourself up for failure,” she told followers. “You don’t need a crazy gym membership. You don’t need to do the craziest workouts. You don’t need to be lifting the heaviest weights in order to see results.”
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Even though she was working out at home, Pasquale still hit her daily 10,000 steps. She was also making a conscious effort to cook at least 80 percent of her meals at home, having eliminated fast food from her diet.
“Consistency and nutrition, those are going to show you the results you want to see,” she reiterated.
After shedding 80 pounds, Pasquale educated herself on creating a calorie deficit. It’s best defined by the Cleveland Clinic as a weight-loss “math solution” aimed at “reducing your calorie intake or combining fewer calories with more exercise.”
For Pasquale, the next habit became hitting her protein goal and staying within the confines of her calorie deficit. This, in addition to walking, is what Pasquale calls her “secret sauce for weight loss.”
Within a year, Pasquale had lost 100 pounds without a gym membership. Although daily walks and calorie deficit propelled her weight-loss transformation, Pasquale said her success all comes back to habit stacking. In total, Pasquale revealed that she's since dropped 140 pounds and maintained her weight loss for three years.
“Doing little things one by one over time and not giving up is what got me here today,” she remarked. “I turned all these things into my lifestyle by not doing them all at once, doing them one step at a time.”
