This cattle rancher’s weight reduction tale will motivate you to meet your fitness goals this year. You’ve probably heard of a lot of different diet plans, and finding one that works for you might be challenging at times.
Kiah Twisselman began her trip nearly two years ago, but her strategy is ideal for our present quarantine scenario.
The 27-year-old has never been to a gym and does not attend weekly support sessions. Her food is also sourced directly from her family’s cow ranch.
“Quarantine life hasn’t been too unlike normal life,” she told PEOPLE.
Kiah’s situation was very different two years ago. In 2018, she was working as the Director of Consumer Affairs for the Kentucky Beef Council in Kentucky. Despite having a terrific profession and a lovely lover who is now her fiancé, this female rancher suffered from one aspect of her life: her weight. She was at her heaviest at the time, weighing 285 pounds.
“I have struggled with fat my entire life,” she added. “I went through a bunch of diet plans, and it was just this horrible cycle where I would lose weight, then go off the diet, and regain it all and then some.”
Kiah gave up and thought there was no way she could ever change.
“I believed for a really long time that it was just my genetics, that I just got dealt a bad hand and there was nothing I could do about it,” she said.
However, a role she held at work inspired her to begin working on herself.
The rancher was assigned to handle the Kentucky Beef Council’s nutrition program as the Director of Consumer Affairs. The task required standing in front of a panel of influencers, teachers, and qualified dieticians.
Kiah had to teach them about the nutritional benefits of beef, and it made her very uncomfortable. She was well aware that she was not in good health at the time.
“I was like, ‘I want to walk the walk,'” she explained.
Kiah was inspired to make positive changes after reading one book. She read the book “Girl, Wash Your Face” by motivational speaker Rachel Hollis on a flight to a work conference.
“That book was kind of a wake-up call to me that if you want to improve your life, live a better life, or create the life you’ve always dreamed of, it’s all in your control and nobody else’s,” she added.
She chose Hollis’ Five to Thrive Plan, which promotes developing five easy behaviors. Kiah began waking up an hour earlier, exercising for 30 minutes per day, drinking half her body weight in ounces of water, writing in her journal, and eating intuitively.
Thanks to her consistency, Kiah lost 25 pounds from October 2018 to January 2019. That victory encouraged her to keep going. She set a new goal: lose 100 pounds by October 2019. Her weight loss continued to be steady, but she hit some plateaus.
“It was about continuing to make those baby step changes forward and not getting too comfortable in my routine,” she said.
Kiah started doing harder YouTube workout videos and exploring different healthy foods to boost her energy. These habits gave her excellent results, but it was her mindset that got the most significant improvement of all.
“Previously, when I tried to diet, if I failed, I would remark, ‘See, you failed, you always fail.'” “But this time, I started with self-love,” Kiah explained.
“I had to love myself enough to show up every day and do the difficult things, and when I failed, I was more prepared to forgive myself and ask, ‘What can I learn from this?'” ‘How can I use this experience to propel myself forward?'”
Kiah met her goal of losing 103 pounds in a year, plus an additional 19 pounds in the last seven months. She’s returned to her family’s cattle ranch in San Luis Obispo, California, with her fiancé. Kiah has also changed occupations, and she is now a life and health coach with her own marketing firm.
She now claims that the numbers displayed by the scale don’t matter as much as they used to.
“It’s less about reaching a number or a target weight and more about showing up and accepting myself now,” she explained.
Kiah did an incredible job of changing her life! Do you currently follow any diet plans? Were you inspired by this rancher’s weight loss journey? Please share this with your friends and family!
