I ditched fad diets to lose weight and get fitter in 2023. I lost 15 pounds in six weeks while enjoying treats.

• Natasha has spent a lot of her adult life yo-yo dieting so pledged to be more sustainable in 2023.
• She did workout classes with friends and made healthy food choices without being too restrictive.

Towards the end of 2022, Natasha was the heaviest she'd ever been, feeling unhappy in her body, and determined to get her BMI back in the healthy range .

"I've always felt impacted by diet culture or unhappy with how I looked or my weight, and I have confidence issues with that," Natasha, 30, who didn't want to be named for privacy reasons, told Insider.

She'd lost weight before by eating a restrictive diet and using cardio machines, but always gained it back afterwards. Banning foods can make you more likely to crave them and less likely to stick to an overall healthy diet, research suggests.

Natasha is among four people (Liam, Bella, and Charlotte) who shared their progress with their new year's fitness resolutions with Insider. She vowed to stop making excuses and start working out consistently, to commit to healthy eating by focusing on nutritious meals and being disciplined, while not depriving herself of foods she enjoys in the hope of losing weight long-term.

Natasha lost 15 pounds in the first six weeks of 2023 — and said she's not done yet, hoping to move to maintenance around Easter.

One to two pounds of weight loss a week is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in order for it to be sustainable, although losing slightly weight faster can be beneficial for certain people, personal trainer and fat loss coach Jordan Syatt told Insider.

Natasha had previously lost weight with crash diets

Natasha always had a "yo-yo" relationship with fitness, diet, and weight, and would joke that she was allergic to the gym, having never found a type of exercise she enjoyed.

As a vegetarian, her usual diet is very carb-heavy, with lots of pasta, bread, and vegetables.

While she would rarely eat foods like chips or chocolate or drink alcohol at home because she "can't enjoy things in moderation," she would enjoy more indulgent foods when traveling or socializing, which she did regularly, she said.

Natasha, who has struggled with body image because she felt she didn't match up to the slim physique valued in popular culture, has been on a diet for as long as she can remember.

That would include crash dieting before events like a holiday or wedding by undereating and using cardio machines or swimming.

She would lose weight, but always put it back on afterwards.

With her clothes feeling tight at the end of 2022 and her BMI in the "overweight" category, Natasha once more resolved to get fitter and lose weight. But this time she decided to avoid fad diets and try to lose weight sustainably. Crucially, she wanted to make exercise a part of her life and a habit.

"I want to be happy in my skin so that I can be confident and happy on the outside," she told Insider at the beginning of 2023.

Natasha kept herself accountable by working out with friends

Natasha kicked off her fitness journey by doing a two-week trial at her local F45 Training studio on the recommendation of her friends who work out there regularly and persuaded her that you don't need to be fit to go to classes.

Natasha decided she would go to one of the 45-minute functional fitness classes every day, which include both strength and cardio, to build an exercise habit, even though some days her body felt weaker from not having days off. Generally trainers advise having at least one rest day a week and building exercise up gradually to make the habit more sustainable.

Natasha was worried everyone else would be fitter than her and she'd hate it, but she was pleasantly surprised by her first class: the trainers were encouraging, moving exercises quickly felt achievable, and she enjoyed the music. She felt like she needed a bit more technique instruction than she got in a group class, but working out with her friends was fun and she stuck with it for the two weeks, she said.

Natasha deliberately decided not to try and eat a strict diet because she knew that overhauling multiple aspects of her life at once would be setting herself up for failure.

"I'm just going to be more conscious about what I'm eating without being restrictive," she said, and planned to limit snacking and eat more vegetables and meat-free protein sources to keep her feeling full.

She lost weight despite eating the occasional slice of cake

Although she hated getting up early to workout, Natasha started to find her rhythm after a week or two and realized she'd previously been making excuses when she'd say she didn't have time to exercise.

"It's 45 minutes. Yes, it feels hard sometimes when you're doing it, but it's manageable and then you forget about it until the next day," she said.

Getting into routine felt good and Natasha realized she preferred classes to working out on her own because all she had to do was get herself there. She was feeling stronger and fitter too, and managed a push-up on her knees for the first time, she said.

After the two weeks of F45, Natasha started trying classes at different London fitness studios, and incorporated rest days too as she felt somewhat fatigued, she said. She realized she enjoys circuit training because small intervals seem manageable.

Natasha was weighing herself regularly and the number on the scale was decreasing on the whole, which motivated her even though she knew the rate of loss might slow down.

She was making healthy food choices the majority of the time, eating meals such as vegetable curry, and decided to maintain her social life by inviting friends round to dinner rather than eating out, so she could cook healthy food to help her stay on track. She wasn't feeling deprived or starving, she said.

Natasha treated herself to some drinks and more indulgent foods from time to time, and was happy to see it didn't affect her overall weight loss progress if she stayed consistent on the whole, she said. This reflects the 80/20 rule for eating that Insider previously reported on.

Natasha lost 15 pounds in six weeks

After six weeks, Natasha lost 15 pounds and was thrilled to be fitting into clothes she hadn't been able to wear for a long time. "I'm really happy with how things have been going," she said.

She was feeling a lot better in herself, but was also starting to struggle with hunger. A holiday to the Alps came at the perfect time for a diet break, and Natasha plans to get back on track and continue with her fitness and weight loss journey afterwards.

Natasha hopes that by April she'll finish the weight loss phase, and knows that maintenance will be another challenge in itself. However, Natasha is committed to keeping up her exercise regime and staying active, she said.

"It feels different this time," she said. "I feel good."

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