At 40, Michelle Kloese felt like she didn’t recognize her body. In five years, she gained 38 pounds and developed high cholesterol, high blood sugar, and plantar fasciitis, a kind of foot pain caused by inflammation.
She didn’t always feel like this. In her 20s, running was her main form of exercise, and she loved 5K races. Her body started to change in her mid-20s, when she experienced symptoms of early menopause, like infertility. By her 30s, bloodwork confirmed she had perimenopause, around 15 years earlier than most women.
Then, in her mid-30s, she started a demanding job as a middle school assistant principal, often starting before the school day and wrapping up after school hours. With less time to work out, a busy schedule, and irregular meals, she started to snack more.
“Somebody would leave a cupcake on my desk, so I’d eat that, or parents would bring in a basket of candy,” Kloese, now 42, told Business Insider.
The change in her body really struck her after a surprise trip to Ireland for her 40th birthday. “I looked at the pictures and went, ‘Oh gosh, I need to do something different,'” she said.
She had just started a new, less stressful edtech job, Kloese learned about a health app, Personify Health, connected through their insurance. The timing was perfect: she signed up, logging her steps and water intake.
She lost 38 pounds in the first year and 23 pounds the following year. Now she’s in a “weight maintenance” phase, seeking to stay within a few pounds of her current weight.
“I have so much more energy — I’m not as sluggish and tired as I was feeling all the time,” she said. The issues related to her weight, like high cholesterol and high blood pressure, also went away. “I have just felt a whole lot better.”
Kloese shared the three habits she started and still maintains to keep the weight off.
She woke up to a full glass of water
Before, Kloese didn’t drink much water — sometimes, she’d only remember to have around eight ounces of the recommended eight cups in one day. “That’s one of the most challenging ones for me to do,” she said.
Her goal was to get to at least 72 ounces, or nine cups per day.
Tracking her intake helped. The first thing she did every morning was drink a full, 8-ounce glass of water and log it in the app. For the rest of the day, she’d log in “steady sips”, using a marked water bottle to measure her progress. It was more manageable for her to track two ounces at a time rather than feel pressure to chug a lot of water at once.
Drinking water helps with weight loss by curbing your appetite. It can also help you reach a calorie deficit if you swap it for high-calorie drinks like soda.
She swapped running for walking and yoga
While she used to run a lot in her 20s, Kloese’s knees and hips hurt when she tried in her 40s. She knew she needed to try something different.
When she first made a plan to lose weight, Kloese communicated with a personal trainer through an app. The trainer said that, in her 40s, it was important for Kloese to focus on strength training as we naturally lose muscle with age. Muscle-building can also help with weight loss — gaining muscle boosts your metabolism and burns fat.
Kloese started doing at-home and online circuit workouts 3-4 times a week with light weights.
The rest of the time, she walked. She took part in a fitness challenge of walking 30 minutes a day. Weight-loss-wise, she said she saw about the same results as running.
Now, she aims to walk at least 7,000 steps a day, whether on her walking pad or on trails near her home in Florida. Occasionally, she trains for Mammoth Marches, 20-mile hikes all over the country.
She also swapped out some of the strength training with yoga, which relaxes her while still improving her strength and flexibility.
Being more active transformed her relationships with her friends. “Before, where we might’ve just picked a restaurant to hang out at, instead, we go out and do a hike,” she said.
She made simple meal swaps
Despite snacking on sugary treats at her old job, Kloese isn’t much of a sweets person. “I was a pasta-potato-bread kind of person,” she said. Still, she wanted to make some more nutritious swaps.
Through the KickStart app, she logged her meals by taking photos of them. If she got a burger and fries, the app suggested lower-carb sides for next time, like a side salad or sweet potato wedges.
Eventually, she naturally made those swaps on her own, like cooking quinoa instead of white rice. She also gets pre-made meals through Factor, which she said helps her with portion control and eating a balanced diet when she’s busy.
“Those were all small changes that evolved over time,” she said.
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