Mother, 31, whose weight hit 230LBS after she had three children reveals how she lost a staggering 80LBS ‘naturally’ in less than a year without sticking to a rigid diet

A mother whose weight ballooned to almost 230 pounds after giving birth to three children has told how she lost more than 80 pounds “naturally.”

Amy Fritz, 31, from Ohio, suffered from joint pain and was concerned about her health when she started her weight-loss journey in January.

Nine months later, the home and garden influencer is down to 142 pounds and recently completed a half marathon after developing a passion for running.

Fritz shared how she transformed her body in less than a year video posted on her YouTube channel of the same name, which has more than 122,000 subscribers.

“I can say that my life is so different, and I am so grateful for the journey,” she said of her weight loss.

Fritz explained that she led an active lifestyle during her childhood and played competitive tennis while in college.

“My diet wasn’t perfect by any means, but I was never overweight,” she said.

After she got married and became a mother, she noticed that her weight increased a little every year.

“I was eating all the same things, but my pants weren’t fitting right, and I really struggled to bounce back after my third baby,” she recalls.

“You combine that with being postpartum and the pandemic hitting, I just wasn’t living an active lifestyle.”

The 6-foot-2 lifestyle guru estimated she gained about 50 pounds in two years and had to shop in the plus-size section for the first time in her life.

‘I gained weight like crazy. I felt like my hormones were really out of balance. I stopped getting my period,” she explained.

‘Crazy things were happening to my body, and I felt it.

“My knees were hurting – things that shouldn’t happen in your late 20s and early 30s started happening.

‘I was scared. I was afraid for my health and I was insecure. I didn’t want to be the mother on the sidelines.’

Fritz said she reached her breaking point when she stepped on the scale for the first time in a long time and saw that she weighed 228 pounds.

She immediately spoke to her husband and told him something had to change. She also shared her weight loss goals with a friend to keep herself accountable.

The mother-of-three said she first tracked everything she ate and drank on calorie-counting app My Fitness Pal for a week to see what she consumed each day.

She then demonstrated how to enter her information – including her age, weight and activity level – into the calorie calculator on Calculator.net to see how many calories she should eat to lose weight.

Fritz explained that she wasn’t following a specific diet plan, such as keto, but she did aim to eat protein-rich meals while counting calories.

‘Of course I liked to eat something tasty every now and then, but I just factored that in for the whole day. “I wouldn’t exceed that number no matter what,” she said.

“If you’re in a 500-calorie (or) 1,000-calorie deficit for several months, you’ll see the weight come off. That’s just basic science.’

Fritz noted that she fasted intermittently when she started her weight-loss journey, eating only two meals a day between 11 a.m. and 6 a.m.

She now has a more intuitive approach to eating and will eat breakfast if she feels starved after a workout.

The content creator said she also set a goal for herself to drink a liter of water a day. Although she still drinks her morning coffee, she no longer drinks sweet tea and high-calorie sodas.

‘When I eat, I aim for a low-carb diet. “I stick to lean meats and veggies for dinner just because I find it makes me feel better the next day,” she explained.

Fritz said she prefers counting calories to following a specific diet because she didn’t have to cut out any foods.

‘If I wanted to eat a sandwich with bread, I could eat a sandwich with bread. All I had to do was follow it. If I wanted to eat a piece of pizza, I could. “I just had to follow it,” she said.

Fritz recalled getting a spicy chicken sandwich with large fries and a soft drink at Chick-fil-A a few times a week.

She now gets a grilled chicken sandwich wrapped in lettuce, a salad, a small bowl and a diet drink when she visits the fast food chain with her children.

Fritz has also “fallen back in love with fitness” since she overhauled her lifestyle in January.

She noticed that she was significantly overweight and out of shape at the time, so she started slowly by walking with a friend at the gym three mornings a week.

The mother of three eventually became fit enough to undergo the viral infection 12-3-30 treadmill workout, which consists of walking on a level 12 incline at a speed of 5 km per hour for 30 minutes.

When spring arrived, she took her workouts outside and started incorporating jogging and running into her walking routine.

Fritz explained that she did what her body could do, and by the end of the month she was able to run three miles at a slow pace.

To push herself even further, she signed up to run a half marathon in September.

Not only did she complete the 13.1-mile race, but she also placed third in her age group after finishing in one hour and 52 minutes.

Fritz advised finding a workout you love, “so that exercise never feels like a chore.” She now runs four to five days a week and lifts weights two to three days a week.

“There are times when I feel good and the scale doesn’t reflect that, and I’ve learned that that’s okay,” she concluded.

‘The scale goes up and down a bit. It’s just like that. That’s life… But if you make the right choices and feel good at the end of the day, nothing else really matters.”