This a story of a woman who made two major changes in her life, by focusing on little changes she can make and lost over 100 pounds in one year. But her physical changes are just the beginning. From a whole new mindset and perspective on life, to the health benefits that come from treating your body right, Kiah Twisselman’s incredible transformation has inspired millions of people!

And it’s not about if she hit her goal, it’s how she did it. What exactly is the secret to her success? Let’s dive in and find out more about her inspiring lifestyle and health journey.

From a small-town farm girl to global sensation, Kiah Twisselman (also known as Coach Kiah) has become one of the most exciting and inspiring health journey heroines! After leading a life of unhealthy choices and poor day-to-day habits, she decided to make a change and lost a total of 125 pounds within one calendar year.

But before she became one of the trendiest stories on the Internet and around the world, landing interviews with talk-shows like Good Morning America and even her own spread in People’s Magazine, she was just a cattle rancher living in, what she refers to as "denial about what was really going on."

While her health journey began two years ago in her mid-20s, Kiah’s lifestyle and eating habits were something that she struggled with from childhood. “I think the first diet that I can remember doing, I was maybe 10 years old. And then I was really excited after I lost the weight, and then I went back to my old habits, and I kind of lived that cycle all through my life,” Kiah shared with Access Hollywood.

Even though she saw results as a child, falling back into her old habits made her feel like perhaps she will never have the body that she always wanted, which made her give up.

Twisselman was born and raised in San Luis Obispo, California to a family of ranchers – six generations to be exact. As Kiah grew older, she found herself working in the same business, and eventually moved to Kentucky to become the Director of Consumer Affairs at the Kentucky Beef Council. How interesting!

It was during one of her business conferences that she got a truly mind-blowing wake-up call about the need to change up her life, but what happened that made her realize she was leading an unhealthy life?

From her early childhood to her early 20s, Kiah had been living a version of her life that, according to her, wasn’t necessarily the best that it could be. But the problem wasn’t the fact that she wasn’t doing anything to improve it, it was the fact that she didn’t realize that it was possible.

“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,” Kiah told People. But genetics wasn’t the only thing she was blaming.

“I have battled with being overweight and obesity for my entire life. And for so long, I just kind of blamed my circumstance for where I was. I blamed my genetics [and] I blamed my job for not having time,” Kiah confessed to People.

Instead of taking responsibility or control of her own life, Kiah felt that she's making excuses for herself and blamed her lifestyle issues on all sorts of things, instead of trying to make a change. That is, until one very memorable moment in 2018.

One of Kiah’s responsibilities at her job was to head the nutrition program of the company. “I had to stand up in front of a group of registered dieticians, a group of influencers, a group of teachers, and I had to tell them about the nutritional benefits of beef,” Kiah explained to People.

But the fact that she herself didn’t feel good about her own eating habits or live a healthy lifestyle, made it harder and harder to attend the conferences. “It made me so uncomfortable… I felt so hypocritical up there sharing about the amazing benefits of beef and not looking like an image of health,” she further explained.

The fact that she was meant to have all of these talks and conferences in front of people about the health benefits, encouraged her to think about changings things up for herself. “I want to walk the talk,” she thought to herself.

Still though, making a big lifestyle change isn’t always easy, and she wasn’t necessarily motivated enough to make it happen – especially after all of her failed attempts in the past.

However, there was one particular moment where she realized enough was enough, and something needed to be done. And it just so happened to be work-related.

Part of working those conferences included traveling, however, flying around was just another reminder of how she stood physically, compared to the average person. And pretty soon, there would be one too many straws that would break the camel’s back.

Kiah confessed to Access Hollywood that, “One of the big moments for me, that was really like ‘Oh my gosh, I need to get control of this’, was the first time I had to ask for a seat belt extender on an airplane.”

As sad and as hard as it was for her to accept it, this incident was the motivating moment that was going to change her life forever.

As happy as she was with her life, she wanted to also feel happy about her outer self. Soon she would learn that all of the physical struggles she’s been dealing with, though, would also affect how she treated her inner self.

Not only did the seatbelt incident remain as a motivating memory that she uncomfortably experienced, but the fact that she weighed more than her beloved fiancé was something that bothered her deep down as well.

At almost 300 pounds, she realized that it was time for a change, and found just the right way to climb out of this rabbit hole.

Kiah stumbled upon a life-changing book, Girl, Wash Your Face, by motivational speaker Rachel Hollis, and had a huge epiphany. Rachel stated on her official website that “with unflinching faith and rock-hard tenacity, Girl, Wash Your Face shows you how to live with passion and hustle — and how to give yourself grace without giving up.”

And after reading this book, Kiah realized that the fact that she had allowed herself to get to that point, because of “circumstances” or “getting dealt a bad hand” was something that she just didn’t want to use as an excuse anymore.

Motivational speaker and author, Rachel Hollis, came up with her famous “5 to Thrive” habits – five different things to incorporate into your life in order to create a better version of yourself, in a health manner.

Not only did it seem like a simple task to incorporate these fabulous five new habits into her day-to-day, but Kiah felt like with this approach, she was absolutely capable of putting in the effort and staying on top of it.

“I wasn’t going to completely overhaul my entire lifestyle… I was going to make baby steps and see what happens,” Kiah clarified to People.

The five simple habits to incorporate into your day-to-day (“5 to Thrive”) is just part of the trick to preparing yourself to be a more positive version of yourself, keeping higher energy levels, and living an overall healthier life.

Rachel Hollis titles the real challenge, the “Last 90 Days Challenge”, which encourages you to practice the 5 to Thrive habits for the last 90 days of the year.

Little did Kiah know that these five simple tips would be so much more than just a few health hacks.

After reading the book, Kiah decided to try Rachel’s tips and tricks for a healthier lifestyle. Plus, the 90-day portion intrigued Kiah, seeing as this method would take some of the pressure off of the “New Year’s Resolution” stress that everyone tries to keep up with.

So, what exactly were those 5 habits?

1. Drink enough water
2. Cut out a specific food
3. Stay active daily
4. Wake up one hour earlier
5. Write down what you’re grateful for

   As simple as these steps were, though, Kiah was still blown away by the results she saw within the first few weeks!

At 285 pounds, the 25-year-old Kiah decided she was ready to start Rachel’s 90 Days Challenge. She started exactly 90 days before the calendar year was meant to end, on October 1, 2018.

The very first daily habit was to start drinking enough water – which is half your body weight in ounces. So, for Kiah, that meant she needed to drink 142.5 ounces of water a day.

On her website, Rachel light-heartedly cautioned that increasing your water intake will cause you to run to the restroom a little more frequently than you’re used to, “But it’s also flushing toxins out of your system. Your skin will never look better sister. You will get less headaches. And best of all? Water is free!”

When people think about making a dietary lifestyle change, one of the scariest things is limiting yourself to what you can and can’t eat. But that was one of the best parts about this challenge for Kiah – there were very minimal limitations, and the limitations were her choice.

“You can eat chocolate cake, you can drink your wine, and lose weight. As a cattle rancher, my favorite diet food is beef. It frustrates me when people say that you have to give things up in order to lose weight, which is so not true,” Kiah shared with Access Hollywood.

Which brings us to the next “5 to Thrive” habit.

Let’s be honest, if there’s a new fad you heard about or program that requires you to practice eating habits that you don’t connect with, then it’s going to be really hard to keep at it and commit.

In fact, making a lifestyle change shouldn’t feel like a stressful commitment, it should feel like an optimistic choice. Which is why the next habit is quite flexible and accommodating: to eliminate any food category of your choice (that you feel you shouldn’t be consuming) for 30 days straight.

“It’s not even a diet because you have every other kind of food to choose from. You’re just going to give up this one thing for 30 days and you are not going to cheat… The entire intention here is that you are proving to yourself that you can live without that thing and that you can keep a promise you make to yourself!” Rachel explains on her website.

Kiah told Women’s Health Magazine, “I wanted to find a way to fuel my body with healthy foods that make it feel great while still being able to enjoy the foods I love!”

This inspired Kiah to come up with her own food philosophies. One being that there is no such thing as ‘bad foods’, and the other is about how consuming dairy-free, gluten-free, non-GMO, vegan, etc. products, doesn’t necessarily mean that you are eating healthy.

Proportions and moderation are key, as well as, keeping a balance meal with varied foods for every single meal.

With that said, she came up with quite a fun meal plan for herself!

Kiah’s down-to-earth and simple food philosophies helped her create delicious daily meal options. She revealed to Women’s Health Magazine that her typical daily meals look like this:

Breakfast: Two eggs, two slices of bacon, and a cup of coffee with sugar-free hazelnut creamer

Lunch: A Greek grain bowl (grilled chicken, quinoa, garlic yogurt sauce, cucumber, tomatoes, arugula)

Snacks: Fresh fruit, beef jerky

Dinner: Steak salad (mixed greens, thinly sliced and grilled tri-tip steak, apples, dried cranberries, walnuts, balsamic dressing)

Dessert: A glass of red wine and a piece of dark chocolate

But food was just one out of the five habits she focused on.

The next habit is to stay active daily, by moving your body around for at least 30 minutes every day. From taking a slow walk outside, to making your way to the gym, to dancing around your house and singing up for a kickboxing class, the options are truly endless with this habit!

Rachel reassures on her website, “Whatever it is, just commit that every single day of your life you are going to move your body for at least half an hour.”

Another thing that people who are looking to slim down are intimidated about or make excuses for, is exercising. Whether you’re afraid to show up at the gym due to feeling uncomfortable, claim that you “don’t have time” to work out, or just think you can’t afford to, the truth is that there’s always a way!

Especially since staying active is something that every person needs to incorporate into their life, regardless of the number on the scale. Both Rachel and Kiah have their own tips on how to make it all work.

Earlier we revealed how Rachel reassures that there’s tons of flexibility with the “being active” habit. And the fact that there was so much room to be flexible about it all, really spoke to Kiah.

She was nervous about going to the gym, but she realized there were plenty of activities that she could do from the comfort of her own home. In fact, Kiah confessed to Access Hollywood, that “I didn’t even do this with a gym membership, I started out with free YouTube dance videos in my living room.” She even said that it’s still one of her favorite ways to work out!

When it comes to making lifestyle changes and adding healthy hacks into your day-to-day, one of the most challenging factors is usually time.

Whether it’s trying to be more efficient and manage your time better before work, or just trying to find those extra 30 minutes to catch up on your book, or even just trying to plan out time to work out, sometimes, 24-hours does not seem like enough.

So Rachel Hollis’ solution, is to start waking up a full hour earlier than you normally get up.

Rachel further explained, “Don’t think for a single second that I’m asking you guys give up an hour of sleep. You gotta hit the sheets a little earlier so you can actually make use of that hour!”

She also mentioned that if specific circumstances don’t allow you to practice this habit – like if you’re parents to a newborn or work abnormal night hours – then, “Do not take this one on if it doesn’t make sense for your life.”

But what’s the actual purpose behind waking up early is so much more than just trying to catch up on life.

We know that for anyone who isn’t an early-bird, waking up early is clearly a challenge. But for Kiah, instead of looking at this as a hard habit to break, it was an opportunity for some well-earned “me time” and time to get those personal passion project completed.

This gave her the opportunity to do what she needed to when she's fresh with energy after a good night’s sleep, instead of after she stumbles her way into the door after a long day running around at work.

Rachel further states, “One of the comments I hear most often from our community is, ‘I don’t have time.’ You have time, you’re just spending it doing other things. Give yourself an hour every single day that’s just for you.”

This final step of the challenge requires you to write five different things that you’re grateful for in general each day, and then 10 additional things that you’re appreciative of that happened to you on that specific day. For some people, this might seem a bit cheesy or cliché, but the benefits of this habit proved to Kiah that it can be truly life-changing.

“If you choose one thing out of these five things [to thrive from], I highly recommend this one …If you spend your day looking for your 10 things like, ‘Hey, I got to make my list later tonight, so I have to be on the lookout for beautiful blessings,’ it will change your perspective of everything,” Rachel states in her book.

So now that we’ve gone over what Kiah planned for herself for the first 3 months of her health and fitness journey, what happened when the New Year rolled around?

Within the first few weeks of incorporating the “5 to Thrive” habits into her day-to-day, Kiah was seeing some satisfying results! After her first six weeks of the challenge, she had already lost 15 pounds, and by the time she had gotten to the end of the challenge 90 days later, she had lost a total of 25!

Not only was she feeling motivated from successfully completing the challenge, she felt like a whole new version of herself. But this was only the beginning.

It was so great to hit milestones so quickly, but seeing results was just part of what made her so happy, excited, and motivated for more. She quickly realized that the last 90 days were so much more than just about slimming down and seeing a lower number on the scale – it helped her change how she viewed the world, and more importantly, herself.

“I realized I needed to approach [becoming healthier] from a different mindset, which is more about loving myself enough, to show up and do the thing I needed to do for myself, instead of hating myself, and wanting to change who I was or how I looked,” Kiah shared with People.

It was then that she realized she was ready for an even bigger challenge.

The first 3 months of her year long journey were some of the most important ones. “It was about fueling this journey, not from self-hate, self-shame, but fueling it from a place of self-love,” Kiah shared with Access Hollywood.

Keeping to the 5 to Thrive helped develop her relationship with food, shape her mentality about her inner and outer self, understand her own personality philosophies, and, of course, allow herself to bring more love, light, and positivity into her life.

And by that point, she was ready to set an even bigger challenge – losing 100 pounds in one year.

By October 2019, Kiah was prepared to step on the scale, in hopes that she would be 100 pounds lighter from the previous Autumn. But she couldn’t just keep on doing the same thing she had been doing. The body is a complex system, and you’re bound to hit plateaus and rough patched along the way.

So, how did she get over those challenges? It came down to two separate things. One of those was focusing on the little things, and “continuing to make those baby step changes forward and not getting too comfortable in my routine,” she revealed to People.

In order to keep herself feeling challenged and not getting too comfortable, Kiah would do harder dance videos and change up the types of food she was eating. The other part to her success was actually what fueled it all, though.

“When I tried to diet before, if I messed up, I would say, ‘See, you failed, you always fail.’ But this time, I started from a place of self-love,” Kiah shared with People. She further emphasized, “[this] different approach was such a huge game-changer for me, and really focusing on the mindset part of this journey has been the biggest transformation.”

The first 3 months of her year long journey were some of the most important ones. She learned to treat herself with kindness on both the good days and bad days. And more importantly, to always show up and do it – no matter what.

Kiah further explained to People, “I had to love myself enough to show up and do the hard things each day, and when I failed, I was more willing to forgive myself and say, ‘What can I learn from this? How can I use this experience to continue moving forward?’”

“That book was kind of my wake-up call to me that if you want to change your life, or live a better life, or create this life that you always dream about, then it is 100 percent in your control and nobody else's,” Kiah further clarified to People.

If Kiah learned anything, it’s that being healthy doesn’t need to be complicated or complex. The book was a great motivator and the 5 to Thrive method worked out great for her, but the key to her inspiring journey comprehending the importance in treating her inner self just as good as her outer self.

The truth is, her secret fuel isn’t like a secret power at all – it’s all a matter of making the choice to take control of life. And Kiah reassures that everyone is capable of exactly that — no matter your goals!

"I’ve learned that weight loss doesn’t have to be all in or nothing, you just have to do one thing better than the day before. The key to long term results is consistency and having someone in your corner cheering you on!" Kiah shared with People.

And October of 2019 was about to prove just that!

Amazingly enough, the ambitious, diligent, and inspiring 26-year-old woman proudly reached her goal, and lost a total of 103 pounds within a full calendar year! In fact, she’s currently lost a total of 125 pounds!

“I mean, obviously, the physical transformation is the most shocking when people see me, but I always say ‘Man, if only you could see my mind,’ because that is where the biggest change I’ve made, hands down,” she excitingly expressed to People.

So what’s Kiah up to now?

Kiah is so pleased and proud of herself, and how far she’s come in such a short amount of time. There were definite ups and downs throughout the year, but she stuck to what she believed in, and now feels like she’s the best version of herself.

“It’s been so challenging, it’s been so rewarding, and I would not trade this last year for the world,” Kiah shared in a recent interview with Good Morning America.

After so much encouragement from the community and her story going viral, she’s excited to now be working on her own marvelous method to help and guide others through their own personal health journey and get the same results as her. How heart-warming!