Weight Loss Transformation; My Fitness Journey

I’ve never really taken the time to actually tell anyone about the things I have faced in my fitness journey.

It started in October of 2019, and I’m so glad I finally took the leap and started.

My weight loss transformation didn’t happen over night.

It took me months to get to the mentality where I didn’t compare myself to others, and I understood that I needed to love myself in every stage and learn patience.

My fitness journey is far from over, but if you’ve ever wondered what it has been like for me so far keep reading!

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Long Before My Fitness Journey

Growing up I was very active

I was a level 7 gymnast. 

I ran track.

Played basketball one year (even though I sucked)

And lastly I was a competitive cheerleader.

Here’s a video of one of my high school competitions.

I am in the center on the X.

 

I’m sure you can see I was definitely in shape.

When I got to college I started to gain weight like everyone else.

I didn’t gain the whole freshman 15 though. 

It was probably like 10 for me, so then my weight was likely around 120 lbs (roughly what my weight is currently)

After my first year of college I decided to stop drinking soda so much, because I was literally drinking sprite with every meal in the cafe lol

And that’s when I fell in love with water, and now I mostly only drink water and tea.. juice occasionally, and soda veeeeery occasionally. probably like two or three a year at this point. 

From sophomore to senior year of college my weight hadn’t dramatically changed. 

I was still very small.

I got my first apartment with two roomies senior year and that was really when the weight started picking up.

I gained most of the weight during that time from eating so much fast food.

I didn’t like cooking, and honestly I am not that great of a cook either, and also fast food was my go to because I didn’t have the cafe to go to anymore since I didn’t live on campus with a meal plan.

I went on a cruise to the Bahamas with my girlfriends in April for my birthday and seeing myself in the pictures was when I truly noticed just how big I had gotten and  I wasn’t pleased. 

Bahamas 2018

When I got home I weighed myself and I was 140 pounds.

Before the trip I was 135.

I can’t express how much I was disgusted in myself after that trip.

I hated how I looked, and literally cried about it.

I moved in with another roommate soon after and that was when I realized that I am an emotional eater and that over the years I was feeding my feelings really.

I was very depressed in high school college for many reasons, but before I was active

when I started gaining weight I wasn’t

after graduating and starting work full time in corporate America it got even worse.

I was on a bad path and for the first time I realized that.

The Months Leading Up To My Fitness Journey

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Diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure run in my family and I knew that if I had kept letting my emotional eating get the best of me I would end up with one of those conditions or dead.

I didn’t want that for myself. 

So, after realizing what I looked like and thinking about my family, and how much I hated my body I started trying different things.

I wanted a quick fix because I didn’t want to look that way or feel that way about myself. 

I wanted it all gone the next day pretty much lol

Especially my belly

Which was very ignorant of me at the time.

The first thing I tried was a waist trainer.

Wore it for a few days straight, and then it got down to every other day or so.

Did it for maybe 3 weeks.

Nothing changed.

I gave up on it.

It also hurt to wear it, so that was another reason I stopped.

I then purchased a program called RI28.

It was a 4 week program I believe, and I didn’t even make it through week one.

I gave up, because the workout was boring and I didn’t know anything about exercise then.

After that program I was adamant about finding something that didn’t require me to workout, so I started doing research.

That was when I found out about apple cider vinegar(ACV).

I started drinking that everyday, and I remember each day I would wake up and grab my belly hoping that it had gotten smaller, and

Everyday I was disappointed to feel that it didn’t

Yet, I kept drinking the acv.

I started getting tired of the taste because it really tastes disgusting so eventually I gave that up too.

**Mind you, while I was trying these things my diet was still trash.

Once I realized that none of that stuff was working I finally had to step down off of my high horse and consider working out.

I did a little research and i was also following this one trainer who posted a lot about how there aren’t any shortcuts, and if you wanted to lose weight you’ll do what it takes.

I think the day I really was ready was when I saw him post something that was like “stop crying about the way you look if you won’t do anything to change it”

And that was when I decided that I was going to start working out.

Starting My Fitness Journey

Once I made the decision to start working out I made a list of some things to help myself stay consistent. 

I actually share that list in this article.

For example, I needed to allow myself to be a beginner, and not compare myself to others who have been doing it for years.

I also started doing some research on at home workouts.

I was too afraid to go to a gym so I started right there in my room.

I found some at home workouts I could do, and I had some 5lb dumbbells that my aunt had given me years ago that I planned to use

I went out and bought a kettlebell and some resistance bands too.

And on Thursday, October 27th I did my first workout that I didn’t even know would lead to so much greatness.

I planned to start off working out 3 days a week for 30 minutes. 

And that’s exactly what I did.

During the first month I only did strength training in my room with the 5 pound dumbbells, 15 pound kettlebell, and resistance bands.

I took weekly pictures also to keep track, and I pretty much weighed myself everyday

For the first month I didn’t lose any weight. 

When I started I was 135/136 pounds, and after a month I was still 135 lbs.

However, even though my weight hadn’t changed I still felt like I was noticing changes in my body. 

Here are the first 5 weeks of progress pics I put side by side.

I also recorded measurements each week.

even now I still kind of notice some changes in those pictures but they weren’t that significant. You have to stare hard to see a difference lol

So after that month i began thinking about why I didn’t see much change.

I figured it was because I hadn’t changed my diet, so I made a deal with myself.

I planned to eat healthy and meal prep for 1 week, and continue to do my workouts 3x a week, and see if anything changed.

If nothing changed, I would quit. If something did change, I would keep going.

After that one week was up I got on the scale and I was 134 pounds.

I lost 1 pound!

Hadn’t seen that number on the scale in  I don’t even know how long so you can bet I was LIT.

That was when I realized the importance of nutrition, and that I couldn’t skip out on fixing my diet.

So from there on out I made my diet a priority.

The First Year Of my Fitness Journey

After the first month and the things that I learned I started going harder.

In December I increased my workouts to 4 days a week, and began meal prepping regularly.

I also got brave enough to go to my apartment complex gym

There I had access to heavier weights, and cardio equipment.

I started doing cardio and weight lifting, and I’d do both home and gym workouts.

Around January I increased to 5 days a week, where I’d do 30-40 minutes of weights, and then I’d go and do cardio on the elliptical until the machine said I burned about 500-600 calories

I actually got discouraged in January because I was very focused on my belly getting smaller, and it didn’t seem like it was.

I had said to myself that I was going to stop working out because I wasn’t seeing the changes I wanted.

Yeah the scale said I was a few pounds lighter but my belly was still super big to me.

Before I gave up I decided to take more progress photos and that day on January 11th I saw that while my belly wasn’t changing much my back definitely was

I saw my rolls were beginning to disappear.

 I was just so happy because I had finally figured out how to lose weight, and I built consistency, and this was concrete proof that what I was doing was working.

And there I was doing it. By myself.

Even though it wasn’t coming off where I hoped, it was still coming off and it was only a matter of time before it would come off in my belly area too.

I sent that image to my boyfriend at the time and he noticed the changes, and my coworkers as well, so I kept going

Around this time I started my YouTube channel to share my journey because I wanted to show people what It REALLY takes to lose weight..

I wanted to help people avoid making the mistakes I made, and to motivate them.

Here’s my first video

February came and things were still going smoothly, but around the end of the month my boyfriend and I broke up.

I was hurt and sad and I knew I needed a break.

I needed to get my mind right, and stop focusing so much on how I looked, so I took about 2 weeks off to try and heal.

When March came I purchased another workout program and started doing that for the month.

It was a good program but I didn’t give it my all. 

I was still dealing with the break up, and still just trying to be okay, so I did the best that I could do.

By the end of March I weighed 127.8 lbs.

***Over time I realized that I didn’t really like being on camera that much and talking so I stopped recording Youtube videos around this time, and stuck more to sharing on instagram.

I had gotten to a point where I was losing about 1 pound a month and I was okay with that because at that time I had already decided that I wasn’t in a rush to get to my ultimate goal.

I wanted to enjoy the process, and not stress about it.

Even though I was losing weight I did still have many bad days and weeks.

I skipped workouts, I had cheat meals, I even quit once for  a week because I was over it

The thing I didn’t realize though was that it’s not quitting if you get back up and start again.

It’s only quitting when you don’t

And I got back up.

I wasn’t satisfied with the body I had so I knew I couldn’t stop there.

April came, which Is my birth month

and I actually back tracked.

I gained weight back 😲

I was really upset about this.

I gave myself time to mope about it, but after that I decided to get back on my shit and just lose the weight again. 

I didn’t get that far to give up.

So I got back to work.

I was hiking, going for runs, lifting weights, and trying new things.

I was learning new meals I could make too.

I got my first Fitbit in May and then things really took off for me then.

Having that made it easier to see my progress, and it made me want to push myself more, so I started losing even more weight. 

By this time I was 126.6lbs

Only 1.6 lbs away from my initial goal of 125 lbs.

June and July were good months. 

Probably my best months.

I was happy, enjoying life still losing weight and eating healthy overall.

I had changed so much physically and mentally, and I was on a high.

By August I had moved back in with my mother and things things took a turn for me.

I stopped working out consistently.

I probably had about 1-3 workouts a week on average.

I also got depressed again and began binge eating more than I had been the months before.

It was a rough time for me, but in that time I decided to just take a break from working out to deal with the stress that I was under.

I realized then that I didn’t really like working out as much as I thought, otherwise it would have been a good stress reliever for me.

I only worked out because of the results.

In September I started working with a trainer for the first time.

I did a 4 week program.

This was when I got my first gym membership and I finally got over my fear of working out in a real gym. 

It took me almost a year to get over that fear. Lol

after that program my weight was down to 121lbs.

My belly was flatter, my body was more toned, and I was genuinely happy with the way I looked.

Once October came around and I hit my year mark I was a whole new person.

New confidence, new body, new apartment, new job, new me.

The entire time that I lived with my mom I was very down and depressed, but I did my best, and by October I was pleased with my journey..

everything I went through taught me something that I am now able to share with others.

Where I Am Now; January 3rd, 2021

I am now 13 months into my fitness journey doing the best that I can. 

My current weight is 122.8 lbs.

I’ve gained a pound, but I don’t really care.

I took a month long break last month due to re-injuring my knee, and I just started getting back into my 5 day routine.

I do things at my own pace.

I live my life the way I want to.

I don’t compare myself to others on social media.

It has been a long journey, but it is far from over for me.

My goal is no longer to lose weight.

My future goals are to build up my lower body, and finally get rid of my fupa.

Here is how I look today

So if you’ve managed to read all of that I’m sure you see that a fitness journey isn’t straight forward or easy.

There will be a lot of ups and downs

But the rewards are well worth it.

If you need help at any stage in your journey I’d be happy to help so don’t hesitate to reach out!

If you are just getting started check out these articles below