My journey to a healthy life. This is my progress:
TinaZ2018
Posts: 314 Member
Hello, everyone! This is my progress after 3 months of healthy eating and over 80h of home workouts. 3.7 kg of them were lost in the last 6 weeks since I've discovered MFP and controlled my daily eating in order to have a calorie deficit. The most significant changes are: weight - 6.3kg (@August 6th - I took the pix a few days before), waist and belly -7cm, hips and butt -5 cm, tighs -6 cm and I'm toned - I've never been. 2 more kg to go and half of my goal will be done! Beside loosing 8 kg, the other half is getting my self as toned as possible until June 2019 (this was the due date for both goals). My goal is not to follow a diet but to have a healthy and active life style.
I’ll tell you my story (sorry for the long post)… I'm still at the beginning (it's been only 3 months).
I could never really understand how I should feel good after exercising, let alone energized (at the beginning, I could go straight to the morgue after a 20 minutes session of home exercising). I read about the chemical reactions but that’s not very helpful. Anyways. Now, after 2 months, I get it. I lost weight, I'm more toned, I've gained strength, I look better, feel better and confident but the first month was pure hell.
All my life I made an art of being sedentary - brought it to perfection. And I hate sports. Above this, I LOVE good food, all my family cooks great (including me, so moving out didn't help) and let's say that my food portions were over sized in comparison with how I should have eat. Thankfully, I realized a bit late that my cooking skills could be used to cook very healthy and tasty dishes. I’m not lazy at all but when it comes to sports, I can’t say the same… I’ was 32 yo, 1.68 cm and weighted 67.8 kg. And I always disliked sports. My problem was that I was so sedentary that my ankles started to hurt for months and I also had some terrible back pains (sitting 10h a day at work..). The worst thing? I got saggy... saggy butt, saggy arms and big, ugly, belly. I felt so bad about how I looked, that I started to avoid seeing myself in the mirror. I just decided that this is not okay, is not normal and is not who I want to be. I can be better. I WILL be better.
It was very hard at the beginning. I do the exercises at 6:15PM (after work) so I was already pretty tired. But even when I felt like crying, I did my session. I had my workout schedule and stuck to it.
I know myself and how I find excuses… so that’s why I decided to do my exercises at home. This way, I can’t say that I don’t have time to go to the gym, or that I won’t go to a run because it’s raining, or that it’s too snowy to get to the gym. The season won’t matter.
To get an idea of the state I was in, I’ll tell you that for me, one push-up meant laying on my belly and only pushing myself up with the arms (cobra push-up). It was impossible to do at least a knee push-up - now I can do 15 correct ones. After 50 squats I felt exhausted - now I can do 250 and breathe almost normally. And so on. My muscles were so atrophied that I had cramps even when I was doing the moves without weights. I was a mess with no strength at all. I gradually increased the time of the sessions, the difficulty of the exercises and the weights. The sessions got from 20 minutes to 90. Meanwhile I started to think about these sessions like something that I must do, routine (like eating or a taking a shower) and didn’t perceive them as awful anymore. It might not seem much to other people, but in the last 3 months I exercised more than in the last 20 years so for me… that’s amazing.
My point is… it doesn’t matter how bad is the state you are in NOW. It matters to do something about it and make a habit of it. A good habit. No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everybody in the couch. Also, don’t focus on losing weight. If you clean up your diet and exercise regularly, your weight will take care of itself.
My blood tests are almost perfect (according to my doctor I still have to get that cholesterol a bit lower but for me 212 is not high...), my self-confidence is back, I feel lighter, more sexy, I'm more confident, I have a general good state of mind and I can wear size Small clothes again. I love my life now. This change was long due.
I’ll tell you my story (sorry for the long post)… I'm still at the beginning (it's been only 3 months).
I could never really understand how I should feel good after exercising, let alone energized (at the beginning, I could go straight to the morgue after a 20 minutes session of home exercising). I read about the chemical reactions but that’s not very helpful. Anyways. Now, after 2 months, I get it. I lost weight, I'm more toned, I've gained strength, I look better, feel better and confident but the first month was pure hell.
All my life I made an art of being sedentary - brought it to perfection. And I hate sports. Above this, I LOVE good food, all my family cooks great (including me, so moving out didn't help) and let's say that my food portions were over sized in comparison with how I should have eat. Thankfully, I realized a bit late that my cooking skills could be used to cook very healthy and tasty dishes. I’m not lazy at all but when it comes to sports, I can’t say the same… I’ was 32 yo, 1.68 cm and weighted 67.8 kg. And I always disliked sports. My problem was that I was so sedentary that my ankles started to hurt for months and I also had some terrible back pains (sitting 10h a day at work..). The worst thing? I got saggy... saggy butt, saggy arms and big, ugly, belly. I felt so bad about how I looked, that I started to avoid seeing myself in the mirror. I just decided that this is not okay, is not normal and is not who I want to be. I can be better. I WILL be better.
It was very hard at the beginning. I do the exercises at 6:15PM (after work) so I was already pretty tired. But even when I felt like crying, I did my session. I had my workout schedule and stuck to it.
I know myself and how I find excuses… so that’s why I decided to do my exercises at home. This way, I can’t say that I don’t have time to go to the gym, or that I won’t go to a run because it’s raining, or that it’s too snowy to get to the gym. The season won’t matter.
To get an idea of the state I was in, I’ll tell you that for me, one push-up meant laying on my belly and only pushing myself up with the arms (cobra push-up). It was impossible to do at least a knee push-up - now I can do 15 correct ones. After 50 squats I felt exhausted - now I can do 250 and breathe almost normally. And so on. My muscles were so atrophied that I had cramps even when I was doing the moves without weights. I was a mess with no strength at all. I gradually increased the time of the sessions, the difficulty of the exercises and the weights. The sessions got from 20 minutes to 90. Meanwhile I started to think about these sessions like something that I must do, routine (like eating or a taking a shower) and didn’t perceive them as awful anymore. It might not seem much to other people, but in the last 3 months I exercised more than in the last 20 years so for me… that’s amazing.
My point is… it doesn’t matter how bad is the state you are in NOW. It matters to do something about it and make a habit of it. A good habit. No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everybody in the couch. Also, don’t focus on losing weight. If you clean up your diet and exercise regularly, your weight will take care of itself.
My blood tests are almost perfect (according to my doctor I still have to get that cholesterol a bit lower but for me 212 is not high...), my self-confidence is back, I feel lighter, more sexy, I'm more confident, I have a general good state of mind and I can wear size Small clothes again. I love my life now. This change was long due.
289
Replies
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WOW, I needed to read this today... great motivation for me. Well done
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Awesome job!2
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Great job! You look beautiful in both pics. Healthier in the second. Congrats on finding what works for you.7
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You are so inspiring! Thank you for this on a Monday morning!2
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Thank you all so much! I'm not having the best day but your words made me smile.
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Felicitări! urare! fericire!3
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Your doing great1
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That is astounding progress in just 3 months. I love how you buckled down and used determination and consistency when you didn't have motivation. This is a great inspiration to people who think they can't do it.6
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You were drop dead gorgeous BEFORE and even more so now. Also, you have a million dollar smile as well. Way to go you winner you!!!!!3
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Wow! What a transformation! Thank you for the motivation you have given me today! Mind if I ask what home workouts you were doing and the amount of calories you were consuming to have such amazing results? I am 70kg and I would like get to 60kg! Seems almost unreachable sometimes! I ask because we seem to have the same body composition! Thanks.4
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Wow1
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Patty1015A wrote: »Wow! What a transformation! Thank you for the motivation you have given me today! Mind if I ask what home workouts you were doing and the amount of calories you were consuming to have such amazing results? I am 70kg and I would like get to 60kg! Seems almost unreachable sometimes! I ask because we seem to have the same body composition! Thanks.
Hi! Thank you so much for the kind words you wrote me!
I sent you a friend request. I hope you'll accept it.
Of course, I can provide you with all the information. It's 10 kg... you can lose them, don't worry. :-)
This is the list with challenges/youtube videos/apps that I've been using: https://mega.nz/#!JH4DmBQR!5gTAtq9zHOhsFmDWVaeK0b0iudbG8rZG6RwR3Mq6mGc
These are the apps (Android) that I've been using (as a beginner, I'd start with 'Female fitness women workout - 28 days challenge' and the youtube video 'How To Lose Arm Fat':
You have to prepare the schedule for the month and stick to it. Be careful to have rest days and to increase the difficulty of the exercises and the length of the sessions gradually. Here's my august schedule (as example):
https://mega.nz/#!FXwwgYjR!wjrxrVZLaZEO7702eM4tDe4jk-qxn7CNcG9rB6Kswjk
Because it was very hard for me the first 1-2 months, I didn't monitor my calorie intake and I was doing daily workouts (I started from 20' and got to 90'. Now I workout 5 days a week, 1h/session). I was very focused on not cheat-eating and reducing portions. Replacing the bad foods with goods ones and so on. Until my body got used to the new life, I felt hungry almost all the time but I suppose I ate an average of 1500 kcal/day.
My exercise sessions equal an average of 500 burnt kcal (consider that I have a very sedentary life and that's about all I burn per day. If you haven't already done that, calculate the calories you burn by doing nothing more than live, because the worst thing you can do is starve yourself (the body goes in alarm mode and instead of losing weight, it stores as much fats as it can): https://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator
For example I had 1400 kcal BMR and burnt 500 more with exercises = 1900 kcal. Of this total, I was careful to keep a deficit of 20-25%, so I ate 1400-1550 kcal/day. My macros proportions are set to 45 carbs/ 35 fats/ 20 proteins. I'm very attentive to the micro-nutrients too, because macros proportions are not everything. In the rest days I keep a deficit of 5-10%.
I made it a rule not to impose restrictions to myself, as longs as I don't exaggerate. So I eat just about anything and any quantity within my calories goal but it must be healthy stuff (your body wants nutrients, not empty calories). This way, the psychological burden will get much easier. Also, I plan all my meals the day before, this way I can make it so that it fits all my parameters.
I tried all kinds of apps and YT videos until I found the ones that fit my style and I enjoyed them.
Let me know if there's anything else I can help you with!
Have a great day!
Tina
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Thank you for your friend request! I have accepted!
As you can imagine i need all the help i can get! 1 -
I am so grateful for your detailed explanation as well.2
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You're welcome. And you'll get it. Isn't the whole point of this community to help, encourage and motivate each other? :-)Patty1015A wrote: »Thank you for your friend request! I have accepted! As you can imagine i need all the help i can get!7 -
NewLIFEstyle4ME wrote: »You were drop dead gorgeous BEFORE and even more so now. Also, you have a million dollar smile as well. Way to go you winner you!!!!!
Thank you so much!0 -
What an amazing transformation! You look great and thanks for sharing your inspirational story!
I'm so happy for you! ❤1 -
Great work and dedication! Thanks for sharing your story!1
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Thanks a lot for sharing your story...Its really motivational....I too have a sedentary life style with hate for sports
Hope I can reduce 10kg for my dream beach body
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Great story, great results, congratulations. Keep going 0
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rainbow198 wrote: »What an amazing transformation! You look great and thanks for sharing your inspirational story!
I'm so happy for you! ❤
Thank you so much!0 -
jeffrey_ad wrote: »Great work and dedication! Thanks for sharing your story!
Thank you!0 -
Great job!! Keep moving forward.1
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Amazing transformation! I have a question for you. Did your maintenance calories increase with the build up of muscle and if so by how much? Right now maintenance for me is around 1350 calories/day. I'm wondering if building some muscle will increase that.0
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cheryldumais wrote: »Amazing transformation! I have a question for you. Did your maintenance calories increase with the build up of muscle and if so by how much? Right now maintenance for me is around 1350 calories/day. I'm wondering if building some muscle will increase that.
Hi
I'm not at maintenance yet. The last bit of weight is getting me out of my mind. I only had 200g (60.2 kg). Then I put back in a couple of days until I got to 61.5 kg and now I'm blocked at 60.7 kg. So... still 700 grams to go. I knew the last bit of weight was the hardest to lose but it's very frustrating. Still, I'm trying not to stress myself about it, because I exercised and ate with a deficit. It might be that I stopped taking my birth control pills. Anyways...
I have 1400 kcal/day and it actually got lower since losing weight, because the more weight I've lost, the fewer calories I need to function. I don't think I've added that much muscular mass to increase my daily intake. I was VERY atrophied so it's better to say that I've toned my body. I've never measured my body fat percentage.
Regarding maintenance, I'm still gathering information. When I'll get there, I'll lower the protein intake a bit and I have to eat back the calories lost by exercising.1 -
OMG OMG OMG Target achieved!!! I'm SO happy! I managed to do this in 4,1 months and 100 workouts, while eating healthy with a calorie deficit. I feel so proud and accomplished... It was hard but it was worth it!!! I almost look like when I was 18. I think I actually look better, because I'm also toned.
Now I'm going into maintenance, so I'll lower the protein intake a bit, adjust the BMR to my actual weight and eat back the burnt calories, so that I won't have a deficit.
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Wow great! Congratulations 1
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YleniaFarina wrote: »Wow great! Congratulations
Thank you!0
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