Okay so these photos are slightly over a month apart in which I’ve lost around 25-30 pounds. How did I do it? Well let’s start with what happened my senior year, and a bit of background. I’m from a home environment that was exceptionally toxic. Domestic violence, drugs, poverty... the works. So as you can imagine I was extremely stressed out quite often. When I was 16 I had my first grand mal seizure and was shortly after diagnosed with epilepsy. The combination of the stress level I had and the medication I was put on made me gain around 20 pounds. I had been miserable. My senior year I began hanging out with my friends more often and being from a state with nothing to do, we often just went out to eat, went to the movies, or a plethora of other things that often had to do with food. I gained another 10 or so pounds from that. So by the end of my senior year I was suffering really bad from stress and depression and (TRIGGER WARNING EDS) sought comfort in bulimia and laxative abuse. This did not do anything but make me feel more broken inside. I would never recommend. When I got to college (eight hours from my home town and toxic house), I decided to cold turkey become a vegetarian and began thinking very hard about what I was putting into my body. I did (and still do) a water fast twice a week (48 hours max), to adjust my body to smaller portion sizes. When I do eat I try and eat very clean, a lot of veggies in a lot of colors, and drink so much (and only) water. I’ve never felt better mentally. I joined a women’s fitness group, a yoga club, and go to the gym regularly on my own. For the first time I feel in control of my weight, my fitness, my health. I still have very far to go (my side angle I always look thin, I’m wider from a front angle), and so much training to do, but now I’m ready to do so. Remember that you can come from where I was and excel. What are your goals that you want to achieve health-wise? (The before photo is in the black shirt)
Updates
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Everyone is so sweet! Thank you for all the encouraging comments and I hope you guys reach your own goals as well! It’s all about setting a schedule, finding a balance that works for you (as in how strict you are with yourself... some people say I’m too strict and that I’ll give up but it’s been over a month and I know I need to be as strict as I am or I’d have fallen off from it. So listen to your self for that stuff), and just doing it.
What are you weight loss goals or just steps to becoming healthy?
Well, I already work out 5 times a week, but there are some areas for improvement:
Add more size/definition:
Despite working out for just over 2 1/2 years, I haven't exactly put on a whole lot of size or weight since joining. If I stay looking the same, it's fine, because I'm proud of the fact that I've still progressed (I think anyway), despite my eating habits and even if it's the bare minimum, I don't care and criticism doesn't stop me. I'm not exactly the leanest either, unfortunately and when you get older, your metabolism slows down and it become easier to store body fat and more body fat = less definition. Unless a person has a lot of body fat somewhat evenly spread, kind of like one of those bulky guys, then losing some body fat, can make a person look more bigger, as you can see more shape and definition, so I definitely want to help set the stage for the future better, so I can be as lean as possible, when I'm older too, because I'd only be able to get away with it for so long. Still though, I'm proud of how I've been so committed, consistent and want to continue for ever.
Eat better/more:
Because I weight train, my main focus, is getting the protein in. I do tend to get around half my body weight in protein in a day (like at least 40 grams), but I think I need to focus on getting other nutrients in too. The problem is, I only have one meal each workout day, post workout and then have like 3 protein bars through out the say. It's hard though, as nutrition is the bigger part and I'm really picky, so I have less options, like I've only really got two meal options I like, but I'm proud of the fact that I still make the effort. Good thing I'm only like 5'2 though and slim and because my eating habits were pretty bad before I started working out, I probably didn't have to make so many changes, to see any gains at all. It'd be nice if I had some easy meal options, but I'm not exactly a great cook and need more options so I don't get sick of the same old, but sometimes, I'm reluctant to try new things, because if I don't like it, it's not really an option, just a waste. For me, it's not just a matter of eat more, it's about eating the right stuff, so I don't exactly agree with the whole idea of 'dirty bulking', for me, because I'll either end up fat or not change much, because your body can't use everything you put inside it and get's rid.
Fix my back:
Basically for like a year or so, I've had what I think, is a bulging disc and whilst the pain is on and off, it still bothers me from time to time, literally pain anywhere in my back, except my lower back.
Get stronger:
Whilst I'm obviously stronger than when I started, I don't think I've reached my full potential strength wise, because I'm sure we're all capable of lifting some serious weight for our size. A about a month or so ago, I did a 125kg deadlift (I weight about 48-49kg), only for a PT to come up to me and tell me I was doing it wrong. This is an exercise I avoided a lot in my early days, as I thought it wasn't as simple as it looked and I heard my friend say something like 'if you do this exercise wrong, you could hurt or break your lower back and be out for a long time' and obviously being a clueless newbie at the time, it scared me and I thought avoiding it won't kill me, I did eventually start including it, kind of winging it when it came to form, but it's not easy, as you can't exactly see your own body position when lifting. Ever since, I've lowered the weight a fair bit, but I'm paranoid and not certain if my form is good enough.
All in all, as I've said many times, I'm proud of myself for this and pretty passionate about it, but I hope I don't come across as arrogant or rude, because I have received negativity for certain things in life, including gym, so I'm kind of holding my own and whilst criticism doesn't stop me, I find it hard to deal with, especially if it's combined with criticism for other things too, sometimes trivial matters.
Sorry, I ran out of characters, lol and had to shorten it a bit, but best of luck with your own goals too and congrats on your progress. I'm sorry about your toxic environment situation too and if things are still like that, I hope they get better for you.
That is SO awesome! Congrats on your weight loss 🎊
So I've lost a total of 74 pounds so far, took me roughly 4-5 years. I'm still not at my ideal weight yet, but I'm a lot healthier, fit, and happier than I've ever been!
Ideally, I want to lose another 5-10 pounds, while also toning and building muscle as well. Then, maintain said progress. Most of my friends and family say I look fine as is. I've even had a few people tell me I need to GAIN weight (not happening!) But that's just because I train like an athlete so my height and muscle make me look smaller than I appear to be.
I'm currently exercising 5-6 days a week, doing cardio and weight training. Food wise, I eat pretty much what I want, just small portion sizes!!! I learned cutting carbs out completely does not work for me, especially considering how active I am. I do have a cheat days, but I try not to go overboard and up my exercise on those days, lol
I believe its really healthy to become the person you see in your mind - within healthy means of course.
I am actually gaining weight. I am really into tattoo and pinup, and would like to have a body similar to such models.
This requires light and healthy waist training with a steel boned corset, and putting on weight in my chest, butt and legs. I managed to put on 15ibs of healthy bulking weight.
Amazing! Eating better and working out made my body feel MUCH better. I'm not totally happy with my body yet, still have about 5 sizes to bulk, on order to have the pinup 6-8 size
You look very beautiful both in the before picture and the after picture best wishes on meeting your goals i do know all about living in toxic environments it's not healthy at all. I loss 100 lbs and got to lose 60-80 more lbs so i got work on things. But i wish you all the luck and i hope and pray that you make a new life for yourself and i also pray that you find true love if that's what your seeking and never give up cause you got your whole life ahead of you :) :)
My goals are to gain muscle not lose weight since I already have Olympic level body fat percentages and weight 150lbs, all muscle, I'd like to get up to around 180 though.
Also don't be a vegetarian, vegetables are incomplete proteins, meat on the other hand is a complete protein which your body needs, just a friendly suggestion from a former personal trainer.
But I applaud you on wanting to lose weight and get healthy, that's always a good goal to have ^^.
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Asker
+1 y
When I dropped meat I lost ten pounds in the first two weeks. Picked up vitamins to replace what I’d miss from meat. It wasn’t good for my body for whatever reason. I have a muscular build to begin with so I don’t need the extra protein (at least from meats). Being a vegetarian is what is best for my health.
Just giving yeah a friendly warning it's not good long term /= and the vitamins aren't a replacement for real food.
Also it's because your muscular and active that you actually need that protein and yes you do need the extra protein because when you workout you are essentially destroying your body and hurting your muscles to force your body to rebuild and repair itself in a positive way.
And that requires protein one of the building blocks of life and is essential because your body needs those complete proteins in order to properly repair itself, complete proteins you can't get from vegetables or vitamins.
You don't have to eat it everyday but at least eat a little bit of it a week. Maybe once or twice a week.
Proper nutrition with lots of fresh fruits and veggies, exercising hard at least three or four days a week, getting as much sleep at night as you can, and very little alcohol and caffeine and no smoking. Drink lots of water, and get up and move a lot during the day rather than stay sedentary.
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Asker
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I’m asking what your goals are, not what I should be doing or what I do.
Oh I see, right. My mistake. I'm already fit; my goal is to stay fit and lose about five pounds of fat. I'm at about 15% body fat now, I'd like to get to 11 or 12%.
Being healthy and looking good are completely different thing. Not to say you don't look good your gorgeous. There is a common misconception that healthy is having abs and barely any body fat. This couldn't be further from the truth, everyone has different Dodie's and healthy is different for everyone. And are not a necessity for being healthy. And I know you didn't say they were, I just wanted to make the point.
Trying to drop to ~225 and get some muscle and strength back. Been a consistent ~250 for a few years (still too much for 5’8), but hit like 275 this spring and decided it was time to do something. Heading in the right direction now, but will a ways to go
I recently ended a three year toxic relationship and now my stress level is reduced significantly. I'm back to lifting weights and strength training. I'm 5'10" and weigh 200 lbs and don't really need to lose weight except some of my belly lol.
I lost 48 pounds in 3 months by doing one single change in my diet. I stopped eating sugar. I did not work out, I eat what I wanted as long as it had no added sugar, so no soda, juice, candy and all this things. And I lost all that in 3 months.
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Anonymous
(30-35)
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You should check out this fitness body positive app called Twinbody it's amazing.
Also, my main goal is maintaining a healthy weight & toning/defining my muscles. Working out 4x-5x a week. Realistic healthy long term diet - (vegan paleo)
My goal is to lose around 50 lbs before next summer, ideally by my birthday in January. Currently I'm recording everything I eat and have started intermittent fasting.
Well I have the opposite problem of needing to put on weight rather than lose weight. My main goal is to carry on bulking until I hit my target weight. Then I will go on a cut.
I size you have in the first picture is my right now and I am not really self conscious about but if I did have a goal, it would probably be losing my stomach/side fat and just become fit/ in shape
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