I’m proud of my fitness journey and how I got here in the past two and half years. I made many mistakes and lots of right choices too, but I never gave up. If I’ve to give you one advice I would say ‘NEVER GIVE UP’.
So here are some pictures of me when my daughter was 5 months ;). I was 170 pounds at my highest when I was pregnant. I was down to 160 after delivery and that’s when the scale stopped moving. Right after my daughter turned 6 months, I really started thinking about losing all the extra weight I had gained. I have a tendency to put on weight very easily. It somewhere stems from my genes, so losing weight has never been easy. It may look easy but I’ve had my share of disappointments too throughout this process.
Lesson 1: SEEK help if you need it
It started in 2017 for me and I am still on this journey! J I didn’t expect drastic results when I started. One mistake I made was not working out during my pregnancy. Post pregnancy it was a very hard start. I hired a personal trainer to help me get started with a workout and diet. I needed that motivation, I wasn’t ready to do it on my own. I saw results which made me love this process. I consistently worked out and gave it my best shot. In a year’s time, I lost all that extra weight. At some point, I moved to an online coaching platform squat.in that helped me tone up and get a workout plan together. Again I felt most motivated when I was accountable to my fitness coach .These are just a few things, but I tried many things, to make this happen for me. So just remember if you can’t figure it out on your own, then seek help. There are many affordable fitness coaching platforms available now, to help you achieve your fitness goals.
Lesson 2 : It’s all about the Calories DEFICIT GAME
There may be different diets (South beach, Keto, Intermittent fasting etc.) and all may have a good scientific reason behind it, but the bottom line is ‘Eat Less Calories’. Eating less than what your body requires allows you to burn that extra fat. We want to lose fat not muscle.
Lesson 3: Say NO to shake diets and cookie diets
Did this, lesson learnt – will never do it again. I tried a shake diet a couple months back and I actually lost 4 pounds within a month. Yaay right!? I felt great about it. The minute I stopped, within 2 months I put it all back on. So, the moral of the story for me was real food is your key to a healthy weight loss. One can’t have shakes for the rest of your life. They don’t teach you how to eat your regular food and still stay on track.
Protein shakes are good, I still drink them but not as my diet. It’s a post workout drink. Lesson learnt here was don’t try any crazy diets, in the long run they never work. J
Lesson 4: Weight/strength training is the most sustainable form of exercise
It’s the only thing I’ve continued to follow for all these years. Cardio is great – YES, I love running once in a while but it makes me very tired, very hungry and worn out. Weight training allows you to build muscles which burns more fat, and also results in a higher metabolic rate. The higher the metabolic rate the more calories you burn.
Lesson 5: The ‘RIGHT‘ cheat meal
When I was on my weight loss journey, I didn’t have cheat meals every week. It was only after I achieved my mini goals. My mini goal was always to loose somewhere between 7-10 pounds. Once I achieved my goal, that’s when I would indulge in some cheat meals. I also learned what is the RIGHT CHEAT MEAL. A cheat meal is not consuming 5000 calories in a day. Its more about indulging in small treats so you are just above your calorie deficit intake. Don’t consume too many calories that your hard work done over past few weeks or months is wasted.
Lesson 6: Take a BREAK when you need it
My mini goals was for me to move slowly but with points of victory. When I achieved these mini goals then I would allow myself to get off the diet train for few weeks. Which didn’t mean I ate a cookie and ice-cream everyday but I just didn’t think about a diet. I just maintained my fitness routine and allowed my body to take a break.
Hope this gets you all motivated to start or continue your fitness journey ! Its never too late or there is never a right time. The right time is now 🙂
Sheetal
Loved all the advise. Thank you for sharing.
Emma
Wow, you look great! I have found that the most important thing for me is to find a work out that I actually like. I’ve tried a lot of different things and I have learned that I hate to be on a treadmill or elliptical for an hour. I found a gym that has you switch exercises every 2 minutes and it keeps me entertained the entire time. I workout so much more if I’m not forcing myself to do things I don’t enjoy.