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Ajima Jackson

Shaqualla lost 109 pounds with weight loss surgery

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Weight Loss Success Story of the Day: Proud mom Shaqualla lost 109 pounds with weight reduction surgery.  She gained weight due to treatment for a serious medical condition and traditional weight loss methods were not working.  She feels that surgery has been a blessing for her. Read about her journey:

Shaqualla weight loss surgery

“Hello, my name is Shaqualla Carter. I’m 34 years old and a mother of 2.  I have been struggling with my weight my whole life. I have done every diet and every workout plan you can think of, but the weight still didn’t come off. As I got older and after having my kids I got bigger and bigger until I started having health problems. That’s when things only got worse. After being sick and in pain over a period of time, I went to the doctor and discovered I had a tumor on my ovary, I was devastated and didn’t know what to do. After decisions were made, I ended up on steroids to try and shrink my tumor and I gained ALOT of weight. I tried working out and eating right but that wasn’t working. When I got to my heaviest weight, I decided it was time for me to take my life back.

I was determined to get this weight off. After talking with co-workers and doing my own research, I decided to have gastric sleeve weight loss surgery and it changed my life forever. I now eat cleaner and healthier.  I also workout 3 times a week. It hasn’t been easy to lose weight, even with the surgery. However, I can say with hard work and dedication I went from 292 pounds to my current weight of 183 pounds. I can’t put into words how I feel. This journey I’m on is wonderful. It’s been a year and a half and I’m already 109 lbs down and I’m aiming to lose 20 to 30 more. I know it seems unreal to some who are going through this struggle but know through God and prayer nothing can stand in your way. Thanks for letting me share my story with you God Bless :-)”

Shaqualla gastric sleeve results

Starting Her Journey: Nicollette lost 15 pounds

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Nicollette wrote in this month to share how she has begun her weight loss journey.  So far, she’s lost 15 pounds.

Nicollette weight loss

“Last year after my brother passed away I went into a depression & ended up gaining 30 pounds. I tried a million different short cuts and failed, but I’m thankful, because my failures taught me what works for me and what doesn’t. Last month I finally decided enough was enough after my mother-in law called me out about my weight gain at a family gathering. I was so embarrassed.  I cried, but I finally made up my mind that I was gonna get the weight off and keep it off. I haven’t reached my goal but I did lose 15 lbs in 24 days.

The 1st picture I was 232 pounds & now I’m 217 pounds. I did it through diet & exercise. I completely cut out all sugary drinks.  Now I only drink water, herbal teas and smoothies. I stopped eating meat and junk food. I cook mostly and snack on healthy foods like carrots when I’m busy. It sounds so constricting, but it’s not. I still eat some of my favorite meals, I just make healthy substitutions and try new healthy recipes. Healthy doesn’t mean you have to give up taste. I also work out (mostly strength training) with a trainer twice a week and do cardio 3 times a week. I also started juicing fruits and vegetables. I got new recipe books (amazon has some ebooks for free). I follow a lot of fitness and healthy eating pages on instagram.  I also started reading memoirs of weight loss journeys like Former Fat Girl. These little things help keep me motivated when I lose track of my goal.

I feel amazing now. I can fit my old clothes and I’m not tired all the time. I have energy and I’m so motivated & committed to my health. I feel like a new person. My advice to anyone trying to lose weight is to be dedicated! It’s hard but it’s worth it & don’t let anything bring you down. You have to want it more then you want to be comfortable. You have to make a lifestyle change! Find what works for you! There are no secrets to weight loss, just eating right and exercising. If I can do it anyone can!”
Instagram: vanityyyslave

Brandy lost 131 pounds

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Weight Loss Success Story of the Day: Proud mom Brandy lost 131 pounds.  Exercise was key to her transformation and now she is able to be more active with her children.  Find out how she did it:

“Hello my name is Brandy Francis. I’m 34 years young and a single mother of a 2 going on 24 year old. MY Battle with weight has always been just that, a battle, but in 17 months I have lost 119 pounds. My highest tipping weight was 292 pounds and I now weigh 161 pounds.  That is a total of 131 pounds.

I have done every weight loss program and supplement, but to my surprise neither one would help me loose the weight I have currently. My employment with a warehouse is where the shedding of pounds started, it is equivalent to going to the gym 4 to 5 days a week working out and 4 to 5 hours on every part of my body. My eating habits changed because of my recent “singlehood”. I could no longer enjoy the luxury of fast foods 3 to 4 times a day. So, being in this warehouse they would only allow water on the floor which was a battle because I was addicted to Pepsi.  At first I said, “Noooo Water.” but NOW water is my best friend. I’m no longer on blood pressure meds and I’m so much more active with my 29 month old. I’m so blessed and grateful that at one of the worst times of stress in my life I didn’t revert to old habits of binge eating or feeling sorry for myself. The biggest size I put on was a 24/26 at Lane Bryant and I’m now wearing a size 10/8. I will always battle with weight, but right now I’m winning!!”

Brandy before and after Brandy weight loss

Melissa lost 102 pounds with weight loss surgery

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Let’s show some BWLW love to Melissa.  She lost 102 pounds with weight loss surgery.  She is very honest about her experience and that despite serious complications, surgery was the best decision for her in terms of improving her health and weight.

melissa weight loss surgery

“Hello, my name is Melissa Russell. I have been overweight all of my life and have dealt with confidence as well as self-esteem issues from my earlier teen years. I had tried all kinds of diets, pills, exercise regimens, boot camps and the weight was just not coming off. It was not until 2012 when I decided to make a change in my life. I had friends who discussed the gastric sleeve procedure with me and who had gone through the surgery, but I really did not want to have surgery because I deemed it “un-natural”. I had prior medical issues such as fibroid tumors, blood clots which in essence made my leg swell everyday even without vigorous exercise and also experienced irregular periods. I knew I had to make a change or I wasn’t going to be here too much longer so I decided to go to a seminar just to gather more information about the surgery.

My weight loss process took 7 months because I kept backing out due to the fact that I loved to eat. However, on July 23rd, 2013 (my birthday), I had the gastric sleeve weight reduction surgery and I thought all went well. I was wrong. I had severe complications such as dehydration 4 times over, possible kidney failure and my brain began to swell due to high sodium levels. My God is good though because he brought me over that mountain and healed my body.  Today, I can proudly say that my beginning weight was 282 pounds and today (February 21, 2014) I am down to 180 pounds. I no longer have any health issues, I cook more healthier foods than I ever have in my life. I exercise 3 days a week, eat well balanced meals and I no longer drink alcohol or smoke cigars. I can say that this was the best decision I have ever made in my life and I am truly grateful for this opportunity.”

Melissa before and after

All About Flat Abs

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flat abs six pack tipsThe world seems like it is obsessed with flat abs, and next to wondering how to get rid of the dark circles under your eyes or wrinkles it is the number one body image desire of most people. The desire for flat abs also fuels a multi-million dollar industry that is devoted to convincing you there is a magic formula to getting them. There are sure fire ways to help you get them, it just isn’t what you think.

Abs are made in the Kitchen

Flat abs start and stop in the kitchen. What you eat and how much you eat is going to have the most influence on when your abs make an appearance in your life. Don’t fall for the latest diet trend, stick to solid nutritional facts. Avoid sugar, eat more protein, eat nutritiously and control your portion size to start seeing the best result. Food that you cook yourself is not only going to be healthier than any pre-packaged diet food; it is going to be cheaper too. Juicing machines and all the rest of the gizmos can be a nice addition to making sure it is easy to eat healthy, but you don’t need anything more than what you already have in your kitchen to make it happen.

A six pack means low body fat

If you can see a six pack then what you are seeing is a body with low body fat. Body fat can be stored in many places but the place of preference is the area around your middle. This is a much different type of fat than what is found elsewhere. The fat here is considered by the body to be protection against starvation, which is why it is harder to lose. The more you can reduce your body fat, by decreasing calories and fat intake while increasing the calories burned in exercise; the more you will force your body to use that stored fat as fuel and lower your body fat percentage.

Work your whole body…not just your abs for results

The body burns fat for fuel when it is under the stress of exertion. Doing abs and crunches are going to make your abdominals stronger, but there is no such thing as a targeted exercise for fat burning. You have to get the whole body moving in order to get the whole body into needing whatever fat you have for fuel. That doesn’t get you off the hook with the ab exercises; it means they have to be part of a whole body routine.

Abdominal bloating/digestion problems cause tummy to poke out

If you are eating right and exercising regularly but your abs aren’t still showing, the problem may be in what you eat and how your body handles it. Different foods can cause bloating and digestion problems that expand the stomach. If your stomach is expanded, you can’t see the muscle definition. The best way to find out if this is your problem is to keep a food journal and write down how you feel and if you are bloated after you eat. This will help you identify the foods that are causing the problems.

Starvation mode causing body to store fat

Cutting calories to the bone or avoiding eating isn’t going to reduce your body fat. If you reduce your caloric intake too much, the body will enter starvation mode. In starvation mode, the opposite of fat burning happens. The body will protect its fat stores and burn muscle fiber and tissue instead. The fat around your abs is meant as a last resource for the body during starvation, if there are other things it can use for fuel it will. Starving yourself, even for just a few days of a fast, can also set you up for rebound eating which can pack on more weight than you lost. The truth on flat abs is that you get them by eating right, eating controlled portions and exercising more.

Learn from Bodybuilders: What are Macros and How Can They Help You Lose Weight?

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gandhi quote

What are Macronutrients?

Macronutrients are the essential energy sources the body needs to burn fat and build muscle. The macros refer to protein, fat and carbohydrates. You need all three to provide the body with the right fuel to function in a healthy manner. While many diets focus on fat burning, bodybuilders know that the best way to burn fat is to also build muscle because it engages the natural cycle of fuel intake, energy consumption, repair and growth that is necessary to a lean, strong and healthy body. Each of the macronutrients provides a specific set of nutrients needed for different aspects of the process. Fat is as important as carbohydrates but protein is most important of all in the world of bodybuilding.

How much should you have each day?

Here are some general guidelines. Remember, none of these ratios are set in stone. These are just general suggestions. You’ll have to figure out what works for your metabolism, you level of exercise, etc:

The basic macronutrient diet is calculated in percent of total calories taken in per day. If you are looking for bodybuilding results you want to make sure that 40 to 60 percent of your calories are carbs, 30-50 percent is protein and 15 to 30 percent is fat. For weight loss, the ratios might be different. You want 40 to 50 percent of your calories to be from protein, 30 to 40 percent from fat and 20 to 40 percent from carbohydrates. There is a lot of guidance online to help you figure out the right ratios for you. There is a well known site that has a detailed calculator, If It Fits You Macros (iifym.com). You can also track macros with My Fitness Pal.

There are 9 calories in each gram of fat. There are 4 calories in each gram of protein or carbs.

Example: You are eating 1500 calories per day and you want to eat 40% protein, 35% carbs and 25% fat.

  • 1500 x .40 = 600 calories = 150 grams of protein
  • 1500 x. 35 = 525 calories = 131.5 grams of carbohydrates
  • 1500 x .25 = 375 calories = 41.66 grams of fat

When you are in the lower range in terms of carbs, you could cycle the amounts you eat. With cycling, you would be strict about it for two or three weeks and then change your macros to add more carbs for a few days to prevent your body from getting used to the pattern. There are a couple of ways you can carb cycle (more info on that).

How do you keep track of them?

Macronutrient diets use the weight of specific food with known fat, carbohydrate and protein content to make sure that your body is getting what it needs to maximize the fat burning and muscle building process. It can take some time to learn and you have to use a food scale and food journal to do it correctly. You also have to have a list of the macronutrient content of foods in grams that you can consult as you build your meals.

What does a macro based diet do for you?

Bodybuilders know that the problem with food is that we rarely understand what it is we are eating. Learning how to provide yourself with a macro based diet means you are learning the reality of what you eat. People on the Paleo Diet may consume to much fat, Atkins follower may lose all the carbohydrates – by following a macro diet bodybuilders bring their food intake into balance with what their bodies needs to maximize fat loss while building healthy muscle. Macro dieting doesn’t have to make you big. It is usually done as a part of the cutting cycle for bodybuilders and weightlifters use it to increase strength and resiliency. Macros focus on the energy calories of foods, not necessarily the nutrition content so you have to keep a close eye on your diet to make sure you are getting in the right amounts of vitamins and minerals to support healthy functioning.  It requires a lot of research and tracking, so it’s not for everyone.  You have to constantly monitor your results and change your food intake to find the right percentages for you.  There is no one size fits all plan.

Who shouldn’t bother with macros?

Macro dieting is not for everyone and in certain instance, it can be negative. If you have a history of extreme dieting or have battled an eating disorder then this is not the plan of action for you. Macro tracking require a close focus to be kept on food amounts that can trigger prior restrictive behaviors. Also, if you are just starting out on a weight loss and an exercise program then following a macro diet may not make sense or could be too hard to follow. For many people, the main benefit of macro diets are that they can get you past plateaus once you are close enough to your goal you can taste it.

You should ask your doctor before starting any type of diet plan and get guidance on what would work best for you.

How to Break Through a Weight Loss Plateau

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weight loss plateauIt happens to everyone. You are going strong with your diet and exercise program and seeing results for the first few months, and then all the progress stops. Welcome to the classic weight loss plateau. It is normal to lose more weight in the first few months per week as you change your lifestyle habits and then to settle into a steady pound a week loss (or for some even less).  Here is some info on how to break through that weight loss plateau.

Accept your body shape/family genetics

Make sure your expectations match your reality. If you come from a long line of short people, you can’t make yourself taller. If your family genetics shows you that you are going to be larger than a size zero, accept that. Don’t get caught in the prison of false expectations. Remind yourself that beauty is based in health, not in a Photoshopped image that is touted as what you should look like. That is only done to sell you a product. Real beauty is found in those who are confident, healthy, strong and engaged in life around them. The rest is all just trends and fads.

The block could be mental

You could have a mental block about your weight loss too. One of the problems that everyone faces is that we aren’t able to see our own bodies. Our brains take all sorts of shortcuts to fill in what we should be seeing with what we expect to see, based on experience, in order to make fast judgments. You have to be careful that what you may be calling a weight loss plateau is really that and not a change in weight distribution between muscle and fat that you can’t recognize in the mirror.  Things like bloating, medicine and the natural ups and downs of body weight that happen on a daily basis can affect how you see yourself. A good way to get around this is to base your judgment of your shape on measurements, not weight. A tape measure doesn’t lie and can provide evidence that you are still slimming down when the mirror and scale are telling you it’s stopped.

Make sure you are eating enough, especially if you exercise

This may sound like the opposite of what you would expect to cause problems, but if you aren’t eating enough and you are exercising more, you won’t lose weight. If you force your body into a starvation mode where a great deal more energy is being expended than fuel is being taken in, it will start to cling to whatever fat stores it has and be miserly about burning them. This is fundamental info about how your metabolism works. Also, you can run into a problem trying to break through that weight loss plateau if you aren’t eating enough and your body has adjusted to the stress level of your exercise routine.

Monitor your overall calorie intake closer

Break out your food journal or mobile food tracking app and take a closer look at what you are eating and how much you are eating. Chances are there is something in your diet that is holding you back. Often, what was ok when you started losing weight to eat becomes the reason you stop losing weight as your body mass adjusts. Look for foods that are heavier in starches, low in fiber or high in sugar – they are the usual culprits.  High consumption of fats can also be an issue.

Change up your workouts

The traditional workout programs are good but they have one consistent flaw, they create a consistent pattern of stress on the body that the body adapts to. Your body is built for stress, under the physical stress of exercise you will lose weight – until the body adapts and you stop losing. This is done to protect you from starvation. To break through that weight loss plateau you need to change up your workouts beyond two days for legs, two days for upper body and a day of cardio. What happens to most people is they change the workout but they don’t change the challenge. Don’t just increase the reps of what you do or the time you do cardio, you have to change the way the whole body is used to increase the challenge and start losing weight again. The bonus is that switching up your routine keeps it interesting to you so you stay committed.  Workout DVDs are great for this because you can pick a lot of different workouts and levels of challenge.

Marshea lost 81 pounds

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Weight Loss Success Story of the Day: Marshea lost 81 pounds.  In the wake of a terrible relationship, she found inner strength and changed her health for the better.  Here is what she shared about how she lost the weight:

Marshea weight loss

August 2013 is when I started my weight loss journey. I was in a relationship for 5 years with “Lovely”. When we started dating I was a great size (10). It wasn’t until the end of our relationship when I became massively overweight. I was so depressed and devastated I ate myself to fatness. “Lovely” told me I was fat, ugly and that no man would ever want to be with me. “Lovely” moved back to his hometown, (charlotte, NC) and I stayed in my hometown, (L as Vegas, NV). I was so heart broken and my self-esteem was totally diminished. I began to pray and ask God to heal my heart, help me regain myself esteem, and gain motivation for the challenge I knew I would face during this time.

Let me tell you, “God is amazing!!!!”. One day I woke up and had this sudden urge to go workout. Every day I worked out. When I began I struggled. I’m actually laughing at myself now because I hated working out but, busting the pavement made me stronger and gave me so much confidence. One of the things I enjoyed most was the various people on the street who were telling me to keep up the good work. I also changed my eating habits. I did that by not eating fast food, eating fresh produce, using portion control, and eating only when I was hungry to shirk my stomach.

One thing that also assisted the weight loss was not to weigh myself. I felt it was a waste of time and my hard work would show. I knew before I started working out I was 290 lbs. I weighed myself February 11, 2014 and I’ve lost 81lbs. I’m not finished I have more to lose. “I’m not where I want to be yet, but I’m truly not where I was”.

Thank you for creating this page as it has encouraged me to keep up the good work. I hope my story is an inspiration to another women struggling with the issue of obesity and low self-esteem.
Sincerely,
Marshea
Instagram name: divadazzle05

Update: Nakia lost 54 pounds

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We featured Nakia in 2013 to share her weight loss story and how she lost 43 pounds.  This month, she sent in an update with photos to let us know that she’s lost MORE weight.

“Hi, my name is Nakia Davis and I wanted to update you on my progress. I submitted my original transformation July 3, 2013. As of today, I’m down 54 pounds total. I lost another 11 pounds since July. I’ve added running at least 3-4 times a week to my routine as well as Taebo and Focus T25 DVDs. I’ve now started clean eating and eliminated bread. I continue to drink only water and green tea. My goal now is not so much as weight loss (started at 220 and now at 166) but toning up my body. I would have never thought I could accomplish this in 1.5 years.  I encourage you to believe that when you make up in your mind that this is what you really want, transformation will take place!! Peace and blessings…….and it can be done!!”

Read the original post to find out more about how she lost the weight.

Nakia before and after

Brittany lost 82 pounds

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Weight Loss Story of the Day: Brittany lost 82 pounds and she has kept the weight off for 2 years.  Here is what she shared about her weight loss journey:

“Hi There! My friend introduced me to this page and I’ve really liked the tips and the shared stories. I have a story of my own.  I’ve been struggling with my weight since I was in 2nd grade but with motivation from my mom, eating healthier and by exercising everyday (sometimes twice), I was able to lose 60 pounds in about 3 months. Unfortunately, I gained 30 lbs back, but since then I have lost a whopping 82 pounds total and have been able to keep it off for two years now.

What did you do in terms of changing your eating habits and exercise?

I started by going to the gym every day, sometimes twice a day with my mother.  She’s always been my biggest motivator. I stopped eating fast food, cut out pork and cut out beef.  I also added vegetables, that I never knew were so good, to my diet. I started drinking protein shakes and juicing fresh fruits and veggies.  I was also walking 5 miles, 5 times a week.  I’m not finished yet but I would like to be able to help motivate others in their journey to get fit and become healthier happier individuals. Here is a before and after pic.”

Instagram: @its_alwayssunny  @andshebakes13

Brittany weight loss