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Ajima Jackson

Ebonie lost 96 pounds with weight loss surgery

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Ebonie lost 96 pounds with weight loss surgery.  She is a mother of 4 and proud wife who didn’t want obesity or health issues to take her away from her family.

“Hi, my name is Ebonie and I had Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy surgery last July. I have struggled with my weight for over ten years and I reached a point where I knew I had to do something once I ballooned to 327 pounds. My four babies and my hubby need me. I am proud to say I am 96 pounds lighter and feeling great. It is still a daily struggle and some people feel surgery is an easy way out but it is not. You still have to make right choices everyday. I love this forum and good luck to you all on your weight loss journeys.”

Ebonie weight loss surgery

When it comes to nutrition, Doctors always don’t know it all.

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If you depend on the medical establishment alone to help you understand how to eat healthy, you may come up short. It is well known from recent research that physicians don’t receive many hours of training on nutrition.

salad“In 2004, the authors surveyed all 126 US medical schools on this topic and 106 of them (84%) responded, making it the most comprehensive survey of its kind. The findings? In 17 of the medical schools, students were getting less than 10 hours of nutrition education during their entire four years and in over half of the schools, they were receiving no more than 20 hours.” – www.sarahbesthealth.com/think-doctors-know-about-nutrition/

“[In 2010,] Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill asked nutrition educators from more than 100 medical schools to describe the nutrition instruction offered to their students. While the researchers learned that almost all schools require exposure to nutrition, only about a quarter offered the recommended 25 hours of instruction, a decrease from six years earlier, when almost 40 percent of schools met the minimum recommendations. In addition, four schools offered nutrition optionally, and one school offered nothing at all. And while a majority of medical schools tended to intersperse lectures on nutrition in standard, required courses, like biochemistry or physiology, only a quarter of the schools managed to have a single course dedicated to the topic.” – www.nytimes.com/2010/09/16/health/16chen.html

Doctors can help you, don’t get me wrong. They are the authority when it comes to all things medical.  They are a Godsend, but don’t assume that they know it all when it comes to nutrition. Do your own research!!!   I suggest that you talk to your doctor and  make sure that you know if you have any medical issues that can be affected by what you eat.  Keep an open mind about alternative therapies and things like going Vegan or Vegetarian.

Sherry lost 30 pounds in 28 days by juicing

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Today’s featured success story: Black Women Losing Weight Online Community Member Sherry lost 30 pounds in 28 days by juicing.

“I started juicing February 6, 2013.  I’m now 30lbs lighter and feeling awesome. Checkout my picture.  I feel so great!  I’m going to continue juicing to lose an additional 20lbs. My goal in the beginning was to lose 50lbs. I never expected to lose 30lbs in 28 days, but i did and I’m so happy.  The battle is almost done! Yaeeeee!”

Sherry weight loss storyI’ve always recommended juicing as a way to cleanse the body, detox and lose weight.  I think it’s an excellent way to transition to a plant-based diet, as well (Vegetarianism or being vegan).  The key to this kind of weight loss is that you have to have a plan for what you do after you stop juicing or you may gain the weight back.  You can’t go back to your old eating habits and expect the weight to say off.  However, think of juicing as a body reset.  By juicing you can allow your body to drop weight and toxins.  You may also see that you don’t crave the same bad, processed foods you once desired.  Therefore, you can move forward to eat a much healthier diet of fresh foods, lean meats (if you chose), etc.  Juicing is not a quick fix for weight loss.  It is a tool for greater health.

If you would like to know more about how juicing can help you lose weight and have greater wellness, I suggest that you check out these 2 resources.

www.fatsickandnearlydead.com – The official site of the FREE documentary Fat Sick & Nearly Dead. Watch Joe Cross, 100 lbs overweight, regain his health by juicing and inspire others along the way.

101 Juice Fast Recipes – Just $1.01 – Great book by African American Juicing Diva, Carla Douglin.  Carla not only gives you 100 great juice recipes, she tells the benefits of juice fasting, what to expect really guides you through the process.

Joanna lost 67 pounds

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Let’s show some Black Women Losing Weight love to Joanna.  She has lost 67 pounds and credits Water, Walking and Willpower as the keys to her success!

“Hi, I am a 35 year old mother of 3 teenagers. 10 months ago I decided to reclaim my life, literally one step at a time. My 3 W’s are what have gotten me here: Water, Walking and Willpower.  No diets, no surgery, no pills, just me learning to love me.  One pound at a time!  I’m down 67 pounds.  Still not at my goal but I’m not where I was, and to me that’s all that matters.

I stopped drinking soda and stopped over eating. I’ve struggled my entire life with being an emotional eater so when I decided to take my life back I exchanged my emotional eating with walking. When I’m upset or sad, I put my music on and walk until I feel better. Its been a struggle but its worth every pound lost and the self esteem I’ve gained. Walking is the only exercise I’ve done. No gym membership, no trainer.  Just me and a pair of Air Max, which I walked the tread off them in 5 months. Be blessed, Ladies!”

Updated  7/2013: Joanna is now down 75 pounds!  She wrote us to say, “Just a little update…75lbs down.  Got a little stuck lately, BUT I’M still pressing on….the finish line is so close I can taste it!”

Joanna weight loss before and after

Original photo:

joanna weight loss before and after

Patricia lost 100 pounds

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Today’s weight loss success story: Patricia lost 100 pounds.  She says that she used to live to eat and now she eats to live by keeping a food and exercise journal, choosing to clean up her diet (she is now Vegan) and exercise.  Another Zumba lover!

“For so many years I’ve struggled with my weight. I tried almost every fad diet on the market, you name it I tried it! I did lose some weight but never could keep it off, gaining what I lost back and then some. At my heaviest I weighed 255 lbs., wearing a size 22. Today I am 100 lbs. lighter! I’m happy, healthy and fit. I used to live to eat, eating made me feel good! Now I eat to live and living makes me feel Fantastic!!!

How I did it: First, I changed how I thought about food and approached exercise. I kept a food and exercise journal charting what I ate and when I exercised. I was then able to see my mistakes, right there in black and white. I made a drastic change to my diet by eliminating meat, fish and dairy products. I’ve been a vegan for over 2 years now and making that change alone was very instrumental in my initial weight loss, along with sticking to a daily exercise routine that consists of weight training, cardio, and I like to mix things up by taking classes such as kickboxing, spin, tabata and now Zumba, my new love!!

I’m on a mission and dedicated to living and maintaining a healthy lifestyle and I love every bit of it!! It wasn’t or isn’t easy by any means, but the hard work and dedication is so worth it!! I’ll be 43 years old this November and my new goal is to find the perfect dress to wear in a size 6!!! If I can do it GOD knows anyone can!!! Choose to live is all I say, and I choose to live.”

Patricia weight loss

Theresa lost 178 pounds with weight loss surgery

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Theresa lost 178 pounds with weight loss surgery (gastric bypass).  Her weight loss journey has brought her to a place where she was able let go of what was weighing down her mind and learn to love herself.

“I started this journey a year ago, weighing in at 356 pounds to be exact. Food has been my friend, my counselor, my therapist and even at times it was my God. Life threw so many obstacles, challenges and road blocks my way, that at times I lost the will to live. Through much prayer, determination, and support from my dear mother, I decided that I shall live and not die. My first step was to learn to love/ like me no matter the state that I was in. Then I had to change my stinking thinking. I had to lose weight in my mind. And now 1 year later I am on a road to a full recovery. Losing 178 pounds, literally half of me. I eat to live now.  I had weight loss surgery (gastric bypass) September 26, 2011. Since surgery I’ve completely changed my eating habits. More fruits, veggies, lean meats and no sodas, which was hard. I could drink a 2 liter in one setting in the past. I’m more active. I love jogging, walking and swimming. I love and have a passion for encouraging others on the weight loss journey.

I like me. I love me. I celebrate me. And because God has allowed me to go through and make it out, I make it my business to share with other women. I love on them. Offer a kind word. I hug and embrace them. Visit with them. Somebody did it for me.
I LOVE BEING ME!!!”

Theresa weight loss surgery

Laketra lost 50 pounds

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Today’s featured weight loss success story:  Laketra lost 50 pounds.  Now that is she is pregnant, she will gain baby weight, but she will be able to do it in a healthy way.

“I started at 216 and I am currently 166! I’m a mother of two and I have one on the way!  I cut back on the junk food, I stop eating after 8pm,if i needed to snack it was a healthy one mostly fruit, I worked out 3/4 times a week for almost a year…….me getting married was my biggest motivation! I went from a 2x shirt to a med. in the last photo I’m 2months pregnant currently I’m 4months and I’ve only gained a healthy 9 pounds so far!!!!!!!!! Yay me!!!!!!”

Laketra weight loss

 

Cledra lost 75 pounds and transformed her life

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Ladies, I want to bring you the weight loss journey of a very inspiring sista named Cledra.  She overcame real tragedy and transformed her life.  Now she is working to inspire others.  

“The work you do to support our community is PHENOMENAL! I recently completed a Half Marathon and if my story can serve your audience I am more than willing to help ! MANY black women especially think that running is NOT possible.  I started jogging at 246lbs (as you can see below) BUT you do need the right education about running! OK….. Here’s my before and my “continuously evolving” picture!  NOW changes in every moment as you know!

Cledra weight loss

My motivation……
I was a woman who lived my life by a checklist. College, Grad school, corporate job, get married, and have a baby. It wasn’t until the day after Mothers Day 2007 when I went in for my 2nd trimester ultrasound that my entire life changed.  I discovered that my baby’s heart had stopped. It was the darkest time of my life and just when I thought it couldn’t get any darker, less than 90 days later my then husband sat me down to tell me he was seeing someone else. Life by design had become life by destruction. Having doubled in size during my pregnancy and the grief of my baby and my “fairy tale” life, I started running.

In the picture on the left I was 246lbs and it was 2 weeks after the memorial service for my baby. Running was my sanctuary. Many days I couldn’t tell the difference between the sweat and the tears but God had spoken to me during my baby’s service and said “lay aside the weight….run on….run on”. My life had been sparred for some reason and at the time I didn’t know why. Obese, filing for divorce, trying to wrap my mind around just how my life ended up this way I joined Jenny Craig because the thought of planning meals, counting, points, or doing anything beyond getting out of bed each day with the weight of grief and pain in my heart was just too much. I got 40 lbs off with Jenny Crag but then would binge repeatedly and self sabotage. This went on for so long I got professional help and realized that at 205lbs (which was the what I weighed when I got pregnant) I would have flashbacks of my baby and I would eat to numb the pain.

I was diagnosed with PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and at that time to get past 205lbs I decided I needed stronger intervention for my obesity and I got lapband surgery. It had just been approved for people who were obese and had one other illness which for me was also high blood pressure. With a lot of therapy, a life coach, and prayer I was able to move past 205lbs and drop another 35lbs. My journey has been long and at times I made it longer by looking for the quick fix. I want women to know that when life deals us cards of disappointment, tragedy, and heartbreak that we can PRESS. We can PRESS when it doesn’t make sense. We can PRESS with a heavy and broken heart. We can PRESS with a “mrs” or without. We can PRESS if God spares our baby or not. PRESS and see what GOD has. Now my life is once again beyond what I ever imagined. I help other women drop ALL weight…not just physical but the weight of bad relationships, the weight of childhood messages, the weight of the “happy face mask”, and so much more. I also just wrote my first book “8 Weights to Drop to WAKE UP to your BEST life”. God has given me beauty for ashes and kept every promise to stay close to the broken hearted and to give double for my trouble. I hope my story inspires a woman who is in the dark right now. A woman who feels loss, hopeless, and perhaps even forsaken. I’ve been there and I KNOW there is HOPE.

EXERCISE:
I workout ALL the time! I was the classic woman who always worked out but OVERATE and so NEVER saw results! I just completed a half marathon but my typical workout regimen(which btw I worked out 90% of the time at home…no gym membership…at least not one that I used!) is 3 days cardio and 2-3 days the FIRM DVDs (aerobic weight training) and 1 day yoga/hot yoga and sometimes 1 day active rest like a bike ride. Working out is my anti-depressant! In my darkest days my OB doctor told me that 30 min of activity had the same benefits of taking a pill without the side effects and I was SOLD! I wanted healing and so in a way ….exercise is the way I cooperate with my God in restoring my soul each and every day!

My site: www.planBEcoach.com There’s a FREE ebook “Stop the INSANITY of QUITTING on your BEST body and BEST life”
My book: 8 weights to drop to wake up to your best life.  All the BEST! -Cledra”

Updated Photo (Nov 2013)

Cledra plan be weight loss book

April Challenge Day 1 – Things you should know about reading food labels

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Ladies, one of the main things you will want to use a guide to find out just how processed your food is during our April Challenge is Food Labels.  This month we are committed to eating more REAL food and cutting out highly processed food and junk food, so these labels are KEY.

US food labeling requirements mandate that manufacturers give us certain information about the ingredients and nutritional value of foods, but sometimes we don’t pay attention.  It’s very easy to see from the numbers, percentages and lists of ingredients that some foods have very little nutritional value and may be contributing to our weight gain.  If you really, really want to know if your food is REAL, the food label is the place to look.

Here are some points you can look out for:

  • Fat Free/Sugar Free – Don’t believe the claims on the label or the front of the box without thinking about how all of the ingredients can contribute to making a food “fatty”.  If a fat free item has a lot of sugar grams listed in the nutrition info, that sugar can be converted to fat in your body.  That is the case with “fat-free candy”.  LOL!  I wish I could just chow down on some gummy, fat free candy as if it’s carrot sticks.  Nope.
  • “Only 100 calories per serving!” – Make sure you know just how much of a food makes up a serving by checking the food label.  You may see that a food is just “XXX calories” but what they don’t like to tell you on the front of the package is that you have to multiply that number by the number of servings.  For example, if a bag of chips has 210 calories per serving and there are 4 servings in the bag…you can quickly eat 840 calories in your mid-day snack.  Wow!  It’s my experience that most of the time, the serving size is very small compared to what most people eat as a serving.  A digital kitchen scale can help in this regard so you know exactly how much you are consuming.
  • Calorie Counts – I like to think of the calorie counts on food labels as a deterrent to me eating heavy, calorie laden foods.  You can’t deny the truth that is a label that telling you that if you eat that pint of ice cream (4 servings at 400 cals per serving) that you will eat 1200 calories.  For some, that is their whole calorie intake for the day!  Make sure you are checking calorie counts and considering what lower calorie options you could have instead.  You may also find that cooking more allows you to better control calories from things like butter, oil, corn syrup, trans-fats, etc.
Green smoothie book Kindle
Great Green Smoothies you can use to replace sugary drinks
  • Liquid Calories:  Food labels on liquids like juice and soda are also very telling.  Calories in liquid form have been shown to be a major factor in the rising epidemic levels of obesity in this country.  Since there is usually not much fiber in processed sugary drinks, you don’t feel full and there is no protein to balance out the carbs.  Your body can experience a sugar high as your blood sugar elevates.  Sports drinks, commercial pasteurized or from concentrate juice, sweet tea, soda, coffee drinks, energy drinks…all have little nutritional value when compared to real food options like water, fresh juice and green smoothies.  Oh, and don’t think that artificially sweetened is the way to go to avoid calories.  It’s thought that some sweeteners can cause bloating, nerve issues and increase your sugar cravings.
  • Fats, Cholesterol and Sodium – Everyone focuses on calories, sugar  and carbs when they are watching their weight, but many forget about fat, sodium and cholesterol.  Watch for this content and limit it as much as you can.  There are of course good fats, but you want to look out for saturated and trans-fat as well as cholesterol.  Also, too much sodium is going to weak havoc on your body’s need to retain water and can affect your blood pressure in a negative way.
  • Here is a great tip on carbs and sugar from Joy Bauer: “Low-quality carbs that shouldn’t take up much space in your daily diet (unless they’re naturally occurring, such as those in unsweetened fruit and dairy products). The USDA recommends limiting “added sugars” from packaged foods and sugar/honey/jelly packets to no more than 40 g per day, the equivalent of 10 teaspoons. But less is best!”
  • How do you know what kind of sugar is in a food? – There are so many names for sugars in term of ingredients.  Here is a good rule to go by: Look for Syrup, sweetener, and ingredients that end in “ose”.  Here are a few examples, but there are many more: corn sweetener, corn syrup, cane juice, high-fructose corn syrup, lactose and glucose.

Updated: Princess lost 60 pounds

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Today’s featured success story: Princess lost 60 pounds by eating clean and working out 5 days per week.  Her story should give hope to women who are dealing with post-baby weight and weight that comes with dealing with the stress of life.  Here is what she shared (check out the update below):

“I haven’t attained my goal, YET. I’m getting there, though. My weight issue started the same as many mothers. I had my first child 2 years ago. I weighed in at 175 lbs prior to pregnancy and I lived in the gym. I gained 40 lbs during the pregnancy. I lost most of it during the hospital stay and shortly after. However, with the stress of having a new life, mixed with unhealthy eating, I blew up to 265 – 270 lbs in a year’s time!!

I’ve been consistently working on my weight loss a little under a year, with glitches here and there. I’m currently down to 209lbs!!! My goal is to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I eat clean. I also blend/juice daily and workout 5 days a week.

I took control because I wanted my life back! Being overweight is so uncomfortable. It made my body ache. It also made me lazy and unmotivated. I was active prior to pregnancy and it went out the window with the weight gain. I’m getting back to it.

I want to be healthy for my family. I want to get back to looking and feeling good about my appearance. My Mother always said, “When you look good, you feel good!” I’m working hard to get back to that place.”

princess weight loss story
Updated Nov 2013:  “A few months back, I told you all my pregnancy and post pregnancy weight gain story. At the time I was down by 60 pounds. Well, I stuck to it. To date, I’m now down another 20lbs and countless inches! My update is to inspire my Black Queens to stay focused and determined to reach their goals. Yes, you may fall off from time to time. The key is to get back up and restart your journey! Clean eating, strength training, cardio and spinning have all helped me lose the majority of the weight. I’m so driven to make this a lifestyle change because I want to be healthy for my family and live a life without health complications that I can control by staying active and eating well. Continue on that journey, Ladies!”
Princess weight loss photos