Today’s featured success story: Kimberly lost 60 pounds post-baby with juicing, Zumba and the Daniel Fast. Her story is another example that adding more fruits and veggies and cleaning up your diet can lead to rapid results.
Renate lost 41 pounds
Another Zumba success story! Renate lost 41 pounds. She says:
“Hi BWLW, I’m proud of my accomplishment of losing 41 lbs! I have 70 lbs to go and I’m well on my way! Zumba and protein shakes are helping me a great deal. I struggle with fast food but I’m not as bad as I use to be. The first pic I took in June 2012. I started my journey on 8/13/12. It has been work and I love it!! Just wanted to share my story because I’m proud of me.”
Toccaro lost 248 pounds
Today’s featured weight loss success story: Toccaro lost 248 pounds with the help of weight loss surgery (gastric bypass). She is now a certified spin instructor and is prepping for a bodybuilding competition.
Here is what she shared with us about her weight loss journey:
“After reaching 435 pounds, I had gastric bypass in 2008. I been working hard every since. I have lost 248lbs, and I am currently a certified spin instructor teaching at three different gyms. I work with a personal trainer two days a week and I am currently training to prepare for my first female body building competition. In terms of eating I have a balanced diet of lean protein, veggies, and I juice 4 days a week. I restrict processed sugars, high fat, and heavy carbs!”
Toccaro’s workouts are no joke. Check out her video.
Niesha lost 80 pounds
We are keeping food journals for our February Challenge and I know that a lot of us are using My Fitness Pal to do so. I wanted to share Niesha’s story with you. She lost 80 pounds with the help of MFP.
Here is what she wrote us about her journey:
“After having my son in March of 2009 and having to take care of my father, I didn’t have much of a social life. I never realized how big I’d gotten and everyone else did notice but never said anything. So after the passing of my father in 2011, I decided to get fit and healthy. I downloaded this app called My Fitness Pal and began to eat healthier. I drank plenty of water and I exercised 5-7 days per week (up to 3 hrs per day). I even have a gym membership. I barely go due to work and my son, but I exercise at home. With these few things, I’d lost 80lbs within a year. I still have more to go but with a page like this, the Great Lord above and my wonderful son I was able to achieve this goal. I wanna say Thank You for posting pics and giving tips because it has helped me alot.”
Shelia lost 35 pounds
Today’s featured weight loss success story: Shelia lost 35 pounds.
Here is what Shelia had to say about her weight loss journey:
“I’d like to share my story. I have lost 35lbs. I workout at least 2 hours a day. I love Taebo, kickboxing, and cardio. I stay away from a lot of fried foods. I started this journey a about a year ago on January 1, 2012. I started at 206 lbs. Today, I weigh 173 lbs. My goal was to be healthier. I eat a lot vegetables, very little bread, drink plenty of water, no sodas. I substitute turkey for ground beef. I also eat alot of chicken and fish. Thank you and this page is such an inspiration.”
Do you know what Really makes that meat look red?
Today’s Inspiration: Another reason to consider a plant-based diet. – Did you know that some of meat we purchase has been treated with a “harmless” dose carbon-monoxide to make it look fresher. It give the meat a bright red color. This treatment was approved by the FDA in 2004. The worry is not only the carbon monoxide itself, but the fact that meat continues to look fresh long after it may have started to spoil fooling the consumer into buying a sub-standard product. I think that the worst thing about this, is that meat is not labeled to let you know if your meat has been treated with carbon-monoxide. We consumers don’t have a choice, unless we ask the meat department staff to disclose. Just another reason, why I’ve chosen to switch to a plant-based diet.
Here is some info from About.com/Chemistry
“Have you ever wondered why some meat starts looking brown after a few days in the meat case at the grocery store, while other meat stays fresh-looking longer? Some meat is packaged in an atmosphere high in carbon monoxide, as opposed to normal air. The carbon monoxide binds to the myoglobin (a protein) in the meat to cause it to look the pink color most of us associate with fresh meat. The chemical reaction that causes the color fixation doesn’t present a health hazard, but there are concerns about consumer safety because people buy meat according to how it looks. Meat that has been packaged in a carbon monoxide-rich atmosphere will continue to look pink past the point when it should be sold. Untreated meat gets darker in color as it stays on the shelf. Of course, there are other indicators of freshness. A slimy appearance is a giveaway of decay, as is bulging packaging from the gases produced by bacteria. If you could smell the meat, you’d know whether or not it’s good, too.”
Cassandra lost 32 pounds
Today’s weight loss success story: Cassandra lost 32 pounds by exercising and following the Paleo Diet.
Cassandra wrote to us and shared her photos and weight loss story:
“I was at my heaviest weight of 201 lbs after having a complicated pregnancy. Two years later, I was still the same weight and of blaming it on the childbirth. I tried many diets. Either I was eating healthy and not working out or vice versa. I was not consistent. I lost some weight doing Taebo and P90X. I joined Crossfit Sumter in September 2012. That is when I became serious about exercising. The only problem was that I wan’t quite eating the way I should. I tried the Paleo diet and noticed the weight and inches fading away. I am more happier and healthier now than I have been in a while. My currently weigh 169 lbs.”
Debra lost 40 pounds
Update Oct 2015: Debra shared her story with us in 2013 and now she’s given us an update. She’s down 10 more pounds, recently ran a half marathon and is still off of high blood pressure meds. – “I shared my story with your page a while back and I just wanted you to know that I am still going strong. I’ve been on this fitness journey for 4 years now. However, it has been 3 years that I’ve been off blood pressure medication. Also, I just ran my first half marathon. Woot woot! I have lost a total of 50 pounds so far. I still meal prep because it keeps me accountable, and still workout about 4-6 times a week. Your page continues to inspire me to keep going, so I just wanted to say thanks again for the inspiration!”
Feb 2013 – Debra lost 40 pounds and got off blood pressure medication by embracing running and joining Weight Watchers.
She wrote to us about her weight release story:
“Here’s my story…I have struggled with my weight for years. It wasn’t until I was placed on blood pressure medicine that I knew I needed to change my habits. My doctor told me the only way to get off of them was for me to lose weight, and maintain the weight lost. That was my mission…to get off that medicine. It was June of 2011 when I started the blood pressure medicine. I began July of 2011 with my journey (1st pic). The middle pic is July of 2012, and the third pic is Jan 2013. Oh and by-the-way I have been off my blood pressure medicine for 5 months now.
I joined Weight Watchers in 2011. In the beginning, I was not consistent with the plan and my weight loss wasn’t happening so I stopped going. In February of 2012 I rejoined and have been consistent. In April of 2012 a friend and I decided to run a 5k. We planned to run it late that summer. So I started training by using the app Couch to 5k. Running the 3 days of week really kicked my weight loss into gear along with making healthier food choices. We ran the 5k in late August and we completed the 3.2 miles in 35 minutes…for us that was great for our first race. I have continued to run to help maintain my weight loss. I have never felt better. In addition, it’s pages like BWLW that help to encourage and inspire people to get healthy. Thanks for providing a platform for people to share their stories.”
Make your New Year’s Resolutions Come True
Trying to lose weight? Want to turn your life’s passion into a real career? Or, do you have simpler goals like spending more time with your kids or dealing with stress.
Many of you know that I’m currently a student with the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. IIN has recently created a great Free guide to show you how to reach your goals this year. It’s called “The Definitive Guide of Accomplishing Your Resolutions”.
From this guide you’ll learn:
- The Best Kept Secret for Making Resolutions a Reality
- The Right Way to Set Your Resolutions to Ensure Success
- 12 Resolutions to Make 2013 Your Healthiest, Happiest Year
At Integrative Nutrition, the world’s largest nutrition school, we are taught that food is not the only food. We have primary food that is our relationships, our family life, our work life, etc. IIN has spent 20 years teaching students how to help people get healthy and lose weight, but also how to transform not only their nutrition habits but their lifestyles into what they dream of.
Glorie lost over 30 pounds
Update: Glorie lost another 10 pounds. Check out her update below.
Today’s featured weight loss success story: Our international BWLW Member, Glorie, wrote us to tell us about her weight release journey. She says, “Hi there! my name is Glorie and I am in Tanzania-East Africa. Your updates inspired me a lot to change my image and in less than 5 months I have lost over 30 pounds and still going! I started eanting healthy and enrolled in a gym. So, here is my before and after pics to share with every other black women around the world! We are doing this! Its time to be healthy!”
“I started eating healthy by avoiding junk foods that I used to eat. As you know here in Africa the most common foods are rice, ugali (maize flour) which are rich caboyhrates and red meat is used in almost all of our daily dishes. I was on a diet program that allowed me to eat healthy and not to exceed 600 calories per day for the first 9 days. Thereafter, I joined a gym and I was working out 5 days a week in aerobics classes and drinking lots of water. For now am on a strict diet, that i have developed myself whereby it rotates raw foods and juices for 1 week each. I have also found out that drinking cinnamon tea mixed with honey also helps in shedding the pounds off. I now do strength training where I concentrate on my thighs and tummy as thats where I carry most of my weight. I am truly inspired by your page and it gives me hope and alot of tips when am slacking or giving hope. So be assured that this is all over the WORLD! Even in Africa, we’re losing the weight too. Thank you alot and never stop what you are doing. Be blessed.”
Update May 17, 2013 –
Hello there! It’s Gloria Ojare all the way from Tanzania-East Africa. Again I have made some tremendous efforts and YAY…I am down 40 pounds now!!! Yay! Yay! I am so thankful to God and again so proud of myself; I just can’t imagine if I had never made up my mind to get healthy what would have happened or how would I be now. To me this is my new lifestyle. I have managed to pull off the extra 10 pounds since I last shared with ya’ll. This time I had to change my regimen. Every morning I took warm water mixed with cinnamon, lemon juice and ginger powder. I also continued to exercise but this time I skip rope at least 30-45mins every 4days. I also completely cut all sugary stuffs and limited my carbohydrates intake by adopting the STANLEY DIET. I kept on going no matter what or how I felt and so far I am ecstatic of my transformation. I speak to every woman trying to loose weight..DONT EVER GIVE UP! Stay ON and be consistence surely you shall see result in you and your general health. I thank everyone whose photo has been posted because whenever I look at them I smile and I say WOW..it can be done…it can be done. 9th July,2013 will mark 1year since I started my weight release journey!