The Official Blog of the Black Women Losing Weight Community. Tips, articles and weight loss resources for African American Women.
Today’s Featured Success Story: Jessica has lost 40 pounds since May.
She Says,
I limited my processed carb intake. no bread, no rice, no pasta. I then incorporated ALOT of fruits in my diet by making fruit smoothies every morning for breakfast and sometimes dinner. I eat alot of lean meat.and vegetables. as far as exercise, I do cardio and aerobics about 3 to 4 times a week. I lost about 40 pounds since May 2012.
We are sending out BWLW Love to our Featured Success Story of the Day, Amber, who has lost 45 pounds, going from 207 to 162. She’s a mother of 3 as well!!
Note: One of photos is flipped so that the comparison could be the same. She still has the tattoo. This caused some controversy on our FB page.
She says, “I have 3 children ages 8,3, and 17 months. After having my baby u went through a lot dealing with depression and a divorce and gained tons of weight and got up to 207. I wasn’t able to play with kids and do a lot of things because of my weight and the pressure on my bad knees and decided to lose weight after Having to wear my boyfriends clothes. I started in April and started my membership back at the gym and started taking Zumba then got excited and addicted to it and could see it was a great fun workout but wasn’t losing weight then finally the hard part I decided to start Eating healthy and the weight started falling off. I got certified to teach Zumba In may and have been trying to keep up since. Started at 207 and currently 154 but the pics are 207/162 in about 4 and a half months and still trying to maintain. I just live to see African American women getting motivated to lose weight and be healthy.”
Update: I know that a number of your have had questions since the initial posting yesterday so I asked Amber to fill us in on how she lost the belly fat and her Zumba classes.
“I live in DECATUR Illinois and currently teach Zumba at the YMCA there but in time starting workout classes in my new garage. It’s huge and I wanna start classes and use the money to put up studio mirrors in it.
Basically my diet was really bad at first I ate all day long and full course meals twice a day with tons of carbs and drank at least 3 sodas daily. When I decided to lose weight I cute the soda and juices completely and started drinking lots of water and hot green tea and organic tea. I cut the carbs down at least 60% and got rid of fried food all the way also and snacking on candy and chips ended also.
The main things I ate were oatmeal or Special K cereal with skim milk in the morning.
For lunch: green bean, carrots and spinach and grilled chicken breast on the foreman and the same for dinner. Also sometimes I would replace a meal with a protein shake the ones I tried were muscle milk, Special K shakes, slim fast or the myoplex ones. But basically did that for 4 months and that weight came off along with my workout plan”
Today’s Featured Weight Loss Success Story Comes from Starlet who has lost 67 pounds going from 263 to 196.
She says, “I took the picture in the brown Sept.2011, the pic in the black dress was around Feb 2012 and the far right photo was taken about 8 days ago. I started walking back in 2010 (3 miles a day) but that didn’t do much for weight loss it really just gave me energy and though I was still heavy I could walk through the mall or take a flight of stairs without giving out of breath. So in May 2011, I just started removing bread and starch like potatoes and rice from my diet…and after about 3 or 4 months I could start to see some changes..believe it or not that picture in the brown is not my heaviest weight. I weighed in at 272 in 2010 but I can’t find any pic’s of me and I definitely know why (too ashamed) in Nov 2011, I began juicing and protein shaking and in March 2012, I had lost about 30 lbs. This is when I saw significant changes in my health and my physical appearance…so I just started putting a little more effort to losing the weight after that by protein shakes in the morning and light lunches and dinners that do not contain bread, potatoes or rice..that’s it. I walk daily in my neighborhood and just recently got a gym membership. Sept 11′:263lbs and Oct 12′:196lbs. I would like to say thanks for what you do because it is so important to let people know that you can do this…if you put your mind to it. I have struggled with my weight for over half of my life. I have been smaller before (160 lbs about 15 years ago) but being a big girl is pretty much all I know. It’s a constant struggle to maintain low weight especially on a naturally voluptuous women but my pictures are constant reminders that I got to commit to whatever I need to in order to keep myself alive. Thanks”
Thank you so much for sharing your story with us, Starlet!
Let’s show some BWLW love to Natashia who has lost over 30 pounds! She says, “On October 3, 2011, I weighed in for my college’s Biggest Loser Challenge at 200.0 pounds. On October 3, 2012, I weighed in at 167.8! Over 30 pounds lost and I’m feeling (and looking) GOOD!! For all of you who are struggling with your weight, please understand that weight loss is a PROCESS. You’re NOT going to achieve true, and sustained, weight loss by doing a 30-day this or 60-day that program… It doesn’t work!! Slow and steady wins the race because remember, it’s a LIFESTYLE CHANGE, not a temporary fix. While I still have a little more to go to achieve my goal, I am no longer uncertain of if it can be achieved because I have now set up a solid foundation that will foster longstanding weight loss/maintenance and health. Even though I never really believed in the accuracy of the BMI, I was all smiles when I learned that I am now in the green zone! *If I can do it, you can do it!* **Proud of myself!**
I mostly focused on my diet. I utilized calorie counting systems such as MyFitnessPal (my favorite!) and made it my mission to stay within my calorie restrictions. I started eating more fish as opposed to the heavier meats, I cut down on my fried food consumption, and cut down on my sugary drink consumption (e.g., sodas, lemonade, fruit juices). I started bringing my breakfast and lunches to school/work with me to avoid the temptation of stopping at the drive through or visiting the vending machines. I also started walking around the neighborhood after dinners instead of sitting/laying on the sofa for the remainder of the evening. Lastly, I allowed myself cheat days. When you’re doing well, reward yourself and don’t feel bad about it… Just make sure you get back on your game plan once the night/weekend is over! All of these little things made the difference and I have never seen such steady and consistent results!!”
Amazing Transformation!! Thank you so much for sharing your victory with us, Natashia!!!
