Black Weight Loss Success

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Crystal lost 35 pounds

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Crystal wrote to us to share that she’s lost 35 pounds.  This proud mom of 3 lost the weight after being a food addict as a result of dealing with very hard and painful things in her past.  Here is her weight loss story:

Crystal weight loss photos

“I have been plus size (size 16W-18W) for a while now.  I have even advocated to ladies in my area to love themselves, no matter what size they are. I was in denial about my own size and even though my self esteem was always high, I just felt like crap physically.

This year, I was involved in a car accident, that left me with injuries to my back and my legs were constantly feeling numb. I accepted the fact that I am overweight, and tired of being sick and tired. That was when I decided I would do something about it after healing from the injuries.

After the accident, I had to do some deep soul searching, and in the meantime I read some really helpful material on how to deal with a painful past, and forgiving others. It was then that I realized that I had a food addiction, and I turned to food after dealing with a very hard situation in my life as a child.

Food was my drug of choice and I ate constantly, any and everything.

I have been so busy changing my lifestyle by eating healthy foods, and exercising, that I decided not to publish my online newspaper anymore (Cincinnati Defender). It took up too much of my time. I am a mother to three children ages 17, 8, and 7, plus I work a normal job in addition to being a publisher I had to decide between catering to the community, and catering to my health.

In three months, I lost 35lbs, no weight loss surgery. I changed what I ate and the portions I ate. I made better food choices, and increased my water intake from maybe 6 glasses a day to 2 gallons a day.  I exercised 4-5 times a week. I am still on this journey, and now encouraging others to do the same thing. Now, I have a total of about 45 more pounds to lose.”

Terri lost 58 pounds

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Today’s featured weight loss success story: Terri lost 58 pounds.  This petite 5’2″ sista was able to improve her health after being diagnosed with kidney disease with the help of a supportive Facebook community.  She committed herself to wellness and weight loss!  Here is what she shared with us about her journey:

Terri weight loss photos

“Hello, I’m Terri Little, I am 48 years old. I am married with 2 grown sons and 1 daughter-in-law. I was diagnosed with kidney disease at the age of 32. At that time my Renal doctor told me that I would most likely have kidney failure in 10 years because both kidneys were affected. He also told me if I lose weight that it would help my kidneys. I tried every fad diet out there, I lost a few pounds here and there but always gained it back. My doctor prescribed steroids that I took for about 6 months. The weight gain and side effects were unbelievable! I gained 15 pounds. I gave up trying to lose weight.

In 2011, I made my usual New Years Resolution to lose weight. Surprisingly I lost 20 pounds. I was at my largest at that time, 190 pounds and I stand at 5’2. In April 2012, (weight 172 size 10), a friend of mine added me to a lifestyle weight loss group on Facebook, that was founded by a personal trainer on the east coast. At that same time my labs for my kidney test were not good, so I said to myself, I’m going to try the group out and see if I could really lose the weight naturally and really stick with it to improve my health. As being part of the group we were to post our meals and workouts and he would give us advice on eating healthy and different kinds of exercises. That is when my journey began. The group was so motivating! I would see others overweight/obese like myself working out, posting their healthy meals, pictures and videos. He would also give us challenges. One challenge in particular I enjoyed was July 2012 was to purchase in the dress size we wanted to be. I purchased a size 4. By the end of the challenge I was able to fit that dress!

How I lost the weight: First, I stopped eating processed foods, white flour, white sugar, white rice, no fried foods of any kind. I use agave nectar as my sweetener, I bake, grill, boiling, broiled and steam my meat and veggies. I gave up all red meat. I drink half my body weight in spring water daily and cups of organic green tea. I make all sort of smoothies. I love to cook and have been told I’m a great cook  I enjoy making over my dishes so they can be healthy. I workout at the gym and at home 5-6 times a week. I love my 3 pound hula hoop, it’s really helped trim my waistline. I do strength training, free weights, cables and band. Interval cardio training on elliptical and stationary bike (something I learned from personal training in lifestyle group).

By November 2012, I reached my goal of 132 lbs. I now weight 135-138 and I have lost over 50 lbs since 2011. I wear a 4 size, sml and extra sml. I am within normal weight range for my age and height. I’m happy to say my Renal doctor was right! I lost the weight my kidney function is normal! I no longer take any medications. I now see my Renal doctor once a year. For years, I saw him every 3 months. I am overjoyed for what I accomplished! With A LOT of Prayer, Self determination and motivations from others I reached my goal! I get emotional just thinking about it. Thankful!! I’m eating for Life literally! I always say it possible.”

Terri weight loss journey Terri weight loss story

 

Weight Loss on a Budget Tip #27: Bring Your Lunch From Home

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It’s almost the end of our Weight Loss on a Budget Challenge so I just have a few more tips.  Today’s Tip #27: Bring Your Lunch From Home.

bring your own lunchThere are 3 major benefits to bringing your lunch to work or while you are out.

  1. Saving Money – Buying your lunch everyday can be very expensive.  The cheaper options (dollar menus for example) tend to be very convenient, but also FULL of empty calories, fatty meats and simple carbs.  You can save money by planning out your meals according to your daily budget.  Create your own healthy meal plan with low cost items like greek yogurt, low sodium deli meat, cereal, bulk items (nuts, beans, etc), cottage cheese, apples, oranges, protein shakes, etc.
  2. Calorie Control and Healthy Ingredients – When your make your lunch, you know exactly what’s in it.  You will have selected the ingredients and you’ll know how the food was prepared.  Also, you will have already considered things like calories and the nutritional value (vitamins, fiber, etc).  If you have a calorie goal for the day, it’s easier to stay on track because youl know in advance what your calorie counts should be.
  3. Portion Control – When you order your lunch, sometimes you may not be aware of what the true portion size is for what you’re eating because you’re on the run.  You may think you’re eating 1 serving of a food when you are really eating 4 servings.  That’s because there are so many great restaurants out there that have huge portions that don’t work for people who want to cut back to lose weight.  In the end, you may feel like you’re getting a deal on food, but you are sabotaging your weight loss efforts with those huge portions.  In addition, many of us were raised to eat everything on our plates, so the thought of not eating what we just paid top dollar for doesn’t compute.  Thus we end up eating more food than we need to.  That leads to guilt because we don’t want to “waste” food, so we eat it.  When you make your own lunch, you can better control how much food you eat.

Weight Loss on a Budget Tip #26: Use Free Weight Loss and Fitness Apps

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Mobile apps are part of our daily lives.  Today for our Weight Loss on a Budget Tip for day 26, we want to encourage you to try some great, free weight loss and fitness focused apps. Tip #26: Use Free Weight Loss and Fitness Apps.

weight loss apps

My Fitness Pal – This is a calorie counter app, online community and database that contains the nutritional information for million foods. This app can really help you stay on track with your eating. Hundreds of BWLW members are on the site so check out this list of their usernames.  It’s FREE

Nike Training Club – This app from Nike gives you access to over 10o workouts at the click of a button.  It includes some great High Intensity Interval Training routines to help you burn calories.  You can set up goals and you’re rewarded for your progress.  It’s like a personal trainer in your pocket because there is a cool audio feature that talks to your to help you stay motivated during your workout.  Very user friendly.  It’s FREE.

Loseit – Track calories, workouts and your overall weight loss progress with this app.  You can keep track of macronutrients, sleep patterns and even your blood pressure so you see a great snapshot of your health as you work on your overall wellness.  My favorite part of this FREE app is the bar code scanning.  It saves me a lot of time when I’m logging what I’ve eaten (protein powders, dairy, etc).

Fooducate – If you want to really know what’s in your food and get some help with making food decisions based on nutrition, get this FREE app.  It will open your eyes.  Their site says that “Fooducate’s scientific algorithms grade each product and provide simple, concise explanations. Grading system developed by scientists, dietitians and concerned parents.”  They emphasize REAL, unprocessed foods.

 

Lanise lost 158 pounds with Gastric Bypass surgery

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Let’s show some BWLW love to Lanise.  She lost 158 pounds with Gastric Bypass weight loss surgery.  After years of using different dieting methods, she is very glad about her choice. Here is her weight loss story:

335 lbs to 177 lbs! After years and years of Weight Watchers, Slim Fast, diet doctors, etc, Gastric Bypass was my last option. I love that after 4 years(this November) I still get full after a small meal! Yes, I have to take vitamins, calcium and b12s for the rest of my life.  I’m fine with that! My only regret is not doing it a decade ago!

My motivation: I was tired of carrying around this weight, tired of my back hurting and I wanted to travel more.

Eating habits: Once you have gastric bypass your are forced to change your eating habits. I hear a lot of people say that weight loss surgery is an easy way out, but in all reality it’s not. It’s a lifestyle change. You can not longer eat the huge portions. Some foods that you used to be able to eat, you may not be able to tolerate them. After 4 years post surgery, I still eat small portions, eat on smaller plates or on plates with sections.

Workout routines: I walk a lot and I try to get a least two days a week in the gym.

Advice for others: Do what’s best for you. Whether it’s weight loss surgery or doing it on your own, just be motivated and have faith in yourself.

Lanise weight loss photos

Weight Loss on a Budget Tip #25: Save Money at the Doctor’s Office

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Losing weight can help you achieve Tip #25: Saving Money at the Doctor’s Office.  “A person who is obese has annual medical costs $1,429 higher than someone of a normal weight, according to the CDC.” – Bankrate.com

save money medicine

  • Losing weight can reduce your risk factors for things like diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and some cancers.
  • Reduce medications for diseases for which symptoms are improved when you lose weight.
  • Weight loss and getting healthy can help improve your immune system, thus helping you to stay our of the doctor’s office for common colds or infections.
  • “$1,850 more per year in medical costs for an overweight person than for someone of healthy weight, among employees at the Mayo Clinic and their adult dependents. $3,086 more per year in medical costs for a Mayo worker with a body mass index (BMI) of 35 to 40. $5,530 more per year in medical costs for a Mayo worker with a BMI above 40. By comparison, smokers’ medical costs were only $1,274 a year higher than nonsmokers’, who generally die earlier.” – Reuters

A few weeks ago, I posted an article where I outlined how obesity could cause you to have higher interest rates.  Here is part of that article:

Why being overweight could now cost more to insure.

It is an accepted medical fact that being overweight can increase a person’s risk for disease and complications from other treatments to the point that it can be life threatening or develop into chronic conditions. Obesity is linked to asthma, type-2 diabetes, stroke risk, high blood pressure, cardiac issues and recently a direct link between being overweight and an increased risk of breast cancer has been found. For health insurers, this flags those who are overweight as high risks for coverage. Federal regulations prohibit insurers from denying or limiting coverage to those who are overweight by denying it qualification as a pre-existing condition, but they have put in options for health insurers to charge higher rates to the obese.

How much higher will my rates be if I am overweight?

According to the new federal regulations, you could be charged anywhere from 30 to 50% more for the same health insurance that someone who has a healthy BMI is paying. For employers, this will help defray the costs of the group insurance plans they help carry.  The many of the people with health issues that the new health mandates are supposed to be helping get affordable coverage may become stuck in the catch-22 of having to pay higher rates than before.

Weight Loss on a Budget Tip #24: Create a Home Gym and Save Money

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home gym save moneyTip #24: Create a Home Gym to Save Money.  The number one way that a home gym can help you lose weight on a budget is that you won’t have to pay for a gym membership.  This is the most obvious benefit, but let me share another 5 tips with you.

  • Time is Money:  When you can roll out of bed and workout or workout as soon as you get home it can be a huge time saver.  Whether using less gas or having time for other things, you will see a savings on top of more convenience.
  • World Class Personal Trainers in Your Living Room: Workout at home with workout DVDs and have some of the best trainers in the world as your exercise coaches.  Bob Harper and Dolvet Quince in the Biggest Loser DVDs.  Tony Horton in P90X.  Jillian Michaels in her various workout DVDs.  Chalene Johnson in the Turbo Jam and Turbo Fire series.  Shaun T in the Insanity series.  Leslie Sansone’s Walk Away the Pounds series.  These are just few titles that feature some of the best trainers in the world.  In your home gym, you can workout with them on the cheap compared to what it might cost to workout regularly with a local personal trainer.  Here is a list of top workout DVDs.
  • No Drama – Save yourself from the drama of going to the gym.  Yes, you can avoid feeling awkward, anxious or self conscious about your body.  You can avoid the meat heads who are grunting and dropping weights.  You can avoid the people who are just there to hit on women or be seen.  At home, you can focus on getting your workout on, not on who’s in the gym and what they are doing.  Less distractions, More focus!
  • Low Cost Equiptment – You can start with workout DVDs, a yoga mat, dumbbells (3 different sizes), an exercise ball for around $75-150 dollars.  You may be able to get second hand workout equipment from friends and family or at a discount on sites like Ebay.  Put together your equipment list based on the exercises you like to do.  In the future, You might even work up to buying an elliptical machine or spin bike if you are even more serious about working out at home vs. paying for a gym membership.
  • Your Apartment/Condo’s Workout Room – If you have a free, well maintained workout room in your condo, apartment or community club house that can be your home gym.  Many residents don’t take advantage of gyms on the premises where they live, and they can be basically empty during non peak hours (Most people workout right after work or in the morning.

Tanya lost 80 pounds with weight loss surgery

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Let’s show some BWLW love to Tanya who has lost 80 pounds.  This petite 5 foot tall lady was dealing with polycystic ovarian syndrome, insulin resistance and high blood pressure.  Weight loss surgery worked for her.  Here is what she shared about her weight loss journey:

Hi my name is Tanya and I just wanted to share part of my weight loss journey. My highest recorded weight was 301 pounds at 5 feet tall. I suffered from pcos (polycystic ovarian syndrome) which causes one to be insulin resistant, along with a slew of other problems. I also was suffering from high blood pressure. While in school, preparing to be a medical assistant, I noticed I was eating more, moving less and tiring easy.  I was opting for the elevator from the first floor to the second floor. Not liking this feeling or the way I looked, I was motivated to do something…but what? I had already failed at every diet under the sun so I decided to talk to the surgeon who had previously removed my gallbladder and have gastric bypass surgery.

On 12/18/12 my surgery was performed. Now, almost 10 months later, I’m down 80 pounds. I eat dramatically different now; low carb, low fat and very small portions. I also workout five times a week. Recently, I added strength training to my exercise program. It’s not a quick fix.  Surgery is not a easy way out.  There are plenty of days when I want to give up but I don’t want to go back to high blood pressure.  My blood pressure  has been great since the day after surgery. I also don’t want to trade my size 18 jeans back in for size 28. God has blessed me. I have none of the bad side affects associated with gastric bypass surgery. Even though I suffer from severe depression and bipolar disorder, for the most part I’m happy knowing that I’m on the right track to a healthier me.

Tanya weight loss story

6 Essential Habits for Losing Weight and Keeping it Off

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healthy habits weight lossLosing weight is really difficult to start with, but on top of that we all want to keep the weight off for good. There are healthy habits you can adopt NOW in order to increase your chances of keeping the weight off long term. Here are 6 tips that can help.

1. Don’t call what you’re doing a “diet.” This will set you up for failure immediately. Diets are quick, short term solutions for weight loss that usually are not permanent. If you are looking for permanent, long term weight loss, you need to think about it as a lifestyle change. Diets aren’t bad; they can help kick your metabolism into gear so that you can lose weight more easily. But a diet isn’t going to give you long-term success; changes in your lifestyle and food choices will.

2. Set weight loss goals. Goals are one of the most important parts of the weight loss process. The problem is, too many people say “I want to lose x number of pounds.” That is great but sometimes it’s not enough in terms of goal setting. Instead, start making your lifestyle changes gradually and make several mini-goals at a time. Sure, you can say that you want to lose 100 lbs, but it may be easier to stay motivated if you say you want to lose 10 pounds in the next 6 weeks or that you want to be able to walk a mile in addition to losing weight.

3. Reward yourself. …but please don’t make the mistake of rewarding yourself with food. If you can create rewards that are encouraging, but don’t involve messing up your lifestyle changes, they can be really good motivators. Effective rewards are desirable, timely, and contingent on meeting a particular goal. Use several smaller rewards for smaller goals, too. For example, if you went through a month of walking for 30 minutes every day, you can reward yourself with a haircut or a trip to the spa.

4. Figure out why you gained weight in the first place. Your Big WHY! – This is one of the hardest parts of maintaining long-term weight loss, but you do have to do some self evaluation. Why did you start overeating in the first place? What happened that made you want to overeat? Was there a life event/trauma? Were you struggling with a hormonal imbalance like PMS or a chemical imbalance that caused mood issues? Do you have a health issue? What happened to make you start neglecting your diet? Once you figure that out, you need to take steps that help you deal with those issues effectively later on. This will help you prevent similar issues in the future.

5. Understand portion sizes. If you understand how portion sizes are supposed to work, you’re going to be better off. We have an issue in the United States where we fill our plates to overflowing, and you really can’t do this. Even healthy foods can be bad if your portions are too big. A good rule to go by is the “fist rule.” A serving of healthy food is about the size of your fist; the smaller you are the smaller your fist is, and the smaller your portions will be. Keeping a food diary can help control your potions too.

6. Follow the 80/20 rule. You don’t have to be perfect all of the time, trust me. The key is balance and moderation. It’s going to take a lot of effort to maintain this lifestyle, so it’s okay to slack every once in awhile. If you live by healthy habits 80% of the time, slacking a little for the other 20% is okay (as long as you don’t go absolutely crazy and ruin what you did all week). Give yourself a treat on the weekend after being “good” all week.

Lyncoya lost 60 pounds

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Today’s weight loss success story: Lyncoya lost 60 pounds in about 10 months.  This proud mom and grandmother of 1 found a weight loss program that worked for her and taught her how to change her eating habits.  Here is what she shared with us:

“My name is Lyncoya Terrell. I’m a 38 year old married mother of 3 and grandmother of 1. I absolutely HATED seeing myself in the mirror. I hated the image. I’ve lost a total of 60lbs primarily using Weight Watchers™, in about a 10 month’s time. I have NEVER been that heavy in my life. I have a little ways to go, but I feel great about how far I’ve come. I’m also confident that I’ll keep the weight off this time because of HOW I lost it. It just feels good to be back to the old me.

As far as my eating habits are concerned, I used to fry EVERYTHING before I lost the weight. I’m not going to say that I don’t fry foods anymore, but I don’t fry them nearly as often. Maybe once every two weeks, versus 2-3 times a week. I began to stop eating subs and wings for lunch and began eatings salads, chicken, and fish for lunch. I stopped drinking soda. I don’t LOVE water, so I drink lots of Crystal Lite.  Basically, more vegetables, less rice, potatoes and bread. I stopped drinking alcohol as much. Alcohol has a TON of hidden calories that we are not always aware of. I’ll only drink it socially now, which isn’t often.

When I began my journey, I joined a gym for the first time in my life! I was terrified, but it jumpstarted my weight loss. I did an hour a day 4 times a week. I will admit that I haven’t been to the gym in more than 8 months. I’m working on getting myself back though. In my absence from the gym, I’m still losing though thanks to Weight Watchers™ and the fact that I’ve learned to change my lifestyle! (the first three photos are “BEFORE” and the last photo is “AFTER”) Thanks so so so so much for your response! Your page has been an inspiration to me throughout my journey and to be featured on your page would be awesome.”

Lyncoya weight loss photos