Black Weight Loss Success

The Official Blog of the Black Women Losing Weight Community. Tips, articles and weight loss resources for African American Women.

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Gigi lost 50 pounds

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Today’s featured success story: Gigi lost 50 pounds using Myfitnesspal to manage her daily calories and exercising.  She says, “By HIS grace, I am healing.”

gigi weight loss

Here’s what she had to say…
“50 Pounds since June! Using myfitnesspal to track calories. It has been a life changing experience! Would love to share with anyone I can help! We are in this together!

At 306 pounds and 5′ 2 I could only walk for 10 min on the tread mill at 1.5 miles and hour. I was embarrassed but determined. It hurt my back to go any longer. I would add a few minutes to each session to build my stamina. That was in June. Now I’m happy to report that I’ve added strength training to include squats. My knees no longer hurt. I can walk at an incline at 4.5 miles an hour for 30 minutes. I go to the gym three times a week. Limited because of my job but I walk at home for 30 minutes. Don’t know how far. I gauge it by the minutes. Here is a better pic. I have 90 more to go but am confident that I will get there with the help of God and His mercy.”

Wrap Up Time – Final Check in for our November Challenge 2012

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Ok Ladies, it’s time to check in for week 4 and the challenge overall.  I want to know what your November Challenge experience was like.  Did you lose weight?  Did you give up on the challenge goals?  What are the challenges and/or victories you faced changing your eating habits and exercising ?

How did I do:  I lost 5 pounds with the November challenge.  Not eating sugar was a serious challenge during the holidays.  More so than I would have expected.  I really had to take the time to plan out what I was going to eat in the mornings and commit to eating right all day.  For me, it’s not about quick weight loss, it’s about lasting weight loss and I’ve been averaging 4-9 pounds down each of the last few months.  Those pounds are released and never coming back.

How about you?  How did you do on the November Challenge?  Ultimately, Black Women Losing Weight hosts these challenges because we want you to see results and release the pounds!

Ada’s Rules: 3rd set of book club questions – Soul Food and Old Lovers

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Hey BWLW Fam, 

Ada's RulesHere is our third set of bookclub questions for Ada’s Rules.  This book is the BOMB!  I hope you feel the same way.  Give your answers in the comment box.  Let’s discuss!

Soul Food. Ada loves food in general and soul food in particular. Over the course of the novel, she becomes a food culture revolutionary.

  • What are some of the changes she makes in her own eating to affect change?
  • What are some of the changes she makes in her community to affect change?
  • What is the George Washington Carver diet?
  • Ada’s primary exercise is walking in her neighborhood. How does her new habit—a daily walk–influence her community? How does it influence the way she and her daughters celebrate birthdays? How does it allow her to make new friends?
  • Does Ada get too small?

About Matt Mason: Over the course of the novel, Ada contemplates an affair with her old college beau ,Matt Mason.

  • Did that shock you? Why?
  • Do you think Ada ever really intended to sleep with Matt Mason or do you think she only dreamed about it to motivate herself to change?
  • Matt Mason and Preach are about the same age and they went to the same college. But there’s a sense in the novel that Mason embraces a kind of “New Black Aesthetic” while Preach embraces “old-school black values” How does this effect each man’s sense of what is beautiful in a woman?
  • Have you ever been inspired by a fantasy to undertake action in real life? For example, have you ever imagined yourself on stage at Carnegie Hall to get yourself to practice the piano?

Cindy lost 49 pounds

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Today’s weight loss success story:  Cindy lost 49 pounds by keeping calorie goals and working out at least 5 days per week.

cindy weight loss

Here is what she had to say about her weight loss journey:

“Hello BWLW!!!! I met someone online recently & saw their story posted on your wall so I wanted to share mine. I was always on the “thin” side growing up. Then around the age of 18 I started putting on weight but never as much as I did in ’08 after the birth of my daughter. I gained over 100 pounds. I decided in 2012 that THIS year would be MY “YEAR OF FITNESS.” Well, I am 49 pounds down and still going.   I am on a 1200 calorie intake per day eating plan and I workout at least 5 days per week…either jogging, walking, or weight lifting. Thank you for ALL the encouraging stories, pictures, and testimonies that you share. It has encouraged me greatly on this journey. YOU ALL ARE THE BEST!!!

Carmen lost 80 pounds

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Today’s featured weight loss story:  Carmen lost 80 pounds with the help of a personal trainer.

carmen weight loss

Here’s what she had to say…
“My story…..Just as I began to pray to God about my weight, He sent an angel by the name of Terry Starks, professional trainer/nutritionist/natural body builder and God fearing….WOW…What did I have to lose? Everything was done through facebook at a cost that I couldn’t believe. I actually thought it was too good to be true. The first five weeks I lost 25 pounds. I was completely sold after that. I have lost a total of 80 pounds by using his meal plans and excercising. I feel great physically, mentally and spiritually! I’m so grateful to God for giving me the strength to do it, and for my friend telling me about him. My goal is to lose about 60 more pounds. I know that I can do it if I STAY FOCUSED (his favorite words)! This is a lifestyle change, not a diet. I wish everyone much success!

Jamie lost 40 pounds

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Today’s weight loss success story:  Jamie is down 40 pounds by changing her eating habits and doing lots of cardio (Zumba).

Jamie lost 40 pounds

She sent us this message on Facebook,
“I love this page. I went from 230 lbs to 175 lbs but got lazy and started slacking. I gained 15 lbs back before I got back on track and your website was a great motivator. I am now about 20 lbs away from my goal weight.  I’m down 40 lbs and counting….lost my motivation a little in the past few months but I”m refocused and thankful for your website which makes me feel empowered. I have another 30 lbs to go to get to my goal weight and I know I can do it. First picture is from summer of 2010, 2nd picture is this past summer. Theres no quick fix, just lots of cardio – including Zumba and hitting the gym and changing my eating habits.  

Oh and I went from a size 18 to a size 12!!!!! I would be honored to be on your page along w/ the other beautiful black women working hard to be fit and healthy. You are doing a great thing w/ your page, thank you for your help 🙂:) You are a true motivator and inspiration to us all!”

Jamie, Thanks for the love and for sharing your story with us!

What are BWLW’s Monthly Challenges all about?

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There have been some questions about Black Women Losing Weight’s monthly weight loss challenges, so let me clarify. For our challenges we have:

  • An eating habits goal
  • An exercise goal
  • A bonus goal for those who want to step it up
  • A book of the month

We check-in weekly on our online community so that we can stay accountable. That is via blog postings, status messages, photos…whatever you feel comfortable with.

That way, there is something for everyone. You are also free to modify the goals. For example, you aren’t going to start eating meat as a Vegan if we make lean meat part of the eating habits goals. If you already exercise for an hour 6 days per week, you aren’t going to go down to 5 days just because that’s our stated goal for the month.

Ultimately, we want to have challenges that everyone can participate in on some level, even if it’s just reading the book.

Hope that helps.

Den-Ray lost 157 pounds

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Today’s featured weight loss story: Den-Ray lost 157 pounds by walking and using MyFitnessPal.com.  So many of the BWLW Ladies use MFP, so it’s great to hear about a major success story coming out of it’s use.  Check out what she had to say:

den-ray before and after photo

“I started by walking with my next door neighbor 3 times a week, my only goal was to make it a mile which took me half an hour. I lost about 50 lbs this way, just walking and not eating so much. My only rules were not to eat unless I was hungry and to stop eating when I was full. My neighbor soon reached her goal and stopped walking with me, I kept going because I liked the results. She was always encouraging and introduced me to myfitnesspal.com. The website helped me track calories without having to do heavy math. I started by trying to eat fewer than 2000 calories and soon moved down to 1200 calories a day. I lost about 75lbs this way but hit a plateau. So, on the advice of a doctor, I increased my exercise to 5 days a week, at least an hour, and began consuming 1500 calories a day. This was much easier to follow and I now eat around 1500 calories when I exercise and 1200 calories when I’m not exercising. I have 58 more pounds to lose to hit a healthy weight, but I know I can make it.”  Check out her Facebook Group.

SaLisa released 45 pounds

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Today’s weight loss success story: SaLisa released 45 pounds and was motivated by seeing how diabetes ravaged her family.

SaLisa before and after photos

She says,
“In my journey to become a healthier me, I lost 45 lbs. I watched the disease named Diabetes murder members of my family and this became an eye opener for me. I want to be natural and healthy for the rest of my days.  My starting weight was 189. When I first began the process I changed up my eating habits. All things white went to all things brown, like rice and pasta. I cut out soda completely, as well as fruit juice. All sweets were eliminated. Once I noticed my weight dropping, I decided to do more and I began doing cardio 3 days a week and strength training 2 times a week”

Crystal lost 22 pounds

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Today’s featured success story: Crystal lost 22 pounds.  She says, “I’ve lost 22 pounds so far! I do Xbox Kinect Dance Central for at least an hour, 3 days a week. I walk every Tuesday from 4 to 8 miles. I also downloaded a mobile app called Loseit and it calculates the calories you eat and tracks your exercise. I love it!!!”

Great job, Crystal!!

Crystal Weight loss