No tags yet.
I always blog about my Vacation’s for the business I do for The Fare Way, but I never blog about my personal life. My Instagram pictures of me traveling through the Caribbean's are cool but my personal life is actually a lot more interesting. Over the last few years I have lost about 75 pounds. I have always had a huge support system that pushed me to get in shape. The problem is telling me what to is a sure-fire way for me to NEVER do it. As I have began to transition my appearance I realized that I had not a clue on who I was. I was so busy trying to fit in and be cool so that people didn't notice my 50 inch waist that I was neglecting the woman I was becoming. I felt it was imperative to write this blog to share my experience being overweight because I know there are so many people experiencing similar journeys. People often asked me how I lost the weight so I decided I'd make a blog to tell how I lost weight, struggles I’ve dealt with, etc.
Things you should know about me before continuing:
I am 5’0
I am 25 years old
I am a college graduate – GSU 2016
I love, love, LOVE hot wings
I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic and with Sleep Apnea in 2013 but I no longer have either.
I lost all my weight NATURALLY – although I strongly considered Gastric Bypass Surgery in 2012. I went to multiple classes at Emory to qualify for Gastric Bypass. My final doctor’s appointment before scheduling surgery they told me I couldn’t eat or drink and they’d put a tube down my throat to see in the inside of my stomach. I completely chickened out and decided I’d either continue to be fat or lose it naturally)
What it’s like being overweight:
Writing this blog, I realized how much I’ve compartmentalized the bad things of being overweight to the back of my mind. I remember people always telling me “I love how confident you are for a big girl” – as if because my stomach sat in my lap I was supposed to hate myself. I remember being in a lot of fights – physical and verbally because I always felt the need to be on defense. I worked as a Child Abuse Case Manager my first year after college and a I had a little boy that wanted to commit suicide because he was fat. I sat in the principals office with him and came up with comebacks for all of his enemies. At the time, I thought I was giving great advice but what I really told this boy was to stay on guard. I lived by the following motto with bullies "if you stay ready you ain't gotta get ready" but as I am working on becoming the adult that I want to be I realize it takes way too much energy being overtly prepared for negativity. Despite being fat, I have always been confident. The problem with that is being confident can be a double edge sword because there are often people who don’t like themselves, that aren’t fat that can’t understand why you love you. These types of people will try to make you feel small and make you dislike yourself and for me that didn’t work – liked I said… I stayed ready for anything a “hater” had to say.
Dating overweight:
One of the hardest parts of being overweight for myself was dating. All of my friends are pretty popular, attractive woman so being the "DUFF" of the crew was never fun. Guys love to have me around... as a friend, so they can get close to my other friends. Often times guys will target overweight woman because they automatically assume there's a lack of self-worth. Guys QUICKLY realize that I AM NOT that girl which has left me single for a while now. As soon as I started to lose weight guys that I had huge crushes on finally found me "worthy". I frequently cried because I knew I was always worthy and I knew that I deserved to be loved regardless of how I looked! I had a ex-coworker that was about 50 but the finest, best built 50 year old man you've ever seen! He was buff and very much into keeping his appearance up. He told me "you cannot expect someone that works hard to want you - you don't even work hard FOR YOURSELF". As mean as it was... he was right! I know it's cliche but as soon as I began to focus on myself and my health the guys have been beating down my door!
What prompted my weight loss?
My college heartbreak was the beginning of the end of me being morbidly obese. I was so heartbroken I just didn’t want to eat, sleep or anything. All I wanted to do was drown myself in work. I transferred colleges to Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA where I began having to walk around the city of Atlanta to get to classes. Ironically, despite my heartbreak it was my BEST semester of college. Most people get completely unmotivated when they go through something hurtful but for myself I try to bury myself in stuff to do so that I’m not focused on whatever issue I’m dealing with. After a couple of months, I randomly got on the scale and I weighted 220 pounds. I was P R O U D but that was not enough. Losing those first twenty pounds jumped started my transformation. I told myself I’d continue to lose weight and once I got to 200 pounds I would begin working out in a gym. It seemed like in a blink of an eye I was under 200 pounds.
What made me continue
The compliments I got for loosing the first initial 40 pounds were enough to keep me going! I began working out and eventually I got all the way down to 185 pounds. I didn’t grasp the concept of if I don’t make this a lifestyle I’d gain all the weight back… and I DID! Well I ended up getting back up to 216 pounds. I was devastated because I could feel the difference. I had a friend that did the KETO diet and had AMAZING RESULTS (see her Instagram - @_maggiejoyce). I figured what the hell let me give it a try. You should research the Keto diet if you want to lose drastic weight, FAST!
The short version of Keto is NO CARBS and small meat portions. Lazy Keto means I didn’t count calories, carbs or calculate my macros. I just stayed away from items that weren’t allowed and I ate items that were.
June 1, 2019 – 213 pounds
August 1, 2019 – 201 pounds
September 1, 2019 – 197 pounds
October 1, 2019 – 188 pounds
November 1, 2019 – 182 pounds
December 1, 2019 – 178 pounds
January 1, 2019 – 174 pounds (don’t judge me – it was my birthday month)
February 1, 2019 – 173 pounds ( and then Valentines….)
March 1, 2019 – 171 pounds
April 1, 2019 – 168 pounds
During the months of September – November I worked with my personal trainer Quinn Porter. If you see my highlights on my Instagram check him out. He will give you an incredible deal if you tell him you read my blog [Code: QPANGELJL] ! Shortly after Thanksgiving I learned that my rare, “Adrenal” body type must frequently change up diets to continue to lose weight. I decided starting in January I would do some carbs one month and no carbs the next month. Plus, for me – I missed snacks, chips and fries and I needed an excuse to sneak those in.
See. Dr. Eric Berg’s YouTube channel to determine your body type and what it will take to keep your numbers moving backwards on the scale! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pkoai6HCMcg
What I ate / Grocery List?
Breakfast:
Eggs
Bacon
Quiche
Omelets
Sausages
It’s best to try and add some type of veggies to your breakfast. The more veggies I ate the quicker I saw results
Lunch / Dinner:
Salads
Chicken (grilled and fried)
Steak
10 pc Hot wings or lemon pepper wings (fried) with celery and ranch (I eat at least 3x a week lol)
Porkchops (grilled and fried)
Broccoli
Asparagus
Lettuce wrapped hamburgers
ALL GREEN VEGGIES
Snacks:
Pepperoni and string cheese
Pork Rhine’s
Turkey and cream cheese rolls
Strawberries and whip cream
Handful of chocolate chips
I tend to get my 30 grams of carbs in in the form of snacks like a small thing of pringles is 21 grams of carbs. It’s not ideal for your carbs to come from processed snacks but oh well! lol
Tips:
It is a high fat diet. You will get your energy from the fats in your meat and make sure to use a nice amount of healthy fats when cooking (coconut oil, MCT oil, avocados and avocado oil, butter)
No more than 30 grams of carbs per day!
Try to stay away from fruits but if you are craving sweets a handful of berries
Try to stay away from starches like corn
You can have pretty much any meat you want but for the best results try to eat mostly grilled / baked food. I am a fried food ADDICT, so my weight loss was much slower than most people who do Keto.
Although you can have any meat. Try to limit it to small portion sizes because too much meat can turn into sugar when it breaks down and that will kick you out of ketosis
Get ketosis strips from CVS (you will pee on them and it will let you know how many ketones are in your system. Once your in ketosis your body is a fat burning machine)
If you work out you will see the scale move much slower.
So, what now?
My goal weight has always been 150 pounds and it has been a hell of a long, emotional road. My newest challenges are learning who this new woman is. How life will be not being the “big” pretty girl but just the pretty girl. I also had to learn how to not give my number to every guy that askes because it was flattering getting hit on by someone every time I go out the house. I am always looking for workout buddies and feel free to reach out to me if you’re trying to lose weight and are demotivated – if I can do it literally anyone can! You can follow my journey here, I’ll share more stories on things I dealt with both big and in the midst of my transition. Just make sure to subscribe to my blog.