Tone lost 130 pounds

Transformation of the Day: Tone lost 130 pounds, going from a size 24 to size 16. After the devastating loss of her daughter she gained a significant amount of weight and carried it for 6 years. Finally, she had enough and decided to change her life with healthy food and exercise. Check out how her hard work has paid off.

I’m Tone and a friend suggested that I share my weight loss story with you guys. I’m happy to do so because trust me, if I can do it ANYONE can do it! I’ve always had weight issues, but after losing my daughter I gained a massive amount of weight. My already overweight body carried this extra amount of weight for about 6 years until finally I had enough. My doctor suggested gastric bypass to me a few years back, but the thought of having surgery to lose weight didn’t sit right with me. I decided to try once more to lose the weight on my own and give it all I’ve got.

I lost 130 pounds, going from a size 24 to size 16. There were no tricks or gimmicks. I did it the old fashioned way with a healthy diet and exercise. Ladies, Zumba is a godsend. Fast forward to today, 3 years later, and the weight is still off. I went back to college, got a degree in fashion, and have launched my own plus size fashion line (7twenty5 designs). A tragedy completely changed my life!

Before my jounrey, I ate horribly. I have never been a big eater, its always been an issues of what I ate as opposed to how much I ate. For example, I would usually skip breakfast, have 2 large pieces of cake for lunch washed down with a soda, followed by no dinner. I remember for about 2 months I ate a pack of mini cinnamon/pecan rolls (8 count) and a bag of dorritos every night for dinner. There was almost no water in my diet and every meal was fast food.

Now I do what I like to call “clean to cheat”. I eat “clean” healthy meals and drink water only for 6 days. Then I have 1 day to eat what I want. I drink 6-8 16oz bottles of water per day. My breakfast is a piece of fruit (usually a banana) or a cup of oatmeal with cinnamon. Lunch is a burrito that my friend is gracious enough to make for me (whole wheat tortilla wrap, 92% lean ground beef, brown rice, and low fat cheese. I believe she uses 1/2 cup of each ingredient), For dinner, I alternate between steam and grilled. On steamed days, I usually have spiced steamed shrimp (about 1lb) and on grill days it’s usually a grilled chicken dish (chicken breast, steamed veggies, brown rice ). I chose these meals because I can eat as much of it as I want (well not the rice, but the chicken, veggies, and shrimp). Again, nothing but water all week.

On friday, I still eat sensibly but I will have alcohol if I’m going out and on saturday anything goes lol. If I want pizza and candy, then that’s what I have. The difference is that before I would eat a medium pizza, and now I will have 2 slices of a medium pizza. Instead of eating a family size bag of candy, I’ll have 1 serving of candy. I’m not the type that can say goodbye to my fave meals forever. I wouldn’t have lasted 2 days doing that. The “cheat” day is a goal to look forward to at the end of the week.

I lost the first 50 pounds without exercising, then I encorporated an hour on treadmill the mornings. I got bored VERY quickly and a friend recommended Zumba classes. I tried it and I loved it! I go for 1 hour 4 times a week and that is the only exercise I’ve been doing. However, last week I started doing ab crunches, situps and standing crunches using resistance bands (4 reps each, 12 times per rep).

I’m 5’3″ tall and my transformation is still ongoing. I started it 3 years ago and have 20 pounds to go. The best advice I can give to others is to do what works for you! I can’t stress that enough. You’ll have 50 people telling you what you should be doing, and advice is great, but you still have to do what works for you. Also, don’t get discouraged. There are weeks that I don’t do anything I’m suppose to do. Before that would make me say, “Forget it, I’ll try next week”. Now I get right back at it the next day. Tomorrow is a new day for better choices. Also, stop with the time table! I would “diet” for a few weeks and really have it in my mind that I should look like Beyonce by now, lol. When I didn’t look that way after a few weeks, it was over. I would decide that I might as well eat what I want. When I started losing weight this time, I told myself, “It’s gonna take as long as it’s gonna take.” and that’s what kept me going as long as I have. That mindset has kept the weight off.

Facebook page: Club 7twenty5 (fashion line)
Instagram: @t0ne28