Alexis lost 65 pounds

Transformation of the Day: Alexis lost 65 pounds. After 2 pregnancies, she felt like she’d given up and her weight was out of control. She decided to take her life into her own hands, do her research and learn how to transform her body with food and exercise. Check out what she had to say about her journey.

Starting weight: 240 pounds
Current weight: 175 pounds
Goal weight: 160 pounds
Height: 5’6″

After giving birth to 2 children, 19 months apart, I had completely given up on myself. I got up to 240 pounds and felt like my weight was spiraling out of control. One day, I finally stopped saying, “Next Monday I’ll go to the gym.” and just got up and got started. I’ve been consistent ever since. I got down to 158 pounds, but with weeks of weight training I now weigh 174 pounds. I’ve never been more proud of myself.

I was motivated by sadness and depression. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I was tired of not being happy every I would buy clothes. I was tired of not being happy when I looked in the mirror. I was tired of not going places because I was not happy with myself. I began looking up transformation stories and it really gave me the pick me up I needed to do something. The final straw came when my mother had taken a picture of me and texted it to me the next day. I had to finally face how much weight I gained because I would usually never take full body pictures. From that day forward I decided I was going to change.

I could not afford a trainer so I did all of my own research online. Bodybuilding.com was the most useful site during this weight loss journey. I learned about meal prepping and I owe most of my weight loss to that alone. I would cook my meals every 3-4 days and store them in containers. I literally had to bring one every where I would go because I love to snack…a lot. The first few weeks, I literally thought about food all day long. I needed to have something healthy already prepared to lessen my chances of grabbing something fattening. I tracked my calories the My Fitness Pal app and I kept my calorie intake under 1600 per day. I pretty much rotated chicken, shrimp, turkey, and salmon with vegetables and brown rice.

Once I got down to about 190-200 lbs I joined the gym. I started with a spin class for 6 weeks, then I found a work out plan on bodybuilding.com to follow. I slowly added weights 2 days a week. Once I was comfortable, I started attending a Body Pump class at my gym (high intensity intervals with weights and plyometrics). My body changed the most when I started using weights. Now, I do cardio 3 days a week (stair master or spin) and body pump 2 days a week.

Instagram: @alexistizano