Transformation of the Day: Taneisha lost 51 pounds. After years of fighting the pounds and striving for fitness, she decided to give lasting lifestyle change one last try in 2015. Doing her research, working out at home and adopting a plant based diet were major factors in her success, but having the will to hang in there was key. Check out her story.
I wasn’t always unhealthy, but my entire life has been a fitness battle. I never played sports and never liked doing many physical activities, but I did dance when I was younger. I went on my first diet in the 6th grade when I was no longer part of the dance school and had to do it on my own.
June 2013 marked the end of my last diet. Since I didn’t do my research or realize that muscle made your scale go up, I decided it was my last diet and I stopped putting forth the effort.
After a long life of struggling and being a bit bigger than my peers, I decided to officially make my final try at changing my health. This was my hundredth time trying to successfully diet. In April 2015, I looked in the mirror and decided to commit to making a change. At the time, I weighed around 190 pounds at 5’6″. (My heaviest weight being 190.8 pounds).
This time, I decided to do my research. Everyday, I read articles about creating a healthy lifestyle and how to stick with the changes I was making. When I started working out, I was to afraid to go to the gym because I was worried about seeing someone I knew. I worked out at home everyday doing cardio exercises, like jumping jacks, jump rope and walking.
After I lost about 30 pounds, I was officially ready to go to the gym. I got a membership in August. My go-to machine was the elliptical. I’m not a big cardio person, but the elliptical was great for me. I could live on that machine. I would workout at least 4 days a week doing an hour of cardio and that was it. My goal was to lose weight, so I didn’t care about muscle at the time.
My eating took a drastic turn on June 9, 2015. That was the day I tried the 22 Day Vegan diet. After lasting the full time and dropping an additional 12 pounds, I decided to create my own plan, similar to what he suggested in the book. I needed to find a more realistic goal for myself, even though his wasn’t hard to follow. I didn’t want to be vegan. I just wanted to continue to not eat meat (I’d already cut out red meat back in Dec. 2012). I also cut down on sugar and pasta.
In the after photo (above), I weigh 141 pounds and have barely any muscle. I currently weigh 139 pounds, with a lot more muscle. I’m still working towards my goal of 130 pounds and being fitness competition ready.
My initial transformation took about 4 months. I always say that my health journey is more then a fitness thing, it’s a spiritual. God is the reason I was able to make it. He’s the only person I could cry to when I was the only person in the house working out or eating right. Everyday is a challenge, but this health journey was for me and no one else. That’s what changed for me. Deciding to do it for myself and not for the acceptance of others.
My advice: When you stick to it, you will see a difference. When you don’t, you’ll find yourself going back to old habits. Start, figure out what works for you and your schedule and then… Stick to it!
I hope this inspires someone!
Instagram: @NeizhaB
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