Barbara lost 44 pounds

Weight Loss Transformation of the Day: Barbara lost 44 pounds. She is the proud mom of Morgan, who’s story we featured last month. She credits prayer, walking for exercise and low carb eating as being key to her lifestyle change. At 54 years old, she’s living the healthy life and looks amazing! Check out what she shared with us about her journey…

I’m 54 year old native of The Bahamas, and I currently live on the island of Nassau. I have two daughters that I wanted to be an example for. One of them was featured on your site in April, Morgan, who lost 53lbs.

What was your motivation?
I am only 5’4″ tall and had been near 200 or just over 200 lbs for closing in on ten years. I was afraid that my weight would continue to increase if I didn’t get a grip. My health was suffering (high blood pressure/diabetes) and I was feeling tired and listless all the time. I was also motivated by the prospect of finding someone to love. I wanted to present my best imagine, not just temporarily but for many years to come. (Ironically I was got married in approx. one year after the weightloss! LOL) My starting weight was 214 pounds and my current weight is 170 pounds. My transformation took 8-9 months.

How did you change your eating habits? What did your workout routines look like?
MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANYTHING WAS PRAYER – Pray for discipline and guidance. TRUST ME, PRAYER WORKS!

1.Daily exercise. Nothing elaborate. I started by doing 30 mins of walking every morning on the treadmill, then 30 mins twice a day. Now, I do one hour of walking every morning. I walk between 3.5- 4 mph. THE KEY IS CONSISTENCY! Try not to miss a day.

2. Drink lots of water!! (Up to 1/2 gallon/day). I drink lemon water upon arising. (1-2 lemons in 8 oz water. I usually drink this before my daily exercise) Try not to drink anything else but water. Sometimes I use low calorie soy or almond milk to mix a drink called GlucAffect up to three times a day, which is supposed to help regulate my blood sugar and help with weight loss. On rare occasions I drink 4-6 oz of juice, but no more than once daily.

3. Absolutely no added sugar, no bread, no rice, no potatoes and avoid all other starches. If you must eat starch do so in tiny amounts. Eat more protein to take away the hunger pangs. ie fish, chicken, turkey, beans, nut or other foods high in protein.

4. I ate ONLY fruit in the mornings, and a handful of almonds if hungry. (My fruit combo every morning is 1 grapefruit – 5-6 strawberries, 1 kiwi fruit, handful of blueberries.)

5. At lunchtime I ate a raw vegetable salad with protein (ie. tuna salad) or soup (lentil soup, split pea soup, black bean soup etc). NO crackers or bread. I only drank water with this meal.

6. Dinner – I tried not to eat anything at all after 6pm. If I did eat dinner, I ate a salad or soup again. WHATEVER YOU DO, DON’T SKIP MEALS! Skipping meals will only slow down the weight loss process. At the same time, do not overeat.

I also used a combination of black seed oil (1 tsp), cinnamon (1 tsp) and honey (1TBS) in a 1/4 glass of water 30 mins before eating anything in the morning and at nights before going to bed. Not sure if it works but its supposed to help with the weight loss process.

What advice do you have for others who want to lose weight?
Pray for the motivation and the discipline. DO NOT give up if you fall back into old habits – get back up and try again! Remember that everything you do is a CHOICE! Do not let your body control your mind!

Check out Barbara’s Facebook group.
www.facebook.com/groups/myweightlosstips/