Malika lost 49 pounds

Featured weight loss success story: Malika lost 49 pounds.  She tried a number of exercise and eating challenges to help her find what works for her in terms of changing her lifestyle.  Here is her story:

“Hi, my name is Malika, I just celebrated my 33rd birthday on 9/25. I am not really sure what my highest weight was but two years ago at a routine doctors visit I weighed at 248 pounds. The Monday before my birthday I weighed in at 199 pounds.  I went from a size 22 to 14. The dress on the left was actually a size 12, taken the day after my birthday.
How did I do it? I learned the hard way that there is no easy solution, no one thing that works for everyone. So in the past two years, I tried many different things to keep me motivated and on track.

I have a FitBit to track my daily activity and steps, I also use MyFitness Pal to track my food intake. I have done several walk/jog challenges like the “30 runs in 30 days” novice challenge where you have to log a minimum of 2 minutes of running a day for 30 days straight. I try to workout 4-5 days a week; I’ve done Zumba, Kickboxing, and Bootcamp. I like the variation in the workouts. The most important thing was having the support and accountability from my sister and close friends. I am not where I wasn’t to be yet, but I will never be where I was before.

My eating habits have changed drastically, instead of eating three big meals a day, I started off my journey with eating 6 small meals for my body type. My carbs were limited to once daily, but like my exercise routine, I also liked to have variation. I have participated in juicing and smoothie challenges, the 100 sugar calorie challenge and a Special K challenge. I did all of this to find what will work best for me and what could be sustainable. I found that preparation is key and I have taken something away from all of the challenges.  However, I found that a low carb and small meals work best for me.”