Michaéla lost 52 pounds

Transformation of the Day: Michaéla lost 52 pounds. As a young, single woman with no children, she wanted to create a healthy foundation for her future. She worked with a coach to clean up her eating habits and adopted an exercise routine that produced results. Check out her story.

Age: 31,
Height: 5’7″
Starting weight: 220 pounds
Current weight: 168 pounds

I started my journey in January 2016. I knew that I couldn’t do this on my own, because I got myself into this situation. So, I hired a trainer. I’ve been working with Terry “The Diet Doctor” Starks. He’s helped me go from 220 lbs to 168 lbs over the course of several weeks on his weight loss program. I started my journey because obesity runs in my family and I’m a young, single woman with no children. I didn’t want to weigh 220 pounds, start a family and have an uphill battle from there.

When I came across Terry’s page and something inside me said, “Contact this guy.” I had a great conversation with him and I love the fact that he and I work well together. He coached me every day and helped me become motivated. He held me accountable, not only to him but to myself. He helped me understand that this is a journey. This weight was not put on quickly, so it’s not going to go away as quickly. He let me know that if I stay focused and stay committed to myself, I will see success.

Eating Habits: Terry taught me how to properly fuel my body with what it needs in order to have a healthy body. I was someone who would eat once or twice a day and then move on to snacking. That wasn’t working. I also ate a lot of bad carbs and never ate breakfast consistantly.

With Terry’s help, I learned that my body needs to eat every 3-4 hours and that I need small meals. I started to eat more lean meat, more veggies and more fruit. I eat good carbs, like oatmeal, healthy cereal, sweet potato and rice. I learned to change my sweet tooth cravings for candy and have fruit instead when I feel that urge. I have lots of frozen mango and raspberries after workouts.

Exercise: I started by walking 30 minutes a day. I’m not a fan of treadmills. I like to go outside instead. I found a nice trail near my house and made a habit to get outside everyday for 30 minutes. The next thing I knew, I went from walking 1 mile a day to walking 3 miles a day in 40 minutes. Once I was able to build my endurance doing cardio, I slowly added weight training to my regimen. I’m still doing cardio for at least 45 minutes a day and I weight train 4 to 5 times a week for at least an hour. I noticed that my body became stronger each week and I became hooked. I wanted to keep pushing myself further and further.

Now, one year later, I’m still losing weight. I’m still excited about my body and I’m just ready for more women to experience the joy that you have when you learn to love yourself again. That’s exactly what I was able to reclaim by working with Mr. Terry Starks. I will be forever his cheerleader because he taught me how to be my own cheerleader again. Now, I live a healthier lifestyle and I’ve encouraged my friends and family to want to be healthier.

I’m just excited to see where this journey leads me. Currently, I’m training to do my first bikini competition. I will be posting pictures and updates from my journey through my Instagram and Snapchat @Iammiklachelle.