Monique lost 52 pounds

Weight Loss Transformation of the Day: Monique lost 52 pounds. This proud mom’s motivation is avoiding a long family history of illness.  After 2 pregnancies, she knew that she couldn’t blame it all on baby weight and she committed herself to true lifestyle change.  Now, she is running 5k races, lifting weights and eating much healthier.  Here is what she shared with us about her weight loss journey…

My motivation to lose weight was my family. My family has a history of being overweight and having high blood pressure, diabetes, heart problems, etc. You name it; someone in my family has it or died from it. I wanted to be here for my children for as long as GOD allowed, so I had to do something. After having my daughter in October 2011, I started my first journey. I lost over 30 lbs by competing (and winning) in a weight loss challenge. I was doing great until I got pregnant with my son in October 2013. I gained all of my weight back and then some. It was then that realized that I wasn’t as dedicated as I thought and old habits came back quickly. I decided then that I needed a lifestyle change and not just a short term challenge.

My starting weight was 234 pounds at 5’5” tall. I could blame my weight on my children but I would be lying to myself. I started gaining weight before them and it continued after them. I still have a hard time accepting that I let myself get there. I haven’t always been overweight but I have fluctuated over the past 15 years with my heaviest being close to 250 lbs.

To kick start my new lifestyle, I competed in a weight loss challenge at my job in Dec 2013. Unfortunately, I did not win but it inspired me. I had only lost 19 lbs but I was ready to do it right this time. I changed everything. I cooked food differently and started tracking my calories. I wasn’t a soda drinker but I started drinking even more water. I also added in gym time at least 5 days a week. We have a gym on campus and I started going on my lunch break. I even started to run…Yes run! I used the Couch to 5K app on my phone to begin the process of improving my endurance and speed. I also joined the Run Club and have since participated in 5k events improving my finish time to less than 36 minutes (down from close to an hour). I recently won 3rd place in my age group with a finish time of less than 34 minutes. That was a big accomplishment of for me. I also won the 2014 Lifestyle Change Award from the American Heart Association for my new lifestyle.

As of April, I have loss a total of 52 lbs and now I weigh 182 pounds. I haven’t lost much weight since November of 2014 but I have been working with a personal trainer to help me with strength training and toning up for almost a year. I have seen more loss in inches than weight. I have dropped from a 14-16 pants and 1x-2X shirts to a 6-7 pants and S-M shirts.

My journey has been amazing and I have inspired others; something I never thought would happen. My physical transformation has taken over a year but my mental transformation is still in progress. I still have moments where I look in the mirror and see the old me. It makes me work a little harder because I know that if I have to be consistent and dedicated, I won’t sacrifice my hard work to revert backwards. The advice I would give to anyone wanting to start this journey is to find what works for you and stick to it! Start with what you need to work on the most (bad diet, not moving enough, etc). Once you conquer the hardest part, the rest will be easy. Good luck to all of you.

Instagram: @moe_fit_4_life
Fitbit: https://www.fitbit.com/user/3CLSBP