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weight loss before & after

Simone lost 110 pounds

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Today’s weight loss before & after story:  Simone lost 110 pounds.  This 5’3″ diva embraced eating right, monitoring her calorie intake and exercising 6 days a week.  Here is what she shared with us:

I would love to share my before and after pictures.  I lost  110lbs and I’m truly loving my life and my sleep since.   My doctor never told me that it could be my weight that was the issue causing me not to get any sleep.  I just want the world to know that it’s never to let to take your life back. My journey started with a picture that I took and posted to Facebook.  When I went back to my folder of pictures I could not believe what I saw.  That person was not me…but sad to say it was.  After wiping the tears away and putting the “beat myself up bat” away, I started a new way of life.  It was hard, I won’t lie.  My life with this weight had me in a situation where I could not sleep.  My knees and back would hurt nonstop.  I couldn’t even walk around the block without being out of breath.  Trying to do what I love to do, which was dancing, was hopeless.  I could not even get through a 4 minute song.

Each day, I got up and looked at that picture.  I started eating right.  I was eating food that would only last seven days and when I did not want to cook I ate lean cuisine, which was the next best thing.  I stopped drinking sweet tea and opted for water.  My fitness pal and calories counters are my best friend.  I have them on my phone, my laptop and my iPad so I have no excuse.  When I go out to eat, I ask for the calorie sheets because it is important to know what I am putting in my body.

Also, I work out six days a week.  No excuse!  I walk my dogs  for a 1/2 a mile and started dancing again.  I now can dance to not just a song, but a whole album.  Lol.  My top weight, when I went to by doctor in the beginning, was 232 pounds (my height is 5’3).   Yes, I was carrying around another person, so no wonder my knees and back were hurting.  Today I am proud to say I have been maintaing my weight at 125lbs for over a year now.  Guess what!  My doctor is even jealous of the weight I have lost and he calls me his roll model.   Also, I must give a shout out to Black Women Losing Weight.  Your stories keep me inspired to be the best I can be.  I am proud to say that I am 47 years old and in better shape know than I was in my twenties.   It’s never to late to take your life back.  I did and I’m loving it.

Simone weight loss before and after

Niazsha lost 30 pounds

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Niazsha lost 30 pounds going from 192 to 162 pounds.  Here is what she shared with us:

I took me 2 years to lose this weight.  I changed my diet, eliminated red meat and eliminated soda  I also limited the sweets I was eating.  I started walking and taking pole fitness classes (it’s fun). I still have 25 pounds to go. The extra weight gave me the worst hormonal imbalance and it put me at risk for diabetes. I thank God for how far I’ve come and look forward to meeting my overall goal of 135-137 pounds.

Niazsha weight loss before and after

Precious lost 107 pounds

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Update: Shout out to Precious. She lost the weight and has kept it off for more than 4 years.

Today’s featured weight loss success story: Blogger Precious lost 107 pounds.  She changed her eating habits, worked out regularly and found a love for running.  Here is what she shared with us:

What was your motivation? I come from a family with lots of health issues ranging from diabetes to cancer. My Dad died in 2007 due to complication involving diabetes and it still didn’t hit me then that I needed to change my lifestyle. I would just keep making that same I’m going to lose weight New Years resolution. Finally, In January 2010 I was going into my final semester in college and just didn’t want to start my next chapter in life being so overweight and out of shape so I finally committed myself to becoming a better me. I wanted to be an inspiration. I wanted to be someone else’s motivation. I think the best thing for me that kept me going the most is when people took note of my weight lost and complimented me. Sometimes you just feel so defeated when losing weight and just to have someone take note of your hard work makes you feel awesome. It made me feel good and allowed me to keep pushing forward. Also I have a small shopping problem so it felt awesome to shop and be able to pick up smaller sizes. I love fashion and finally I can wear clothes that I love and not just wish they made them in bigger sizes.

How did you change your eating habits? I changed my eating habits by cutting back on the sweets, not eating fast food (i.e McDonalds, Burger King), no fried food, and drinking only water and green tea. I learned new ways to incorporate more vegetables like through green smoothies as well as healthier recipes to help satisfy my sweet tooth. I now stick to a more 85/15 rule. 85% of the week I eat healthy, 15% maybe not so much but still within reason.

What did your workout routines look like? Because I was so overweight and out of shape I started simple. I used my Wii to help me get in shape through the use of Wii Fit. I stuck with this for the first 6 months and lost about 40lbs. The summer of 2010 came and I decided to join a fitness center. I started working out 5 – 6 days a week and varied between weight lifting, zumba, belly dancing, and cardio. After losing 90lbs, I decided to try something more intense and started at Forte Fitness Bootcamp as well as joined Black Girls Run and found my love for running which helped me reach my 100lb weight loss goal.

What was your starting weight? What is your current weight? The highest weight I recall is 267 pounds. I am currently 160 pounds.

How long did your transformation take? My transformation was one that involved a long hiatus because of working two jobs. I started in January 2010. By January 2012 I had lost 90lbs. I stopped working out in February 2012 and started back in September. By December 2012 I had reached the 100lb lost mark. Currently I am still on my journey however my focus is now toning and getting my body fat percentage below 25%.

I hope to inspire people through my blog: http://thecoilybombshell.blogspot.com as well as my facebook page www.facebook.com/thecoilybombshell

Thanks for reading & remember if it’s important to you, you will find a way. If not, you will find an excuse!

precious weight loss before & after

Update July 2014: Precious is now down 110 pounds.  Check out this video all about her journey.

Jasmin lost 35 pounds

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Today’s weight loss before & after featured story: Jasmin lost 35 pounds.  This mom of six changed her eating habits and focused on burning calories to lose the weight.  Here is what she shared with us:

I’ve lost a total of 35 pounds. After having 6 children, I wanted to challenge myself to get back to my original size before having children. My target weight is 179 pounds.  I’m 195 pounds now. Almost there!. First, I changed my eating habits. I ate all my heaviest meals in the morning.  This means I ate my dinner in the morning. After 12 noon I started to slow down and eat very light, like crackers, boiled eggs, fruits, etc.  Anything lite.  I was in the gym everyday, except Sundays, for 1 hour.  I ran on Elliptical for 30 minutes to tone and the other 30 minutes in another  area of the gym. When you first start out on your weight loss journey,  just burn calories don’t worry about toning until you have lost your desired weight or close to, then tone and burn.

jasmin weight loss before & after

Sonya lost 64 pounds

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Today’s weight loss before & after story: Sonya lost 64 pounds by lowering her carb intake, lowering calories, and burning more calories with regular exercise.  Here is what she shared with us:

Starting Weight: 283 (Nov. 2012)
Current Weight: 219
Goal Weight: 170

My story isn’t uncommon but it is rather extensive.  I’ll make it short.  This isn’t my first successful attempt at losing the weight.  I lost over 100 pounds and gained it and more back, quickly.  I used prescription diet drugs and when I reached my goal the weight I began to pile the weight back on again even faster. This time, I made up in my mind that I am not meant to be a thick girl. Many are satisfied with a little in the middle. I appreciate that, but my health and happiness were more important to me. That’s when I quietly started this journey in November. I wanted to lose weight to fit into my birthday dress. I did and I felt great, but that wasn’t enough. I wanted to go all the way back down to my Junior size 11-12’s. (I still have all those clothes by the way).

This is what I’m doing: 1). Carb intake lowered to 20 or less 2). Current caloric intake is no more than 1470 daily. 3). I work to burn MORE calories than I eat. I started with 3 miles of brisk walking and 2 hours of cardio at leat 5 days a week. I’m now doing 4 miles of walking and 1 hour of resistance training in the gym 6 days a week. I am very disciplined in my workouts and eating habits.  I also downloaded lots of low carb recipes from various websites. I don’t consider this a diet. It’s my way of living for the rest of my life! Will I eat pasta, cookies, cakes, pies, pizza, ice cream and bread again? Of course, but I know that when I do I’ve got to burn those calories up with a great workout!!!  I love myself and the body I’m in!!!  Be encouraged and know that you can do it, too! Do what works for you!

Sonya weight loss before and after

Monique lost 30 pounds

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Let’s show some love to Monique.  She has lost 30 pounds in about 3 months with a 1600 calorie plan.  She had lap band weight loss surgery the past, but it didn’t work for her.  Eating right and regular exercise brought her results.  Here is what she shared with us:

This is my story: I started my journey in March 2013 (starting out at 260 pounds). A few years ago I had lap band surgery and did lose weight but eventually gained most of it back! I was disgusted with myself so I decided to lose the weight naturally. I started out by substituting two meals with protein shakes and then eating a healthy dinner. My excercise started out with walking 2 miles a day. I eventually got rid of the shakes and started to eat meals three times a day with snacks in between. I am on a 1600 calorie a day plan. Also I up’d my excercise to 6 miles a day of walking, 20 minutes of aerobics and light weights! I also drink a gallon of water a day if possible. Since March 2013, I have lost 30 lbs and counting, not to mentions many inches!!! I feel great and am excited to continue my weight loss the natural way!  I pray about it and once I started seeing results it made me even more determined to continue!! I hope you share my story so others may be inspired to live a healthier lifestyle as I have.

monique before and after weight loss

Cee lost 36 pounds

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Let’s show some BWLW love to Cee who lost 36 pounds.  This proud mom embraced vegetarianism, juicing and regular exercise to lose the pounds and change to a more healthy lifestyle.  Here is what she shared with us:

On Oct 18 2012, I decided I had enough of the weight issues and decided to lose it. I was at 194 pounds, However, I am 5’1 and I knew that I was not at my ideal weight for my height. I was carrying a lot of weight that I didn’t need or want. I suffered from headaches, chest-pain and I was always tired. It was very hard for me to put on socks and tie my shoes. Just from doing that I would perspire really bad.  One of my best friends gave me a pair of jeans (size 33 in men’s) in Oct. and I could not even pull them up over my thighs. I wore a size 40 men’s at the time.  The reason why I put the jeans on was because I wanted to see “how they would fit”.  I used tacks to hang the pair of jeans he gave me on my bedroom wall and vowed to leave them up there until I could fit them.  I even put it on as a screen saver on my phone. I started my journey right before Halloween.  I thought, “Why should I wait if I am serious about losing weight.”.

I started the Atkins Diet and joined Facebook groups on weight loss. Around this time I could not run or even jog, so I walked, did pushups, sit-ups, jumping jacks and crunches.  In the meantime, lost 36 pounds in 5 months.  I never went to a gym.  Every Friday I would weigh myself and write my weight down on my calendar. I drank some water, but I didn’t drink enough of it (I was drinking a lot of juices and tea).  After a while I started to get a little groggy and felt my stomach become greasy and heavy. I started to look into what I was putting in my body the foods/drinks.  So later on, I became a vegetarian (my son as well) and started drinking 95% more water (straight water or with lime or lemons).  I really wanted to be healthy and I did a lot of research about food.  I changed my thinking and started to look at my health more than my weight.  Thanks to “Fat Sick and Nearly Dead” I juiced for 10 days (fruits and vegetables) while eating them also.  I lost a number of inches and I understood that if I wanted to drink some juice I could not only do so, because I had a juicer that made fresh juice, but I would be getting more nutrients!! I had to learn that (I COULD NOT LET FOOD CONTROL ME I HAD TO CONTROL IT).  I can now run/jog. I do cardio at least 30 minutes to 45 minutes Monday thru Friday and sometimes on weekends. I’m on my way to becoming the best I can be.  I have 10 more pounds to lose.  I’m now at 158 pounds and I can wear a size 32 men’s jeans.  My weight loss was not easy. Books, YouTube videos, Netflix and the internet were my research tools that helped educate myself.  I do have a “cheat day” to eat sweets but at one point when I first started I did not have them at all.  Thankfully, I had a support system.  If you don’t have people supporting you, you have to make up your mind to get healthy no matter what people say. You control you own destiny.

I took the jeans off my wall and I wear them proudly!!! Never going back!!

cee weight loss success story

Yetta lost 100 pounds

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Today’s featured weight loss before and after story: Yetta lost 100 pounds by becoming a raw vegan, juicing, and walking.  Here is what she shared with us:

I started my weight loss journey in mid May 2012. High blood pressure, fatigue, dark spots on my cheeks, swollen legs, and the way I looked finally made me realize that I had to make a change. I became a high vegetable and fruit raw vegan juicing daily, and walking an hour or 2 each day.  After a few days, I lost about 15 pounds and my right leg was no longer swollen.  I realized that this was the way to go.  The first 40 pounds lost were emotionally overwhelming and it took a lot of “Help me Lord!” not to go back to my old way of eating.  For the last few months, I went to the gym with my sister before going to work, about 4:30 am Mon-Fr.  I do “sweat dripping cardio” for 1 hour and weight lifting for 20-30 minutes.  I change my routine every 4 weeks.  Currently, I’m doing 30 minutes on the glider (20 incline and 85 resistance), weights, then return to the glider for another 30 minutes.  I also walk my dog few miles a week.  I’m no longer a vegan but eat very little meat, sweets, sugar, flour or pasta.  I eat clean 95% of the time.  My goal was to lose 100 pounds by my 44th birthday and I did it.  Now, I will lose another 80 or 100 pounds BEFORE MY 45TH birthday. Getting fit is one of the hardest things I’ve done, but I live by “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”…And through prayer all the time.  I hope this helps others with way over 150 pounds to lose.

Yetta lost 100 pounds

Jenn lost 46 pounds

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Today’s featured weight loss success story: BWLW Online Community member Jenn lost 46 pounds by changing her eating habits and exercising.  Here is what she shared with us:

One year ago, I fell into a depression and food became my best friend. I was eating all of the wrong things. I wasn’t active. I am only 5 ft 4 inches tall and to carry around 252 pounds was causing me pain. My back, knees, feet, and ankles would begin to hurt after only 5 minutes of walking. My clothes were getting bigger. One day, I looked at myself in the mirror and all I could do was cry. It didn’t matter that others saw me without flaws. I was unhappy and tired of feeling that way. The next day, I ate and drank all of my favorite things (Doritos, Reeses, Pepsi, french fries). At the end of the day, I threw away everything I didn’t eat and decided at that very moment to start living healthy. I decreased my carbohydrate intake to a minimum of 50 grams daily.  I eliminated sugar, sodas and juices and increased my water to a gallon a day. I also incorporated more vegetables into my meals. I joined a gym and began to do Zumba classes. Today I am 46 pounds lighter! I have never been so proud of myself in my life.

Everyday is a struggle but it’s so worth it. The camera is now my best friend and all of my loved ones can see my confidence. I am still working toward my goal, which I’ll share as soon as I am there. That dark and dismal place of my past won’t EVER see me again. You can believe that!  For all of you that chose healthy living, I applaud you. It’s not easy…But it’s SO worth it!

Jenn before and after weight loss

Charlotte lost 60 pounds

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Today’s featured before & after weight loss story:  Charlotte lost 60 pounds.  She was motivated by the possibility of having diabetes to change her eating habits and get healthy.  Here is what she shared with us:

I’m down 60 pounds so far since July 2012! I have more to go. I was borderline diabetic.  I didn’t take it seriously until the doctor said she was more than sure I was over the borderline, because of all the signs and symptoms I was having. The day she tested me I prayed and told God if He would spare me from this disease I would start working out and lose the weight. I’ve seen my aunts and sisters deal with diabetes. Losing their sight, their limbs, kidney failure and having to stick themselves daily. The day I got my results I cried. Cried tears of joy because I didn’t have diabetes. As I cried and while thanking God, I popped in a workout video and haven’t stopped yet.

Along with working out I also used the loseit.com to keep track of my eating. I noticed that when I began cutting back on how much I ate the bulk of the weight began melting off. I stop eating beef years before the weight loss, never ate pork, let the sodas go, cut way back on the sweets and began eating more fruits and veggies. I love my veggies now.  Now, I carry a bag of fruits with me in case I get hungry when I’m away from home. It keeps me from stopping for fast food. Don’t get me wrong, I do have my weak points but I don’t over do it and don’t do it often! When I get to that “I don’t feel like doing this” point, I have my before picture handy and it quickly motivates me to keep moving!  I was at a weight loss plateau for a long time so I decided to join Weight Watchers recently to get the remaining weight off.  I was in a size 24-26 at the beginning of my weight loss journey and now in a size 12!  Fit&Fabulous at 40!

Charlotte weight loss before & after