Losing weight played a big part in my life. It was a pivotal moment for me. The catalyst to everything I am now.
I've been a bigger girl my whole life, I've been bullied by my peers and my family for it but nothing made me want to change more than when I went to college.
Freshman year of college
That year (2012) my "Freshman 15" weight was piling on rapidly. From eating whatever on campus to my tons of snacks in my room. I ate when I was bored, I ate when I was stressed, I just ate way too much and way too much of the "wrong" things without any type of daily cardio. Before I realized it sophomore year came around and I had reached up to 220 pounds.
I was the biggest one of my group of friends in college. It made me angry because I felt like I stuck out but not in a good way. I didn't realize how bad my anger was till I started lashing out a lot for no rational reason. I had built up jealousy towards my smaller friends.
I didn't want to be big anymore but instead of doing anything about it I let myself stay mad about it and wallow in it. I always had a chip on my shoulder. Jocelyn my roommate at the time could tell you. Bless her heart.
Looking back I realize now how toxic the situation was. How sad it was honestly that I was living my life like that. I was always upset about something and it all stemmed from the fact that I wasn't happy with myself. I didn't like looking in the mirror. I didn't like what I saw. I had no inner happiness so I had no happiness or love to give to the world.
One day I went home to visit my boyfriend. It was a 4 hour bus ride but it was worth it because I felt like he was my only happiness which is also not okay. I didn’t love myself and I was looking for outside validation. The only time I felt good was when I was with him. He told me straight up that I was getting really big and he was concerned. I had gained 25 pounds that semester alone. Hearing him say that made me breakdown. I don't remember a time I've cried harder than that moment.
As soon as I got back to school I started to dedicate my time to that goal, losing weight. I joined Club soccer I started turning my eating around but no results. I was getting frustrated so I would slack on my healthy eating or stop going to as many practices & show up when I want to.
I came home for Christmas break and my mom told me I was looking smaller. That motivated me to get back on track. I came back to school with a new attitude and new plan to shed the weight. (see weight loss blog for specifics) I changed my eating habits and I added so much more cardio throughout my day from walking. I started shedding weight and I could finally notice it.
As the weight started shedding so did my attitude. Losing the weight truly made me feel lighter. I felt like that chip was lifted off my shoulders. I felt myself smiling more and waking up feeling good everyday. I felt a happiness I never felt before because I was happy with what I saw staring me back in the mirror. I radiated that happiness and it was a visible difference. Jocelyn could tell you it was like I had done a 180. I had such a drastic change in my attitude and demeanor, she didn't know how to receive it because it was that different.
After losing the weight is around the same time I decided to seriously pick up my camera and put myself out there at school. I wasn't afraid of people looking at me because I looked damn good. It was Christmas break again and I saw there was a back to school event. I had it planned out. My outfit was cute and my body looked great. I decided to go to the event and take pictures just to start getting my name and work out there and it worked.
Losing weight gave me the confidence I needed to take that step out there and turn my hobby into a career. Losing the weight felt like losing a demon, that chip on my shoulder, that anger I had in me. I found myself smiling more, making new friends & just generally feeling good everyday because I loved what I saw in the mirror. People who knew me before and after told me even my walk was different. One old friend told me I used to be kind of hunched over when I walked. I kept my head down and got to where I had to because I didn't want to be noticed. After losing the weight I would go to the student center just to be seen. I would have no real reason to be in there other than the fact that I looked good and I wanted to share this glow and happiness with everyone.
Before losing the weight I wasn't capable of being a good friend or lover because I didn't have that love for myself first. Now after losing the weight not only do I feel an immense love for myself but I generally have this will to share that love with the people around me. I want everyone to feel this happiness and there is no reason they shouldn't. I try to motivate everyone around me to be their best self because everyone is capable of acomplish their dreams. There is no reason to be angry all the time and there is a root to that anger that you have to take the time to sit down and discover. I understand I had to go through that journey though to be able to help others get through their personal journeys.
Losing weight changed my life and thats what inspired me to create my fitness brand. Everyone should be able to feel this joy. Once I got my eating in check and daily exercise it was so easy for me to shed the weight and I want everyone to feel this feeling. Heart disease and high blood pressure is a very serious thing in our community which is another reason PXFITNESS means the world to me. I don't want to see anymore black men or women losing their parents or themselves to these diseases that can be fought through healthy living. It's too common for our people.
I hope that through my fitness brand I can inspire others to get in shape and teach their family and peers to do the same as well. The "reach one teach one" effect.
Thank you for reading this
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before and after pictures.
I'm not a specialist. I'm writing about exactly what I did that helped me to go from my biggest which was 220 pounds to a healthy 136 pounds.
Admitting that there is a problem is the first step to solving it and since you came to this blog post you're taking the first step or just nosey, lol.
Hey guys!
To start, I appreciate you for supporting me and wanting to learn about how to get fit. I got discouraged multiple times during this journey and just gave up. But with anything in life you have to see it through! Whatever it is you're trying to accomplish. Once I developed a healthy routine I stuck to it and was able to shed a lot of the extra weight that was starting to take a toll on me physically and emotionally
Before you embark on your new healthy lifestyle you have to identify what it is you're doing in your daily life that is so unhealthy and figure out alternatives for those behaviors.
For me it was fast food, lack of daily activity and my water intake.
I wasn't drinking enough water on a daily and was eating out too much and eating the WRONG things.
When I say wrong things I mean things that weren't doing anything but holding my body back. Food's packed with sugar, fat's and grease.
How I addressed this issue
The only liquid I consumed for the first 3 months of me taking my health serious was water. Not only did it help me see more of a difference in my weight but it gave me more energy during the day and I wasn't as hungry because I was consuming so much water. Sometimes your body sends you signals that people sometimes mistake for hunger but really it's just dehydration. I recommend that you try to drink 5-6 glasses of water a day. Start as soon as you wake up in the morning & end your day with a glass before bed. My trick was always having water around me so I had no excuse.
Once I started to see that I was losing weight I started incorporating all natural fruit juices. My typical juice of choice was pineapple juice. I always had it in my fridge at school. I would alternate between water and pineapple juice daily. I also cut out soda for good. Soda really isn't good for you at all and we shouldn't be consuming it.
I cut out fast food, if you're someone like me who loves to grab a burger and fries then you have to make that sacrifice to get the body that you want. Not only does cutting out fast food help you to loose weight but it also helps you save $$$
I changed my daily routine's to include more cardio. While in college I lived on the fourth floor of my dorm. All of my classes were on the third floor of a building that was at least a 7 minute walk from my dorm. To incorporate that daily activity I stopped taking the elevator and started walking. I also stopped driving to class and started walking. Every day, multiple times a day to and from class and home. It may not sound like a lot but four flights of stairs really is no joke multiple times a day when you're out of shape. The first few weeks doing it I could feel how tired and out of breath I was when I got to the top but gradually as week's went on I got better and better.
-if you don't have the same luxury as I did in having so many stairs to walk every day then fit that daily cardio into your schedule somehow. If there is a will there is a way.
I cut out red meat. This one made such a huge difference because I loveeee burgers. I used to eat them often. The feeling I got afterwords was disgusting to say the least.
Sluggish and lazy *Frank Ocean moms voice*
Red meat is high in saturated fat and your body loves to store that fat all over soo I ditched the red meat and started incorporating more seafood, grilled chicken, fruits and veggies into my life. Not only are fruits good for you but they make great snacks. I would take fruit and a water bottle to class as a little snack that kept me awake and curved my hunger until my next real meal.
Anything you do for 22 days becomes a habit
The key to weight loss is consistency. Whatever healthy living practices you are doing you need to stick with them. Once you pass the 22 day mark it won't feel like a diet or that you're limiting yourself because it will not be apart of your daily habit.
I did this consistently over the course of a year and lost the weight that was holding me back from wearing the clothes I wanted and being comfortable with myself. No where in here I mentioned gym because that wasn't apart of MY story but it can be apart of yours. I know if I would of went to the gym everyday on top of my healthy practices I would be ripped right now, lol. Everyone's story is different, explaining mine is just to be used as an overall guide for you to see how easy it is to get healthy and how important what you put in your body is to your weight loss. Your eating habits are 70 percent of the battle. Once you get on track with that it's all about that daily cardio that's going to shed that weight right off.
a side note/think peace
Everything you put in your body is going to come out. Whether it's your sweat glands or your waste.
If you're eating junk, junk is going to come out of you.
Things to remember
water water water!
cardio is your FRIEND
red meat is NOT your friend
figure out what your favorite fruits are and replace your favorite snacks with them
MORE WATER
MORE CARDIO
MORE LIFE
-Love
t.brown
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