I canāt really call these weight loss transformation photos because I havenāt weighed myself in many years. I probably lost some weight but I have no idea how much, so lets say itās fat loss and muscle gain progress. Anyway…
10 weeks ago I hit a point where I was really quite unhappy with the condition of my body.
After I broke my wrist I was just getting back to full fitness at the start of this year when the devastating news came that my husband needed life-saving heart surgery, so obviously that was a very stressful time. But the procedure went well and things were just settling down again when I was struck by a severe chest infection which meant I couldnāt exercise for a couple of months.
By early June I was better but I was carrying more fat and less muscle than I have since around 2011. (That was the year I began to discover the various techniques and lifestyle factors which got me into the best shape of my life.)
Iām a fitness trainer and I specialise in helping people gain control of the condition of their bodies, Iāve helped thousands of people all over the world get fitter, leaner, healthier and happierā¦ But 10 weeks ago I felt like all those factors for me personally had rolled back, not to my worst point ever (far from it), but enough to make me decide to take on my own 10-week transformation challenge.
I want to make it clear that at no point did I get down on myself over this.
One of the most important lessons Iāve learned over the years is that itās a lot easier to do what it takes to get our bodies into great condition if we appreciate them as they already are.
If youāre of the opinion that itās better to motivate yourself by thinking your body is not acceptable as it is, or if feeling appreciation for your body in itās current condtion is something you struggle with I have some urgent advice for you here.
I also didnāt even try to be āperfectā.
On the exercise side I took my cues from how my body felt. I did have a workout plan, but I regularly made changes and switched workouts around so I could do what felt right on the day.
On the eating side, I simply used my long-standing approach of eating mostly-healthy-most-of-the-time, focusing on eating natural foods and minimising processed carbs. I also used intermittent fasting.
I never felt remotely restricted ā I had pizza, cake, chocolate, cheese, wine, beer and many other things banned in most diets, not in huge quantities of course, but there was no food I told myself I ācouldnāt haveā.
Thatās not to say it didnāt require any effort. Of course it did, you donāt achieve a transformation like this without consistently making choices that match up with your goalsā¦ especially not when youāre over 40!
But my personal experiences and all Iāve learned from helping other people change their bodies meant I had complete faith in the process. I couldnāt be sure how quickly things would change, but I knew that what I was doing was going to lead to the changes I wanted and that kept me in a āinvestment-rewardā mindset.
Weāve all seen weight loss transformation photos. As cheesy as they are, taking those ābeforeā pics really helps to cement our commitment to make changes. Having a deadline for the āafterā photos keeps us motivated. And finally, seeing the ābefore and afterā photos side by side can reveal changes we find impossible to notice in the mirror!
As you can see, even when I took the start photos I had a smile on my face.
This was the face of woman who was embarking on a project to get her body into better condition because she loved and appreciated it, not because she felt negatively about it.
I canāt over-emphasise how much this mental attitude, along with having total confidence in the process, helped me achieve these results.
That said, I think itās also clear that my smile in the 10-week progress shots is little brighter!
Iām not here to say that anyone else needs to get leaner or make the same choices as me. But Iām not going to shy away from sharing the fact that I feel so much better now.
The combination of gaining muscle strength and shedding fat means my body moves faster, jumps higher, and has more explosive power.
Of course, my jeans fit a little better too and I wonāt pretend I donāt enjoy seeing muscle definition on my body ā call aspects like this a happy side-effect if you want, I personally donāt see a problem in being motivated by them. š
Inspired?
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