by EM2WL | Sep 27, 2012 | Testimonials, The Journey
After two major surgeries, I found myself lacking muscle and feeling sluggish. Months earlier, a friend of mine brought EM2WL to my attention. Realizing that my caloric intake was so low and was actually doing more damage to my body was amazing and depressing in the same breath.
While recovering from surgery and unable to lift or kickbox, so I focused on my diet. I am a clean-eating vegetarian, so I have to fight to ensure that I ingest healthy and clean proteins. Here is a sample menu of what I eat:
Breakfast:
Vegan protein shake (Protein, steel cut oatmeal, wheat grass, banana)
Snack:
Almonds
Fruit – usually strawberries
Lunch:
Plant based protein (lentils, beans… whatever)
Whole grain (ezekiel brand) pita or corn tortilla
Veggies
Salad
Olive oil salad dressing
Snack:
Boiled Egg Whites
Veggie
Dinner:
Plant based protein (lentils, beans… whatever)
Brown Rice
Veggies
Salad
Olive oil salad dressing
Yes, I eat all of that in one day… The serving sizes are great and I take in anywhere from 110-140g of protein.
Ok, so fast forward to 2 weeks post the last surgery, I took the picture on the left with the blue/green shorts. I started on heavy weights only. Cardio was limited because I was still in recovery. I would lift about 4x per week and then allow for recovery the other three days. After week four, I incorporated Nike Training Club and Kickboxing 3x per week while lifting 3x per week… Some of the cardio days overlapped with the weight training days. Super sets, HIIT, and heavyweights (especially leg press) were and still are my friends.
Picture in the pink top was taken 1.5 months after the picture on the left. Now, just to give you a little history, I have always worked out; therefore, my muscle memory is fabulous… Nonetheless, I still put in the work via proper diet and weight lifting.
My next picture will be taken 1.5 mos from now… Hopefully the transformation will continue!!!!
Have an EM2WL transformation to share? Willing to let us tag along on your journey? We’d love to see it! Be featured on our Transformation/Journey page by submitting your story to Success@EM2WL.com
by EM2WL | Sep 26, 2012 | Building Muscle, Q & A
Q: I’ve just been so confused. I have been shrinking and really don’t want to get any smaller but my lower half of my body is still very squishy and not toned. Would that mean I need to do cardio or just lift more on my legs? I have those dreaded saddle bags that stay on me till I weigh as much as a toothpick. I weigh 110 right now with around 20% body fat. I don’t know if I could handle a month cut? Sorry for all the questions. I am just tired of not seeing any results.
A: Wow, you are so small already, cutting doesn’t sound like it will help with the look you’re trying to achieve. I’d say it’s time to up the weights in the leg work. Doing more cardio at this point will just create the “skinny fat” look, which is what you’re trying to avoid/overcome. Building muscle will firm the legs up quite nicely. So you could go straight into a bulk, and develop some lean muscle under the layer of fat that may be there now. Because of this your legs may feel like they’re getting bigger at first (because muscle is developing under fat), but pay close attention to the firmness. When they seem firm enough (or if your pants get too tight) cut for 3-4 weeks (or until pants fit again, lol) and then go back to bulking. This will slowly get rid of the “skinny fat” and give you firm, shapely legs and glutes.
A few must-haves in your leg routine would be heavy squats, lunges and deadlifts. Stick to free weights/compound movements, don’t even bother with the weight machines, if you can help it (unless you’re very new to weights and still learning proper form. But eventually wean yourself, or sprinkle into your free weight routine).
Also see if you can incorporate 2 leg days into your routine, 1 heavy and one light (the lighter weight/high rep day can replace a cardio day — or, alternatively, use a cardio machine like the stair mill on cardio day).
Even if you choose not to bulk now – opt to eat over maintenance (~ 200-300 cals) on leg day.
Q: Yes! It’s that awful skinny fat on my legs! Everyone says cardio, cardio to get rid of it. My thighs are 19 1/2 inches and still fat. One of my friends refuses to lift weights and tries to get me to run with her a few days a week. I hate it! She wants me to run a 5k with her but all I can ever think about is how it’s cutting out my time at the gym.
A: Nooooo! Now is NOT the time for a 5k, ROFL. Excess cardio is what creates the skinny fat, not what heals it. Not to mention the fact that you say you “hate it,” why torture yourself unnecessarily? As you develop the muscle you desire in your legs, you can carefully use your runs (or preferred cardio) to help with extra fat. But too much will tear down the muscle that you’re trying to build and become counterproductive. If you force your body to choose between building muscle and endurance, endurance will typically win. This is especially important — unless you are training for a marathon/triathalon/etc. (in which case you would want some muscle atrophy in order to run faster- too much muscle makes you slower) — since you actually want muscle in your legs. If you wanted to incorporate cardio that will help you reach your goal, shoot for things like the stairmill, bleacher runs, sprints, etc., NOT long distance running (at least not right now).
Girl, adding squats, deadlifts, etc. was the best thing that ever happened to my cellulite, lol. Weighted leg work is the real deal when it comes to shaping the legs.
by EM2WL | Sep 25, 2012 | Testimonials, The Journey
See the beginning of Kelsey’s journey here, and the update on her progress and journey towards Self Acceptance below:
***UPDATE – 22 SEPTEMBER 2012***
Weight = 144.6 lbs (+2 lbs)
Leg = 22.5 inches (-0.5 inches)
Waist = 30 inches (-1 inch)
Hips = 34.5 inches (-1.5 inches)
Chest = 33.5 inches (-1.5 inches)
Arm = 13 inches (+1 inch)
So I have now been doing EM2WL for 4 months and one day I hope to never count calories or worry about the scale again. I am slowly getting there but this journey is for the long haul so I’m going to be patient and as long as I see some results in any form I know this is the right path for me. Just joining EM2WL for the past 4 months has made me realise how much love I have for the body that God gave me.
I want to treat it with respect and compassion like I would my friends and family. I want to pamper it and make it feel good by giving it healthy food and exercise daily. I also want to treat my body to pleasure whether that be food, new clothes, intimacy or anything else pleasurable. I am no longer beating my body up for what she has not got…I am concentrating on what she has got and learning to make the most of that and be the BEST ME I can be.
As you can see from the pictures above in just two months there is a great difference in my body shape. I am trying to work on my tone rather than my weight and keep taking pictures to gage my progress.
I am so glad I took photos because I can really SEE the difference!
I will update again in 2 months time with pictures and more measurements
Have an EM2WL transformation to share? Willing to let us tag along on your journey? We’d love to see it! Be featured on our Transformation/Journey page by submitting your story to Success@EM2WL.com
by EM2WL | Sep 23, 2012 | Testimonials, The Journey
It has been about 7 weeks since I began my Cut after reset, so it was time for a weight loss update, no matter how ugly it is.
I took measurements today and these are the changes since April. This was about the time I began EM2WL.
Waist (at navel) up .3 inches
Natural waist – (from August) down 1 inch
Hips – up 2 inches
Thighs – down 1 inch
Arms – down .5 inch
Chest – up .5 inch
Forearm – 0 change
Calf – (from May) down 1 inch
While I am happy with a few of them going down, overall since April, I have only lost .7 inches. To top it off because my hips and my weight have gone up slightly, there is a 1%BF INCREASE. Definitely not the direction that is supposed to go. I’m frustrated, upset, angry, pissed off, you name it, that I am almost 6 months into this journey and I am at a standstill with weight loss on the scale and my measurements.
HOWEVER, I will focus on the positives right now to remind me that even though things aren’t changing like I had hoped and anticipated, I do have changes. I started running in January with the C25K program. I ran my first 5k in April, and I ran my first 10k in August. I have one more 10k in two weeks. Even at 240ish pounds, I have proven I can run.
I started lifting in May. Something I never really considered or had a drive to do. Now I enjoy it and I like seeing the weights get heavier.
I am eating about 1000 MORE calories now than I did at the beginning of my journey. So even though the numbers aren’t reflecting change yet, I am NOT STARVING myself to at least maintain my weight. I will NEVER eat VLC again. There is no reason to ever eat less than my BMR again.
So yes, its an incredibly frustrating and upsetting journey for me overall, but I would rather be here than where I was 6 months ago, eating so very little, being so very tired and still frustrated that the scale hasn’t budged. (At least here I can eat more and wallow in pity:)) I will not give up. And I am hopeful that things will change and trend downwards for me soon. It has to, right?
I spent the better part of the morning having a love/hate relationship with my results today and while it sounds like I’m OK with things, I’m really not. I love that I can eat more and I love that I’m feeling better and healthier and such, but at 240ish pounds, I’m NOT OK with a gain in BF% and I’m NOT OK with no change on the scale. I’ve worked really hard for everything I have done in the past 6 months, and it damn near kills me that I’m still in the same position I was before, only eating more.
However, I have been wearing a FitBit for the past 3 weeks and I just ran a calorie burn over the 21 days, and found out that my TDEE from this is about 130 calories LOWER than the online calculators have given me (2865 on Scooby, compared to 2730 from the FitBit). So this translates instead of a cut of 15% taking me to 2440 from the online calculator, I should be at 2321. so that’s a difference of 120 cals..
At 2440 Daily cals, my Cut was barely 10%.
Now I cant say 100% this is the reason why the scale isn’t budging, but it has given me pause and I am going to adjust my cals to reflect it. I have been working on cleaning up my diet more, getting rid of the junk, concentrating on keeping the carbs down and protein up. So I have hope that doing these small changes might start to show some results for me.
I guess we’ll see in another 6 weeks
ETA: I’m going to take a TDEE break before resuming at a lower number..
by EM2WL | Sep 21, 2012 | Testimonials, Transformations
I wasn’t always overweight. Believe it or not until I had my first child I weighed 104 pounds. After I had my son, I went thru postpartum depression. I didn’t know it at the time and my doctor certainly didn’t clue me in. I gained 50 pounds, it just seemed like I couldn’t stop eating. Fast forward about 10 years, the military sent us overseas. I spent 4 ½ years eating my way thru Europe. Overseas, no family, no support, my husband deployed leaving me in a place that seemed like it was always raining. I gained another 50+ pounds. I was unhappy, no.. I was down right miserable.
Once we got back to the states, I could not deny my problem anymore. I sat on the couch staring at my treadmill. My excuses ran out, not enough time, not enough energy, my work out equipment was in storage. All that came to a halt the day my household goods arrived. I was a stay at home military spouse, my kids were suddenly teenagers and didn’t need me like they did when they were little. I let that be my excuse for years. Time was up on all that, I made a doctors appointment with the intention of getting a gastric bypass. I qualified for it but the the thing I kept hearing was you will never learn how to eat right or lose the weight and keep it off if you go that route. I left the doctors mad as a hornet. What do you mean I couldn’t keep the weight off? Why was my doctor working against me? Those were my thoughts as I was driving home.
That evening I sat down and really thought about what it was that I really wanted. Did I just want to lose the weight? Did I want to go the easier route? Or did I want to not only lose weight but to learn how to be healthy? After much soul searching, I decided to go back to my doctors a few days later and discuss how to start to lose weight and how does one go about eating healthy. Well for me it started with Phentermine for about 2 months, I did lose the first 20 pounds that way. You see it took away my hunger, it took away all thoughts of eating. I would take a nice pill and not eat until 6 or 7 pm. I figured it out much later that I was barely eating 800 calories. Then after about 2 months, my magic pill quit working. Back to the doctor I ran and fast. His words were a wake up call. He told me” the rest is up to you”. I had to do the rest COLD TURKEY, no way!!!
I figured I’d eat the same amount of calories that I was eating with the pill and the weight would still come sliding off right? WRONG, again. So off to the internet to figure this whole eating thing out I went. I tried various diets but never once felt myself. 
I tried Atkins, South Beach, the eat 800 calorie diet. I tried so many crazy diets. I would lose a few pounds here and there, but it seemed I was always hungry. After coming off those diets, I would almost always gain the weight back. I needed to start somewhere all over. I needed to get my weight off this roller coaster ride. I started walking, eating 1200 calories, I have to admit that the weight really started to fall off when I combined the two. It seemed the advice everyone was giving was right.. an epiphany.. the key to weight loss was a healthy diet and exercise. Could it really be that simple? Yup that worked until it didn’t any longer. I kicked my exercise way up and my foods way down. I was exercising 2-3 hours a day everyday and only eating 1200 calories a day. I was STARVING, raving hungry 24/7. I was doing everything I thought was right but wasn’t losing, my weight loss came to a screeching halt. I researched, I asked for advice, I did everything my nutritionist said to do, and nothing.
I was out of luck, completely frustrated and ready to just give in again to the food issues. I was searching for advice, looking for that one shred of advice that So happened to be surfing the MFP community, I ran across the EM2WL group. Everything I read made perfect sense. I gradually upped my calorie intake. 
I got scared spitless the first time I ate over 1600 calories in a day. I was so very afraid that I’d gain, but amazingly after about a week or two, I lost 2 pounds. I’ve lost weight every week since I’ve increased my calories. I can safely eat 1800 calories and not worry about gaining. I am within 6 pounds of my goal weight. All my numbers are positive. For the first time in almost 17 years, I am at a normal BMI, my body fat percentage is within normal range, and for ONCE, I am NOT starving. I couldn’t have done this right without EM2WL. I took the last 20 pounds off with advice from this group. I am proud of my body, proud of what I’ve done. Thanks to EM2WL! I’m eating healthy, eating foods that are right for me and not feeling the hunger so bad, I’d down a half a chocolate cake. Those days are past and here I am now 126 pounds!
Have an EM2WL transformation to share? Willing to let us tag along on your journey? We’d love to see it! Be featured on our Transformation/Journey page by submitting your story to Success@EM2WL.com
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