by EM2WL | Jul 25, 2012 | Testimonials, The Journey, Transformations
Just wanted to share my transformation story with all of you wonderful EM2WL people.
I started MyFitnessPal (MFP) after seeing pictures of myself from spring break. I had been in school and was slowly gaining weight. I never really noticed until I saw the pictures.
After plugging all my data into MFP, I started focusing on healthier choices and staying within my calorie limits. My first week on MFP was a real eye-opener for me. I realized that I normally ate about 900 cals/day during the week and binged on the weekends. I began running, and lifting weights occasionally. However, I was more focused on cardio than I was on strength training. I dropped weight quickly, but I wasn’t eating back my exercise calories. This usually put me at a net calorie intake of ~1000 cals/day.
I still wasn’t happy with my body. I felt better, but didn’t look the way I wanted to. I felt “skinny fat”, I weighed less than I had for 3 years, but still had a higher body fat percentage. Also, despite all my efforts, I had hit a plateau. I was stuck and I was getting discouraged. I tried eating even less, but never thought about eating more. I couldn’t get the scale to budge. I was stuck at 140 lbs for about 6-9 months and wanted to change something to give me the body I wanted. I just didn’t know what to change.
Around this time, I had started running longer distances, and I decided to train for a half marathon. With all the training I was doing, I realized that I should be fueling my body properly. I upped my calories in December of 2011, but with the big burns, I still continued to net about ~1200 cals/day. Before I ran my half in January of 2012, I met an awesome lady named Lucia on the forums at MFP. She introduced me to the concept of Eating More to Weigh Less and how it’s important to know your TDEE and BMR. She encouraged me to up my calories even more and explained that my net was too low and that was probably why I was plateauing. My body was scared to lose anything because I had been essentially starving it. I upped my cals and started eating back enough exercise calories to net my BMR every day. Some days I ended up eating over 2000 calories. However, my runs improved and I started feeling less fatigued. My body was happy for the extra fuel. During that time, I gained 3 lbs, but I felt better than ever. I decided to “throw away” my scale.
To wrap up, I’m still running, but not frequently. 
I switched my focus to strength training. I’ve been training with the New Rules of Lifting for Women book and just recently started Stronglifts 5×5. I still weigh myself occasionally, but I know the scale is a liar. I’m 5’7″ and weigh about 145-150. Lately, it’s been closer to 150. I work out 5-6 days/week. I usually eat between 1900-2300 calories/day depending on my exercise for the day. I no longer am a slave to cardio…I do a full-body lifting workout 2-3x/week and I take an MMA-styled class at my gym 2x/week for cardio. My next plan to to do a bulk cycle this winter. I’m a little nervous, but ready to dive in.
I have been Eating More to Weigh Less since January of 2012 and I will never go back!! Coming from a disordered eating style to the freedom of EM2WL has been life-changing for me and I hope my story will inspire others who have struggled as well.
Have a EM2WL transformation story 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 | Jun 11, 2012 | Testimonials, The Journey, Transformations
*I must warn you first that this could be a long read, but a good read I must say* So today is finally here, my one year anniversary and boy the changes that have taken place are just so amazing. Every time I look back at my pictures from when I first started, I have to ask myself was that really me? Sometimes we don’t realize how we look until changes happen, and I’m so glad that I’m on this journey because I not only look better, but I feel better, my confidence is so much higher, I’m so energized, and overall just so much healthier. Exactly one year ago, I started watching youtube videos of others who have lost weight, and this one particular person mentioned Myfitnesspal, so I signed up and started tracking my calories. Shocker, Shocker, Shocker!!! When I tell you that I was so outdone when I seen how many calories, fat, carbs, and sodium was in the stuff that I use to eat, it was just ridiculous. Now don’t get me wrong, I didn’t actually stop eating what I eat, but I did cut back a lot on portion sizes and stayed away from too much fast food. I was 198 when I started and chose the 2 pounds per week option so of course MFP put me on the 1200 calories. I started searching for exercise videos and found a couple of ten minute videos and worked my way up to doing Billy Blanks Tae bo cardio. I lost weight at a great pace and was weighing myself everyday and the numbers continued to go down, down and down. Since I was heavy and very short, 5’2, this worked because I was considered obese for my height and age.
Okay, so eating the 1200 calories lasted for a good bit and I never hit a plateau, but I was aware of plateaus and was looking forward to one after reading that others hit one. In about 3 months, I lost about 33 pounds.
So, I continued on with the 1200 calories and Billy Blanks, protein was very low around the 40s or sometimes even lower, fats were also low, and just like most people starting out, I was afraid of the fats because I thought that it would make me fat, and I didn’t know any better about the protein because I didn’t do enough research and just relied on MFP. Also I was netting very low calories because I was only eating 1200 calories and at the time I didn’t have a HRM, but I knew that I was burning lots of calories because I was heavy and was very unfit. So another 3 months later, I had lost another 23 pounds and was weighing 142 in this picture. Whoa, what a difference from the 198. I just looked slim and no muscle definition, some flab, just skinny.
“142 lbs..no muscle..some flab, just skinny”
Around August, I started doing Chalean Johnsons’ Turbo Jam, and I loved it. I think it was around this time, I started doing some research about muscle definition and leaning out your body, though still on the 1200 calories. I also, started paying attention to the types of foods I was eating. My food choices have changed time and time again, so most of everything I started out eating, I don’t eat anymore because I really don’t want to. So around October, I started Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred. Just to throw this out here, I’m the type of person that loves a challenge and this was definitely a challenge, because I read others talking about how hard it was. Then, it was hard, but now it’s probably a piece of cake because I’m more fit now and have done more hardcore things. After I was done with her 30 Day Shred, I started Ripped in 30 and did 2 rounds of it. I started doing more research, and discovered Chalean Extreme because I wanted to start weight lifting to shape my body and lean out more and to also get more muscle definition. I also started eating more around November, but I was still not eating enough for the amount of calories I was burning, and although I upped my protein, it still wasn’t enough. So after more and more research and after staring Chalean Extreme on New Year’s Eve, I started netting 1200 instead of eating that amount.
Here, I was down about 70 pounds. So after more research, I learned that I really should be netting my BMR and starting eating around 1600-2000 calories depending on the workout and estimation of calories burned. We have to fuel our bodies, and I had to learn that food is not an enemy. Around February, I was weighing 126.4, with a better looking body than before I started lifting weights.
My goal weight that I had in mind was 125, and since I’m very close to that goal, my weight has fluctuated from 126-128 range and it doesn’t bother me because I’m basically at goal anyway. I now wear a size 7/8 in jeans and probably a 6 and a size 4 in dress pants. I can wear small tops and all of this is just amazing to me because I feel so much better. When I first started this journey, I didn’t have a lot of support but all I needed was my very own support and continuous prayer to God each and every day and it has brought me this far. I don’t see not having support as an excuse because if you want it bad enough, then you will and can do it. I haven’t eaten at a restaurant since last summer, and it’s not because I’m scared of the food, I just don’t want it. Some people feel like you can’t enjoy life unless you’re eating junk food and restaurant food, and that is simply not the case. I enjoy my life just fine without it and I love preparing my food everywhere I go. I can still hang with my family and friends and enjoy them without eating what they’re eating. I’ve attended a birthday party and took my own cooked food, I’ve even gone to a restaurant with them, and guess what, I took my own cooked food and ate with them (by the way one of the workers thought that was so unique and cool, and he even added that he liked that). I said that to say that life is not about FOOD.
Yes you need food to live, and like the saying goes you only get one life, so why not live it right, well you only get one body, so why not treat it right? I can look back at my pictures and laugh and smile because that’s not my body, my attitude, or my personality anymore. People will change once they get healthier and lose weight and you’re suppose to because you’re no longer that old you anymore. I’m not saying get all cocky, but you will have more confidence and your self esteem is greater and it should be. Some people get mad or jealous of others when they say that you feel and look so much better and boy you know everybody doesn’t root for you, I’d be willing to bet that some people are rooting for us to gain our weight back, but that sure won’t happen because I’ve learned how to eat right and eat foods that I can eat for the rest of my life. Had I starved myself throughout this entire process, I would probably gain it back, but that’s not the case. I enjoy what I eat and I love, love, love that I can eat all day and still not gain weight, but rather lose fat and have a lean body and a fast metabolism.
It doesn’t stop here. I’m doing the Lean for Life phase, and I’m going to start Turbo Fire soon. I hope you all enjoyed this story and I hope that it can inspire and motivate others as well. Oh, I almost forgot, I am now at a loss of 72 pounds and if I lose, I lose, if not that’s fine with me because the scale is no longer my worry, but the changes in the mirror are. I also find it amazing that I have the V-shape underneath the fat that I’m trying to diminish which is what most men and some girls have, and that wasn’t a goal, buy hey I’ll take it. There is still more work to be done to make it more defined and there is still more fat to be burned. I need to go get my body fat percentage calculated because I have no clue what it is.
Have an EM2WL transformation to share? We’d love to see it! Be featured on our Transformations page by submitting your story to Success@EM2WL.com
by | Jun 5, 2012 | Testimonials, The Journey, Transformations
My name is Becca. I am a 32 year old, happily married, very busy momma to 5 beautiful children who range in age from 11 years down to 3. I think I have battled my weight my whole life. Growing up, my parents were very conscious of their weight, but seemed to go from one diet to another with only short-term successes. I was a pretty quiet kid, who liked to read, write, watch movies, bake cookies, do crafts, and hang out with my friends. I wasn’t real big on sports or really, anything active. I also loved to spend time with my Gramma, and we loved to sit around for hours in her kitchen playing cards and making cookies and apple pie.
I always had a bigger frame than the girls my age, with stocky, muscular legs, and carried most of my weight in my belly (not much has changed). As a teenager, this made me feel really insecure when I as I hung out with my friends who were all so naturally tall and thin. Eventually a friend of mine joined me on trying to lose weight. I think I was about 14 years old. Looking back, it makes me so sad. We told ourselves it was all about health, but really it wasn’t anything close to healthy. I dropped from a healthy, muscular 130 pounds to a sickly 97 pounds in a matter of months. I remember counting calories and trying to eat 800, then 500, then 300 calories a day. I had a lot of tricks up my sleeve to try to distract people from worrying about my weight. Meanwhile, I was getting sicker by the day. Not only did I look “scary skinny”, I was losing hair, freezing cold, I had heart issues, and I was very weak. My parents were scared to death and they tried everything.
Forcing me to eat. Taking me to eating disorder clinics, psychiatrists, and counselors. Pleading with me. Anger. Ignoring it. Punishing me. Nothing worked. I didn’t care about anything but getting thinner. I got down to 88 pounds at one point, and it wasn’t enough.
I told myself at one point, “I WILL NEVER WEIGH MORE THAN 100 POUNDS OR I WILL KILL MYSELF.”
Well. I finally reached a low point one summer day when I had binged. By this point, I had now ventured into the waters of bulimia from time to time as well and had actually gained a little weight. Everyone was so happy with the weight gain, but no one really knew that my struggle was actually growing more intense. To this day, I’m not sure what I was thinking, but either in an effort to commit suicide or to get rid of some of the excess calories, I took every pill I could find in the house. I threw up for days and I thought I was going to die. I finally I decided I’d had enough.
So, without any real support system except for my family and friends (many of whom at this time were also dealing with their own eating disorders), I set out to change. The counselors I had worked with did nothing but irritate me, and I decided I needed to do this for me. So I set out to change my life. It never occurred to me to make healthy choices as I set about to reestablish normal eating, I just ate and I exercised. At first, the food was really scary, and I still had a lot of binge/purge relapses. But eventually, it got easier.
I went away to college and really struggled with my eating. I gained a lot of weight. I think I went from 88 pounds to 170 in a matter of a couple years. I just kept gaining, and I tried to tell myself I didn’t care, but I did. A LOT. And I just ate more to try to numb some of that pain and shame I felt. In the process, I got heavier and heavier.
Then I met my husband, and for a while, I kind of forgot about all my eating issues. I was totally in love, and nothing else really seemed to matter. I didn’t lose any weight or gain any weight, but I was far from being healthy.
A few months later, we decided to get married, and a few months after that had our first child, an adorable baby girl. The moment I held that little pink bundle, I was forever changed. I was determined to set a different example for my precious children.
I can still remember every detail about my last binge/purge cycle when that sweet little one and a half year old toddled into the bathroom and tugged on my leg,
“What’s matter, mommy?”
Needless to say, it never happened again.
So I kind of stopped worrying about my weight, and ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I poured my life into becoming a mother and homemaker. We started homeschooling, and we discovered that we had NO fertility problems whatsoever. I was going through a lot of lifestyle changes, physically and spiritually. I told myself I was done with the dieting thing, but in all honesty, I was just developing another eating disorder in the form of emotional binge eating.
I started putting everyone else first, and I always came last. I felt selfish when I thought about taking care of my body.
That, combined with five children in 10 years, did a real number on my body. I would lose 20-30 pounds doing some crazy diet, and then gain it all back and then some.
Fast forward to August 2010. We suffered a huge tragedy in our family involving one of our children. I was in such a deep depression, and I just ate to try to numb the pain. I ended up gaining about 40 pounds in just a few short months. That meant I tipped the scales at 275 pounds.
Eventually, I just had enough. I realized what a low point I was at in my life, and I knew it needed to change. I started doing all kinds of research. One day, a friend handed me a book on clean eating and I read it cover to cover in one night. A few months later, I found another book at Barnes and Noble and read that one too. Finally I was sold. If I was going to survive, I was going to need a major turnaround. I picked up a book on clean eating, and I realized that’s what I needed.
I spent a couple months planning and preparing. I wasn’t ready, emotionally or physically to really commit to anything. I knew this had to be real and lasting. In my mind, I was going to fight for my life. I was either going to die trying or I was going to have gastric bypass. I felt like this was my last chance. There was a huge sense of urgency that was no longer about going on and off diets. This was how it was going to be for the rest of my life.
SO, on January 2, 2011, I threw out all the processed food in the house. I went grocery shopping and only kept “clean” foods in the house. I joined a gym and started exercising when my girls went to swim team. It was really half-hearted at first, but I was doing SOMETHING. A few weeks later, I started a detox, joined My Fitness Pal, and started going to a boot camp class. It was so challenging. The workouts alone just about killed me. I literally puked a few times. I was so very heavy and out of shape, but it just wasn’t an option. I HAD to do this.
For about the first six months, I ate a really low calorie (like 1000 calories a day) diet and did about 2 hours of cardio. It worked out really well for a while. The weight was falling off me and I was so happy. I felt like I was finally doing something. Then I hit the dreaded plateau and it lasted for 6 months. No matter how little I ate or how much I exercised, nothing happened. My hair started falling out, my skin was flaking off, and I was constantly cold and dizzy. Eventually though, I started gaining weight on 1000 calories. And that’s when I think I finally had enough.
I really wanted to lift weights, but I was really intimidated by the grunting guys in the weight room at the gym. Somehow I stumbled across the book New Rules of Lifting for Women, and I was sold. I learned about the importance of eating to fuel your workouts, and it made sense.
I continued doing some research and eating back some of my exercise calories. Guess what? The scale started to move again!!! I was so excited. I didn’t have to starve myself? Score!!!! But what was even better than the fact that the scale was moving again was the fact that I dropped sizes so fast I had to start buying clothes at Goodwill!
This was a real struggle for me to eat more, because I was so afraid I was going to gain back everything I had lost, but I knew I needed to do this healthfully or the vicious cycle was about to continue. There was a lot of back and forth stuff going on, but finally I committed to it. 
I was able to break the 6 month plateau and lose the next 50 pounds, but more importantly, I lost inches. At my heaviest, I wore a size 22. Today I’m wearing a very comfortable pair of size 6’s…at 170ish pounds!
I’m totally sold on the eating more thing and Eat More 2 Weigh Less. It is one of the best things I’ve ever done for my life, my health, and even my family I think has been blessed by it. For the first time in my life, I feel freedom from the eating disorder chains that have bound me for so long! I have to thank God, because He has given me real victory over these struggles in my life. He is still working in my life, and I still struggle from time to time, but I try to keep it real because the fact is none of us has it all together. I couldn’t have done any of this without the support of my family, and especially my husband in coming along beside me and encouraging me so many times when I wanted to give up. And of course, the support system I have found on the Eat More 2 Weigh Less (EM2WL) boards has been truly amazing and life changing for me.
Thanks everyone!
Progress, not perfection!
Have an EM2WL transformation to share? We’d love to see it! Be featured on our Transformations page by submitting your story to Success@EM2WL.com
Becca is a busy wife and homeschooling mother to five children ages 5 to 13. About three years ago, she embarked on a journey to health and fitness that resulted in the loss of approximately 100 pounds. Today, she is a competitive powerlifter and strongwoman who loves ice cream and deadlifts. As an ISSA certified personal trainer, she is passionate about helping women to get started on a lifestyle of strength and fitness.
by EM2WL | May 22, 2012 | Transformations
Lucia at highest weight of 175lbs
I have worked out my whole entire life. I purposed in my heart from the time I was young that I would never be overweight. I grew up with an overweight mother that developed adult onset diabetes and a grandmother that was hard to care for because of her weight. So, from the time I was a young teenager I worked out according to how main stream tells us to and did lots of cardio and light weights.
I went on to have four beautiful babies (three surviving) and I was done. After each of the kids, I would pretty much bounce right back exerting a slight degree of effort (the norm of cutting calories and working out) to get back to my slim size 4. Well, at 39 I ended up pregnant one more time and after my precious Annelise, I had dropped almost all of the weight shortly after and then went on a Haagen Dazs spree. I shot up to my highest weight ever without being pregnant. So, after dragging all the extra weight around for a few months, I finally decided to get back to the gym. I started the normal routine of cutting calories and doing mainly cardio, and lost a little weight, but hit a plateau.
Start of eating more to weigh less – 164lbs
During the plateau I discovered body pump and by November I could see some decent tone and was super excited. I have never had any real tone before. Yes, I was very slender and fit but by no means toned. One dilemma, I started the journey at 175lbs, lost 10lbs and bounced up and down from 160-165lbs for 8 months. It was so frustrating! I was tracking everything I was eating on MyFitnessPal. I started out eating 1200, then 1350, then 1500 calories because I was hungry and wasn’t losing anyway. I would eat back 50% of my workout calories, do 3 body pump classes weekly, 2 or 3 Zumba classes weekly, RIPPED once a week, and would sometimes jump on the elliptical and catch up on the Biggest Loser for a couple hours at a time, and the scale would not budge.
I can’t express how I felt because I had never had such a problem getting weight off. Oh how I whined and complained. I went through vicious cycles of eating low calories and binging on carbs and my weight just bounced like a ball.
8 weeks of EM2WL – 157lbs
Well, I knew something just wasn’t right. I worked out way too hard and ate way too little not to be at goal. One good thing, I had started lifting heavier because my husband would tease me about the light weights I’d work with and I had to show him. Though he irritated me to no end, I am so very glad he teased me mercilessly because he started me on my heavy lifting journey. My weight was still bouncing all over and I stopped and literally asked God to reveal what I was doing wrong (Oh, let me add not only did my hubby bug me about lifting heavier, he also told me I wasn’t eating enough the whole time too, but I just couldn’t hear that.)
Lucia now!
Well, I started reading the MyFitnessPal forums and ran across one in which women were lifting heavy and eating more, often over 2000 calories, the same day I read a blog Kiki wrote about fueling your body, and an excerpt from the book New Rules of Lifting Weights for Women, and upped my calories that same day to 1800. That was life changing for me. I lost 4lbs the first week, then regained 3lbs over the next 3 weeks all while heavy lifting. After 8 weeks, I lost a total of 7.2lbs, but it wasn’t the pounds that amazed me, it was how great I felt, how my body was leaning out, I was no longer a walking exhausted zombie, I was full of energy, I no longer binged, and actually cut back on the cardio because it meant I had to eat more food than my stomach could handle. I hit another plateau and my inkling was to go up on calories, so I went up another 100 calories. During that time, I researched tons of information and found that my new calorie amount was actually my TDEE-15% and so after a month of eating more and bouncing up and down a pound I started losing again.
I started at 175lbs squeezing into one size 10 and a pair of size 12 pants because I refused to buy anymore clothes at those sizes. Today, I am 154lbs and wearing some of my size 4’s and all of my size 6 clothes. This journey has been the most rewarding because I am developing wonderful tone, have lost and am continuing to lose body fat, and best of all I feel great! No longer deprived, frustrated, binging, and yo-yoing.
Have an EM2WL transformation to share? We’d love to see it! Be featured on our Transformations page by submitting your story to Success@EM2WL.com
Just wanted to share my transformation story with all of you wonderful EM2WL people.
Around this time, I had started running longer distances, and I decided to train for a half marathon. With all the training I was doing, I realized that I should be fueling my body properly. I upped my calories in December of 2011, but with the big burns, I still continued to net about ~1200 cals/day. Before I ran my half in January of 2012, I met an awesome lady named Lucia on the forums at MFP. She introduced me to the concept of Eating More to Weigh Less and how it’s important to know your TDEE and BMR. She encouraged me to up my calories even more and explained that my net was too low and that was probably why I was plateauing. My body was scared to lose anything because I had been essentially starving it. I upped my cals and started eating back enough exercise calories to net my BMR every day. Some days I ended up eating over 2000 calories. However, my runs improved and I started feeling less fatigued. My body was happy for the extra fuel. During that time, I gained 3 lbs, but I felt better than ever. I decided to “throw away” my scale.
I switched my focus to strength training. I’ve been training with the New Rules of Lifting for Women book and just recently started Stronglifts 5×5. I still weigh myself occasionally, but I know the scale is a liar. I’m 5’7″ and weigh about 145-150. Lately, it’s been closer to 150. I work out 5-6 days/week. I usually eat between 1900-2300 calories/day depending on my exercise for the day. I no longer am a slave to cardio…I do a full-body lifting workout 2-3x/week and I take an MMA-styled class at my gym 2x/week for cardio. My next plan to to do a bulk cycle this winter. I’m a little nervous, but ready to dive in.
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