Diary of a Pudgy Gym Rat...
This is just a repeat of the topic I posted with my story and before/after pictures. I know that will get buried so I figured I'd put it here.
Hi! I'm Stephanie. I am a self-professed gym rat and have been for the last 12 years. Now I'm also the poster child for "EXERCISE ALONE IS NOT ENOUGH!" I have been weight training and doing cardio for most of my adult life but in spite of all that work... I still hated my body. I was strong and had muscle but didn't look very muscular because of all the padding I had. My diet was pretty bad. I was consuming large portions of regular foods followed by sweets after every meal... yep... I was a sweet-a-holic too. I managed to exercise consistently through two pregnancies and get back down to my pre-pregnancy weight (which was 135lbs) each time, but I was still somewhat soft and curvier than I wanted to be. I really wanted to have that athletic figure. I wanted a hard body and was doing all the right training to have it... but look at my before picture... not hard at all!
Then life got busy and I got older and what I was doing wasn't even keeping me at my "usual weight" anymore. One morning I woke up completely fed up. I got on my mom's scale... I weighed 144lbs. I was in tears. That was in January of this year. I hated my body and I felt like I deserved a better body for all the work I have invested in it. "Why am I even doing this!!!???" I asked myself, "I should just skip the gym and head for the Dairy Queen instead." I was at a crossroads and needed to make a decision. I was either going to give up all the training or I was going to have to face the other side of the fitness equation... the more important side... the diet! I did a search and found this app on my IPhone... I have been hooked ever since!!!
It didn't take long for me to lose the weight. It melted off actually. I was already in great shape cardiovascularly and I had great muscle tone I just needed to be more lean. I didn't change up my weight training any. I've always lifted heavy and I still do. The only thing I did differently from before was started counting calories and added a little extra cardio. That's it. The change in my diet made the biggest change in my body.
The before picture was taken January 10th...
So... learn from my years of mistakes. Vigorous exercise is great and beneficial but exercise alone will not be enough to get you the body you want... you have to eat right!!
I know you must be so proud of yourself! You should be!
I weigh 125 and just cannot get "cut".. I weight train and do cardio 5 to 6 days a week and I do MFP ( although maybe I don't always choose the best food I am in my calorie range) and insight would be appreciated.
Thanks!!!!
sweets arewhat gets to me and i am trying to get better about that because i know eating right is really important to losing weight as well as toning up. i know i have muscles underneath my tummy, now i just need to find them. you are so inspiring!