So I had gradually started to gain weight partly due to the stress of my mom being sick and partly because the SGV is filled with yummy carbs like noodles, rice and boba. I was literally the heaviest I had been and felt really disgusted. I had dieted on and off, doing low carb but I couldn't really stick to anything and made excuses.
Then I saw an add for a 6 week challenge on Facebook for a fitness studio in Rosemead called 3volution 7itness, It was a "free" 6 week challenge if you were able to make your weight loss/body fat goal. So I signed up for an informational meeting with the owner and it sounded like a great way to get healthy and in shape. You follow their meal plan, post pics of your food to the FB group and work out 5 days a week. It's a bootcamp style class every day, focusing on a different body part. You put down a deposit, which you'd get back if you make your goal.
Before we started the program, the owner recommend sampling a few classes to get used to the style. I went to a few classes after work and they kicked my butt!
There were also morning classes, which I ended up opting to do because I like to get my workout done early and the classes weren't as crowded as the ones at night. Plus the instructor, Manny kept workouts fresh and challenging, played great music and made me sore every day.
Since I didn't have as much weight to lose, we decided to make my goal 5% body fat loss, which ended up being harder than I thought.
I will say that the first week was tough - the workouts were good and I was able to keep up, but adjusting to the meal plan was hard. It was a 1300 calories plan that included only good carbs like brown rice, oatmeal and sweet potato. I also discovered that beans were considered a carb rather than a protein - blew my mind. On day 3 I was starving, but after getting over that hump, my stomach got smaller and I got used to eating less.
I did make some adjustments to this, but this was the gist of the diet.
So I went grocery shopping to buy all my healthy foods like rice cakes, greek yogurt, peanut butter, lean meats and beans. Here are some of my meals that I posted in the FB group.
Typical breakfast includes turkey bacon, egg whites with veggies, yogurt and fruit, or a protein shake
Lunch with include some kind of salad or meat and brown rice combo. It was sometimes hard to have lunch with coworkers or friends, because we had to choose a place where I could get a healthy low carb option. So things like the Tuesday Taco Truck or Ramen was out. They'd eat their carbs and I'd have my salad.
But there were times when friends ate healthy with me and we'd both get a salad:
Dinners were fun, I did a lot of those meal preps that had low carb options like Blue Apron, Hello Fresh and Gobble.
The great part was seeing the results and shedding the pounds and body fat. It wasn't drastic, more of a slow and gradual transformation but satisfying none the least. My clothes started getting loose and I felt better overall.
I didn't technically meet my goal - lost 4.8% body fat and lost about 7.5 lbs but I was really happy with my results. The owner let me use my deposit towards a discounted membership and I decided to keep up the bootcamp classes.
I am currently doing another 8 week challenge to try and lose a few more pounds but overall maintain and focus on a long term healthy lifestyle. It's been great and I am really glad that I discovered this gym and its great workouts. Just the kick in the pants I needed to and lose some of the weight I gained and get fit 💪💪💪💪
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