Hi my lovelies!
Today I come with something different.
I've noticed during the past 2 years my weight has dropped a lot and the way I noticed this was via my YouTube Channel.I get asked quite a lot by fellow girls and young women about my weight journey and I will now share.
2012 - I was a chubby Bunny.
To be begin with I hardly did any exercise and I never ate breakfast which is never a good thing. I used to think that by cutting meals during the day this would help me to lose weight and be more "accepted" but my mum told me that what your body does when you don't feed it, is store fat that you don't need as it doesn't have any food and energy to burn. I often had thoughts of throwing up etc BUT I hate, no, loathe being sick so I never went down that road, however that didn't stop the thoughts.
I was eventually ill for a few days, I had a really bad stomach bug which caused me to lose a little weight. After that I decided to cut out fast food and I noticed a change with my body.
2013 - Being ill. But keeping weight off was the challenge.
After cutting out fast food and looking for healthier foods to eat while out and about, I noticed small changes here and there. In my family we eat very healthily. We have balanced meals and our portions are controlled. Over eating is not good at all. Sometimes you may just be dehydrated/thirsty which makes you think you are hungry, so I started to drink water more.
I then became ill again but this time it was due to stress. I would get leg and stomach tremors which caused the muscles in my legs, feet and stomach to contract. It was very tiring as I couldn't sleep and sometimes I would be in pain. It was horrible and sometimes this still happens. I lost more weight here. I drank a lot of water during this period and ate more carbs and veg (less to no meat). You would think that watching weight drop while being ill is exciting but its really not. Once these "stress tremors" stopped or calmed down I went back to eating my regular meals.
I started going to the gym but being ill didn't help. So I stopped and I also didn't see that many results (sometimes going to the gym isn't for everyone).
2014 - Keeping weight off and living healthier for Me.
This year I drink water. I rarely have fizzy drinks and if I do its mainly lemonade. I drink fresh juice and things like squash, I also started juicing this year, which is extremely beneficial for the body. Things like kale, pineapples and berries have loads of vitamins and minerals that will help to fill you up and give you the best of everything. The only thing with juicing is that, Its a bloody expensive habit to keep up.
I rarely eat red meat (chicken and fish is what I love). Vegetables and salads are necessary in any meal unless your having a "cheat day" which for me is Fridays and Wednesdays (2 out of 7 days is great).
I rarely drink and if I do go out I have about 2 glasses of wine. Being drunk doesn't appeal to me, being tipsy rarely - Yes.
I don't do diets and I've never weighed myself within these two years. Diets make no sense to me as, when you come off them and go back to eating regularly you'll put weight back on and I also don't weigh myself because, I feel like scales disappoint you in some ways. For instance, you'll see yourself getting smaller and then you weigh yourself and your weight hasn't gone down as much you thought - disappointment that is not necessary and slightly off putting.
I do exercise now. Youtube is a wonderful site. I am subscribed to a channel called FitnessBlender which is run by a married couple called Daniel and Kelli. They have so many workouts. I love Pilates - ITS MY THANG. They have various pilates workouts from beginner to advanced which is very useful and got me into the swing of things. They then have other workouts which help specific areas e.g. abs, butt and thighs, legs, arms. So everyday I get up early and do a pilates workout and then another workout to help a specific area so :
- Monday - Pilates + abs
- Tuesday - Pilates + arms
- Wednesday - Pilates + Legs
- Thursday - Pilates + butt+thighs
- Friday - Pilates + abs
ETC.
This routine works for me and is currently helping me to feel better and look better for myself.
One important lesson I've learnt during these past two years with my weight is that I would have never kept off weight lost while I was ill and continued to lose weight if I didn't want it for myself and I had to really believe in myself. I'm still not perfect by societies standards, I mean f*ck BMIs and stuff like c'mon. Belief in myself is what it took for me to be able to look back at my old videos and say "yes. I did that for me".
If I can do it. So can you for YOU. (Sounds really cheesy but its the truth).
Leah x
