Tag: weightloss

Blogmas 2018

Blogmas Day 23: The impact fitness has had on my life

fitgirlinprogressblog

Of course the most visual impact has been the weightloss and starting to gain more muscle. But overall fitness has had a huge impact on my life, not just physical. A lot has changed for me since fitness has become part of my life. I have a completely different mindset than I used to have before, in a lot of aspects of my life. I don’t struggle as much with depression and mood swings as I used to (also because I stopped taking hormonal birthcontrol, which I wouldn’t have even thought about if it wasn’t for fitness). I’m a lot more confident, I don’t care as much what people might think of me I do what’s best for me whether or not people judge me for it.

I learned a lot about myself, when I first started this journey I wasn’t in a good point of my life and I took this time to solely focus on myself and my goals. Just doing something for me, getting to know myself better and what I really wanted in life. It has been so much more than a physical journey, fitness has shaped my entire life new.

Also along the way I finally learned and found self-love and happiness within myself and I couldn’t be happier about that fact. And that surely impacts my life in so many ways.

I’ve fallen in love with taking car of my body and how my mindset has changed, so overall I can say fitness has had a very big impact in so many ways on my life. I’m always looking forward to learning new health and fitness related things to improve myself and my knowledge.


Blogmas 2018

Blogmas Day 19: How I got back onto the fitness wagon

fitgirlinprogressblog

After falling off the fitness wagon, I had a very hard time getting back on track again. Getting out of that vicious binge cycle and starting to eat clean and disciplined again took me quite some time. But I knew I had to get back on track and reach my goals, my weight gain had made me depressed and bitter again and I really missed how happy I had been when I had lost weight. Early 2016 (around April) was when I finally got back to eating clean but I’d still do Cheatdays. That is when I realized frequent Cheatdays were a big issue and I finally started to take more interest in nutrition and being a lot more disciplined with myself and my diet.

At that time I also increased my workouts from 3 Days a week to 5 and later 6 Days a week. Even though I was much more disciplined and wouldn’t even have a Cheatmeal for pretty much the rest of the year (besides Thanksgiving and Christmas which were a lot more disciplied than ever) I was maintaining my weight, no loss whatsoever. Being stuck on a plateau for so long was extremely frustraiting and demotivating, but I still didn’t give up.

I was devastated and didn’t know what I was doing wrong, my brother suggested I’d try Keto for a while to see if I had more success with that. After debating for quite some time and trying to educate myself on it, I tried the Keto diet around Jan/Feb 2017. Unfortunately that was an awful experience for me. I tried it for about 3 months, again no weightloss whatsoever, on the contrary I actually gained 2kg/4.5lbs. And I was constantly feeling off, my digestion and just in general I didn’t feel well and was dizzy quite often. After those awful 3 months I went back to my prior routine and did Low Carb and finally started to see results again.

Later on in my journey I started implementing more carbs as I was extremely low carb prior I started focusing a lot more on eating a more balanced diet and focusing a lot more on my relationship with food which has become much healtier I’d say.

I fell in love with the progress and myself throughout this entire jounery of getting healthier and working on something for solely myself, even before finding what worked best for me. This jouney has been more than just a weightloss journey, my life has changed so much. I’m not who I used to be 2014 physically and mentally and I couldn’t be happier about that.

Blogmas 2018

Blogmas Day 18: How I fell off the fitness wagon

fitgirlinprogressblog

I started my journey End of 2014 but I first started losing weight 2015, by June/July I had lost 17kg /37.5lbs which I was super happy about. As you might know if you read some of my previous posts my relationship with food wasn’t something I had really worked on up to this point in my journey.

About 2-3 months into my journey I’d allow myself to have an entire Cheatday every single Sunday. So every Sunday I’d eat whatever I wanted, the entire day, no calorie tracking whatsoever. I would’t eat extraordinarily big amounts of food but I’d eat high calories, well over my limit (Candy adds up very quick..) at first that wasn’t an issue I’d still lose weight but then I hit a plateau. At the same time I finished all my Exams and stared working my first real job, I’d work long hours and had to commute (+2.5 hrs each way) every day to get to work. It was a very stressful time I barely had any time for myself, let alone strenght to go to the gym after a long day (also difficult because I was using public transportations), at the end of the day I was even to exhausted to meal prep. I would buy my meals at a grocery store close by, at the beginning I’d still eat quite healthy, but soon I started to buy comfort food and quickly I put on a few pounds that I had lost. Approximately 10kg/22lbs to be exact.

Not being able to workout was so demotivating and all that stress led to me simply not really caring anymore. Luckily that job that caused me so much stress was only temporarily. Pretty much the rest of year 2015 I struggled to get back on track again, I was stuck in a vicious cyle of binge eating. The fact that I felt like I had lost control (over my eating) and that I had put on weight was frustrating and depressing I felt like a failure. I knew I had to get a grip and take control over the situation again in order to feel better physically and emotionally. I had to prove to myself that I actually was capable of doing it all over again, and I did.

*Find out how I got back onto the fitness wagon in my next post.

Blogmas 2018

Blogmas Day 6: What fitness apps do I use?

fitgirlinprogressblog
  • MyFitnessPal: Especially at the beginning of my journey I would frequently use mfp to track all my meals. It’s also great to track your progress and it creates a chart/graph of your weightloss. I also get a weekly reminder to weigh in.
  • Twinbody: Amazing social network for people to follow each others jouney and post status updates, pictures or videos. People are very supportive and it’s a great motivation.
  • MapMyRun: As the name already says it tracks your run or walk (distance, duration,pace). I only use this app when I decide to do cardio outside which is quite rare.
  • VeryFitPro: Which is the app for my fitness tracker (tracks the usual steps, heartrate etc. and is also my alarm to get up in the morning).
  • VitaDock+: That’s the app that’s connected to my smart scale. It shows approximately how much bone mass you have, bodyfat percentage, BMI, progress since your last weigh in etc.. The app also sends me reminders regularly to weigh in.
  • DietBet: You bet Money mostly around $30/35 that you will lose 4% of your Bodyweight in 4 weeks (there’s also different ones though). At the beginning you get a weigh in Word that you have to write down so it’s visible in your picture (once your weigh in gets approved it will notify you and also let you know what your goal weight for the bet should be) at the end of the dietbet you do the same (weigh in with a new word you will get). If you managed to reach the goal or even lose a little bit more you will split the pot with the rest of the winners. It can be a great motivation no one likes to lose money, right? Also people participating in the same bet are very supportive of eachother share recipes and tips and some hosts have giveaways and so does dietbet itself (if you’re a member). I have participated twice so far, but since I’ve been stuck on a plateau I haven’t done any more dietbets.
  • Instagram: Not really a fitness/weightloss app but I document my journey there (my profile is linked, in case you want to follow me). I’m currently working on posting more often. Also a great source of motivation and inspiration for me, I follow a lot of people that are also on their weightloss journey, motivational pages or athletes.
Blogmas 2018

Blogmas Day 5: A Mistake I made and what I learned form it

fitgirlinprogressblog

One of the biggest mistakes I made throughout my journey surely was to do entire Cheatdays. At first I was pretty restricitve but a few months into my journey, I figured it would be okay to allow myself to eat whatever I wanted once a week. So I started having a Cheatday every single Sunday.

Not a Cheatmeal, an entire Day. I would eat whatever I wanted. I wouldn’t track any calories that day, but I sure ate well over my limit. Not portion size wise, I have never been one to eat extraordinary big quantities of food. It’s what I ate that was the issue, I’d have stuff like candy, pancakes, cereal but even small portions of those add up quickly because they’re high in calories. After such a day I’d feel absolutely miserable, my digestion had a hard time handling the food I ate. I noticed I was developing an unhealthy mindset. I’d work hard throughout the week to reach Sunday and finally treat myself. It was almost as if that was the only thing that got me going. I soon noticed that as someone who used to struggle with binge eating that was not a good solution for me and it also slowed down my weightloss. After each Sunday my body had to get rid of the excess water it retained from the high carb food I had consumed, so it was a vicious cycle.

I fell off the wagon sometime later and had to almost start over from the beginnig as I had gained some weight back (I will go more into detail in a later post). Anyways one thing I learned, I had to make this mistake and several others to get to where I am now and to find what works best for me and my body. I noticed that after starting over but without constant cheating my body would look a lot better even at the same weight as previous.

I don’t regret making this mistake as I learned a lot from the experience.

Throughout the years I developed a much healthier mindset and relationship with food. I will still allow myself to eat something thats not part of my regular diet but it’s only one meal that I swap now and it’s very rare that I do so. Not because I over restrict or anything like that, I just don’t have the desire as often as I used to (but nowadays I also would’t allow myself to manipulate my own success like that.. I developed a lot of discipline). If I choose to eat something outside my regular diet my choices have become much healthier which I’m really happy about (I still have a sweet tooth though but I have it so much better under control now).

This honestly has been a difficult post for me to write, as it’s the first time for me to be so open about struggles I had with my diet and my relationship with food. My binge eating for example has been my “dirty little secret” from before I started my journey and was something that I just never talked about. This is the first time for me to actually even mentioning or admiting to it at all.

Blogmas 2018

Blogmas Day 1: What are my goals for the next year?

fitgirlinprogressblog
  • Lose the last few pounds towards my goal
  • Build more muscle
  • Maintain my weight once I reached my goal
  • Feel 100% comfortable in my skin
  • Being able to wear shorts or crop tops in public
  • Add Yoga to my Workout program
  • Stepping out of my comfort zone more often
hormones, My pill story

My contraceptive Pill story

fitgirlinprogressblog

I started taking the contraceptive Pill around the time when I turned 18, which was by the End of 2011. At that time it was primarily to get a regular cycle other than actual contraceptive, it wasn’t really much of an aspect, since I’ve never had a boyfriend before.. which changed soon afterwards but thats’s a whole different story.

When I first started taking the pill I didn’t really pay much attention to the side effects, I read them of course but I didn’t pay that much attention to it. Throughout the years the side effects started to show up, one by one, bareley noticeable I didn’t even realize the pill was causing all that I went trough.

I was moody, imbalanced, cranky, aggressive, depressed, highly emotional, had extreme cravings (which led to weight gain), headaches and even my thyroid got kinda worse. I was dealing with massive hormonal imbalances in general which made me prone to gain weight.

It just got so comfortable to have a regular (and light) cycle and better skin. I didn’t think such a tiny little tablet could have such a huge impact on my life and well being. Doctors prescribe them so easily (at least in Germany), but it’s such a huge change for your Body. It’s not like they take time to do blood work in order to see if a hormonal contraceptive is a good idea for someone.

Doctors don’t take their time to talk to you much either. It’s like no one wants to talk about the negative aspects, for them it’s probably just an easy way to prevent young girls from getting pregnant at an early age I guess. And well they probably get some sort of benefit from the Pharma Industry (this is just an assumption!).

As I was struggling with my thyroid I made an appointment at an endocrinologist, she did an Ultrasound and a very detailed blood exam which showed that besides my thyroid issue (which wasn’t treated for whatever reason) I had high levels of cortisol in my blood which could be cushings disease or caused by the contraceptive pill. We did more tests (dexamethasone suppression) which was a saliva sample and I had to take a tablet and do blood work again. It came back negative which was good but still I had high cortisol levels in my blood but since I was relieved it wasn’t cushings disease and they didn’t recommend any further action I totally forgot about it for quite a long time.

If you don’t already know, cortisol is a stress hormone which can cause weight gain or make it quite difficult to lose weight. Besides that I had symptoms like fatigue, depressions, headaches and was very irritable and emotional which only got worsened by the effect of the contraceptive pill.

Anyways I didn’t really look into all of that at that time I kinda just moved on with my life and weightloss journey. In 2016 I hit a weightloss plateau which was highly frustrating I was eating clean and working out six times a week. I didn’t understand what was wrong and only started losing weight a few months ago after some changes in my diet.

Anyways back to my experience with the contraceptive pill, I took my last one on 28th of September 2016. I didn’t talk this through with a doctor but I educated myself before doing so. I finished my 21 pills and then had my regular period break but instead of taking the next ones after a 7 day break I didn’t take them again. It felt weird at first since I was so used to it and always took them at a certain time of the day. But I started to notice a big change pretty soon after I stopped.

I was so much happier, I wasn’t depressed for no reason as I was before. I have to say my depressions where getting out of hand to a point I was on the edge of being suicidal/having suicidal thoughts (which I actually never told anyone before). I stopped having mood swings and was less aggressive. I was happier all together and had a way more postive mindset.

Getting off the pill was honestly the best decision for me personally it changed my life for the better and I finally feel like myself again. My cycle was extremely messed up in the beggining I had a cycle of 40-66 days sometimes and it’s slowly getting more steady. It can actually take years for the body to fully get rid of the hormones. I didn’t mind my cycle being extremely unsteady at the beggining, I’ve been single for years and don’t have any risk or fear of getting pregnant. One day when I’m in a relationship again I’m planning on getting the copper IUD since I don’t want any kind of hormonal contraceptive again and of course condoms also. I don’t want to have kids at all so knowing that the IUD can last up to 10 years is great, I’d get my tubes tied if I could, but most doctors refuse to do such a procedure on young women especially if they don’t already have kids. But well at least there’s other long term options such as the IUD.

There sure are people who get along well with hormonal contraceptives or need them, such as people with PCOS. But it sure isn’t for everyone.

How did the contraceptive pill affect my weightloss journey? I have to say since I stopped taking it I noticed certain muscles developing which was nearly impossible before. I don’t have such extreme cravings anymore besides being more disciplined throughout the years it’s great not to have extreme cravings anymore.  I feel like my body changed since I stopped taking the pill.

You have to think about it, being on the pill makes your body think that it’s pregnant and therefore you don’t get pregnant and when you’re on the period break it’s basicly like your body thinks you lost the baby and you do that to your body over and over again..that can’t be that healthy in the long run.

There sure are down sides to stop using the contraceptive pill such as of course your cycle changes, your cycle may be longer, your period might be heavier or even longer than on the pill. I used to rarely have cramps, now I have them every now and then and of course my skin changed and I sometimes have breakouts before having my period and I can feel when I’m ovulating sometimes. But honestly I rather deal with those things than putting my body through what I went through while on the pill.

I hope you enjoyed this article, it’s a bit different form what I’ve posted before but it’s a part of my journey that I needed to share. Everything I said is based on my own personal experience and opinion and does not apply for everyone.

Weightloss journey

How my journey began (Part 2)

fitgirlinprogressblog

When I decieded it was time for a change I asked my Brother who is a fitness trainer and bodybuilder for advice. I told him it was time for a change and that I’m absolutely serious about it, I couldn’t continue living the way I was living before. I told him I was willing to do whatever it takes to achieve my goal of losing weight and living a healthy life.

He took his time and we kinda worked on a plan or let’s say guidelines on how to change my eating habits. He taught me on what I should focus when it comes to my diet. With his help and lots of disciplin I managed to lose 17 kg (37.48 lbs) until July 2015. By that time I had also finished my apprenticeship and soon started a new Job.

Unfortunately my new Job was extremly stressful (it took me about 2 hours getting there, so I traveled 4 hours each day sometimes even longer) I felt devastated at the End of the day. I barely had any time to get to the gym and I felt way to tired to actually do so. I didn’t take the time to meal prep anymore like I used to do before. Since I was always on the run I started to gain weight back again (about 10 kg to be exact), I fell off track. I started to feel burned out soon, I was basiclaly living to work and nothing else. Anyways that job didn’t last to long (for different reasons) which I’m glad about.

Anyways sometimes when one door closes another one opens up. I had the opportunity to move to the US, which I decided to take. It’s always been my dream and I have to say I finally feel “Home” I feel as if this was one missing puzzle piece for my happiness.

Back to the Story, I was struggeling to lose the weight I gained back. I started working out regularly again and maintian my diet but no matter what I did I couldn’t lose weight. I was stuck on a plateau for pretty much the entire year 2016 which was extremely frustraiting and just recently broke through it. Actually I’m now down exactly 20 kg (44.09 lbs) since I first started my fitness journey. To finally see progress again sure is a big motivation. If things continue the way I want them to (if my metabolism plays along) I may be able to reach my goal weight by the End of 2017. But I’ve got so much more I want to reach,I will probably do a separate post about that. 

Honestly looking back, falling of track has shown me how much I really want this and made me stonger and more disciplined since getting back on track was really difficult yet I never gave up. 

P.S. I will try to start posting more regularly so stay tuned to read where my journey will lead me.

I will soon publish my experience with the contraceptive pill and what impact it can have with building muscle and your health in general.

 

Weightloss journey

How my journey began (Part 1)

fitgirlinprogressblog

My life completely changed by the End of 2014, when I came back from my vacation. After being back home I took a look at all the pictures I’ve taken during my holidays and looking at them I couldn’t recognize myself. I was shocked. That was the time I’ve reached my maximum weight of 94.1 kg (207.45 lbs) at a height of 1.63 m (5’4″). I hated what I saw on these pictures, I was unhappy and uncomfortable with myself.That was the day it klicked, the Day I decided to change my life completely.

But first let’s start with a flashback so you get to know me and my journey better…

I’ve never been very slim or skinny especially since I hit puberty, that time I started gaining weight like crazy my hormons were completely out of balance. No matter what I did I couldn’t lose weight I was putting on more and more so I went to the doctors to find out what was wrong with me. My doctor at that time didn’t really take it serious he took blood samples at least five times but never really told me what was wrong with me, since I was still underaged my Mom went to have a serious talk with him. The doctor told her I had hypothyroidism which meant my thyroid didn’t produce enough hormons which made my metabolism very slow and therefore easier to put on weight. Long story short the doctor said to my mom, this was not such a big deal since I’m very slim which means he didn’t even really look into my case. He then gave me the smallest dose possible, I still didn’t feel any better I would still put on weight, was always tired and lacking in motivation. That time I could probably sleep all day long. Anyways I don’t want to get to deep into my medical history at this point or waste to much time in the past.

I’m sure not that unblameable about putting on weight too, I have an enormous sweet tooth that’s definitely a weak point of mine. Funny in my early Childhood I couldn’t stand sweet food and candy at all.

I tried a lot of disputable diets during these years but none of them really worked, even if I lost a little weight after a cuple of days I had it all back and some more on top. In the end it just made me unhappier. So somehow I kinda gave up on it. Emotional stress always somehow affected me while struggling with my weight.

Back to 2014, the Year I finally realized it was time for a Change. As I mentioned before emotional stress always affected my weight, at that time I was in a very unhappy and unhealthy Relationship. Of course being that unhappy with myself, actually to a point of hating myself didn’t really help. The way I looked at myself at that time and before attracted the wrong people. Anyways by the End of 2014 after ending that unhealthy Relationship, I decided it was time for a Change. Actally ending that Relationship tourned out to be the best thing that could ever happen to me, because i could focus on myself and becoming happier and healthier without anyone trying to manipulate my progress.

Stay tuned for the second part of How my journey began.

 

Uncategorized

Let the story begin..

fitgirlinprogressblog

I’m a 22 year old girl and spent most of my life in Germany where I was born and raised. By the End of 2014 I decided to change my lifestyle completely.

All my life I struggled with low self-esteem and self-confidence, I decided it was time to finally love myself and my body and therefore change and shape my body and mindset the way i always wanted to. First I started exercising and after a while I changed my diet completely. Due to the improvement I was making by losing weight and the things I learned about the fitness lifestyle my whole mindeset began to change.

The journey is not easy at all and takes a lot of discipline. Sometimes you may get off the track which is ok as long as you get back to it, that also happened to me, but was important to show me how serious this is for me.

Follow me on my journey to become a healthier and happier person and maybe I can inspire you or someone you know.

Everything I write about is based on my personal experience and opinion. I’m losing weight in a healthy way which takes time so be patient to see results which I probably will share from time to time.

I want to thank my older brother (who is my coach and also a bodybuilder himself) for always being such a big support in every kind of situation and always believing in me. Without him I wouldn’t be where I am today.

*On my next post I will talk about how exactly everything started and go deeper into my personal story and the reason I started this journey.

-Simone