Weightloss story from @toludk

Throughout my life, I had always been the big girl and my weight was something I had never been happy with. My insecurities grew when I gained weight over the summer in 2016 and I knew I had to do something about it. The main thing that motivated me, was the fact that I knew I would never be satisfied with my size, whether it be now, 5 years or 10 years later, I would always be unhappy about it, so it’s better to just take that step now.

I did a lot of research to begin with, watching transformation YouTube videos and fitness pages on Instagram. I also spoke to a few personal trainers at my gym and they gave me some advice on the types of exercises to do for what I was trying to achieve. One of the personal trainers told me to focus mainly on cardio so I can shed the unwanted fat, once that is done and completed then I can focus on toning. I set up a gym routine for myself which I followed 5 days a week. The routine consisted of 50 minutes of cardio, 25 minutes on the treadmill (HIIT) and 25 minutes on the steppers machine. I also did 30 minutes’ ab workout each gym session as my tummy was one of my main problem areas.

I knew how important my diet is and I had to change my eating habits to get the kind of results I wanted. I cut out all bad food, no more fizzy drinks, crisps, sweets, ice-cream (and I was majorly obsessed with Haagen Dazs pralines and cream at the time), white rice, etc., they all had to go! I replaced all of that with fruits, healthy carbs (cous cous, sweet potato), fish, seafood and vegetables. I also invested in a smoothie maker and made yummy home-made smoothies. I also would recommend adding green tea into your diet! I became obsessed with it and loved how it cleans out my system and made my tummy feel flat.




I started towards the end of November 2016, weighing 13.1 stones and by the beginning of March, I weighed 10.10 stones. The exercising and healthy eating enabled me to lose over 2 stones! I didn’t start to see changes in my body until January and it pushed me to want to keep going! The hardest part about my transformation was having patience. It’s not something that’s going to happen overnight. Sometimes I would go to the gym, have an intense workout, come home and look in the mirror to see I was still as big as I was the day before and it can be discouraging, but I didn’t give up and eventually I started to see the results I had been longing for.

My weight loss has given me so much more confidence. I was so insecure about my size before, especially my breasts which eventually reduced in size with the weight loss. I restricted myself from wearing certain things and I never really felt comfortable in my own skin, but now I feel so much more satisfied and It’s a great feeling knowing after all the hard work, I got the results I wanted.

If you’re looking to change your lifestyle/fitness journey the main piece of advice I will give you is to start at your own pace! When I first started, I was so unfit! I couldn’t run for longer than 3 minutes without physically feeling uncomfortable, and feeling like I couldn’t run any longer. Don’t let that discourage you! It’s a process, over time you’ll become fitter and it WILL become easier! I know it sounds cliché but don’t give up! It’s going to take time, as much as we all wish we could click our fingers and drop a stone, it doesn’t work like that. You HAVE to have patience if you’re going to get the body you want.