A year and 2 months before I became a Personal Trainer I was 18 years old and 154kgs and I had no intentions of being in the fitness industry at all. During that time when I was 154kgs (50kgs heavier) I found it quite hard to walk at times because my feet would start to ache, especially when I woke up I would feel like something is stabbing me in the foot to the point where I had to hold on to something to try and reduce the pain. I was suffering a lot but I thought it was normal and that it would go away soon so I didn't tell anyone about the situation but it never went away.
I was also depressed about my weight, I had low self-esteem and low self-confidence. I wouldn't talk to anyone because I knew everywhere I walked I would get judged about my weight and it wasn't even people from the streets, it was also the people I was with, My friends and even family would look at me differently because of my weight, so that's when I decided that I wanted to do something about it. I went to my brother who was already training at the time and asked if I could go with him to the gym and kindly enough he took me to the gym. I knew the session was going to be tough but still kept going, he would always tell me to never give up and just move forward. There would also be times where I wouldn't even be home, I would just go to a friend's house and stay with him for the day because I knew that he would ask me to go gym with him but even though I wasn't training with him I would still do training but not as hard.
So I kept going to the gym doing light cardio by myself and a few weighted machines for a month. I felt a bit fitter but my weight wasn't dropping as fast as I would like so I ended up going back to the gym with my brother and my cousin. They took me through a tough training session but I still kept going and afterwards they start talking to the personal trainer because they knew him and he said to my cousin "See your cousin, I see a lot of potential in him and I know he will do good things in the future" Throughout my fitness journey and weight loss that has always stuck with me and has given me a lot of motivation to keep on going because he believed in me and he believed that I can do it. So even though I was training hard with my brother and cousin I still wasn't losing weight but by the end of the week I asked the personal trainer for a basic food plan that could possibly help me with my weight loss and he kindly gave me a food plan that consisted of Oats, skim milk, Veggies, steak, chicken, brown rice, fish, egg whites etc. So I stuck with this food plan for about 2 weeks and started seeing some changes physically and I also felt much better than before and it gave me a better understanding of what foods I can eat throughout my journey.
I kept that diet going for a few more weeks and started seeing changes physically with my weight and body shape. The cramps on my feet was getting better as well which made it a lot easier for me and gave me motivation to lose more weight. I was happy with what I was doing and my family was happy as well. I was getting a lot of good compliments from many people that I knew from school and also family which motivated me a lot more to keep going.
My brother asked if I wanted to try a different diet that could also help with my weight loss but instead of eating the same thing everyday like I was doing, I can eat different foods and still lose weight. All I had to do was fit it into my fats, carbs and protein which is your macros. I was so happy about that diet because I was getting sick of eating the same foods, so I agreed and the next day I put in my weight, my height and my age. My macros ended up being around 40 Fats, 110 Carbs and 150 Protein. Counting my macros that I can eat per day in the first week was tough but I managed to pull through with the help of my brother. I kept going with the diet for another few weeks and it started to get easier and weight started to drop a bit more. I was feeling a lot healthier, fitter, my physical appearance changed dramatically, I was more positive and also self motivated to strive for more. I never looked at the scales during my weight loss but would look at my physical appearance. The only time I looked at the scales was before and after my weight loss.
The changes I made during and after the weight loss changed me dramatically in a GREAT way. Not only my physical appearance but my personality as well. After my weight loss, I was motivated to start a career in fitness and help as many people as I can, to reach their goals and transform people's lives in the same way that I had transformed mine. I feel positive in the way I look and just excited to keep training and that's how I want everyone to feel.
Losing weight at the start isn't the easiest thing to do at first but when you keep going and stick to your diet you will feel so much better. It's not about how much training you do that will give you results, it's mainly about what you eat. Remember as fitness professionals in Vision we believe that your weight loss is 70% nutrition and 30% what you do in the studio.
*Disclaimer: Individual results vary based on agreed goals. Click here for details.
