The first photo is from December of 2005. My diet consisted of meat, some fast food, and a lot of beer and whiskey. I went to the gym MAYBE twice a week, where I did a half hour of elliptical and some weights. I was finishing up my senior year of art school, and scarfing down cheese and hors d'oeuvres at openings and washing it all down with free booze. The second photo is from June 2007. I had started working out on a regular basis, and had been vegetarian since January. I was working out 3 to 4 times a week. 1 - 2 days were spent at Muay Thai classes, and a lot of these pics from this shoot show my legs covered in bruises from full-contact sparring. The other few days a week were spent doing a half an hour of intervals on the elliptical, and strength training. The third, taken Saturday, shows me the 6 days a week of working out triathlete in training.1. Dec 2005 - Approx 135lb
2. Jun 2007 - Approx 120lb
3. Jun 2009 - 115lb
There's a huge difference between 1 and 2. Looking back on those pics I can't believe how heavy I look compared to now. 2 and 3 is harder to see, especially since I'm clothed (for once). The biggest difference is my thighs! They have toned up so much, and I'm so proud of my progress. Those legs have gone hundreds of miles and I've spent hours of strength training to tighten them up. It's also hard to tell, since my shirt is kind of unflattering, but my stomach is a lot more toned. My hips kind of look bigger in 3 but it's only because my stance is wider.
I can tell you that since 2007 I've definitely lost a lot of cellulite. I've been toning up the weight loss for a whole two years, and I still have a little ways to go. My butt went from badaonkadonk to flabby pancake, and after two years I'm finally okay with it. It could be a little fuller with muscle, but I think if I keep working at it, it will get there. I wanted to post this to show that toning up TAKES TIME. And it's slow but believe me, it's so worth it. I was wearing shorts on Sunday I used to wear all the time during the summer of 2007. They used to be totally filled with my thighs. Now they are ridiculously loose. I went from a size 8-9 pants, to now size 5, and even then sometimes the size 5 is a bit too big!
There is no magic pill, no easy way to get a toned body. It takes patience, time, strength training, watching your diet, cardio, motivation, and a lot of determination.
That's a lot of change over the past two years, i'm glad that there are still people around that don't mind working at getting the type of body they want instead of looking for a pill or fad diet to do it for them
ReplyDeleteNothing like being able to see progress. Looking good....keep up the hard work.
ReplyDeleteYou're just like me! I see a beautiful, THIN girl in all 3 pictures. Yes, you do look more toned in the 2nd two but I would never use the word "heavy" to describe the first one. I'm the same way. Triathlon training is the bomb for body image confidence and adding muscle. My scale says I weigh more but my clothes fit looser. Bonus! The biggest thing I notice in pics is how muscular my chicken-stick legs look now that I do Ironmans.
ReplyDeleteThanks Rachel. I guess "heavy" is the wrong word, but it's really the only word I can think of to describe the squishy me as compared to the sculpted me. When I talk about how I used to be I usually say "heavier" in air quotes. I wasn't fat by any means, though I wasn't happy with how I looked, most of all, above everything else, I was not happy with the way I felt. I was lethargic and depressed. Training has done a lot of good inside and out. I never thought my legs would look this sculpted.
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