Today's transformation story is a little bit dirty:
Angel started out at 216 pounds after a pregnancy. Now, at about 138 pounds, she's discovered a love for playing in the mud.
Angel says she has been big nearly all of her life and had tried Atkins, herbal drops and even diet pills, but nothing brought her the results she wanted. Finally, after watching people around her lose a lot of weight and growing tired of that dreaded roll that spilled over her waistband every time she sat down, she decided to take some action.
She joined Weight Watchers and followed it for about nine months. She was three months into it before she started exercising due to a prolonged surgery recovery. She remained strict with her diet for those first three months, then added the treadmill and a weekly cheat meal to her plan. Now, some of you may find this discouraging, but she says she ate A LOT of broccoli. Sorry, broccoli haters. I guess the green stuff can't be avoided if you want to get into those skinny jeans.
After 9 months and a 50 pound loss, she kicked it up a few notches by hiring a trainer. She says she cannot believe the results she's achieved and the things she's able to do now.
"In July my sister signed me up for the mudathalon, a 5k with 40 obstacles," Angel says. "I was so nervous! I am not much of a runner, but I could not believe the things I was able to do. I could climb and jump over walls and climb ropes. Who would have thought I could do such things?"
She says she has done several mud runs since then and she loves them. While she's proud of the fact that she's down to 15% body fat, she also loves how happy she's feeling since losing so much weight. She says:
"I am HAPPY! I have always been pretty confident but now I am extremely confident. Believe it or not I am now in the process of getting my own personal training license and am looking for a career change in weight management. I have so much energy. I feel younger than I did when I was 20!"
Her advice is to stop looking at your eating plan as a diet but rather to simply focus on changing your habits long-term. Oh, and get off the couch! That's her other piece of advice.
As for Angel, she's traded her comfy couch for a slimy mud pit ... and she's loving every minute of it.
