All posts by Christina Marky

4 methods to help You deal with phantom fat

4 methods to help You deal with phantom fat

4 methods to help You deal with phantom fatPhantom fat is a condition that occurs after weight loss when you are unable to see your new fit body. Dealing with phantom fat can be challenging.

What is phantom fat?

If you used to be fat and you’ve lost significant weight recently, chances are that you are struggling with phantom fat. Phantom fat means that you still have the big fat body image in your mind even after you’ve lost weight and your body changed and became smaller. Your perception of yourself did not change: you still see yourself as fat, and you can’t relate to the fit body image that you see of yourself in the mirror.

More on phantom fat>>>

Good news: phantom fat is just a temporary state! Give it enough time, it will go away on its own. Your mind will become accustomed to your new fit and smaller body.

See how phantom fat can give you emotional struggles>>>

4 methods to help you deal with phantom fat

Here are 4 methods that will help you deal with phantom fat:

1. Ask a friend for a game of reflective listening

4 methods to help You deal with phantom fatSit down with a friend or someone from your family whom you trust. The game starts with you talking about you talking about your struggles of becoming fit but being unable to relate to your new fit body. Your friend needs to listen carefully to what you are saying, and they need to repeat what you said by expressing it with other words (aka paraphrasing your message). They should keep away from being judgmental or expressing their own opinion. They should concentrate on paraphrasing what you just said.

The aim of this game is for you to hear the message that you are saying for yourself in order for you to be able to find the underlying emotions.

If it is hard for your friend to phrase or grasp your emotions, you just have to keep on talking until they get it.

At the end of this game you will better understand yourself and your feelings regarding your phantom fat. By hearing back the underlying message that you send out by talking about your struggle with phantom fat gives you the opportunity to understand what you are going through. At the end of the game you will be able to develop insight about yourself.

2. Keep a journal

4 methods to help You deal with phantom fat
This will be my first post in my phantom fat journal

Start keeping a journal to analyze the development of your phantom fat over time. This is a way to write yourself out of the phantom fat phase of after weight loss struggles.

Writing a journal helps because basically your mind is stuck in the “I am still fat” phase while your body is in the “I am so fit” phase. So keeping a journal is a great way to give you insight into your thoughts and feelings. You can have a conversation with the part of your psyche that is still stuck in the past, aka fat phase. By writing a journal about your feelings and thoughts about phantom fat you will gain awareness that you didn’t have before.

3. Identify phantom fat

Knowing that what you are experiencing is phantom fat is the first step towards improving and overcoming your mental habit. If your thoughts revolve around your fat body image, chances are you struggle with phantom fat.

See if you suffer from phantom fat>>>

If your inner voice and thoughts say that you are still fat, even if others say that you look great and you’ve lost weight, then you might suffer from phantom fat.

Now listen to your inner voice: is it positive or negative? Why? Investigate the source of your inner voice. In case you notice a pattern while evaluating your inner voice, then trace the feelings back to your first memory about them.

Believe in yourself! Believe that you are fit! You know it, now believe that one day you will see it for yourself! If you believe, you are able to!

4. Self reflection

4 methods to help You deal with phantom fat
I am self reflecting, leave me alone. Let me just post this picture of myself on Instagram.

Sit down and think. Take some time for yourself, put aside an hour for yourself when no one will bother you. Grab a cup of tea, sit down in a corner and start thinking. Self reflect. Think about what you have learnt about yourself and your feelings of phantom fat so far. What did you accomplish so far that makes you happy? Don’t just list the obvious things like “I’ve lost 60 pounds.” but dig deeper: “I’ve adopted a healthy lifestyle.” Is there something that you regret that makes you sad? Time to identify that too.

Still haven’t found what you were looking for? Check out my other guide on how to accept your new fit body>>>

Found these tips useful and you want more? Click here to subscribe to my weekly newsletter>>>

What to do when the fear of becoming fat ruins your life

What to do when the fear of becoming fat ruins your lifeThe fear of becoming fat was never so strong as it is now that I’ve lost significant weight and became fit. Let’s find out why is the fear of becoming fat again ruining your fit life.

After losing weight and becoming fit you will encounter more and more emotional issues that you’ve never had to dealt with before while being fat. These will vary from issues on how to deal with friends and family saying that you are too thin to being afraid of the numbers on the scale going up and you becoming fat again. The fear of getting fat again is the worst, because it won’t just go away by itself unless you deal with it.

How the fear of becoming fat ruins your life

What to do when the fear of becoming fat ruins your lifeWhat you need to know is that everyone who lost weight gets to a point where they experience fear of getting fat again. In small doses this can be a good thing: the fear of getting fat can motivate you, give you fuel for your workout. What you need to address is when the fear of getting fat again starts to ruin your everyday life.

So how can you tell if you have an irrational fear from getting fat again? Here are the most general symptoms of the irrational fear of getting fat again:

  • You avoid food

You are afraid to eat that slice of cake on your birthday, because you are afraid that it will make you fat again.

  • You are obsessed with losing weight

You don’t care if you lose muscle instead of fat. The important thing for you is to lose weight. This can leave you with health problems.

  • You avoid the scale

You are afraid to step on the scale because it might show you the truth that you’ve gained weight. And you can’t deal with that mentally. You are so afraid that you avoid thinking about it.

  • You feel guilt when eating

Eating one more chicken breast or drinking one more glass of yogurt makes you feel guilty. Even when you know that what you are eating is healthy, you still feel guilt for eating.

  • You don’t feel hunger

You starved yourself so much out of fear of getting fat that you don’t feel hunger anymore. This is a wake up call: your fear of getting fat again is ruining your life!

Recognized yourself? Time to address your fear of getting fat again!

What to do to get rid of the fear of becoming fat again

Here are 3 methods to help you get rid of the fear of becoming fat again:

Method #1.: Analyze your fear of becoming fat again

What to do when the fear of becoming fat ruins your lifeDon’t just ignore your fear of becoming fat again: acknowledge it. The cliche you hear that the first step towards healing is that you identify that you have a problem is true. So what you need to do is to stop denying that you have a fear of becoming fat. It might help you to write it down what it really is that you are afraid of.

What is it in your past that got you here where you are now? How long do you have this fear of becoming fat again? What triggers your fear of becoming fat? How do you react when the fear of becoming fat emerges? Does it make you run an extra mile? Does it make you stop eating? You need to know this about yourself in order for you to be able to deal with the fear of becoming fat again.

When you start to understand your fear of becoming fat again, it is the time to think about what you want to change.

Method #2.: Take control of your fear of becoming fat again

Imagine the worst case scenario: what is the worst thing that could happen? You gain some weight. That’s no big thing, you’ve dealt with it before. You know how you can lose significant amount of weight. So you certainly know how to lose a few extra pounds in case you gain a little extra.

Be prepared to confront your fear of becoming fat again many times before you conquer it. Directly confronting a fear of becoming fat again is hard, and it is okay to fail. Just remember: it’s how you handle failures that leads you to success.

Method #3.: Change the way you think about your fear of becoming fat again

What to do when the fear of becoming fat ruins your lifeLearn about the source of your fear of becoming fat again: why does it have such a hold on you? Try to see your fear of becoming fat again as an opportunity that will help you to identify a problem in your life. Identifying it is the first step towards solving it. Maybe you are afraid of becoming fat again because this is your first time of being fit and you are in a new situation in life. You need to know this situation better. If you are afraid of becoming fat because you don’t want to be fat again, take this fear and think of it as help.

Come up with a detailed plan of actions you are going to take if you start gaining fat. Identify what is going to be your first mark of knowing that you are starting to gain fat. Your pants are getting tighter around your waist? You feel tired all the time? Be realistic: the first mark certainly isn’t you eating that cupcake for the first time after a long time. Eating the 5th cupcake and it isn’t even noon? Now that’s something you need to worry about.

Found these tips useful and you want more? Click here to subscribe to my weekly newsletter>>>

Still afraid of getting fat again? No problem! Read my 7 tips on how to live without the fear of getting fat again!

Sex after weight loss: the truth everyone who lost weight is afraid to openly admit

Sex after weight loss: the truth everyone who lost weight is afraid to openly admit

Sex after weight loss: the truth everyone who lost weight is afraid to openly admitThe truth everyone who lost weight is afraid to openly admit is: sex becomes better after weight loss. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t say that for you to enjoy sex you can’t be overweight or obese and must be fit. Everyone is entitled to enjoy sex, and you may be obese and still have a sexual drive of a rabbit, always ready to go. The secret I’m going to share with you here is how significant weight loss will affect the way you are having sex.

How becoming fit effects your sexual drive in a positive way:

1. New sex positions you are able to get into

And I don’t only mean deeper penetration, because that’s not what every woman enjoys. However there are certain positions that were out of the question while you were fat that are now available for you now after your weight loss. I found myself discovering this unintentionally during one intercourse after I’ve lost significant amount of weight. It didn’t come up during the act itself, but the fact that we couldn’t do that pose earlier while I was fat was pointed out by my significant other. And I didn’t get upset as you would expect; I got all excited about it, and it filled me with happiness that going from fat to fit had it benefits on my sex life I never expected!

After weight loss you are able to try various sexual positions that were impossible before while you were fat. For a complete list of position tips see Wikipedia’s sex positions article.

2. Increased stamina

Sexual stamina is defined as a person’s ability to sustain sexual intercourse before they tire out. If you have high stamina, you can have sex for longer without getting tired. You may also be able to have sex in positions that require more strength. If you have low stamina, you get tired easily from all that vigorous sex and can have a hard time maintaining your level of arousal. Sex after weight loss: the truth everyone who lost weight is afraid to openly admit

With weight loss while engaging in regular exercise my different muscle groups strengthened. This resulted not only in increased stamina during sex but also I enabled myself to get into sex positions that work my muscle groups that I couldn’t get myself into before while I was fat. Only after a few weeks of strength training, you will be able to see results in bed: some poses will be more enjoyable when you can easily hold yourself in them thanks to your muscles. I didn’t even realize how much of a mood breaker it was before for me that I couldn’t hold myself with my arms for long in certain positions.

With increased stamina after weight loss you will be open to experiment more and have longer sessions because you’re not tired out and can keep on going.

3. Increased sexual self-esteem

You did it, you’ve lost weight! Yey for you! You’ve set a goal, worked hard, and achieved it. You might feel that this is not a permanent state and that you still have other goals to achieve, but take a moment to really appreciate what you’ve done here. You put your mind to something, made sacrifices, worked hard, and achieved what you intended to! Take a few minutes to think about it. You did it. Let it sink in.

If you had low self esteem until this point, then it needs to be increased! You achieved something for yourself and yourself only! Way to go!

Self-esteem means having self-confidence, liking yourself, having a healthy level of achievement in your life and having respect of others. Confidence is considered sexy.

Higher self-esteem affects your sexual self-esteem in a positive way. It makes you open for a new kind of way of receiving and giving affection.

4. Losing weight stimulates sex hormones

There is a research that suggests that losing even a small amount of weight, even 10 pounds, is enough to stimulate your sex hormones. Personally I didn’t experience this.

Research says that in overweight women the sex drive and the desire are affected. Apparently it is related to the amount of body fat you have. If your body fat is high, chances are that your SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin) levels are high as well. SHBG binds to testosterone the sex hormone. It makes low testosterone levels, so there is less that can stimulate desire.

So apparently weight loss has a positive effect on your sexual desire as well. I believe that it might be true in some cases, but the truth is that I’ve seen overweight people who don’t have a problem with desire, and I haven’t experiences problems while I was obese and overweight either.



You just read 4 facts how becoming fit effects your sexual drive in a positive way, but let me tell you something: there are no words to describe the happiness that you feel when you find out all these benefits for yourself. So keep yourself motivated to become and stay fit!

Did you know I’ve shared my secret of how I’ve went from fat to fit girl? Be sure to read how I’ve lost 60 lbs! Click here>>>

Best exercises to get more in tune with your new body after losing weight

Losing weight will leave you out of sync with your body: you see a fit body when you look into the mirror, yet you can't relate to it. You are used to seeing yourself fat. See how these exercises can help you get more in tune with your new body after losing weight.

Best exercises to get more in tune with your new body after losing weightLosing weight might seem as a wonderful achievement, yet when your body changes so much that you go down a few sizes in clothes, some emotional issues may arise. The most common emotional issue after losing weight is phantom fat. Most people who used to be fat still have that fat body image in their minds even after their bodies have changed and they’ve become fit. The perception of yourself does not change that fast as your body does. This can lead to many problems in your everyday life, such as thinking that you are going crazy because people around you are telling you that you are fit when in your head you see yourself fat or standing on your tiptoes and sucking in your tummy to be able to fit in between the seats on the airplane when in fact you can move between the seats just fine.

Why are you out of sync with your body?

If you’ve lost significant amount of weight, then you might experience phantom fat. Your brain and your neurons can’t catch up to your new persona as your body has changed. The holistic approach sees this issue of disrupted body image being as a disorder in the energy field.  Your body has become smaller, and the energy field around it needs to adjust to it. This is a much slower process than the part of you losing weight and fat off your body.

3 exercises to get more in tune with your new body after losing weight

Luckily there are many exercises that you can do in order for you to get more in tune with your new fit body after losing weight. Here are the 3 best exercises to get more in tune with your new fit body after losing weight:

1. Slacklining

Best exercises to get more in tune with your new body after losing weightWhat is slacklining? Slacklining is an increasingly popular exercise in the balancing arts. It involves walking across a bouncy, highly-tensioned, single piece of webbing that is only a couple inches off the ground. Walking a slackline takes confidence a bit of practice.

Why does it work? Walking a slackline takes confidence and tremendous concentration. It takes focus of will to stand on the slackline without falling off. It is a great endurance training for postural muscles. Walking a slackline improves sensing your body as a whole so it helps to get the mental body image that you have of yourself in your head closer to the real body that you have after losing weight.

2. Yoga

Best exercises to get more in tune with your new body after losing weightWhat is yoga? Yoga is a form of exercise where the body, the breath and mind are seen as a union. It requires little or no equipment. Yoga soothes your soul while toning your body! Basically it is a system of postures and breathing techniques.

Why does it work? A regular yoga practice can help you heal your body image issues that you have after losing weight. Yoga allows you to pause and silence the mind, so you can observe your beliefs and habits and change the ones that are no longer helping you. It also eases your mind which is busy with negative thoughts.

3. Zumba

Best exercises to get more in tune with your new body after losing weightWhat is zumba? Zumba is an aerobic workout program that features movements which are inspired by various styles of Latin American dance. It is performed primarily to Latin American dance music,  but classes can also contain everything from jazz to African beats to country to hip-hop and pop. Zumba dance alternates fast and slow rhythms. It incorporates interval training and resistance training.

Why does it work? Zumba is a movement therapy. Just like dancing, it creates an internal appreciation for you own body. You learn to trust more to your body. The joy of moving your body makes you more in sync with the new fit body that you have and helps you let go of the fat mental image.

Need more help seeing your new fit body image in the mirror? Get more tips by clicking here >>>

Fit but can't see it: how to accept your new fit body

Fit but can’t see it: how to accept your new fit body

Losing significant amount of weight changes your body and your mind can't catch up to that change: this is why you see yourself fat when in reality you are fit. In your mind you are still fat, no matter what the scale or the image in your mirror shows.

Fit but can't see it: how to accept your new fit bodyThe body image disorder when you can’t see or can’t relate to the fit, smaller body that you have and you still feel that you are fat in your head is called phantom fat. Fat still exists in your mind. Find out if you have phantom fat here>>>

Phantom fat is a body image disorder when your mind is out of sync with your body. That’s why everyone is telling you that you are fit, but you still think that you are fat. Overcoming this false self perception might feel like an impossible obstacle. Especially when you feel like your mind is going crazy because you can’t connect to the fit body you worked so hard to achieve. Instead of giving up, I suggest rising above these crazy thoughts.

Here are 5 easy ways to overcome your body image disorder at home:

1. Dance

Fit but can't see it: how to accept your new fit body
If you feel like throwing some sand in your face when dancing, do it. Don’t hold back.

Dancing is a great way to keep your body and mind healthy. Dancing is basically a movement therapy because it creates an internal appreciation for you body. By moving around to the sound of music, you develop a greater trust of your body. This is exactly what you need when your mind and body get out of sync. Dancing is not only a great experience, it highers your coordination, balance, senses, flexibility and works your muscles. It also works the muscles that control your posture. Dancing is a great way to get in touch with your fit body after significant weight loss when you feel out of sync. It doesn’t matter what kind of a music or dance you choose, the important thing is to move your body.

The therapy: dance for an hour 3-4 times per week

2. Walk in the dark with closed eyes

Fit but can't see it: how to accept your new fit body
You can choose a safer place to take your walk in the dark. Or just walk in a tunnel.

In order to be able to walk with closed eyes, you will need to rely on your other senses in order to navigate. This will connect the mental image that you have of your body with the real life body you have. The secret of this simple exercise is that you will need to work with the body you currently have. You can’t walk in the dark with the image of the body that is imprinted in your subconscious! You’ll trip and fall, and bump into things! By walking in the dark with closed eyes you will see improvements in sensing your body as a whole

The therapy: Walk in the dark with your eyes closed for 10 minutes a day for 4 weeks.

3. Backward walking

Backward walking eliminates the typical heel-strike to the ground: it is the toe that touches the ground first. This might seem as a simple physical activity, but it requires a lot of brain activity as well on your side. Backward walking keeps you mentally sharp, puts your senses into overdrive, and enhances your vision. Backward walking is similar to the previous exercise (walking in the dark with closed eyes), however, you don’t need to close your eyes in this case.

The therapy: Walk backward for 10 minutes a day for five weeks.

4. Compare

Fit but can't see it: how to accept your new fit body
Yeah, her ass is clearly bigger than mine.

Phantom fat means that you can’t see a fit body when you look in the mirror, even when others tell you that you are fit. One way to work on accepting your new fit body image is to compare it to other bodies. You clearly see what body others have, you just have a problem accepting your own image as your own body. You can do 2 types of comparison:

The A) therapy: Check yourself in the mirror when there are other people around you. It doesn’t matter if it’s a big mirror at the gym or a huge window of a shop, just check yourself. Compare the fit body you see there (your own body) with other bodies in the mirror. You’ll be surprised at how you see yourself when comparing your body to others.

The B) therapy: Ask for comparison. Ask your friend or significant other to point out someone from a crowd who has a similar fit body composition as you. You’ll be surprised! Or ask them to show you a celebrity who has a similar body as you have! This is not only a great way for you to see your body for what it is, but seeing someone who is not you will help you rationalize your body size.

5. Positive self affirmations

Self affirmations can help you not just building up your self confidence, but also to see yourself in a better light. This is exactly what you need if you are suffering from phantom fat.

Fit but can't see it: how to accept your new fit body
Your aim is to love yourself like this old man loves himself.

Think of your body as another person. Describe it. Are you using constructive or destructive words when you describe your body? Are you criticizing any of your body parts?

Step away from negativity! Give yourself and your body the love that you deserve!

Now whenever you talk or thing about your body, turn those negative statements into positive ones! Enough of the negative self talk!

[table caption=”How to turn negative self talk into positive” width=”500″ colwidth=”250|250″ colalign=”left|left”]
Negative,Positive
It’s gross how my thighs touch when I stand with my feet together!, I am thankful for my thighs and what they can do for me! I can ride a horse perfectly!
My breasts are so small! , I love my jaw line!
[/table]

Need more help seeing your new fit body image in the mirror? Get more tips by clicking here >>>

What do your friends think when they see that you are fat?

You are more likely to get an honest opinion from strangers about you being fat than from your friends. When I became fit my friends finally came clean and confessed to me what they really thought about me being fat. You'd never believe what your friends think about your weight!
What do your friends think when they see that you are fat?
“Should I lie to her and tell her she’s not fat? Eh, f*ck it, I’ll wipe that smile off her face by calling her fat”

How to get an honest opinion about you being fat from your friends? Lose weight, become fit – they will grab every opportunity to express how they think that you look awesome now that you’ve lost weight and that your are not fat anymore!

Wait – what? Does this mean that my friends think that I was ugly fat before?

Yes. Actually, no. Oh, it’s complicated, just like your relationship status.

What do your friends think when they see that you are fat?
“Oh my god, she is strangling me… with her big bones!”

Your friends’ honest opinion about your weight (if they find you overweight and fat) is something you will never know -until you become fit! The truth is that your friends’ opinion about you being fat is clouded by their feelings for you. If they feel that you have issues with your weight and are afraid of being called fat, they might just lie to your face about you looking awesome in those stretch pants, even when your muffin top is visibly spilling over just so that they don’t hurt your feelings. Making someone feel bad about themselves and calling them fat is not a thing you want to do to your friend. And bamm, a white lie is born:

“Noooo, you are not fat! You’re just big boned!”

How to tell your friends’ honest opinion about you being fat or not?

Test: You can go the easy route and ask your friend if they think that you are fat or not. Now that the bomb is dropped, pay close attention: study your friend’s face.

What do your friends think when they see that you are fat?
This is how an honest face looks like

He/she is lying: Is your friend looking like he or she is uncomfortable? Is her face twitching? If your answer is yes, congratulations! You just caught your friend lying! If your friend has an uncomfortable expression on her face, it means that she is uncomfortable with you asking that question if you are fat or not. She is afraid that she will hurt your feelings – hence she is telling you that she doesn’t think that you are fat. Now ask her:

– Ok, you don’t THINK that I am fat. But am I fat?

This is a way to uncover good liars: to ask the question twice. Now if they confess that they’d lied, congratulations! You just made them confess to you that you are fat!

He/she is telling the truth: Is your friend smiling? Is she relaxed? Chances are she is giving her honest opinion about your weight. If she thinks that you might take it hard to hear that you are fat, she might seem sad when telling you the obvious. A friend like that is a keeper. Someone who is not afraid to tell you the truth that you are fat, even if she thinks that she might hurt your feelings is an awesome friend. You should be proud of her, so don’t lash out on her. Even if hearing the truth that you’ve put on a lot of weight and you are fat is not what you’d want to hear. Be honest with yourself: deep down you know that you are fat. Time to put down those cupcakes and start exercising!

Friends vs true friends

There are two types of friends you will encounter while discussing your weight while you are being overweight (aka fat):

1. Friends

Friends who respect you for being comfortable with being fat

Friends whom you’ve managed to convince with your silent acceptance and grace that you accepted who you are. You accepted that you are fat, and you are fabulous!

What do your friends think when they see that you are fat?
“Let’s celebrate that you’ve accepted that you are fat! Bring out the balloons!”

These are the friends you like to surround yourself with, because they are boosting your self confidence and making you feel superior because you’ve managed to do what they didn’t: you’ve accepted yourself the way you are – you accepted that you are fat. Ironically, these are the friends that do you the most harm in the long run: they make you feel okay to be unhealthy fat. They make you stay in your comfort zone of being fat and being fabulous about it.

2. True friends

Friends who don’t understand why the hell you are so comfortable with being fat???

These friends are clueless about why you are carrying your fat ass with all that grace. How come you are so relaxed about being so fat? Being fat is not good for your health, so why are you so okay with being fat?

These friends can see through your charade: you did not manage to convince them that you’ve accepted who you are, that you are okay with being fat. You can’t be okay with being unhealthy! They see through you and you lying to yourself. And they don’t want to be part of that lie! You are hurting yourself with lying to yourself that you are not fat or that you are okay with being fat, and they know it. They love you enough to bring that to your attention in hopes that you would change your eating habits and lose all that fat. They are your guides to a healthier life!

If you want to change, then you should surround yourself more with these people! They will help your change, and they will give you the support you need throughout your weight loss journey!

What do you think your friends think of you? Share your opinion in the comments section below or follow my stories by subscribing to my newsletter. Click here>>>

Why is it awesome to be a fit girl?

Why I love being a fit girl? Because a woman with a physique is much more than how she looks.

A well-built physique is a status symbol. It reflects you worked hard for it, no money can buy it. You cannot inherit it. You cannot steal it. You cannot borrow it. You cannot hold on to it without constant work. It shows dedication. It shows discipline. It shows self-respect. It shows dignity. It shows patience, work ethic, passion. That is why it’s attractive to me.” – Pauline Nordin

Stay active!


Did you know I’ve shared my secret of how I’ve went from fat to fit girl? Be sure to read how I’ve lost 60 lbs! Click here>>>

From fat to fit girl secrets: 6 steps I did to lose 60 pounds

From fat to fit girl secrets: 6 steps I did to lose 60 pounds

From fat to fit girl secrets: 6 steps I did to lose 60 poundsWhen people who knew the fat me see the new, fit me, the second thing they ask (after “Christina, is that really you?”) is how I’ve lost weight. Here is my step by step guide for weight loss on how to get from fat to fit girl!

Step 1: Search for a low-impact exercise

The first thing you need to figure out is what type of an exercise will you enjoy doing. This is especially important if you’ve never ever did sports before and you couldn’t stick to any type of a physical activity in a long run, just like me. It took me long to figure this one out. I always considered myself the “chubby” one who isn’t a sporty type. I told myself that my body wasn’t build for a sport. I tried to commit to a sport, but I always failed. I knew I had to exercise, because exercise is good for your physical and mental health, and workout has other benefits as well. And I wanted to use exercise for weight loss.

From fat to fit girl secrets: 6 steps I did to lose 60 pounds
“Yeah… with my 190 lbs I’ll be able to do that… like never.”

While being obese, I started with occasionally going to aerobics classes: it was a disaster. I felt like my heart would jump out of my chest, I had breathing difficulties and shortness of breath, my joints hurt like hell. So I switched to total body workout, fat burning cardio, disco dance aerobics, latino dance, belly dance aerobic and other forms of cardiovascular exercises that I couldn’t keep up in the long run.

Finally I recognized that I have to choose a workout activity that fits the current state of my body.

That is while being obese my body can’t handle cardio – so I searched for a low-impact exercise. Initially I wanted to do yoga, but I felt like a big fat failure watching the yoga instructor and the other girls defying the laws of physics. Fortunately I stumbled upon a book about Pilates where they compared it to yoga. I immediately signed on a Pilates class and found that it was the perfect  low-impact workout that improved my flexibility, muscular strength and endurance. Exactly what I needed! From there with years of Pilates I’ve built up my body’s flexibility, strength and endurance to finally achieve my dream and start doing yoga.

So be prepared to experiment with different exercise activities until you find the one that suits your current body type and state of mind as well!

Step 2: Add to your workout routine an exercise activity that you enjoy

From fat to fit girl secrets: 6 steps I did to lose 60 poundsI knew that by only doing Pilates 2-3 times per week I would lose some weight but I wouldn’t achieve a significant weight loss. I wanted to speed things up, but I still wanted to have fun. So I started with coming up with exercise activities that I could do in my leisure time or with friends that were fun and that would provide me a workout. I wanted to exercise without even realizing it!

So I started rollerblading! Fun, fun, fun! Some of my friends also got roller blades, so we had fun times hanging out and having fun in the sun! I traded the rollerblading fun for ice skating during the winter months. It was the perfect activity for getting an exercise without even realizing it! Some of the fun activities you can try to incorporate into your active life are:

  • walking
  • hiking with friends
  • dancing
  • tossing a Frisbee
  • squash game
  • tennis
  • playing video games such as Wii Fit
  • using your bike more often

No need to take this exercise seriously – the aim of this is to have fun in order to change the meaning of exercise in your mind from it being something boring and a must-do to make you feel really excited about doing it.

On the other hand, there is the next step where we do exactly the opposite of this.

Step 3: Treat your workout like an important meeting you must attend

From fat to fit girl secrets: 6 steps I did to lose 60 poundsYou absolutely MUST attend your workout/meeting! You made an appointment and you can’t bail out! If unexpected things come up (e.g. a friend asks you if you want to grab a cup of coffee after work) you need to say no to that: doing your workout has high priority on your list! You wouldn’t miss a meeting with your boss to have a cup of coffee with your friend now would you? That’s exactly the attitude you need to have towards your workout.

This is the only way that you can make a workout a routine and be able to stick to it in a long run. For successful weight loss, you need to make a workout a habit. See how to develop a healthy habit here>>>

Step 4: Schedule your workout in advance

When planning your weekly schedule, plan a 2 hour window for your workout as well! If you are attending a group class for your weekly dose of exercise, plan at least 2 hours for your workout. I plan 2 hours because the classes are 1 hour long and I plan an additional hour for me to get there and back home from the group workout class.

From fat to fit girl secrets: 6 steps I did to lose 60 poundsAlways plan for the commute as well in your schedule! This might seem obvious, but it can save you a lot of unnecessary stress. Planning only 1 hour for a workout was a mistake I’ve kept repeating when I started working out regularly. This left me with being stressed out and always in a hurry to be at the next place. Relaxing at the end of a yoga class was impossible with me occupying my mind with the thought of running to meet with a friend or taking care of some other things. So don’t be like me: plan ahead so you can have a mind that can calmly concentrate on the present: the workout you are doing.

Step 5: Gradually increase the number of workouts per week

My biggest mistake when I started working out was that I either worked out for 4 days per week when I set my mind to it or I didn’t workout at all. I planned that I will start going to a Pilates class 3 times per week and exercise at home for the other 2 days. It was a nice plan. But in reality it went down like this: I went to a Pilates class on Monday; found a 30 minute intensive workout video on YouTube on Tuesday I tried; by Wednesday I had sore muscles and I was absolutely exhausted so I missed the Pilates class and stayed home laying on the couch doing nothing until the next week.

From fat to fit girl secrets: 6 steps I did to lose 60 pounds
“I’ll increase my workout to 25 hours of cycling per day!”

Instead of exercising 5 times per week I exercises 2 days and did nothing for 5 days and I’ve felt like a failure. I repeated this for months: switching up Pilates with other exercise activities and different YouTube videos. I thought that I was choosing an exercise out of my level of fitness – when in fact I was just starting with more that I could handle.

So if you’ve never exercised before for a longer period, then start with exercising 1 or 2 times per week for a few weeks. Then add one more day. So if you started by exercising for 2 days per week and you’ve kept it up successfully for 3 weeks, then add one more day by exercising 3 times per week. If you can keep it up for 3 weeks, than add one more day. You will exercise 4 times per week for a few weeks. Continue this until you reach the desired time of weekly exercise. For me the goal is to exercise 5 times a week for an hour.

It may take awhile for you to reach the desired amount of weekly exercise, but it is the only way to be able to do it while keeping it up in the long run. Take this advice and:

  1. You won’t feel like a failure for setting your goals way above your current level of fitness
  2. You’ll get use to your exercise schedule
  3. You’ll develop a sustainable workout routine
  4. You won’t be so exhausted that you would compromise your whole goal just to chill a little

Remember:

There is no magic, just a series of small steps.

Step 6: Change your eating habits one at a time

belly-2354_640Develop new habits or trade an existing bad eating habit with a healthy one. This is the only way for you to be able to keep it up in the long run. I cannot state the importance of changing one habit at a time – if you’ve missed this, read it here>>

Take one of the following bad eating habits and change it for a healthy one:

  1. Loving sweet drinks? No sweetened soda or sugary drinks for you! Drink water instead! If this is too vigorous for you, try switching canned soda or beverages for fresh fruit juices. If you managed to change your habit, then start by adding water to your fruit juice. Dilute your fruit juice by 50% with water. This is a great way to cut back on sugar and half the calories you intake from juices! The final step is to cut back on all juices and drink only water! Good luck!
  2. Overeating? Take up a healthy habit by eating until 80% full! Hara hachi bu is the Japanese term for eating until 80% full.The logic behind this is that your brain needs at about 20 minutes to register how much you have eaten. So stopping when you feel 80% full means you actually ate around 100% of what you can. So Hara hachi bu!
  3. Fan of snacks? No unhealthy snacks for you no more! Instead of reaching for chips or cookies, try eating fruits or nuts! Just watch out for the amount of the nuts you are eating, because nuts may contain a lot of calories! This means no chocolate, cookies or sweets for snack! Did you know that your cravings say a lot about you? So next time you crave chocolate eat nuts instead!
  4. Taking your coffee and tea with 2 spoons of sugar? Have unsweetened coffee and/or tea only! If you feel that coffee and tea without sugar tastes like bathwater, start by taking it with 1 spoon of sugar instead of 2 and then gradually decrease until you feel comfortable drinking your drink without sugar!

Interested in more tips on living a healthy life? Click here for my weekly updates>>>

I have been fat my whole life, do I have to stay fat forever?

I have been fat my whole life, do I have to stay fat forever?

I have a newsflash for you: you don't have to stay fat forever! I've been obese and overweight my whole life since childhood. I thought that I would have to live my life as fat forever. Don't be like the old me! Make healthy lifestyle changes and start living a healthy life today!

Fat childhood

I have been fat my whole life, do I have to stay fat forever?I come from a family of overweight people and I’ve been fat as long as I can remember. Obesity runs in my family so to say. So how come I still managed to lose pounds to become fit?

Well, there is no such thing as a fat gene. Being fat has to do with your lifestyle. If your parents are overweight, it means that they are eating more than they would need to eat. Chances are that they will feed you as a kid more than what you need for your age and activity level. And if you are a good kid, you will clear your plate.

So as a little kid, this becomes a standard for you. Eating a lot. Eating unhealthy stuff. A little exercise now and then, running around in the park or with your friends occasionally, and that’s it. You see your friends, and see that most of the kids are slimmer than you are. You look at your parents, you see they are fat just like you are. You look at skinny Jenny and her mom who is also skinny. You figure that you were born this way, fat is in your genes, you can do nothing about it. It is just the way you are.

You ask your parents if you are fat, they tell you that you are not fat, you are just big boned like they are. Look at your grandma, she is also big boned. Look at your cousin, he is also big. We are one big happy family. And being happy is what counts.

You figure that chocolate makes you happy, so eating a lot of it is a good thing.

This is how a fat child became an obese child.

Fat teen years

I have been fat my whole life, do I have to stay fat forever?
Look, her boobs are bigger than her belly! That’s not fair!

Puberty hits: insecurities about yourself emerge again! Oh my god! I am ugly! All the other girls are skinny, I want to be skinny! Amy has a lump on her chest, what is that? The boys seem to like it! Why don’t I have those lumps yet? The pretty girls in class are wearing tops that shows their belly buttons! They look like Britney Spears! I can’t wear a top like that. I tried one at home, but I look ridiculous. My tummy is bigger than my boobs. I cry and my mom asks me what’s wrong, so I confess. She tells me that I should not worry, my boobs will grow. But it’s not the outside that counts, it’s what’s on the inside. I know, and I know that I am sweet on the inside, and I am being nice to everyone. But when I am alone, I still want the skinny body, visible boobs and to rock the crop top.

So after years of not being one of the pretty girls but being one of the fat girls I finally except it. I have a nice personality. I am sweet, always smiling, I seem happy. I will never have a killer body, but I don’t care. I will certainly win over my prince charming with my personality. Princess Snow White won her prince over in ugly clothes with her pretty face and sweet personality. I have a cute face and sweet personality! I can do that.

I wish I had Snow White’s body frame…

Welcome to your fat 20s

Being fat in your 20s is interesting. You are used to being fat, because you’ve been fat your whole life. You seem to be comfortable being fat. To an outside observer it might be strange to see you being so comfortable and content with your weight and size.

The more time you spend being fat, the more comfortable you seem to be with being fat for the outside observer.

I have been fat my whole life, do I have to stay fat forever?
A quick snack before dinner on our date night

This is where it becomes hard being fat. You seem content and comfortable, and you feel like you’ve accepted yourself the way you are. And then your boyfriend right after the final breakup fight, when both of you are out of things to say, goes and breaks the silence by saying:

– Oh and you are ugly fat!

You don’t say anything, but inside you something gets broken. How can someone whom you’ve shared the last 3 years of your life and loved with all your heart call you fat at the end? Is this something he always thought of you? He wasn’t prince charming on a white horse! He was the white horse! Hearing that one sentence from a loved one shifts everything. You start to feel sorry for yourself.

I have been fat my whole life, do I have to stay fat forever?
A scene from my last breakup fight

You are sad because of the breakup. Things didn’t work out as you planned. You feel alone. You can’t sleep, you can’t eat. You barely eat at all. After weeks and weeks of sadness, it starts to show. You lose weight, fast. You are sad, but you are at least happy about your weight loss! You don’t even care that starving yourself is not healthy. You are losing weight!

Time passes, your heart heals, and it starts beating faster for another prince charming. Turns out he likes you too! Love and happiness! You are going out on dates again! You are enjoying yourself! You go out to fancy dinners, catch a movie. Then you go steady and eating out is replaced by ordering pizza and catching a movie at home. Weekend after weekend, and you can see that all that junk food and desserts are starting to show on both of you. You and your prince became round. But you don’t care! You are happy! You are in love! Who cares about you being fat again? Your prince doesn’t! He says he likes your curves just the way they are! Hooray!

The revelation that changed my fat life forever

As you approach to your 30s, you start to feel anxious. You are still casually dating or single, you still plan to get married one day (in the distant future), but something bothers you. You are experiencing some health issues: high blood sugar, lower back problems, leg and knee pain. When you complain about these health issues, your father tells you that you are just getting old:

– If you are over 30 years old, and after you wake up in the morning and nothing hurts, it means that you are dead.

You see your parents, who are old and are experiencing all these symptoms and many more. But you feel that there is something wrong. You look at other couples, who are the age of your parents and there seems to be nothing wrong with them. They might have some minor health issues, but they are completely different than your parents’ and they are work related illnesses. So you start to wonder: how can someone reach an old age and still be healthy? What is their secret?

Well, you are asking the right questions! When you study the lives of old people who look and feel young and compare it to your parents’ life you will see that the difference is lifestyle.

You always thought of obesity as a cosmetic issue. You never considered that being obese will have it’s effect on your health.

The secret to healthy old age is through a healthy lifestyle!

Yes, you’ve heard it before, and it sounds like a cliche. But have you ever evaluated your own life? To see what kind of a lifestyle you’ve been living! Well, I evaluated mine!

I have been fat my whole life, do I have to stay fat forever?
I have a new healthy life!

I saw that if I continue to live the way I lived I will end up just like my parents: with various health problems. I saw my future. Seeing my mom deal with migraines, seeing my dad having heart problems made me feel helpless. I wanted to help them, but I couldn’t. Seeing your loved ones in pain is hard. You want to help them, but you don’t know what to do when even doctors can’t help them.

I flashed forward and I saw myself in them. I saw how my future kid will once stand by my side watch me having a migraine and just stand there and feel helpless just the way as I am feeling. This is the best case scenario. I don’t have kids, and I’m getting near my 30s. I’ll be way older than my parents by the time my kid grows into an adult. He or she will have to see me suffer even harder, and with more health issues.

This scared the sh!t out of me. I don’t want my unborn child to live through the horror of seeing old and unhealthy parents at a young age!

So what can I do about this? I can start by changing my unhealthy lifestyle to a healthy one!

Fit 30s and counting!

So I started with small steps: changing one bad habit for a healthy one. Starting to exercise and searching for the right type of exercise that will fit me. Changing my diet plan by eating more vegetables and fruits. Finding ways to manage stress by doing yoga and bringing more balance to my life. I’ve seen improvement in the quality of my life gradually. The health issues disappeared, I felt better than ever before, I’ve lost weight and I started to look better than the Disney princesses! I am over 30, and I’ve never been this fit in my life!

Could this be your story? Join me and other girls who went from fat to fit on Facebook>>>

How to go from fat to fit girl – find out in next weeks blog post on Tuesday!