Tag Archives: weight loss struggles

How to deal with fear of getting fat again while being fit

July 21, 2015Body image problems, Emotional issues after weight loss, Motivation to stay fitafter weight loss, fit body, healthy life mindset, successful weight loss, weight loss strugglesChristina Marky

Are you afraid of getting fat again? Learn to live without the fear of getting fat again.

Trading an unhealthy lifestyle for a healthy one. Finding time for exercise. Starting exercising regularly. Making eating healthy and leading an active life a top priority. Seeing result. Small scale victory. Introducing a new type of exercise. Adjusting your meals and meal proportions. Giving up chocolate. Losing fat on your hips. Needing smaller clothes. Redefining your whole wardrobe to fit your smaller body. Going to the gym for the first time. Buying the first quality gym clothes. Wearing it to workout instead of those ratty old sweat pants. People complementing you on how you’ve lost weight. You being able to see your new fit body in the mirror. It’s a long journey, it doesn’t happen in a week, it takes time, dedication. And then starting to obsess over getting fat again.

Being afraid of becoming fat again will be one of the issues you will need to address after you lose significant weight and become fit.

The reasons behind being afraid of becoming fat again

First of all, you will need to identify why is it that you feel like you need to be afraid of getting fat again. Take your time to think about why you are afraid of becoming fat again. Think hard, dig deep. Be honest with yourself about why you are afraid of becoming fat again!

Are you afraid of becoming fat again because you:

#1. Skipped regular workouts for weeks?

#2. Started eating more junk food and/or sweets?

#3. Scale is showing weight gain?

#4. None of the above!

Now that you’ve identified of why you are afraid of getting fat again you will need to address that fear. Find the reason below and read the tips on how to live without the fear of getting fat again.

7 tips to live without the fear of getting fat again

Choose one of the 4 reasons listed above for you being afraid of becoming fat again, and read on to see how to address that issue efficiently.

Reason #1: Skipped regular workouts for weeks

You have guilty conscience because you’ve skipped workouts. The fear of becoming fat again is your conscience telling you that you’ve fallen off the right tracks you were on. This is actually a good thing, meaning that your body and mind cares about your health. It is warning you that you need to get back to your active lifestyle.

a.) In case of being lazy or life interfering

In order to silence your conscience, you will need to start exercising again. If you’ve had a longer break, then introduce yourself to exercising slowly. Start by exercising 2 times per week, and then gradually increase that, until you reach the desired number of times and hours per week you were satisfied with.

>>>How to restart workout routine

b.) In case of injury or sickness

In case you have an injury or are unable to workout for a longer period of time, see this guide to help you maintain your weight and gains>>>

>>>How not to freak out about losing workout routine while injured or sick

Reason #2: Started eating more junk food and/or sweets

See why is it that you have the need to eat more junk food or sweets?

a.) In case you’re easing an emotional situation with eating

Looking back I see that one of the reasons I became obese was because of how I handled stress. Every time I faced stress, I ate. Sometimes I ate anything I could put my hands on: chocolate, biscuits, leftovers from the fridge. You name anything, if I was stressed, I ate it.

Eating to ease stress or sadness is a coping mechanism. After you eat, the parasympathetic nervous system gets active when your body hits the “rest and digest” state. Basically you fall into rest mode. So it makes it a perfect subject for misusing this system. Feeling anxious? Stressed? Sad? EAT! Whoah, I feel calm and comforted now.

Solution: Find another way to cope with stress. I started doing yoga and meditating for 20 minutes per day, but you can use anything that helps you handle stress (unless it’s eating junk food and sweets).

b.) In case you’re eating more because you are hungry

In this case you need to examine your hunger. One of the reasons might be that you are starving yourself and your body needs more food and that’s why you are feeling hungry. Maybe the number of calories you calculated that you need to eat are not enough: it depends on your activity level as well. So if you are doing more vigorous exercise such as weight training, you will need to eat more. Just make it a healthy foods, with the right amount of protein/fats/carbs. And most importantly:

Eat until 80% full.

The other reason behind eating more may be that your meals are not balanced out throughout the day. I used to hardly eat during the day while at the office, so naturally I became really hungry once I got home. So I ate my lunch/supper, dessert, chocolate, fruits, nuts, ice cream, cheese. I ate my supper at the table, and then walked back and forth towards the fridge eating until I felt full. Introducing in-between healthy snacks (such as fruits or veggies) while in the office helped me balance out my meals throughout the day. So I’m not feeling hungry anymore and are eating the needed amount of calories for my body and activity level.

Reason #3: Scale is showing weight gain

Stepping on the scale to check your weight and see weight gain might freak you out and make you think that you’ll become fat again. However, this is not so simple. Read on.

a.) In case weighting yourself occasionally

Stepping on the scale occasionally is fine because it can help you keep yourself on track. You’ll notice a major weight gain while it is happening and you’ll be able to interfere.

However, pay attention to the fact that muscle is heavier than fat. So maybe you are experiencing what I was: gaining muscle and losing fat meaning that the number on the scale goes up. However, if you look at yourself, you can clearly see that it’s not fat that you are gaining, it’s muscle. So if you suddenly have visible biceps without flexing or bubble booty, then the weight gain a sign of you gaining muscles!

b.) In case you are weighting yourself daily

Stop. Just stop weighting yourself every day. It’s not healthy to obsess over your weight. Instead focus on the weight of your dumbbells going up instead of focusing on the numbers of your scale going down. Remember, daily fluctuations in weight don’t mean a thing. So you might as well stop obsessing over the numbers on that scale.

Reason #4: None of the above

If your reason of being afraid of becoming fat again is none of the reasons addressed above, then it means that you have some issues you need to deal with.

Losing weight is not easy. Keeping it off in the long run is harder. It needs discipline and developing healthy habits. After becoming fit you will certainly go through a phase where you are afraid of becoming fat again, and it is okay. You can use this fear to motivate you, to fuel your workout or healthy habits. However, you must pay close attention to that fear of getting fat again, because it can lead you down the dark path of obsession over your weight.

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

Obese people who don’t see they are fat

July 14, 2015Body image problemsaccepting body, Body Image during and after weight loss, body image issues, body image problems, distorted body, distorted body image, weight loss strugglesChristina Marky

She enters the office walking confidently towards us. She is cheerful and happy, and when she sees me, tells me how she barely recognized me, I’m so thin! She pulls a chair to sit down next to us.

– Tell me, what’s your secret to going from “chubby” to thin? – she doesn’t even wait for my answer, she continues – I bet you worked out. I can’t work out, I tried, but I hate it.

I open my mouth to tell her about how you need to find the right type of workout that is fun, motivating and challenging at the same time, but my other work colleague interrupts:

– She changed her whole lifestyle! She eats differently, and works out 5 times a week! It happened slowly, it took her years to lose all that weight!

I want to start speaking, but I am yet again silenced by my female colleagues before saying even a sentence. All I am left with is nodding my head in a “yes” motion.

– Oh, I can’t diet, I just hate them. I love cake too much! What do you eat? You surely don’t eat bread!

Finally, my chance to speak up! Quickly, I must make a sound: – I don’t eat bread and pastries from the bakery, but I eat whole grain flowerless bread with various seeds.

– But do you eat meat? – she asks.

– Of course I eat meat – I answer. I try to continue because I want her to know how protein is important for muscle growth and recovery, but I am silenced again.

– I eat meat too, and I don’t eat much. Yesterday I made a delicious cake and we ate it. Then I cried to my husband that I want to eat that special chocolate cake from the bakery. He told me how I can’t have a chocolate cake, because I am always complaining how I am way too fat. But I really wanted to eat that chocolate cake, so finally we drove to the bakery to get the chocolate cake.

We were all left speechless and continued listening to her story unwind.

– I think I am fat, because the scale said so. I am way over 100 kg/220 lbs, but I can’t see it. I am just not that fat in reality. When I gain weight, it all goes to my thighs. – she touches her left thigh making her point across. And I can’t help not to notice her muffin top spilling over when she leans over like that. She is not a small woman that is sure! She sees herself slightly overweight, when in fact she is obese.

– I mean I am gaining weight for sure, but I don’t see it. I can’t wear my pants anymore because I can’t button them, so I choose to wear pants with elastic waistbands. I also have a problem to find the right sized blouses, the ones they sell have tiny armholes so my arms don’t fit through. But I am not going into those obnoxious stores for fat people! Those clothes are ugly!

We keep listening to her story and I can’t help but notice how she is struggling with body image issues exactly like I was. The only difference is that I was struggling to see my smaller fit body after I’ve lost significant weight. She is struggling to see her bigger obese body after she’s gained significant weight. I was wondering if the steps I’ve took to help me see my smaller body would help her see her bigger body. But I never got the chance to speak up after she went on and on about her life. And she clearly wasn’t interested in what I had to say – she just needed to get things that bothered her about her body and lifestyle off her mind.

If you are losing weight and are unable to see your fit body after weight loss it’s called phantom fat. Never would have imagined that there is the opposite of this condition: you are gaining weight, becoming fat, going obese and you can’t see it.

I’ve discussed the struggles regarding my fat body image I have in my head while not being able to see a fit body image reflection staring back at me from the mirror many times before:

Are you suffering from phantom phat?

Having fit body but being unable to see it: how to accept new fit body

15 things I wish I knew before I started losing weight while I was obese

I have discussed the problem of not being able to see the fit body in the mirror after significant weight loss in the past.

I still can’t get over the fact how serious conditions with body image problems such as negative body image issues are taken seriously, but body image issues that come with significant weight loss or significant weight gain do not get the attention they deserve.

To help myself after my weight loss with having a fat body image while actually being in a fit body, I had to browse through tons of self help books for low self esteem and serious negative body image issues to scan for tips that I would work in my case. I tried many of the advices that I have came across about body image issues, and what worked for me was a quick 10 minute exercise. Click here to find out about Exercise A and Exercise B >>>

Are you struggling with fat body image issues? Click here to find out!

If you want to read more about how to deal with issues related to fat body image click here >>

Please feel free to share your own story in the comments section below!

Biggest secret of being fit: before and after workout nutrition

June 9, 2015Motivation to stay fitafter weight loss, fit body, healthy life mindset, successful weight loss, weight loss strugglesChristina Marky

I started to workout because I wanted to lose all that fat and become fit instead of fat. You'd think that after you start to workout regularly, you are on a winning run towards fit city. Let's see what you need to eat to lose weight and become fit.

The truth is that there is a difference between losing weight and becoming fit. I wanted both: to lose weight and excess fat AND become fit.

4 steps to lose weight

The only problem was that I only knew and did the usual steps I needed to make towards losing weight and burning fat. It was good for losing weight, but it did not prepare me for what was waiting for me after I’ve hit the healthy weight range. Let me share my 4 steps of how to lose weight:

Step 1: Cut off junk food

Cutting back on junk food meant skipping fast food and processed food. Junk foods include salty snacks, gum, candy, sweets, fried fast food, sugary beverages. Foods such as hamburgers, pizzas and tacos were put in a healthy food category! Am I crazy? No, I am not! I just stopped ordering or buying pizzas at fast food stands: instead I prepared them at home. I’ve changed the usual processed ingredients to healthy ones (fish, fresh vegetables, herbs and a crust made from whole-wheat flour), so a healthy home-made pizza was born!

Step 2: Eat healthy

What does eating healthy even mean? For me it means eating smart. Do I eat sweets? Yes! But instead of cupcakes and chocolate bars I eat sweet fruits, dark chocolate (containing 70% or more cocoa) or make my own quick healthy snacks (crushed banana + coconut flour + ground flax seeds). I eat more vegetables and fruits, drink plenty of water and drink green tea instead of coffee. I eat meat that is roasted in coconut oil it instead of deep frying it in a fancy coating. I try to eat fish almost every day!

Step 3: Eat less

Biggest secret of being fit: before and after workout nutrition — No more snowman cupcakes for you

Less what? Less of EVERYTHING! First I just ate less, but then I got scared that I am losing weight way too quickly in an unhealthy pace. So I started counting calories, and eating less at a caloric deficit.

Step 4: Exercise!

Regular exercise is the key. Going regularly was hard at first, but it helped me develop a core strength and losing those first pounds that was a base for further development. I could begin yoga, then switched to belly dance, and then zumba and gym with a personal trainer – and finally hit the normal weight range! To maintain my workout routine I continuously look for sources to motivate myself, have a way of keeping my exercises fun and exciting.

Started exercising pilates, yoga, belly dance, zumba, body weight exercise and finally weightlifting.

How to stop losing muscles at a healthy weight after weight loss

Yeey, I’ve lost weight and all that excess fat and finally I’ve hit the normal weight range! I am not obese nor overweight anymore! Way to go!

So now what?

Turns out I only learned how to lose weight. I had no idea how to become fit.

I figured if I continue what I do, I’ll become fit. It worked for awhile (look up noob gains for more reference), but eating less (at a caloric deficit) even when eating healthy suddenly made me lose weight and muscles! What is going on? Why am I losing my muscles instead of fat???

This is the point when I learned about macronutrients and that the ratio of fat/protein/carbs is important.

When I started tracking my ratio of fat/protein/carbs, I saw that I don’t eat nearly enough protein as I thought I was.

So I had to pay attention to my before and after workout nutrition as well.

When to eat: before and after workout nutrition

You want to know my secret? Timing is everything!

When to eat before a cardio workout: 2 hours before a cardio type of a workout such as zumba, belly dance, aerobics and such I eat a banana. It fuels my workout and my belly doesn’t feel bloated.

When to eat before strength training: half an hour before hitting the gym I eat a banana or drink a pre-workout shake. It fuels my muscles and I have strength to lift weights.

What to eat: before and after workout nutrition

Before workout choose one of the following:

a banana or an apple
a spoon of peanut butter or a bar of dark chocolate (or Nutella, MY FAVE! )
pre-workout supplements
carb protein shake
spoon of coconut oil

After workout nutrition might include the following:

protein shake
eggs
fish (salmon, tuna)

Before and after workout nutrition

Paying attention to what you eat before workout is important because it fuels your workout. This is especially true for weightlifting: on days I didn’t eat a banana or an apple before my workout, I felt I didn’t have enough strength and couldn’t lift much. On zumba classes I’ve became light headed if I didn’t eat 2 hours before my class. However, if I ate pasta or something else, I felt bloated and it was hard to workout.

After an intense weightlifting workout your body needs protein, so for optimal gains, you should consume fast digesting proteins before and after workout. You can build muscles faster if you give them fast-digesting protein/simple carb meals after a weightlifting session. See why you need to start lifting weights as a woman>>>

For best results, I suggest that you experiment with what you eat and when you eat it before and after your workout. To become fitter, start paying attention to your before and after workout nutrition!

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

Why you are feeling awkward when accepting a compliment about your fit body

May 19, 2015Body image problems, Emotional issues after weight lossaccepting body, after weight loss, body image problems, downside of being fit, fit body, successful weight loss, weight loss strugglesChristina Marky

After significant weight loss, friends, coworkers and acquaintances will start noticing your new found body. They will feel like it is time for them to compliment you on your new fit body. How can you accept these compliments without being rude or seeming awkward?

People around me noticed my weight loss and positive changes about my body way sooner than I have. It was annoying for a while to address their compliments and answer their questions about my fit body, and I hated it. But looking back I see now that their comments and questions helped me a lot with my mental barriers of accepting my new fit body.

Why people compliment on your weight loss success

I bet you want to know why someone is giving you a compliment on your weight loss. If you think that the person who complimented on your looks wants something from you, you will less likely believe the compliment. All this can make you interpret the compliment in a totally different way than it was intended.

Getting fit and losing weight affects not just your looks and attitude but also the perception of how others see you. There will be a change in people’s attitudes towards the new fit you.

Why you are feeling awkward when accepting a compliment about your fit body — “Sir, I noticed your large beer belly has vanished! You look awesome!”
Smiles: “Thank you sir for noticing my fat crying.”

Part of their changed view comes from the fact that your looks have changed, and that change in your body becomes noticeable at a first glance to others. The other reason for from the fact that it’s not just your body that changed, but your attitude as well. Your improved self confidence you’ve gained with regular workout shines through.

These are just some of the reasons why you are drawing wanted (or unwanted) attention of your friends and acquaintances. You may find this to be pleasing, and it can even give you a temporary boost in motivation to workout harder. On the other hand, if you are like me, you will find all this sudden rush of attention unwelcome and have mixed feelings about people who unexpectedly shower you with compliments, and struggle with finding the best way to deal with all that sincere or false openness.

Some people will be thrilled about your success, because you’ve accomplished what they are just hoping to achieve one day. As may it be fascinating for you at first to hear the compliments, you will grow tired of them soon after. Especially when you realize that what they say is actually a reflection of their own biases, self-doubt and flaws.

How you are currently dealing with compliments about your weight loss

Until now, you’ve dealt with compliments about your successful weight loss in one of the 3 possible ways:

Rejecting the compliment
Deflecting the compliment
Accepting the compliment

How you are dealing with a compliment about your successful weight loss tells about you a lot.

The way you deal with compliments reflects your level of self-esteem and self-worth. [Tweet this!]

If compliments on your successful weight loss make you feel uncomfortable, it is because the compliments contradicts your own self-view.

1. Rejecting a compliment

“- Wow! You’ve lost a lot of weight! You look great!”

“- No, I don’t look great.”

When it comes to compliments about your looks, an inner fat girl makes you deny that the flattery could be true.

If you have high self-esteem then you will reject the compliment because you want to be perceived as modest.

Just imagine how it feels for the other person when he or she says something nice with his or her best intentions, and you reject it. This is the worst you can do. You undermine the compliment or insult the compliment giver by rejecting a compliment about your weight loss.

2. Deflecting the compliment

There are 3 ways to deflect a compliment about your successful weight loss:

Self-insult:
“- Wow! You’ve lost a lot of weight! You look great!”

“- No, I did not lose a lot of weight. My lose clothing makes me look like I’ve lost a lot of weight, but trust me, I am still fat under it.”
Denial:
“- Wow! You’ve lost a lot of weight! You look great!”

“- No, I don’t. Look, I have batwings under my arms.”
Boomerang:
“- Wow! You’ve lost a lot of weight! You look great!”

“- You look amazing too! Is that a new necklace you’re wearing?”

The problem with deflecting a compliment abut your successful weight loss is that you give the impression that you don’t respect the opinion of the person who gave you the compliment. You should return the compliment, but not right away. Say something nice about the person who gave you the compliment about your successful weight loss the next time you two meet.

3. Accepting the compliment

Your best bet is to just accept the compliment about your successful weight loss that has been given you.

“- Wow! You’ve lost a lot of weight! You look great!”

“- Thanks, that’s very kind of you!”

If you want to follow it up with an explanation of how you’ve worked hard for looking like this, feel free.

Actually, accepting a compliment about your successful weight loss is a compliment for itself. By accepting the compliment someone gave you, you are suggesting them that you trust their judgement, wisdom and opinion, and you appreciate what they have to say.

Lesson on how to accept a compliment about weight loss

Even if you don’t agree with a compliment, you should take it gracefully. Respect the compliment giver by accepting the compliment. Say this if you are accepting a compliment on your successful weight loss if you don’t agree with what the other person said about you:

“Thank you”, “Thank you very much”
“Thanks, I appreciate that.”
“Thanks, that’s a lovely thing to say.”
“Thanks, that makes me feel good.”
“Thanks, that means a lot to me.”
“Thanks, you’re very kind.”

If you agree with a compliment given to you about your successful weight loss, accept the compliment by saying the following things:

“Thanks. I’m really glad you noticed that I’ve lost significant weight because it’s something I’m proud of too.”
“Thanks! I trained really hard.”

Don’t be focused on the content of the compliment when receiving one, but rather focus on receiving the compliment. And don’t forget to smile!

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

How to calculate the calories you need to eat per day

April 24, 2015FITspiration Friday, Motivation to stay fitafter weight loss, fit body, healthy life mindset, motivation, successful weight loss, weight loss strugglesChristina Marky

Big Fat Loss Secret

If you eat more calories than your body requires, you will gain weight.
If you eat less calories than your body needs, you will lose weight.

I must admit that I am not a fan of counting calories. However, I found it to be necessary in order to get a clear picture of what I am eating and how it affects my body. So what is an easy way to keep track of the calories you eat you ask?

Easy ways to track daily food intake

So for whatever reason you are not a big fan of tracking your calories, I suggest the following:

A. Track your daily food intake and calories for a month

Tracking the calories in your food for a week gives you a clear picture of what you eat and how much of it. However, a week is not enough time for you to make proper adjustments to your diet. Tracking food intake for a week just gives you a clear picture of your current eating habits are. So that is exactly why I suggest that you follow your food intake for a month. This way you can adjust the amount of food that you eat to fit your healthy weight goal.

B. Use a calorie calculator for putting together an eating plan

The other option is that you use a calorie counter not for logging food and calories you already ate, but for planning of what you are going to eat that day. This is also a simple way of keeping track of what and how much you eat. Basically you put in everything you think you will eat that day, and you can see what are the nutrients that are missing from your diet. So you can adjust your food intake accordingly.

How to calculate the amount of calories you need to eat

If you haven’t already figured out how much calories you need to eat in order to maintain your weight, you can do it by heading to a Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) calculator here. It will help you figure out how much calories you will need to eat. There are many other calculators out there, but this one is my favorite.

The formula is easy.

If you want to lose weight: subtract 15-20% calories from the calculated amount.
If you want to gain weight: add 15-20% calories to the calculated amount.
If you want to maintain weight: eat the calories suggested by the calculator.

If you are not sure about putting together a meal plan for yourself, you can always consult a doctor and a dietitian! Good luck!

Small breasts after weight loss? Your guide on how to deal with new bra size

March 3, 2015Body image problems, Emotional issues after weight lossaccepting body, body acceptance, body image distortion, Body Image during and after weight loss, body image problems, distorted body image, successful weight loss, weight loss strugglesChristina Marky

You've lost weight? Good for you! The weight came off from your breasts too? You are freaking out about your new small breasts? Fear no more! These tips will help you deal with your new bra size.

There is no such thing as spot reducing. So by losing weight the fat comes off from every part of your body: your breasts as well. Whether you like it or not, if you lose weight your breasts will become smaller. However, breasts becoming smaller is no reason for you to give up on your aspiration of losing weight in order to hit the healthy weight range. Let’s address this secretly feared issue of losing weight from breasts and having small breasts.

Does the size of breasts matter?

So my lovely ladies, does size matter? We say that size does not matter. However, when it is the size of our breasts, suddenly size is an issue.

“Oh, I wish my breasts would be bigger!”

“Why do I have such huge breasts?”

“I wish the shape of my breasts would be different…”

“I can accept that the shape of my breasts is not perfect, but can’t just the two be similar?”

Can you spot the common theme here? Whatever your complaint may be regarding your breasts, one thing is sure: you are not satisfied with the breasts you have and you want different breasts.

Many ladies struggle with because they can’t see their breasts as pretty. They struggle with accepting their breasts because the breasts they have don’t reflect the actual breast trends. These trends in breast shape and size change in time: just remember the ’60s rocket-shaped breasts or that in the ’70s breasts were allowed to sag. In the ’80s breasts supposed to be round and firm like grapefruits. Then came the ’90s when smaller, athletic breasts became trendy.

One thing we can conclude from all these breast trends is that there is no such thing as the perfect breasts. There are trendy breasts and then there are your actual breasts.

Your expectation of what breasts should look like comes from society’s current standards. So how could you be satisfied with the breasts you have when the media is constantly bombarding you with unrealistic breast shapes and sizes?

The only thing about your breasts that matters is how you experience your own breasts. [Tweet this!]

6 questions you need to answer to help you to deal with small breasts after weight loss

Take a few minutes to answer these 6 question about your breasts for yourself:

1. Describe your breasts: size, shape, sensitivity, other properties. What is your relationship with your breasts?

2. What are your nipples like in terms of size, color, shape? Is there anything you’d notice about them? Flat or inverted nipples, extra nipple or hair around nipples?

3. How does your significant other treat your breasts during sex? What do you think how men feel about female breasts? Are those feelings a biological reaction or are they influenced by media?

4. Do you feel different emotionally or physically if you wear a bra or if you go bra less? How does it make you feel?

5. Do you wear clothes that accentuate your breasts or clothes that hide your breast? Why?

6. What words are you using when talking about your breasts or describing them? How do you feel about other words that are describing breasts?

By answering these questions you’ve addressed the emotional issues arising regarding your small breasts after weight loss. But it wouldn’t be me, if I didn’t give you real hands-on advice on what to do with your small breasts. So let’s see, what can you do about your new bra size?

3 tips on small breasts after weight loss

Tip #1: Wearing a proper supporting bra for exercise is a must

Even if your breasts became smaller by losing weight, and you feel like you don’t need to wear a bra, you must wear a proper bra for breast support while engaging in any type of exercise.

The more vigorous the exercise is the more support your breasts will need. During active exercise, your breasts move up and down, side to side and front to back.

No matter how muscular you are, the underlying chest muscles don’t support breast tissue. In order to support the breast tissue you need to wear a proper sports bra while exercising. Different breasts need different kind of support for exercise: more compression, more cupping or the combination of these.

Tip #2: A well fitting bra will be your small breasts’ new best friend

Bad news for women with small breasts: breast tissue is made up of fatty tissue so as you lose fat your breast size decreases further.

If you are like me, losing weight will make you go out on a shopping spree to get new, smaller clothes, and you will forget about buying a new, smaller bra for your smaller breasts. However, a properly fitting bra is essential: you will instantly look more attractive in all your clothes! Even if you are not at your ideal weight yet, the fastest way to weight loss is to find a bra that fits, because wearing the wrong size or style bra makes you look fatter.

For determining your new bra size you could go to a department store or a lingerie shop to get fitted by a professional bra-fit specialist. Or you can do what I did, and measure yourself at home and then calculate your bra size using an online sizing guide.

Tip #3: Experiment with going braless

If you are used to wearing your bra all the time, now after losing weight and some fatty breast tissue is the time for you to start experimenting. See what happens if you go braless! The world won’t end, trust me.

Celebrate the feminine side of life by going braless today!

Want more guides on how to deal with after weight loss issues? Click here for my weekly updates>>>

3 myths you need to know about weight loss before you start

February 19, 2015Motivation to stay fitafter weight loss, Body Image during and after weight loss, fit body, healthy life mindset, lose weight, losing fat, motivation, overcoming obesity, successful weight loss, weight loss problems, weight loss strugglesChristina Marky

Starting a weight loss journey is challenging. Check out what are the noob mistakes that you make after beginning  a weight loss program.

When you start thinking about weight loss while being overweight, you start with an idea in your head about weight loss. You believe that you know exactly what you need to do in order to achieve weight loss. You believe your only problem is starting and sticking to a weight loss program.

So what are the myths that every noob believes at the start of their weight loss program?

Myth #1:

I have to do an hour or more cardio per day for helping my weight loss

Noobs believe that doing hours cardio will burn off that extra pizza slice they had for snack. If you still believe that you can burn off extra calories you’ve eaten, you’re wrong. Here, let me prove this by giving you an example of how many calories you burn with cardio and how many pizza slices you’ve burned off*:

Burn off that pizza slice
Exercise type	Calories burned/hour	Pizza slice burned off
yoga	148 kcal	50% of a pizza slice
pilates	148 kcal	50% of a pizza slice
walking	177 kcal	60% of a pizza slice
belly dancing	266 kcal	93% of a pizza slice
aerobics	384 kcal	134% of a pizza slice
spinning	413 kcal	145% of a pizza slice
swimming	413 kcal	145% of a pizza slice
running	472 kcal	166% of a pizza slice
zumba	519 kcal	182% of a pizza slice
elliptical trainer	531 kcal	186% of a pizza slice

* used MyFitnessPal’s calculator based on: a pizza slice has 285 kcal, a person has 59kg/130pounds.

So basically you can see that doing belly dancing for an hour will burn off that pizza slice that you had for a snack, but it won’t make you lose weight. Doing hours of cardio won’t help your weight loss.

Don’t get me wrong, cardio is beneficial for you because it can help you build endurance. It has many other benefits as well, as it can stronger your heart and lungs, reduce stress, make you feel more energized, help you increase bone density, reduce the risk of heart attack, make you sleep better and so on.

But relying solely on cardio for weight loss is naive.

Here comes the second myth:

Myth #2:

I must exercise to lose weight.

3 myths you need to know about weight loss before you start — You can sit on that machine for hours and it won’t make you lose a single pound

This is a lie. In reality: weight loss is only 20% gym and 80% kitchen. It means that you can lose weight by changing eating habits, you won’t need to step into a gym at all. However, everyone knows that exercising has many health benefits, so it is always a good idea to exercise. I am the spokesperson of healthy eating, but if your single goal is weight loss, you can always achieve it by eating less calories than you are currently eating.

I am not a fan of different crash-diets, detoxes, cleanses, but these also work for weight loss (even if they are unhealthy and bad for you in the long run) because the require you to eat at a caloric deficit.

You don’t see fat kids starving in Africa. So chances are, if you are twice as heavy as your healthy weight, then you are eating for 2 people. No matter how much you exercise, you can’t outrun your bad diet.

Myth #3:

Doing a bunch of ab exercises will give me defined six pack abs

No amount of ab exercises will give you great six pack abs. I learned this lesson by doing tons of ab exercises daily to loose my belly fat. It was successful until a point, where I could not lose the leftover belly fat from my bottom half no matter how hard I tried.

I had abs of steel, but they were invisible under that layer of body fat. So I seriously considered the truthfulness of the following statement:

Abs are formed in the gym but revealed at the kitchen. [Tweet this!]

So I’ve tweaked my nutrition, and bamm, visible abs! I considered myself a fool for not making the connection between body fat and visible abs, as well as for not thinking about the importance of nutrition as a component of having abs of steel.

Once I made a mistake of telling the girls at my Zumba Fitness Core class that they won’t get abs of steel by attending these classes once a week, but they looked at me in disbelief, like I was crazy.

Sure, they will strengthen their core and sculpt their abs, but they are expecting flat tummies and six pack abs at the end of the 4th week. Well, reality check: if you keep eating that pizza slice for breakfast every morning, no abs of steel for you lady.

So remember: in order to lose weight, start eating healthy, pick up healthy habits such as regular exercise. You’ll lose that fat in a healthy way for good!

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How to deal with family saying I am too skinny after losing weight when I am actually just being fit

February 3, 2015Emotional issues after weight lossafter weight loss, downside of being fit, fit body, healthy life mindset, overcoming obesity, successful weight loss, weight loss strugglesChristina Marky

After losing weight and going from obese to fat to fit my family says I am too skinny. My family is using every opportunity to tell me that I am too skinny, I am not eating enough, being skinny is not healthy, skinny is ugly, I will get sick if I lose more weight and keep up exercising(!!??). So how do I deal with family like this?

Imagine this scenario: family gathering, family members sitting around the table stuffed with food, eating. Then suddenly grandma turns to you and says:

– Sweety, you are eating like a bird. Here, have some more potatoes!

Your plate and mouth are full of delicious roasted chicken, and while you are trying to swallow that bite of Brussels sprouts and start explaining that you are eating right, your father joins the “conversation” and says:

– Eat more! Skinny people are ugly!

You finally swallowed that bite and start defending yourself by telling them that as they can see, you are eating. In fact, you were chewing when grandma turned against you. Plus you are not skinny, but fit. There’s a difference. And you start flexing your muscles to prove your point. All this, while your husband quickly goes into supportive mode and starts explaining that your weight is in the normal range. You cut his sentence in the middle to inform everyone that if they remember, not long ago you were obese. You worked hard to lose weight in order to look like this. This ain’t no accident.

But they seem like they hear what you are saying but anything that you say does not convince them that this is healthy. For them, you are way too skinny. They loved the fat girl, not you, the fit girl.

Now imagine this scenario repeating itself every Sunday. For the past 8 months. Sunday family time equals living in hell.

Sounds familiar? Then keep reading to find out how to deal with family (or friends) saying you are too skinny when in fact you’ve lost weight and went from obese to fat to fit!

Some of my favorite things my family says to me after I’ve lost weight and went from fat to fit are:

1. “We are concerned about your health”

How to deal with family saying I am too skinny after losing weight when I am actually just being fit — “Here, have my pills, they will make you healthy fat again.”

That’s right, my overweight and obese family members are concerned about me not taking care of myself. My family and relatives with diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, indigestion problems and obesity are giving me health advice. Yeah, I should definitely follow their advice – if I want to end up with those kind of health problems. The thing is: I don’t. It was my main motivation to start living a healthy lifestyle and start working out regularly to avoid all of the above mentioned health problems that I’ve seen my family members struggle with.

Polite reply while dealing with family:

– Thank you for your concern, but I am fine. I have never felt this good in my life before. I am energized, focused and I sleep good. In fact, I have my latest blood test results with me as a proof that everything is okay with me. Care to check?

They never check.

Angry reply while dealing with family:

– I just had my blood test results back. My doctor says I am in top shape! How are your results?

Trust me, they’ll never ask you about your health again.

2. “You look too skinny”

It’s like you can do nothing about becoming fat, but being fit or how they call it, “skinny” is something you should be fixing – by eating more!

Polite reply while dealing with family:

– I am fit, not skinny. And I worked hard for looking like this, it didn’t happen by accident. I want to look like this.

Angry reply while dealing with family:

– I think you look a little heavy.

Just be prepared that they will get offended, because the social norm is people thinking it is okay to call someone skinny, but telling them that they are fat is considered really rude. You won’t get more comments about being too skinny. Though very few people in your family will like you after that.

3. “Are you still on that diet?”

I regret the day I told my family that I don’t eat chocolate. Every time we meet, they have to double check if I am still not eating it. So I started eating it around them.

Not to mention my husband and his keto diet. Family just don’t understand what eating bad means. For them, bad food means that it is spoiled. There is no such food in their dictionary that will make you sick, unless it’s rotten.

A diet in my family’s head equals strict dietary limitations, staying unrealistically thin and depriving yourself of the foods you love. For them, you are not on a healthy eating plan, you are dieting. And it can’t be kept up in the long run.

So what to answer when they ask you if you are still dieting?

Polite reply while dealing with family:

– It is not a diet, I am eating healthy. I developed healthy eating habits for long term. This is a complete lifestyle change, not a 12 week eating plan.

Angry reply while dealing with family:

– Do you believe it is healthy to eat even when you are not feeling hungry? Did you know that hunger is the body’s way to let you know that it needs nourishment?

My overweight family believes that I am way too skinny – for them being overweight is normal. Sometimes it seems to me that in our society, where most people are overweight, being overweight is the new norm. Being fit equals being too skinny.

If your family’s constant remarks bothers you, then you need to learn how to deal with family. Try explaining them the reasons of why you choose to live a healthy lifestyle, and be sure to tell them how you feel better now that you are working out regularly and eating healthy. If this doesn’t help, then do what I did: shut them up by threatening them! I told them that if they keep bullying me, I won’t visit them anymore. Never heard a bad remark again.

Found this guide useful? Get more useful quick tips on how to motivate yourself towards a lifestyle full of healthy habits! Click here>>>

Having fit body but being unable to see it: how to accept new fit body

January 27, 2015Body image problems, Emotional issues after weight lossaccepting body, after weight loss, body acceptance, body image distortion, Body Image during and after weight loss, body image issues, body image problems, body image struggle, distorted body, distorted body image, downside of being fit, fit body, weight loss strugglesChristina Marky

Remember how I’ve had problems dealing with phantom fat in the past? I struggled with accepting my smaller fit body after being obese and fat most of my life.

After losing weight and becoming fit the issue that I am struggling with is similar to seeing a fat self image instead of a new fit body. The problem I am having is that I can’t see the muscles and my body for what it is. After losing significant weight and becoming fit I started weightlifting because I was losing more muscle than fat. So I figured that weightlifting is a way to go to improve my new fit body. Plus, I’ve read awesome things about the benefits of weightlifting for a woman, so I had to give it a try.

How to address the emotional side of not being able to see your new fit body for what it is

As it feels awesome to be able to carry my own groceries, it feels strange to look in the mirror at the gym to see muscles on my body where there used to be fat. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have manly muscles, because a woman can’t just get muscular like that with no additional work. I have nice, visible muscles, that give my whole fit body a more feminine look. I look like a girl-beast only when I flex my muscles (joking). My tummy is flat and my abs are visible for the first time in my life! So it’s pretty fun to look at my new fit body in the mirror, but yet again I feel like my mind has not caught up to the fit body I have in reality. I see myself in the mirror, I know it’s me, but that fit body that is looking back at me from the mirror surely isn’t my body, because I am not so fit and muscular.

I remembered the last time when I felt like this was when I lost weight and I was looking at my fit body in the mirror and feeling unable relating to it. It is happening again with my fit body. However, I lived through this before, so this time it doesn’t make me think that I am insane for not being able to see my fit body for what it is in reality.

I know that not being able to see my fit body is just a temporary phase and that my mind just needs a little more time to accept the new fit body. [Tweet this!]

I find revelation in the fact that I’ve been through this before, and successfully accepted my fit body. Now I once again need to accept my more muscular new fit body.

What can I do to speed up the progress of my mind accepting my new fit body?

Having the fit body of your dreams is new: your mind will need time to accept it. It will happen with time, but hey, let’s just speed up this process of your brain accepting your new body:

Look at yourself more often: take a photo of your fit body where your muscles are showing and put the photo on the fridge or another visible place
Get workout clothes that accentuate fit body features in the most flattering manner: look for a pair of workout pants and/or dry fit top that will make you look into the gym mirror more often!
Take progress pictures: even if you don’t see your fit body gains in the mirror, looking back at older pictures (even if it was taken a month ago) will make you see how far you’ve come.
Ask for reassurance: ask a friend or a significant other you trust if they see your muscles on your new fit body. My significant other wants to touch my abs all the time! Just don’t make it a habit to ask for reassurance a lot. Always think about your intent before asking for reassurance. Is your goal to remind yourself of what you already know?
Compare: Look yourself in the mirror at the gym while working out and compare the fit body you see there with other bodies in the gym. You’ll see how far you’ve come.
Go window shopping: Pick something out that you would never have dared to wear before and try it on just for the fun of it! I was trying on some dresses that I would have never even thought of wearing before. I didn’t buy it, because I have nowhere to wear it, but damn, I looked good!
Ask for comparing: ask your friend or significant other to point out someone from a crowd of people or a celebrity who has a similar fit body composition as you. You’ll be surprised! Also, seeing other people who are similar to you will not trigger the same emotional response as seeing a picture of yourself would, therefore it’s helping you rationalize.

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Body acceptance by family after losing weight

October 28, 2014Body image problems, Emotional issues after weight lossafter weight loss, body acceptance, Body Image during and after weight loss, body image struggle, weight loss strugglesChristina Marky

It is ironic that my family are the people who see me the most often, yet they fight the biggest struggle accepting my fit body after losing weight.

Body acceptance by family after losing weight — “Jimmy is all skin and bones! Let’s bury him like a skeleton!”

I believe I’ve made progress in accepting my new fit body after significantly losing weight. It was a big realization moment when a friend of mine spoke to me about her struggling to accept my new fit body. It was that moment that I’ve realized that I am not the only one struggling to accept my fit body: people around me, friends, family, also fight their own struggles with accepting my new found fit body!

Never have I had an encounter with my overweight father and mother where they wouldn’t bring up in a casual conversation their worries about me losing weight and having a fit body – or as they refer to it now SKIN AND BONES.

How family sees Your new fit body after losing weight

At the beginning of my journey to losing weight right when the results of the healthy diet and regular exercises started to show, every time I visited my mother, she would ask me if I eat at all. This continued even after I’ve explained to her that I am overweight and I am working out to lose weight to reach the normal weight range on the BMI (Body Mass Index) scale for my height. Every time we’ve met, I had to explain again and again that I am eating, but choosing to eat healthy foods, exercising 3-5 times per week, so she is seeing the results of my healthy lifestyle changing my body. But she could not and still cannot accept that being fit and not overweight is healthy. I believe that this is partly due to the fact that I have been either obese or overweight the most part of my life, and seeing me in a healthy weight range is new, unconventional for my mother. The other explanation that is more deeper seeded reason for my family being unable to accept my new fit body image stems from their outdated views of a healthy body: they were raised in a world where poor people were skinny because they couldn’t afford enough food for themselves and their families. Being overweight meant being well-fed, and wealthier than the average. So my parents don’t see that with consumerism and the wide acceptance and availability of processed foods the standards have shifted. And being obese comes from consuming unhealthy and available processed foods whereas being fit (or as they know it “skinny”) means that you pay attention to what you are eating and can afford the more expensive but healthier foods.

I have tried to explain this to my family many times – but their views of the world are so deep seated that they can’t accept the fact that:

Being fit/skinny does not equal being unhealthy/poor.[Tweet this!]

How to deal with family members who can’t accept Your body after losing weight

One of my cousins have also had a hard time accepting my new fit body. After I opened up to her about my body image issues after losing weight she admitted that she also had issues accepting the new me(!) and my new found fit body! She truly believed that me with a fit body wasn’t being myself and that there were times when she secretly wished I’d become fat again! But when I accepted myself and my new found fit body, she accepted it too! She was thinking that finally her old friend is back!

Body acceptance by family after losing weight 2 — “We are here because Your mother asked us to convince you to stop making healthy lifestyle choices.”

Not being in tune with your body and mind is noticeable by other around you. Maybe they can’t put their finger on it, just like you couldn’t, but they sense the disruption in your “force”.

Your best bet when dealing with family members who can’t accept your new fit body after losing weight is to talk openly to them about the body acceptance issues you are facing. This will make them realize that they are also struggling with accepting your new fit body. Who knows, you could even find out interesting new things about your family members that you weren’t aware before, if you start talking openly and listening to what they are saying.

You feel like you are still struggling with accepting your new found fit body? Find help clicking here >>>