She paid almost no attention to weight problems until she realized that it threatened infertility.
At 20, Ashley Lewis was carefree, even a little irresponsible – after all, she weighed 150 kilograms. Not to say that she didn’t care at all. Every evening she went to bed with the thought that from tomorrow she will definitely change her lifestyle, start eating right, and lose weight. But the next day would come, and there was always a donut, burger, or pizza in it.
“Well, I ruined everything again – I told myself and again gave myself a promise that tomorrow everything will be different,” – says Ashley.
Needless to say, tomorrow was exactly the same as today, and Ashley was eating donuts, pizza and burgers again.
“I was … How do I say … Emotional eater, here! If I was sad, I ate, lonely – I also ate, depression – of course, I ate! ” – girl.
By the age of 22, she already weighed almost 170 kilograms. Moreover, she was diagnosed with polycystic ovaries, she began to have hormonal imbalance. And then there was that magic click in my head, after which Ashley’s life began to change. After all, she always wanted to become a mother, and her diagnosis could put an end to her dreams. The girl began to choose a diet for herself, for the first time seriously thinking about what she was eating.
“I settled on a scoring system. According to this system, each dish is assigned a certain number of points, and you cannot gain more than, for example, twenty-five per day, ”explains Ashley.
It is not only the composition of the dishes that matters, but also the portion sizes. The girl admitted that this was her main problem – she always ate more than she really needed. The weight of each dish had to be weighed and the result recorded in a special journal. And then figure out what else you can afford that day.
“I had to rethink my diet in favor of more nutritious and healthy foods. I couldn’t eat any more food to go and fast food. After all, every week we reported to each other, showed the journal of records. You can, of course, not bring something there. But what’s the point in lying to yourself? And the rest will understand that you are not saying something, ”the girl says.
Controlling like-minded people helped. Ashley now ate five times a day. And she didn’t even have to exclude pizza from the menu! True, she cooked it herself. The recipe is as follows: knead whole grain flour dough with baking powder and Greek yogurt, use light sauce, diet cheese and turkey pepperoni as the filling.
“Even my husband eats this pizza! And he’s not on a diet, ”laughs Ashley.
In addition, in the morning, the girl began to drink clean water – before traditional coffee, she drank about a liter of water.
The weight gradually melted away. Ashley was embarrassed to go to the gym because of her outstanding dimensions, so she began to walk and work out at home for a long time – according to the programs on DVD. Then it came to the gym, and Ashley trained 5-6 times a week. And she trained with pleasure!
“It was amazing for me, but I really looked forward to training. It was like a date with myself. It was hard, but the feeling of satisfaction that I felt when leaving the hall was worth it, ”says the girl.
So she lost 65 kilograms. Not instantly, but Ashley’s efforts were always rewarded with a number on the scales. And then a new problem arose – saggy skin.
“I would like to start running, but the extra skin after losing weight was very disturbing, especially on my arms. It was impossible to move normally, I was rubbing something all the time, ”she explains.
Here the girl was lucky again – the insurance company approved the operation to remove excess skin. So Ashley parted with another five kilograms. Now she weighed 97 kilos – not an inch, but still not the creepy almost two hundredweight with which she embarked on the path of losing weight.
“I was finally able to start running. And running has become more than just a workout for me. I even ran a half marathon! ” – says the girl with pride.
And soon Ashley became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter. Her main dream came true.
“Of course my training schedule has changed. Now I work out in the gym at the office – I spend half an hour there at lunchtime, pedaling or jogging on the track. At home, if there is time left, I do yoga or interval training, – says the young mother. “The weight gained during pregnancy goes away slowly but steadily.”
From her experience, Ashley learned the main lesson: no one taught her how important it is to eat right and lead a healthy lifestyle.
“But my daughter will be healthier than me. I will teach her everything that I know myself, she will never have to go through the hell that I had to go through, – promised Ashley. “I still wonder how all the rubbish that I ate didn’t kill me.”
Ashley Lewis Daily Menu:
Breakfast: clean water, coffee, turkey bacon and eggs (or just a few pieces of boiled meat).
Snack: banana.
Lunch: a bowl of soup.
Snack: a slice of cheese or an apple.
Dinner: homemade pizza with low-fat cheese and turkey.