I don't think it's too much of a controversial opinion to say it's really hard to lose weight. Not only does it require wholesale dietary, lifestyle and mindset changes, it literally goes against our own biological programming; our bodies are wired to stockpile fat and other energy reserves, and any attempts to lose weight will literally feel like you're dying.
As such, it's always super inspiring to hear stories of people who have successfully overcome their weight demons, in the hope that we can learn something, or even embark on our own weight-loss journey one day. This is the story of Esbeidy Barrera, a 19-year-old who at one point weighed 223 pounds, but managed to cut down to an astonishing 144 pounds in just two years. Here's how she did it.
1. This is what Esbeidy looked like two years ago
2. Weighing 223 lbs, Esbeidy admitted: “I always have had low self-esteem due to my weight and appearance”
3. Being a staunch nonbeliever in diets, Esbeidy instead decided to hit the gym to shed the pounds
4. She focused on cardio and weight training, working out tirelessly to reach a weight she could be happy with
5. Now, she's managed to get herself down to 144 lbs, and the difference is stark and tangible
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Losing weight can be a painful journey, but if you're looking to drop a few clothes sizes or generally feel better about your body, I think there's no better time than the present. Stories like Esbeidy's up there can be intimidating for some people, but I think we should use her story as incentive to keep pushing ourselves to the limit. Don't you agree?
Committing yourself to losing weight is one of the most difficult things in the world. It's difficult because once we've become accustomed to a certain lifestyle, we find it tricky to break out of the convenient habits we know are doing our bodies harm.
When you have kids, however, you tend to focus on how your lifestyle is directly affecting them. That's exactly what happened when mom-of-three Nicole Caperilla tipped the scales at 266 lbs. She knew she had to turn her life around - if not for herself then her children.
And after making some serious changes to her lifestyle, the personal trainer from Connecticut managed to lose an incredible 120 lbs. But her weight loss journey hasn't been without its ups and downs.
Above all else, it was the 'thin shaming' Caperilla received that made the transformation a lot more challenging than it needed to be.
"I’ve struggled with my weight for pretty much my whole adult life now, ever since my first pregnancy 13 years ago," Caperilla told Fox News. "During this time, I’d been working on my fitness with not much results no matter how much I worked out or ate."
"I decided after many attempts at dieting and yo-yo weights to get weight-loss surgery," she added. "My body needed that little restart. When I was cleared to work out at two weeks post-op, I hit the gym and now 2.5 years later, I’m still at it."
Caperilla continued: "I changed my entire lifestyle from the way I eat, what I put in my body and my exercise regimen. For the past 2.5 years, I work out five-to-six days a week, I focus on both strength training and cardio and I even became a certified personal trainer! Talk about a lifestyle change!"
Unfortunately, the response that the 31-year-old received as a result of her weight loss wasn't entirely positive. In fact, per the Daily Mail, she spoke about some "rude" comments she received from those closest to her.
Speaking with Fox News, Caperilla explained that she has dealt with "Just very negative comments throughout my process" and comments based on " what I previously looked like to what I was wearing now."
In any case, Caperilla doesn't let the haters detract from her hard work and says she gets a sense of reward from "inspiring my three daughters! And also my husband."
Anyone who has tried to lose weight at some point in their life will know that it is no mean feat.
Weight loss requires determination, consistency and perseverance, and for many, the pressures of full-time work, parenting and other external factors make any weight loss journey that little bit harder.
Of course, it goes without saying that anyone considering any significant weight loss journey should consult with a doctor before doing so, as losing or gaining weight too quickly can be harmful to the body.
One mom, 32-year-old Alexandra Symons, was 287lbs at her heaviest, and was prompted to change her lifestyle after becoming so uncomfortable with the way she looked in a swimsuit that she reportedly couldn't face going to the pool to teach her son to swim for fear of what she looked like.
That's when she made the first steps on a remarkable weight loss journey, and now she's showing off her stunning new look on Instagram.
“I wanted to be able to be in a bikini but not feel like I was the odd one out,” she told News.com.au;
“Being bigger made me scared to even eat in public, let alone wear a bikini. I’d hide in toilets whenever I was out and needed to eat there as I couldn’t face being teased. But once Hudson came along, I knew I couldn’t hide any longer. I had to do something for him, if not for me.”
The 32-year-old mom revealed how she struggled with dieting in the past - losing weight only to put it back on again;
“I’d always been obese, by grade 6 I was 100kg (220 pounds), and at 18 my doctor warned me about my health.
“I struggled with it so much and would yo-yo diet. Sometimes my food intake was so strict, I’d lose as much as 50kg (110 pounds) only to put it all back on again when I allowed myself to eat."
However, after years of this, Symons says she realised she needed a little help to get her weight loss started in earnest, and so had a vertical sleeve gastrectomy - a weight-loss procedure whereby the stomach is reduced by roughly 15% in size.
After that, she turned to light exercise;
“I hate the gym, I’ll never go. All I do is walk Hudson every day in his stroller to the park. It’s a 45-minute journey all round, and it’s been good enough for me.
“Sometimes I’ll add in a few squats as he plays but probably only once or twice a week.”
The mom describes her weight loss journey as "slow and steady", and she now weighs 152lbs, which she says is "a healthy weight for me".
Despite her transformation, some online have dubbed Symons' journey as "fake";
“I’ve had a few people online question whether my weight loss was fake because I don’t have any excess skin.
“But I’m really proud of what I’ve achieved, and I think it’s purely because I took my weight loss slowly.”
At her new weight, Symons says her eating habits are also far healthier now, "I’m a size 10 now (US size 6) and weigh 69kg (152 pounds), which is a healthy weight for me. I also eat really well, though my portions will always be smaller than normal.”
It's amazing how much we have to juggle our social life with exercise and fitness. There have been many guilty occasions where I've shafted the gym and gone to hang out with friends. But all it takes is a few too many beers and not enough time spent on the treadmill, and you end up piling on weight. One person who knows this only two well is 27-year-old Charlotte Mears, who went from slim and trim before becoming obese and then going back to being thin again.
Charlotte had once been a committed gym bunny in her teens, but constant socialising, clubbing and meals out with friends in her early twenties meant that her weight soon ballooned. At her heaviest, Charlotte ended up weighing 14 stone and 12 pounds. She would often skip breakfast, but snack throughout the day on biscuits and cake, eating pizza and chips for dinner later. She was inspired to change two years ago after viewing a number of inspirational Instagram vloggers, and joined Slimming World to try to shed some weight; trading the fast food for porridge and fruit, and chicken and steamed vegetables for dinner.
Commenting on her incredible weight loss in a recent interview, Charlotte stated: "I was tired of feeling unhealthy, so I looked up other weight loss stories on Instagram and felt really inspired. I know people say you should be happy whatever size you are, but I wasn’t. Now, I feel much better. I’ve got much more energy, and feel like I can always be on the go ... I loved going out for Chinese. My favourite was crispy chilli beef or satay chicken. I’d be out for dinner twice a week, then cooking unhealthily, too. I wasn’t exercising and just eating more and more."
Now she's completely changed her whole diet, and eats only home-cooked meals. She sometimes indulges in eating out at weekends but balances this out with healthier dinners after. Charlotte added; "I drink about five litres of water a day, too, and snack on lots of fruit or smoothies. [My boyfriend] is really supportive. He always tells me how well I’ve done. He’s happy that I’m happy,” she said.“I still go out for dinners, but I’m better at reigning it in and getting back on track."
And Charlotte's advice for other people looking to shed a few pounds? "Just take it day by day, meal by meal," she says, "And if you slip up, don’t punish yourself too hard – just try and get back on track. It’s best to start out with something sustainable, and sociable. I did it by walking with my friends as I knew that was something I could realistically keep up."
So there you have it: if you're dismayed by your scales then your problem might not be your appetite. It could be that your social life is too busy and that maybe the gym has to come first instead sometimes.
It's definitely easier to get a personal trainer or pay for that expensive gym membership when you're a celebrity, but that doesn't mean that you don't still have to face the same battles when it comes to getting fit and healthy. At the end of the day, the hardest obstacle to overcome when you want to lose weight or put on muscle is yourself, and that's something that actress Drew Barrymore knows all too well.
Back In December she shared her weight-loss journey with her Instagram followers, revealing that she had lost 25 lbs over just three months. In a series of photos, the 43-year-old showed how much she had changed in such a short period of time.
“When I look at Instagram, I am made to think I should be at my best self. But most days, I lack consistency due to real life,” she wrote. “Here is me in a before pose and then 25 pounds later in the same place. You can tell my face is so much thinner!”
"I just know that I have the control to be what I want. Even if it is hard AF! At least I know there are experts I can turn to for help. I mean look at what Marnie helped me do in three months!
"When i have time off in 2019...I’m comin for ya! PS may I just say I want to be these ladies on the front page. You are my spirit animals and my goal posts!"
Sure, this is inspirational and then some. But one of her recent posts is far more relatable for those of us who struggle to resist the urge to indulge too much in certain foods. In one humorous photo that Barrymore shared, she wrote, "This is exactly how I feel on my diet right now!"
Drew has credited a lot of her progress to her "guru" Kimberly Snyder, the author of Recipes for Your Perfectly Imperfect Life. "She is my guru and a genius. And a great heart," Drew wrote. "If you want to learn about everything from digestion to inner peace, she is your girl. She cured me naturally [of] so many ailments. She is the real deal."
The actress gave her a shout out at other times too, crediting the author for getting her to shed 20 lbs in 2017, according to Us Weekly.
"I feel really great," she told them. "I followed Kimberly Snyder's methods, but I added some protein like fish and chicken since she's all vegetarian or vegan. I've been very disciplined and all I did was cry and dream about pizza. I still am dreaming and crying about pizza."
I may not have lost 25 lbs in three months as Barrymore did, but I sure canrelate to her insatiable craving for pizza.
Warning: Some people may find images or issues raised in this story upsetting.
A woman has overcome her battle against anorexia after admitting she once went two years eating nothing but lettuce, tomatoes, and apples.
Mai Kerivel, a 25-year-old French teacher who currently lives Ho Chi Minh City, had starved herself to just 73 pounds, leaving her looking so weak that she was denied work.
"I ate no protein and drank a lot of water. My diet was very extreme," Mai said.
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Standing at 5-foot-4-inches inches tall, Mai's insufficient eating habits left her weak and emaciated.
"On an average day, I’d eat some lettuce, maybe some tomatoes and apples. I was weighing everything. I weighed my lettuce and tomatoes," she revealed.
"I was even freaked out about eating tomatoes because of the sugar."
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Mai believes that her eating disorder may have been triggered when her family moved to Vietnam from France when she was 17.
"In Vietnam girls are pretty skinny. It’s just in their genes," Mai said, adding: "I was feeling really fat compared to everyone.
"When you’re 17 years old it’s really easy to get into the mindset of wanting to be skinnier and skinnier. But when I got there I was already skinny. I was around 95 pounds."
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It was at this point in her life that Mai started to dramatically reduce her food intake.
"In less than six months I lost 22 pounds but I still saw myself as fat compared to everyone else," she said.
However, in 2014, Mai left Vietnam to spend a year living in Melbourne, Australia - a decision that changed her views on body image dramatically.
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"In Australia, people aren’t so naturally skinny," she said, adding: "That’s when I realized I was not at a healthy weight.
"I couldn’t find a job because no one would hire me because of my weight. I was applying in coffee shops and bakeries and restaurants.
"They’d tell me I looked too weak for the job or that I should come back when I gain some weight.
The non-profit also explains that anorexia - or Anorexia Nervosa - is when an individual suffers from a significantly low body weight, caused by a lack of calories.
Individuals struggling with anorexia may also show an intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat.
The ANAD adds that while suffering from anorexia, a person may have a hard time recognizing the serious health implications of their current weight.
Fortunately for Mai, after being turned away from any form of employment, she realized it was time to overhaul her diet and lifestyle, and get healthy.
Six months later, her attitude toward food and her weight had changed dramatically.
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"I started eating normally again when I was in Australia," she said. Adding: "Anorexic girls, when we start to eat again, we will gain a lot of weight.
"I gained weight quickly and in about eight months I weighed around 120 pounds.
"The weight all went to my face and my belly. The weight doesn’t go where you want it to of course.
"In order to combat this, I started boxing classes and I lost five pounds of fat very quickly."
Over the last three years, Mai has maintained a healthy weight and remained active by going to the gym almost every day - combining both weight-training and cardio.
She said: "I eat more than my friends and I go to the gym more than most of them.
"I don’t eat meat, but for breakfast, I’ll eat egg whites and sweet potatoes. For lunch it’ll be something like pho and dinner will usually be stir fry veggies."
Nevertheless, despite her recovery, Mai is still dealing with health issues associated to her anorexia. As she explains:
"When you’re very skinny, you destroy your metabolism. Your metabolism won’t come back to normal even if you get healthy. It’s very easy for me to gain weight.
"My hair doesn’t look the same as it did before because it was falling out when I was anorexic.
"Menstruation also stops when you’re anorexic. It comes back, but It’d be very hard for me to get pregnant. I didn’t menstruate for three years."
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However, she now finally feels like she has won her battle against her eating disorder. Revealing that she has found love - something that she never thought was possible when she was anorexic.
"When I was very skinny my dating life was zero,” she said. "I didn’t date anyone at all when I was anorexic. Now I have a boyfriend.
"We’ve been together since I recovered. He’s a personal trainer so it’s very convenient."
After her own personal victory, Mai's advice to anyone suffering from anorexia is: "No one is perfect and being skinny isn’t something that will make you perfect.
"They should detach themselves from how people see them. They should stop living for people’s opinions and stop controlling themselves.
"Also, eating one real meal won’t make you obese. Recovery is all about taking small steps every day."
Inspiring words from Mai. We wish her all the best in her future.
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