My name is Michelle Cortes (@ michellelosing70), I’m 34 years old and I’m from New York. I am a stay at home mom. After experiencing some health problems, I started using a calorie counter app and added resistance and weight training to my workouts and lost 60 pounds.
In 2012, I had my first child. I was fortunate to have no problems getting pregnant, during pregnancy or during labor. After welcoming my baby, I was a mother who worked for the first time for many hours, tired and making unhealthy nutritional choices. I gained a total of 20 pounds during my pregnancy and gained 40 pounds after giving birth.
I started trying to have baby number two in 2013, but I had three miscarriages that year. I decided to stop trying to get pregnant and focus on my health. Although my doctor never told me directly that my weight was the cause of my miscarriages, I was convinced that the extra weight I was carrying was causing problems and preventing me from carrying it to term.
My doctor recommended that I consider losing some weight so that I could have a healthier pregnancy in the future. At the time, my blood pressure was high and my doctor was concerned that I had pre-eclampsia. I also had joint pain and was always extremely tired. I knew I needed to make a change if I wanted to have a healthy pregnancy – and a healthy life.
I started my journey to lose weight on August 26, 2014. In May 2015, I had lost 15 pounds and managed to get pregnant in June 2015.
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I knew I wanted to continue my journey to lose weight after having the baby, so six months after giving birth, I created my Instagram to keep me responsible and document my journey.
When I started this journey, I knew absolutely nothing about health and fitness. All I knew was that eating less calories than you expend a day was how weight loss happened, at the simplest level. So, I downloaded the free version of MyFitnessPal and started to monitor my calories and protein intake. My goal was to eat as much as I could and still lose weight.
I had a balanced, non-restrictive diet. Even today, I make healthy choices and eat mostly whole foods, but I also include fun foods like Twinkies and Oreos. I also make healthy versions of my favorite fast-food meals, like pizza and hamburgers.
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Here’s what I eat in a day now.
- Breakfast: CoffeeMate sugar-free hazelnut cream coffee, half bagel with cream cheese and two slices of Oscar Mayer turkey bacon.
- Lunch: Three corn tortillas, 5 ounces. of steak, sauce, avocado and 2 tbsp. of the Bolthouse Farm avocado and cilantro yogurt sauce.
- Snacks: Smart Pop Kettle Corn by Orville Redenbacher, a pineapple, mango and spinach smoothie or a papaya protein shake.
- Dinner: Chicken breast, homemade fries and green beans with 2 tbsp. of ketchup and 2 tablespoons. of mustard.
- Dessert: ATwinkie or three Oreos
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At the beginning of my journey, I started walking five days a week for 45 minutes with my 2 year old son.
It was perfect at the time because I could burn some calories while spending time with him.
After losing 30 kilos just from aerobic exercise, I was still embarrassed and not entirely happy with my body. I remember finding on Instagram an account of a woman who had a weight loss story similar to mine – and she looked strong. I started to follow his report and realized that what was missing from my exercise routine was weight training.
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After that revelation, I started doing resistance training at home, and it really changed my life.
I started just over a year ago. I was able to build muscle that completely changed my body composition. Weight training not only helped me build muscle, but also built my confidence.
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Now I mainly train with weights in the form of two days for the upper body, two days for the lower body and one day for the whole body per week. I include 15 to 20 minutes of cardio, like running, walking or using my elliptical trainer after my resistance training session. I also like to stay active on my rest days by taking short walks.
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These three small changes had a big impact on my overall weight loss.
- I cooked most of my meals at home. I prepare and pre-plan all my meals. This really helped because I was able to control the ingredients and the portion size. I became more knowledgeable about nutrition and more creative in the kitchen.
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- I tracked my calories on MyFitnessPal. Calorie tracking really taught me how to read nutrition labels correctly. I learned how to make healthier choices. Tracking my calories allowed me to include fun foods in my daily calories without feeling guilty. Now I’m more informed about calories and I make better food choices without tracking.
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- I promised myself that I wouldn’t give up. I told myself I would continue no matter what until I reached my goal. In 2016 I had my second child and I had to start weight loss again, but I didn’t give up. When I didn’t see any change in the scale, I continued. When I saw no change in my body, I continued. I realized that health and fitness will always be part of my life. This started out as a journey to lose weight and became a lifestyle.
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I lost a total of £ 60 in three years and kept it for three years.
I want other women to know that the most important part of that journey is patience and consistency. You should continue even when you are not seeing results, because proper weight loss takes time. I realized that there is no time limit for my health and I had to trust the process and not rush the results.
This journey completely changed my life. I no longer suffer from high blood pressure, extreme fatigue or joint pain. I gave birth to a healthy second child. I can now accompany my children and teach them healthy habits.
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