RESULTS MAY VERY PERSON TO PERSON

How I gained it:

I always had a very good appetite. Since a very young age I ate whatever I wanted. Through the years, I noticed that my eating habits changed and I started to consume more unhealthy foods. Ordering a large pizza and big bottle of Coke after school has become part of my daily schedule. I love eating fast food. From burgers to fries, pizza, or anything that is fried. I became addicted to fizzy drinks. I would rather have a bottle of coke than have a glass of water to quench my thirst. Sometimes I would sneak out and buy it so no one at home would find out how much I was actually consuming. I would buy chocolate bars, candy and large popcorn every time I went to a movie. I started gaining more and more weight as my addictions started getting worse day by day until my Body Mass Index (BMI) reached 37.87.

Breaking point:

Most of the people love to play football and other sports. I had my share of playing the same sport, but then I noticed that I can’t move actively and perform like my team mates due to extra body weight. Needless to say, I was thrown out of the team and that’s when I came into realization. It was my last year in High School when I sat down and started thinking about my life. Although I am really a fun loving person and everyone loves me, I started to feel insecure about how I looked. I gained so much weight over the years that I am starting to have problems. I couldn’t walk and I feel my heart rate goes up very fast even on small amount of physical activity. I have had hard time to find my clothes size and would normally end buying extra large sizes. I would feel frustrated when I had to try on so many shirts and end up buying the one that made me look the thinnest. This made me feel really small and I decided I wanted to make some changes. Graduation is also coming up in the next 9 months and I wanted to look good on my graduation pictures and prom. At that time these are the most important events we are looking forward since school started. I also wondered what it would be like to join a university where I don’t know anyone. What would they think of me? Would they judge me because I am fat? It would not be like school anymore where everyone had known me for years, I decided that I wanted to make a major change for myself. I wanted to lose weight in right way to be healthy, to look better.  

How I lost it:

I wanted to get off this extra baggage but my biggest question was, HOW? Who will help me? I am 120kgs and my waistline is 45 inches. At that time I was so desperate and I wanted fast results because Graduation Day is in 9 months time. Do I have enough time? I did my research; I went to the Gym and got myself a professional trainer Sabir. To start with, they got my Body Composition to keep records of my changing and set my goals every 4 months for one year. I was provided with a Diet Plan and we started off slowly. Normally my work out schedule is 5 times a week with 60 minutes per sessions.

I realized getting started is not as easy as eating those cakes and chocolates. It is not as comfortable as drinking those sodas. It wasn’t an easy start. My first few days were the hardest. The workouts tested my cardio endurance, strength and flexibility, and I am totally zero in all these areas. My muscles felt like it was tearing apart, my heart rate is pumping so fast, I almost crawled for weakness. But giving up was never an option for me. I worked really hard, my trainer kept on pushing me. I am feeling better after two weeks. A little improvement became my driving force.

Working out for me seems to be just another normal day. After a month and a half, I noticed that my weight was dropping fast. My main workout routine consists of 30 minutes cardiovascular exercises such as cross training, cycling, fast walking and running. Another 30 minutes of full body circuit training with light weight, 12 reps per set each exercise. Can you imagine my happiness when I learned I reduced 15 kg and gained some muscles in 4 months! I noticed my metabolism increases and also I am burning 500 to 800 calories in one day, 5 times week with workout routine with 50 percent training and 50 percent diet.

Now it was the time to go on the next level and my fitness level improves a lot. My trainer adds some new workout routine and now I started 6 times a week with new exercises.

After another 4 months, I couldn’t believe myself the changes in my body, which motivated me even more and pushed me to work out even harder. 8 months later I had lost a good amount of weight around 32 kg and I was happy with what I achieved. From 120 kg, my weight went down 88 kg now. I lost most of my weight and had become really fit. I had a flatter stomach now and a smaller face. Although I have achieved my initial goal, I decided to keep on going. As graduation date came closer I went shopping for my suit. I was relieved that I could now buy smaller sizes. It felt good upon seeing myself in the mirror. I can’t help but feel proud of my accomplishment. And just to add in my list of inspiration, I feel like I need to mention I won the best dressed award during my prom. J This gave an additional boost to my self confidence and made me feel good about myself. All the hard work finally paid off and it was totally worth all the sweat and pain.

During my summer vacation I travelled because I thought I deserve some break. During this time, I started lacking off again as it was really hard to control my diet while travelling. Soon after my summer vacation ended, I joined the university. I noticed I’m slim but not in good shape. I told myself that I come so far and I did not want to give that up this time my weight was still 88 kg. I wanted to improve myself more than what I achieved.

I can say I became more conscious of my body. I started reading different articles in Men’s Fitness magazines. Their models inspired me to push myself again. I wanted to look like them. Completing for a fitness talent became my dream. I joined gym again and started weight lifting for muscular built with my trainer. I started working more on my arms, chest, back and on core muscle. I wanted to transform my body into something that I would be proud of. Something that would get others impressed. My body would become my biggest asset. I wanted to make heads turn.

Now my trainer sets another goal and this time I have to reduce 13 kg more and sets target weight of 75 kg with narrow waist line and nice muscular body in the next 8 months. After 2 months of constant work out and diet, changes are visible in my body. I started measuring my arms but I was still not satisfied with my body. After reducing 32 kg it was not easy to reduced 13 kg more to get good shape. I wanted a better chest and abs but there was still excess water in my body. I then pushed myself even more. I kept telling myself I can do it. I increased the duration of my workout so I could maximize on my training. As I started getting better my trainer pushed me even more. In order to get the definition I wanted in my body I had to change my diet once again. This time my diet consists of fish, chicken breast and steamed vegetables. My diet was really strict but in order to get good results one must be patient. I was training now 6 times a week 60 to 70 minutes every day to give more good shape my body. My trainer constantly changes my work out plan and provides good advises in working out to get fast results in next 6 month.

He told me you will complete two to four sets of each exercise. You will finish all sets for each exercise before moving onto the next exercise with the supersets of one large and one small muscle workout together. You must complete 8 – 10 reps (repetitions) for each exercise. This is the ideal amount of reps for muscle hypertrophy (tone). The reason why we must complete this number of repetition is because maximum growth can only be achieved by activating the full spectrum of muscle fibers, and a moderate rep scheme will accomplish this better than a low rep range or even a very high rep range. Both of the fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers are brought into play, and the time the muscle is under tension is long enough to work the muscles to their fullest potential.

Moderate reps have also been shown to maximize the release of various hormones, including testosterone and growth hormone. This is facilitated by the accrual of lactic acid. It has been shown that lactate promotes hormonal excitation, which then acts on the muscle cell to induce growth.

Also he told me the weight you choose must be heavy enough that the last few reps must be a struggle, and you may not be able to complete all the reps, therefore if you are able to complete the full amount of reps quite easily then the weight is to light. If you are not able to complete at least eight reps then the weight is too heavy and must be dropped. It may take you a couple of sessions to get the weights right.

Rests between sets will be 60 – 90 seconds between sets, so you can be strong on the next sets whilst keep your anabolic levels high.

Every day I was pushing myself even harder to achieve my goal I am always looking into ways of improving myself. I set a goal and when I reached that goal I set another one. Looking back, I realized how far I have actually come and how much I have achieved. Day by day, I am becoming someone that I could never imagine. After 16 months of regular diet and regular workout, I reached my target weight of 75 kg and lost 45 kg. My waist is now 30 inches, 15 inches down from the day I started. My friends always use to tease me because there were many times when I would not go out with them because I did not want to miss my diet. They now see how much I have improved. Once a fat kid now looks better. They now ask me for advices and want to become like me. Someone who is health conscious and is willing to maintain their body. This makes me feel really proud of my accomplishments. I am also very grateful to my parents who have always supported me to become better and have been a huge backbone to helping me become the person I am today.