Yekta, 30

online coaching

Body Stats

  • Before Weight: 170.6 lbs
  • After Weight: 142.8 lbs
  • Before Measurements:
    • 37.5 in. waist
    • 42 in. hips
  • After Measurements:
    • 33.8 in. waist
    • 38.8 in. hips

What has been your biggest struggle with losing weight and achieving your fitness goals? 

Maintaining weight loss has been my number one struggle. I have lost weight over and over and have never been able to keep it off. I think this is partly due to my lack of patience, over restricting, and not trying to incorporate my weight loss and fitness into my every day life. Rather, I always tried to frame my life around weight loss and that was just not sustainable. I also always used fitness as another medium to lose weight.

Now, I workout to be strong and because I love it. 

What made you want to change? 

I was tired. Just so tired of constantly trying to lose weight, thinking about losing weight, being frustrated that I couldn't lose weight or that I had gained back weight that I lost. I was just tired of constantly working my life around another diet or weight loss effort. I wanted to learn something sustainable that would help me just live my life and move on from these thoughts once and for all!

What was your biggest concern before you began working with me? How did you overcome it?

I was worried that I would fall into the same pitfalls as I previously have. Letting one bad day become a month. Becoming too hard on myself when I went over macros or missed a workout. But with  your  help, I stayed flexible and remained forgiving of myself.

I decided that patience would be my number one friend and did not let slip-ups affect my mind and mood so negatively. I moved on from every missed workout, every day/week of overeating. I chose to enjoy my life, trust the process, and not give myself any deadlines. 

What was the hardest thing for you to change in order to succeed? How did you do it?

The hardest part was allowing myself to indulge and enjoy time eating out without trying to eat only bland boring meals. This was also one of the best outcomes of this whole process. I spent lots of evening going out to dinner with friends and eating yummy meals. I took several vacations (both domestic and international) and spent the holidays traveling with my family.

It was difficult to just enjoy myself and experience these moments "normally". But once I allowed myself to do just that, it gave me the understanding that this journey could fit seamlessly into my life instead of dramatically altering it. 

What was the lowest point of your journey? How did you overcome it? 

The lowest point was probably being away on vacation abroad and not having ANY control over the food that was available to me. I had some old negative thoughts creep into my head during that time and definitely ate more than I wanted or needed at many times. It was hard to come back and face the scale (it really wasn't bad at all and I should have trusted myself more) and get myself back into tracking and to the gym.

However, I just did it. There was no magic answer or equation. I just got back on the scale, back to tracking, back to what I was doing before. I just continued to be persistent. It was hard, but I did not allow myself to have any other option. 

Did you achieve what you initially set out for? Was there anything positive you achieved that you didn't expect?

YES! I was looking to lose weight and gain strength - both of which happened.

However, I was also looking to just live my life without constantly thinking about losing weight and letting it prevent me from doing the things I wanted to do. This is the best thing I got from my time with your. 

Looking back, was working with me what you thought it would be? Do you feel you made the right decision?

Absolutely. The accountability was needed for me. I hadn't gotten that type of daily accountability before and it truly helped.

... I think the part that was key to my success was your encouragement for flexibility. Allowing the calorie ranges, keeping things simple, not overdoing it -- all of that really helped me get out of the all-or-nothing mindset. Also practicing tracking in maintenance was an invaluable skill to learn. 

What was your favorite part of about working with me?

Our daily check-ins and your complete confidence that I was able to do what I had set out to do. 

What are your future health and fitness plans?

I plan to continue tracking in maintenance for the foreseeable future while also adding an additional day of workouts per week. I plan on reassessing that additional day after a month or so to see if it is something I can keep up with or not. The last thing I want to do is put any added pressure on myself.