In Just 12 Weeks Mom Of Five Loses 15 Pounds And Learns To Love Her Body!
Meet Angela Bergmann

Weight:   148.4 lbs.   ……….133.2 lbs.  Lost - 15.2 lbs.
Clothing size:10-12  …………. 8         
Waist :33.5”   ……….30.5”   Lost - 3.0”
Hips:   40.25”  ………38”     Lost - 2.25”
Thighs:   23.75” each leg now   21”    Lost - 2.75” each leg

I am completely shocked when I look at those numbers! I never thought that in 12 weeks, I could lose this many inches and 15 lbs. to boot!

One of my goals at the beginning of the Transformation Challenge was to lose one inch from my waist, hips, and thighs. My ultimate goal was to fit into my summer wardrobe while still breastfeeding my fifth child who was born in November 2008.

To my surprise, my summer shorts fit me in early June already! I had to make a decision to maintain or continue, and surprisingly, the decision wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. This was only because during this time, I changed how I felt about food, how I felt about my body, and how I decided to take better care of my body.

In March of this year, I was working hard to lose my pregnancy weight and getting increasingly frustrated. I came across this quote: You cannot out-train a bad diet. I KNEW that I had to change my eating habits and deal with emotional eating. But I didn’t know where or how to begin - it seemed so overwhelming to change.

I found Holly’s blog in April and when Holly posted her three video tips for the upcoming Summer Transformation Challenge, I half heartedly considered signing up, because I needed the push to change my diet. But it was after watching the post on taking The Before Photo, I knew I had to do this! It was time, no more procrastinating! I had lost about five pounds by then and my clothes were fitting a little better, but my summer wardrobe was still far too tight on me.

My first weeks of the STC were a rollercoaster ride. One day I ate well, the next day, I’d fall back into old habits. Fortunately, I loved the exercise part of it and this helped to keep me on track. I was once again getting very frustrated and I needed support.

Social support. I had not found anyone who was willing to give me the kind of support I was looking for. I had signed up for the STC on the Facebook FYM page, so now I decided it was time to buy a Club FYM membership.

Skimming through the other ladies’ Progress Journals and reading the various posts and articles gave me the inspiration to continue. It was reassuring to find other women who shared the same struggles I was dealing with and reading success stories as well.

Then two things happened one weekend in June.

First, I entered a fun, on-line photo contest that was on a parenting forum I was a part of. For the contest, we needed to submit a picture of our stretch marks or scars from pregnancy/childbirth and a picture of our child/children with these words: I love my body because it gave me you. I struggled with just typing this! I did not love my body! There were so many parts of my body I absolutely hated!

Finally, I just typed the words, but thought about what I had written for days to come. I felt like such a hypocrite. At the end of it all, I won! I won a stretch mark contest with a picture of my five beautiful children and a picture of my stretched out belly! It made me think of what my body had gone through to give me those children. I realized that although my body would never again be the same, I could still do my best to achieve the best body I possibly could, because both I and my children deserved me to be at my very best.

That same weekend, I listened to the Sugar Coaching call replay with Andrea Albright. She talked about respecting our body’s and feeding them properly. Again, this struck a strong cord with me…how could I respect my body if I didn’t even love it? I struggled with this over the next couple of days, and decided that I needed to make a decision to respect my body and behave my way to success. Understanding the science behind what sugar did when it entered my body gave me a new appreciation for healthy eating.

When it came to emotional eating, the first thing I did to change was to eat healthy snacks when I was stressed out instead of reaching for the unhealthy foods. I also put one of my Before Photos in our “snack cupboard”. After I had mastered the healthy snack option, it became easier to substitute other things in for the times when I just wanted to grab the chocolate to feel better. I started doing more deep breathing exercises and going for walks.

Sometimes I log onto Club FYM and find inspiring stories online to encourage me. I am learning to replace food with other things to provide pleasure and comfort, and ease boredom.

The next thing I needed to do was a huge step for me - to get rid of the clothes that were now too big on me. I have always kept larger sizes because I was never confident that I COULD keep the weight off, not to mention the pregnancy weight gain/weight loss roller coaster I had ridden for the past nine years. But now, I know what I need to do to lose fat effectively and keep it off.
I have confidence in the FYM work-outs and the nutrition plan. I enjoy eating clean because I am respecting my body and fueling it for the work-outs I enjoy so much. I find that when I eat clean, I feel so much better, physically and mentally. I have more energy to keep up with my kids and do my work-outs.

I love Holly’s term “supportive eating”. It makes me think twice before putting unsupportive food in my body - when I eat something, I now ask myself, “Will this give me the energy I need to make it through the day and build up my muscles or will this food sabotage all the hard work I have done?” This decision seems to get easier each time I need to make it. And when (not if!) I choose an unsupportive food, I am learning to immediately forgive myself and not punish myself for it, because that only makes things worse in my head.

At the beginning of this challenge, I never thought that I would willingly choose to eat this way and enjoy it. Not to mention that the goals I set and adhered to over the final two weeks of the Challenge, I don’t think I could have completed twelve weeks ago! I know I have come such a long way with respect to my relationship with food and my attitude towards my body.

One of the most unexpected achievements over the past 12 weeks has been my newfound ability to do the monkey bars with my kids at the park. The last time I have been able to travel across the monkey bars was when I was a little kid! One goal I am still working on is to complete three full sets of push-ups in my work-outs. I can only do five or six per set (up from zero!), but I’m working my way up to at least ten!

 

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