'I've Lost 35 Lbs. And Gained Muscle By Doing Kayla Itsines' BBG Workouts On The SWEAT App'
My name is Akanksha Gupta (@bananabreadtoburpees), and I’m 30. I’m from India but currently live in Boston and am pursuing a graduate degree at Pennsylvania State University. After moving to the U.S., I experienced sudden weight gain, but turned to Kayla Itsines' BBG workouts on the SWEAT app to lose about 35 pounds.
Growing up back home in India, I never dealt with being overweight. In fact, it wasn't really until my sudden weight gain that I really thought about losing weight. After moving to the U.S. in 2014 for school, I gained about 40 pounds in a few months. My eating schedule was all over the place, thanks to the long hours I was putting in for grad school, so I would regularly eat not-so-nutritious foods at all hours. I also had very easy access to processed foods, like pizza and doughnuts, that I was regularly turning to whenever I felt hungry.
My weight gain, coupled with the stress of being in school, not only took a toll on my physical health, but my mental health as well. I knew I wanted to lose weight, but I just didn't know how. For almost all of 2016, I followed unsustainable crash diets, methods that I thought would be quick fixes and give me results fast. But nothing seemed to work.
It wasn't until January 2017 that I found Kayla Itsines' BBG (Bikini Body Guide) program that I finally committed to doing something different this time.
I wanted to lose weight, but I also wanted to become physically stronger. Before finding the BBG program, I looked at exercise as something people only felt forced to do, like as a punishment for eating a slice of pizza. I never thought exercise was something I could actually enjoy.
But BBG helped me shift my mentality around exercise. I now look at it as meditation. After exercising, I'm able to focus better, and also end up feeling way more grateful for my body. My time on the mat often makes me feel powerful and accomplished by proving to myself that I'm able to tackle things even if they seem really hard at first. For example, if I make it through 20 push-ups in a row, something that I likely wouldn't have been able to do at the start of my journey, I end up feeling so grateful that I've accomplished this strength.
It wasn't easy though. I started with three resistance workouts and two cardio sessions per week. In the beginning, I would literally cry through the upper body days, since I could hardly do a push-up on my knees at that time. To be honest, in those moments I often felt defeated and like I had let myself go.
Though I started with BBG, I've also tried Kelsey Wells' PWR and Chontel Duncan’s Fierce programs through the SWEAT app.
Now, I've narrowed down my exercise schedule to a weekly routine that looks like this:
Monday: Full-body AMRAP
Tuesday: Upper body
Wednesday: Full-body bootcamp
Thursday: Lower body
Friday: Full-body HIIT
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Run/hike
I also changed my eating habits to include more unprocessed meals and greens, and I started drinking more water.
To do that, I started reading nutrition labels to really see what I was putting in my body whenever I was eating a processed meal. I also started experimenting more in the kitchen and making more of my own meals. As an Indian vegetarian, I didn't want to cut out the meals that I used to eat back home growing up, so I tried to find ways to include more protein in them.
I also have a huge sweet tooth, so I looked for ways to bake healthier versions of my favorite treats. I didn't get used to my new eating lifestyle fast, though. I would say it took me about three to six months to make these new habits a part of my routine.
I also make sure I drink two to three liters of water a day. In fact, I always start my day with a glass of warm water before I eat anything.
Here's what I eat in a day.
Breakfast: Overnight oats with nuts, seeds, and toppings or eggs with toast and a slice of cheese.
A.M. snack: Fresh fruit, like an apple, with almond or peanut butter.
Lunch: Usually a plant-based protein, like an Indian curry of chickpeas, kidney beans, and black-eyed peas, with a piece of Indian flatbread (chapati/roti) and Greek yogurt and fresh salad.
Dinner: Usually a post-workout protein shake and an Indian curry (made with tofu/paneer) with quinoa or rice.
P.M. snack: A protein bar (Perfect Bar, RXBAR, and Women's Best bars are my go-to options), or some mixed nuts with some dark chocolate.
Since making those changes, I've lost about 35 pounds in total.
The changes in my body happened gradually, not overnight. I embraced a new lifestyle by changing my diet and exercise habits about three years ago in order to create sustainable change, so this wasn't the quick fix I was looking for when I was experimenting with crash diets. Instead, I've found long-term changes that have helped both my physical and mental health.
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