Thank you for continuing following us. Today we have a special member. Cynthia has been with us less than a year. She is very motivated because of the results she got. Let’s find out how everything started with Cynthia.
Sandro, “Cynthia, welcome.”
Cynthia, “Hi, Sandro.”
Sandro, “Tell me how everything started.”
Cynthia, “I had a baby and before I had the baby, I gained a little weight. But I was always able to manage my weight. I knew where my perfect weight was. I knew once I had a baby I would not be able to control that. I prepared myself to do something about it. I told myself that everything would be okay.
I wanted to get in weight lifting while I was pregnant...
But unfortunately I was too lazy. I regret not doing it now, but that was how it was. Then, I had the kid and I had to wait forty days after. So I just worked on my eating and tried not to eat a lot of junk after I had the kid. And when the forty days were getting closer, I started to see myself in the mirror. As we get bigger, we start getting stretch marks where we don’t have before and we start getting fat where we don’t have before.
So I started to see my body that way it was and my stomach was not shrinking. So I started mentally preparing myself to go to CBF and lose a lot of weight. The Six Week Challenge was not a bad idea.I went six weeks straight and got it done and over with. I told myself that I had a new born son and it is hard to leave him behind. But I kept in mind that my health is important.
Not only did I not look good, but I did not feel good. I was going into depression. I know a lot of women who are listening who know what I am talking about. It is really hard. My mom was there telling me that I am going to be fine. You need to be putting a lot of positivity in your mind. You just have many hormones everywhere that it is hard to control.
So I just let my son be for six weeks straight and I did the challenge. I lost a lot of weight."
Sandro, “It was difficult for you to leave your kid with your mom or husband. You had the attachment problem with your son. So you understand you needed to do something for your health. You realized that it is okay to leave your son for two hours at the house.”
Cynthia, “I think a lot of people have to keep this in mind: If you are going to do it, you need to do it now. If you are going to wait until they get old, you are not going to do it. Because by the time that happens, you are used to your body and you will be okay with it,”
Sandro, “It makes sense.”
Cynthia, “So you have to do it right when you feel that way.”
Sandro, “Like the frog story. You get a costume to the temperature of the water until it boils. When you are noticed, you are dead.”
Cynthia, “Yes, just like that. So I lost a lot of weight and I said this is good, but I was not where I wanted to be. So I continue going. When I went to the challenge there were a lot of women who looked really good. So I convince myself that this works. It is working for me.
When you first walk into the gym, you don’t want to do anything...
It is hard. You want to quit. I can’t do this. Everyone tells you to do a full week and after that you will be fine. So I did it for the first week. Even until this day I don’t feel like working out. That is how it is. But if you tell yourself you are going to do it, you just get it done. Sometimes I make excuses and want to skip the workout. But you tell me that I should workout and I workout. You got a point- Show up.”
Sandro, “What I notice is that you focus so much on the result that other people are getting that you get desperate. Even though you push hard, it takes time. You know it is working, but you want this to work faster. How do you deal with this?”
Cynthia, “If I wanted something easy or people here wanted easy, we would just go and get surgery. We know that there is risk behind that. Maybe it is not healthy. I want to do it because when I get to the point I want to be, I want to know and I want people to know that it was my effort. It takes a lot of effort to do it."
Sandro, “Tell me what are you doing not to go back to the 15 to 20 pounds heavier person who you used to be.”
Cynthia, “The first thing is showing up. You have to get yourself there. If you don’t get yourself there, you are not going to do it. If you don’t do it that day, you miss that day. But if you show up and don’t want to do it, you don’t have another choice but to do it. And when you are doing it and you are half way, and want to give up, you know that you are already half way and you have to finish it. Eating, no chips.
I went to the store the other day and I found vegetable chips...
It is weird how some people (I read a book that say that some professionals want to help you and some just want your money) invent new things to make you think you are eating healthy and you are not. So no chips, no soda, I try to buy everything organic. Like you say in your book, would I rather eat food or processed food. The difference is that processed foods have so many chemicals that it is not food anymore. I have a baby and I don’t want to give him a bunch of chemicals. I want to give him real food.
I read a research in your book that people who were eating organic and switched to processed foods, gained a lot of weight and started getting diseases. And as soon as they switched back to organic, all the diseases were gone.”
Sandro, “What else have you changed?”
Cynthia, “I stop eating fast foods. I know sometimes we are in a hurry, but I stop at the store and get an organic shake instead.”
Sandro, “What do you think is stopping pregnant women and recent moms from exercising?”
Weight loss post pregnancy...
Cynthia, “It is a lot of stuff. It's mental and physical. Mentally, you don’t want to leave the child. Your hormones are everywhere. Your body has changed. I had the most positive mind, but you have that monster behind you telling you you can’t do it. You don’t want to get up in the morning because you are tired of feeding your child all night. Some women still need to work and can’t do it. They are tired. This is a whole night thing. Your mind is so stressed. You have hormones that don’t let you think and your body is hurting.
You are bleeding for a while and some women bleed for more than a month and you don’t have to exercise when your body is hurting.”
Sandro, “When do you say, I am going to fight against all this?”
Cynthia, “Use your child as a tool. As the way he or she makes you weak, use that to make you strong. You look at your child and say, ‘I am going to feel and I am going to look good and I am going to sleep well from now on.”
Sandro, “I admire women who are pregnant who continue exercising, working and living a normal life. I know they are super humans. What do you tell yourself when you are lifting weights and it gets difficult?”
Cynthia, “When my butt was flat, I looked at myself in the mirror and looked at my butt and said, ‘Do you want a butt or you don’t want a butt?’ Now that I am almost there, I do understand that hard effort pays off. If you want something good, it is going to cost you. The most difficult things are going to give you the best results.”
Sandro, “What is your advice for people to get results?”
Cynthia, “Everyone in their lives have problems and it was never easy for anyone. The first day they stepped into a gym, they did not want to do anything. I suggest you show up and once you show up and leave all the problems at home or work or where they need to be. And if you are mad or stressed out, take it out on the weight. This is not only for you to tone your body. It is also for you to get all the energy you have stored inside out.”
If they see us in the position we are or someone really toned...
they did not get there overnight. It is not easy, it never was, still isn’t. But you do it. Someday you will get there. Eat cleaner. One day you stop drinking soda, another day you stop eating chips and you start eliminating slowly. That is a step closer to your goal.
And for people who don’t want to get tone: here exercise people who are older who go from not being able to pick up something from the floor to being able to square down. For example, when you do step ups, you not only tone your legs. It will aid you to climb up the hill faster when you are biking. It makes your everyday life easier.”
Sandro, “Thank you so much for following us. We do this for you. We hope this helps."
This is great weight loss post pregnancy case study. I hope you got a lot of insight from you Cynthia.