A young woman named Gen Cohen lost 50 pounds with three lifestyle changes, as reported by Newsweek.
“I struggled with my weight for seven years before I finally found a way to lose it in a balanced and sustainable way so that I could keep it off forever,” Cohen began, explaining that she “used to be really unhappy with my body” and “dreaded waking up in the morning.”
Cohen explained that she had no energy in the morning. When she walked into the bathroom and looked in the mirror, it was a reflection “that I barely recognized.” Let’s take a closer look at the 3 lifestyle changes in the following slides.
“I started implementing key lifestyle changes—and I lost 50lbs. I went down from 205lbs to around 155lbs. And now, since losing the weight, I’ve shifted my focus to building healthy lean muscle and toning and sculpting my body,” Cohen said.
First, she cleaned up her nutrition. “The first thing I focused on was cleaning up my nutrition. I realized one of my biggest issues was that I always felt like I was on a diet but, in reality, I was just eating healthy for three or four days a week and then going off the rails on the weekends.”
She would often eat egg whites and spinach for breakfast, a salad for lunch, and chicken, rice, and broccoli for dinner.
On weekend, she admits “I would eat pizza, ice cream, burgers with a side of fries and a milkshake, and drink large amounts of alcohol which held hidden calories I wasn’t even thinking about. Because I was so restrictive the first four days of the week, I would go so far overboard in those next three days that I would end up canceling out any calorie deficit I had created.”
Second, Cohen incorporated a fitness routine. She started with three 28-minute-long home workouts with a set of 5lbs dumbbells and a yoga mat. “The next thing I did was incorporate a fitness routine into my life. Now, I am not the kind of girl who goes for a five-mile run every single day. I’m not even the kind of girl who gets 10,000 steps in a day. Nor am I the person who has a schedule that would realistically allow me to go to the gym five or six days a week.”
“I still don’t have the time or desire to go to the gym five or six days a week. So I still only work out three times a week, but now those sessions are closer to an hour long. I also go for walks every single day, just for 30 to 60 minutes, even if it’s broken down into three 20-minute walks.”
Lastly, she started prioritizing sleep and stress levels. “Lastly, I prioritize my sleep and stress levels. I have a consistent bedtime and a consistent wake-up time. I’m usually in bed by 9 or 10pm and wake up around 6 or 7am.”
“This allows me to get a full eight to nine hours each night, compared to before when I was sleeping five, maybe six hours. I track my sleep using my Oura Ring and this gives me really valuable data on my sleep recovery and trends,” Cohen explained.
Ultimately, Cohen says she gained massive confidence through this process. “These days, I’m a women’s weight loss expert and coach and I’ve managed to replicate similar results with hundreds of my clients,” she said.
“The biggest difference in my life now is the confidence I have in myself. Losing weight truly felt impossible at the time. And having accomplished the ‘impossible’, I have the self-confidence to know I can do hard things,” she concluded. “I have more energy, I’m more present in my friendships and relationships. I feel confident in my clothes and naked.”
“But most importantly, I love myself in a way I’ve never loved myself before. And by choosing to love myself towards healthy instead of hating myself towards skinny, I know that I will maintain these results for a lifetime.”
