Jessica Beniquez used to live a life of back-to-back cheat days: She’d stay in bed, binge watch shows on Netflix, and eat fast food. But at 320 pounds, she finally came to terms with just how awful a sedentary lifestyle was: “I knew I needed to lose weight because I had high blood pressure, but it took me over a year to realize how dangerous that is — and to do something about it,” she told People. So in February 2016, instead of starting yet another series, she decided to make a change — a few small changes, actually.
She took it one step at a time.
Literally: For an entire month, all Beniquez did was walk — one to two miles every night. Eventually she joined a gym, but that came with its own struggles. “Walking through a gym, you see a lot of fit people, and I was super intimated by that,” Beniquez told People. Still, she stuck to her hour-a-day goal (she’s up to two now), doing exercises she saw on YouTube before hiring a trainer.
She overhauled her diet.
While her meals once consisted of chicken nuggets, pasta, and fries, now they revolve around shakes — the healthy kind. “I ordered Herbalife shakes that day,” Beniquez revealed. “If I didn’t, I honestly don’t think I’d be where I am right now.” She relied on shakes and small meals for close to a year before moving on to foods like lunch meats, carrots and hummus, yogurt, and grilled chicken salads.
She embraced her Insta-fam.
More than 216,000 people follow Beniquez — or @getfitwjessica, as they know her — on Instagram, and they’re more than just silent spectators. They often reach out with inspiring messages. “It kept me accountable when people would be like, ‘You can do it’,” Beniquez said. Now, she’s doing what she can to give back, in the form of motivating before-and-after shots and her workout routines.
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Sarah Weinberg is the deputy editor at Delish and has covered food, travel, home, and lifestyle for a number of publications, including Food Network Magazine and Country Living. She’s originally from the Bay Area, has an unhealthy affinity for the Real Housewives of Anywhere, and harbors strong feelings about fruit salad.
Source link : https://www.delish.com/food/a56184/a-few-lifestyle-changes-helped-this-woman-lose-175-pounds/
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Publish date : 2017-10-18 07:00:00
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