She Dropped 160 Pounds After Admitting 9 “Hard Truths”

Carla, 23, from Melbourne, Australia, lost 90 lbs in one year after a health scare made her reassess her relationship with food. She opened up about her weight loss journey in an interview with Truly. “At my heaviest, I weighed 230 pounds, and now I weigh 140,” she says in the viral video. “I had such a bad relationship with food. I just couldn't control myself. I would be eating way too much. I turned to food as a comfort. Men used to say that I would look prettier if I lost weight.” She also reveals the three basic things she did to lose weight and keep it off.

She Hit Bottom

Carla decided to lose weight after a health scare landed her in the hospital. “I was incredibly insecure, and I went into the weight loss journey for the wrong reasons, and it backfired on me heavily. It turned into an eating disorder, and then I ended up putting on the weight after I was laying in bed, crying all night, saying, ‘I need to make this change. I don't wanna live like this forever.’ And that was my big turning point,” she says in the video.

She Struggled With Her Weight Since She Was 12

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She was 12 or 13 when she started to realize she was overweight. “Coming into high school, you really start to care about how people see you, I find. And I just became very conscious of it,” she says. “When I was 16 years old, I lost 55 pounds, but I wouldn't say that I did it in the most healthy way. I did suffer from an eating disorder, and I also had a bit of body dysmorphia. So every time I looked in the mirror, I would just see myself as much heavier than I really was when I was just, you know, pretty underweight.”

She Suffered From Disordered Eating

“At one point, I had such a bad relationship with food. The food was very scary. It was very nerve-wracking back then to go out to eat with my friends because I just couldn't control myself. I would be either eating way too much, or I would have these urges to go to the bathroom and purge it,” she says. “I was always afraid of trying to lose weight because I was scared that I would go back into that really bad cycle and that bad mentality. But I was pretty. I would say I am. I was confident and confident enough in myself when I was overweight in 2020, and I just wanted to make sure that I knew that I was beautiful, whether I was overweight or not.”

She Ended up in the Hospital

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“I remember I was in hospital due to ulcerative colitis. I was in and out of the hospital three times in a span of a year I can remember. And I remember the last time that I was in the hospital, I was laying in bed crying all night, saying, I need to make this change. I don't wanna live like this forever. And that was my big turning point,” she explains. “And as soon as I got out of that hospital, I started doing my research on weight loss. And I tried to ingrain in my brain that we're gonna do this right this time, and we're going to do this healthy.”

First Basic That Helped Her Lose Weight: She Stopped Ordering Takeout

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One thing she did? “I deleted all my fast food apps for no temptation at all,” she says. Prior to losing weight, she “really didn't care and I would eat whatever I really wanted and I would get a lot of Uber Eats,” she says. Now she only gets it “a handful of times a year,” adding that “it's very special every time that happens.”

Second Basic That Helped Her Lose Weight: She Did Online Workouts

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The next basic thing that helped her lose weight? Online workouts. “I would grab my laptop, go on YouTube, search up some workout videos and follow them in my living room or even outside,” she said.

Third Basic That Helped Her Lose Weight: She Shared Side By Side Photos

“At my heaviest, I weighed 230 pounds, and now I weigh 140. For me to finally see results after two months, it felt very rewarding,” she says. “And putting those side-by-side photos of my before and after just made me more motivated to keep going,” she says.

The Response Has Been Astounding

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The response has been astounding. “I've gotten a bunch of different comments from men about my weight previously and even now. There are guys who would've never looked in my direction prior to me losing weight who now suddenly care about me. Guys that would maybe even bully me before they suddenly want to get to know who I am. I feel like showing my weight loss journey on social media shows that, literally, anyone can do it. I'm just a normal girl, normal adolescent girl, and she was just able to do it,” she says.

RELATED: 15 Ways to Lose Weight Over 50 Without Feeling Hungry

She Wants to Become Stronger

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“Losing weight working out makes me feel so much stronger. Not just physically but also emotionally and mentally. I'm excited to grow more muscle. So that is going to be, I think, the end goal at the end of the year, just building more muscle and becoming more stronger,” she says.

Know Your Goals and Hold Yourself Accountable

“You literally have all the resources that you need within yourself. Definitely holding yourself accountable, reminding yourself what your goals are daily, regularly, all the time,” she says. And if you enjoyed this article, take advantage of these 15 Quick Ways to Lose Body Fat Percentage in a Week.

Kiki (@kikivirk) is a weight loss influencer who has amassed a social media following for sharing all the tips and tricks that enabled her to lose a whopping 60 pounds and keep it off. In one of her viral videos – viewed over 8 million times, Kiki reveals the biggest weight loss mistake she made on her journey – and also what ultimately led to her weight loss success.

She Says Doing High Intensity Workouts Were a “Huge Mistake”

“I was so motivated to lose weight and I wanted to see results fast, but I didn't do my research and I jumped straight in, literally into a high intensity, 90 day workout plan. Huge mistake,” Kiki says in the video.

After 45 Days She Hadn’t Lost Weight

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After a month-and-a-half, she didn't feel like she'd lost any weight. “I was overdoing it. The long, painful HIIT workouts were actually doing my body no good. They were causing it too much stress and loads of other problems,” she says.

Related: 5 Pilates Exercises for a Flat Stomach in 14 Days

She Had “Weight Plateaus” and “Felt So Hungry and Fatigued”

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In another video, she specified that she was doing “high intensity cardio” five times a week in hopes it “would burn fat fast and give me my dream body,” she explained. “But instead, I had weight plateaus and felt so hungry and fatigued.

Her Fat Began to “Melt Off” When She Started Strength Training

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“Literally, as soon as I started strength training and less cardio, the fat began to melt off, and the lean muscle mass I gained gave me the tone look I'd always wanted,” she continued.

Her Program: LISS, Walking, Strength and Resistance Training, and a Short HIIT Workout

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Her program starts with doing 45 to 60 minutes of LISS cardio four times a week. She also walks 7 to 12,000 steps every day, does strength and resistance training three times a week, and a 15-minute HIIT workout once a week.

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An Expert Weighs In

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“What she says is definitely spot on,” says Kendra Gamble, HIT Fitness Training, Huntingdon Valley, PA, NPTI Certified Personal Trainer and Nutritional Consultant. “Intense cardio and intense HIIT more than twice a week will do the body more harm than good and is not the way to lose fat and get that toned look.” Instead, she agrees that “increasing your everyday steps is more of the most important and beginner things you can do to start losing fat along with getting your diet right.” Unfortunately, “fat loss is not an immediate thing and will take time and dedication but she explains it all perfectly.”

💪🔥Body Booster: If you are a beginner trying to lose weight, starting by increasing your steps and modifying your diet instead of going overboard with higher intensity workouts.