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Name: Meagan Hesham
Before:
After:
I have always been into fitness and love the gym, my job is even in the fitness world - I run a dance and fitness studio called Flow Fitness & Movement where I teach bellydance, Latin & Brazilian dance, boot camp classes, and more fun workout classes. I had dabbled in fitness competitions a few years ago and definitely wanted to do more! I got the awesome news that I was pregnant during the 2007 holiday season. I always thought I would be so healthy throughout my pregnancy (this should be the time you eat healthiest for your baby growing inside you), I did work-out and continue to teach my classes pretty much right through my pregnancy, but the diet went out the window. I found myself eating tons of sweets, white carbs, butter, and everything bad! I ended up gaining tons of weight throughout my pregnancy (I got up to 222 pounds). I gave birth to my beautiful baby boy on August 30, 2008.
  Click Image To Enlarge.I Ended Up Gaining Tons Of Weight Throughout My Pregnancy. I took a few months to relax with my baby at home and 25 pounds came off with no effort (probably the only weight I should've gained due to the pregnancy), and I was left with tons of eating-too-much-cake-and-pasta weight! I didn't feel like myself and wanted my old athletic body back. Plus, as my baby grew up I wanted him to follow my healthy eating and living so I had to get back to that for myself so I could set a great example for him!
In January 2009 I made the public announcement to all my friends, family, and students that I was going to lose all this weight and more and do figure competitions in June and July. I think people were looking at this hugely fat unfit woman thinking "you must be nuts!" Many people told me it would take more than a year to lose all the weight that I had put on through my pregnancy, if I could even lose it at all with a baby in my life! So, on January 5th, at 197 pounds, I took that life-changing before picture in my bikini and started on an awesome journey to my new life!
 Click Image To Enlarge.I Started On An Awesome Journey To My New Life! In my head I could see myself up on that competition stage flaunting my new lean, athletic body even though I was so far from that! I was the most unlikely candidate to do a fitness competition - I was over 60 pounds away from an average fitness competitor's weight for my height, with only 5 1/2 months until the first competition I wanted to do. I had people who only had a few pounds to lose tell me they could never be ready for the competition by then - but you see, the difference between them and me is priority and mind-set. Someone can be so close to having a totally hot body, but it doesn't matter if you don't:
I got to my goal weight of 135 pounds through tons of cardio (I ran everywhere with my baby in the jog-stroller) and did a hardcore weight workout every morning before my husband and baby woke up in the morning (5:00 AM). The most important (and hardest) part for me was eating clean - lots of lean proteins, quality carbs, healthy fats, and eating every 3 hours!
 Click Image To Enlarge.The Most Important (And Hardest) Part For Me Was Eating Clean. I kept track of everything I ate, all my workouts on my calendar, as well as blogging and keeping track of my progress and goals on my BodySpace page here on Bodybuilding.com! Then I did it! I competed in Neutron's Provincial Championships in Ottawa on June 26, 2009 in Figure and Sports Athletic Model categories and took 2nd in both! Then two weeks later I competed in Open Figure at IDFA's Toronto Classic on July 11, 2009 and made the top 5 in a really tough competition! I was thrilled!
 Click Image To Enlarge.I Was Thrilled! And almost as important to me as my own progress and success is how my before and after pictures and story have and will continue to motivate others to work for the body and life they've always dreamt about! I'm now offering a 12-week body transformation program at my studio and I think it's been so successful because they see that if I can lose that much in about half a year, they can do anything too!
For that reason I have blown-up 8x10's of my before and after pics as soon as you walk in the door of my studio to inspire others to reach for their dreams no matter how crazy they seem!
Meal 2: Meal 3: Meal 4: Meal 5:
Throughout the workout, I will sometimes add some extra plyometric exercises.
Superset: Superset: Superset: Tuesday: Chest And Back
Superset: Superset: Superset: Wednesday: Legs
Superset: Superset: Superset: Thursday: Legs
Superset: Superset: Superset: Friday: Shoulders And Abs
Superset: Superset: Superset: Saturday: Cardio
Sunday: Cardio
The biggest advice I would give is to remain positive throughout the process of transforming your body - negative thoughts breed negative behaviors. The ability to lose weight is all a mental thing more than anything else! Believe it and you can achieve it! Secondly, make sure you're eating a high quality clean diet that includes lots of lean protein, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats, eat small meals every 3 hours, and allow yourself one cheat meal a week to stay sane and make sure you can continue on this program the rest of your life! Keep a food journal and write every little thing you put in your mouth down (even on bad days - you can often learn why you binged on junk, what lead to that bag of chips, etc.) if you write it all down! Off-season, I aim for 30% fat, 30% protein, and 40% carbs, and about 1600 calories per day.
 Click Image To Enlarge.Remain Positive Throughout The Process Of Transforming Your Body.
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