My Before and After Pictures

Recently, a lot of women have been asking me questions about my weight loss journey, so I thought I’d post some before, during and after pictures for you.

Let’s start with an after one.  This picture was taken last October, after I won the Texas State Naturals.Lisa-Swords

Here’s a shot of me holding my book “She’s LosingIt!” in my size 14 jeans.  Lisa-Shes-Losing-It-JeansAnd here’s a pic from one of the competitions I did last year, Texas Shredder.

Lisa-shredder-sal-robles

OK, those were the fun ones.  Here are my “before” pictures.  They are bittersweet for me to look at.  When I see them I’m reminded of a time in my life when I felt really bad about myself.  I was in my 30’s but felt ten years older.  I felt uncomfortable in my body and at a loss for how to fix it.  The sweet side of it though, was that I had two incredible kids who loved me regardless of my size.

I didn’t take many photos of myself those years and when I did I held up the cute baby in front of me to hide.  Yes, I absolutely used the baby blocker photo technique whenever possible.

Lisa-with-Rylee-2009-before
With my daughter Rylee

Here’s a before-during-after training for my first bodybuilding competition.  In the middle picture that was 12 weeks out from the competition show date.  At that point I had already lost about 30 pounds.  It took me about five months to lose 50 lbs.

It was the first time I learned what real nutrition was.  I had to figure out strength training while potty training my son and I had to deal with a whole slew of fears that were holding me back.

Training for my first bikini competition
Training for my first bikini competition

After losing the weight I wanted to shout out to the world how life changing bodybuilding was and that it was a sport for everyone, not just men.

I didn’t start bodybuilding until I was 38 years old, and at size 14 (I’m 5’2″).  I was always the kid chosen last in gym class and the woman who was on the fad diet.  Bodybuilding stripped all that away and gave me both physical and mental strength and confidence that was earned day by day and curl by curl.

Lots of people show their before and after pictures online but they don’t talk about all the messy stuff that happens between those two pictures.  That’s why I wrote She’s Losing It!  I wanted it to be a Rocky for Moms.

Available at Amazon.com
Available at Amazon.com

That’s why I agreed to join the cast of American Grit starring John Cena.  AMERICANGRIT-Lisa-traugott-bodybuilder-bikiniI wanted to push myself and hoped that in doing so it would inspire other people to push themselves.  Because if I can do it – a 42 year old mom – than anyone can do it too.

Team Noah after winning evolution 3
Team Noah after winning evolution 3

My dress size may have shrunk a lot in the past four years, but I’ve truly grown as a person.  So if you are feeling like you are in a rut right now, just know you are absolutely able to change the course of your life.

I hope reading a little bit of my story motivates you to write your own transformation story.

With my kids Henry and Rylee
With my kids Henry and Rylee

Be healthy,

Lisa 🙂

Interested in online training with me?  Send me an email at sheslosingit.net@gmail.com

Lisa Traugott is a Mom’s Choice Award winning writer, fitness blogger, wife and mom of two….and Original Cast Member of AMERICAN GRIT, starring John Cena, Thursdays at 9 PM EST/8 PM CST on FOX!!!

Shes-losing-it-book-cover

ShesLosingIt.com (c) 2012-2016 Lisa Traugott. All rights reserved. No portion of this blog, including any text, photographs, video, and artwork, may be reproduced or copied without written permission.

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