Quittng smoking and losing weight usually don't go hand in hand. Normally smokers who quit complain about weight gain shortly after kicking the habit, but Julie Nguyen found a loophole around it and lost 105 pounds.The 31-year-old petite woman weighed 245 pounds and chose to lose the weight and kick her smoking habit all because she wanted to improve her health.
Nguyen didn't even count calories while losing the weight! So how exactly did she do it? Read on to find out!
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Nguyen says she's always been "chubby' because she ate lots of fast food and unhealthy things growing up. Certain life situations such as her parents separating and being in a bad relationship drove her to depression which caused her to eat in excess.
Finally the low self-esteem, shortness of breath, and back pains took a toll on her and she knew it was time for a change. Nguyen began cutting out sugary drinks and focused on portion control when eating and 30 pounds came off easily. She later enrolled in a gym with a friend and took classes there which enabled her to lose another 30 to 40 pounds. Eventually she was ready to train for 5K's and decided to quit smoking–cold turkey. "I wanted to finish the race more than I wanted to contribute to my bad habits," she says.
In fact Nguyen says she never counted calories, but she did add lots of fruits, veggies, lean meats, and snacks into her diet and eventually lost more than 100 pounds. She doesn't deprive herself of her favorite foods either and allows herself to eat freely on weekends and prepares her meals for the week on Sundays.
What an amazing transformation and admirable story! This woman took control of her life and switched her unhealthy eating to good gradually and hasn't looked back since. She's a great role model now as the new year begins and some of us want to shed some pounds. 105 pounds is no joke and requires lots of dedication. Congrats Julie, you deserve it!
Images via Huffington Post
