‘By Focusing On Portion Control And Carb Cycling, I Lost 141 Pounds’

My name is Johna Unruh (@jujus_losin_it), and I’m 35. I live in Wichita, Kansas, where I work as a veterinarian. After reaching my highest weight of 309 pounds, I lost nearly half of my body weight with portion control and carb cycling, as well as incorporating dance workouts in my weekly routine.

I struggled with disordered eating and body image issues starting in middle school. I dabbled in modeling, which certainly didn’t help. After moving away for college, I quit modeling and concentrated on academics.

My weight started to climb, and it didn’t stop. I suffered from postpartum depression after the birth of my daughter in October 2018. Within months I had to move out of state, away from my family and friends and career, for my husband’s training. The isolation and loss of my sense of self on top of the issues I was already facing was just too much. I was in a really dark place. My weight hit 309 pounds.

I decided that I had to do something for myself. I had yearned for this forever, but I had resigned myself to the fact that I’d stay obese.

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I don’t know exactly what was different, but I knew from day one that I was going to do it this time. I started in January 2020.

First I worked on adjusting my eating, starting with tracking everything I ate or drank in MyFitnessPal in order to stay in a calorie deficit. Later, I shifted to a moderately low-carb diet. Now, since getting more into lifting, I carb cycle (meaning I eat high-carb on lifting days, moderate-carb on cardio days, and very low-carb on rest days).

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Here’s what I eat in a day.

  • Breakfast: Scrambled eggs (egg whites with cream cheese and feta).
  • Lunch: Sandwich (deli turkey breast, cheddar, onion, and Bolthouse Farms dressing on whole wheat bread) with Hippeas chickpea tortilla chips.
  • Snacks: Smoothie (strawberries, vanilla, protein powder, and cashew milk), or cheese and turkey bites.
  • Dinner: Baked chicken breast with brown rice.
  • Dessert: Birch Benders Keto Brownie with Cool Whip sugar-free whipped topping and Lily’s dark chocolate chips.

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I started exercising as a New Year’s resolution on January 1, 2020.

I started with four days of exercise per week, mainly doing the elliptical for 30 minutes at home while my daughter napped. Then I progressed to working out five to seven days per week, and increased the duration to about one hour a day by May 2020.

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Shortly thereafter, I started incorporating CIZE by Beachbody hip hop dance workouts and short, low-impact toning workouts using ankle weights or light dumbbells). Now, I workout five days a week: two days for lifting only, two days for cardio and lifting, and one day for cardio only.

In addition to the elliptical and CIZE, I also like The Fitness Marshall dance workouts. For weights, I like fitness personality Sydney Cummings’ videos on YouTube. My glutes and abs are my favorite things to work.

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These three changes made the biggest difference in my weight-loss results.

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I have lost 141 pounds.

The changes have been so huge; I don’t even know how to articulate it. Just take a chance on yourself. You are stronger than you know, and it is so worth it.

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