'The scale legit means nothing': Blogger's 20-pound weight gain proves an important point
A fitness blogger has documented her experience gaining nearly 30 pounds, and how she came to realize the scale doesn’t tell the whole story.
Emma O’Neill, known as emlouisefitness on Instagram says she went from roughly 105 pounds in 2015 to 126 pounds today — and although she has documented her transformation many times in the past, she vows to never stop doing it — because she thinks it’s an important message.
“It breaks my heart seeing girls continue to starve themselves and think that they have to stop eating certain foods or drink wheatgrass every morning to be ‘fit’ and achieve their goals,” O’Neill wrote in a recent Instagram post that has since went viral, receiving more than 25,000 likes in less than two days.
She posted a before and after photo of herself; one from 2015, when she ate 1,200 calories per day and the other from 2017 where she eats about 2,200 calories per day.
Two years ago, O’Neill admits to “tricking” herself into thinking she was healthy, but all she was doing was restricting food and ‘killing herself’ on cardio machines. The food restriction was so serious that she admits to being scared of bread.
“The sad thing is I genuinely thought this was gonna make me look like all the fit ‘insta models’ who were toned and strong,” she admitted.
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But once she changed her mindset and started doing proper weight training, she says she’s become twice as strong, confident and happier than ever. But she admits it’s been a lot of hard work, determination, frustration, failings, lessons learned — but she’s come a long way.
O’Neill says it’s best to focus on challenging your body either at the gym or doing a form of exercise you enjoy. She also says it’s critical to fuel your body with hearty nutritious food, but take the time to fuel your soul.
“Eat the damn doughnut and indulge in Mexican once a week if that’s what your heart desires. I’ve eaten so many damn slices of pizza this past year I can’t even begin to describe.”
“Food and fitness should make your life better, not worse,“ she concludes. “Eat to grow!”
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The overwhelming support for the blogger has been outstanding, with many labelling her an inspiration and a great motivator for staying healthy.
“This inspires me a lot, than you,” one woman wrote. “Last month I was at 1,200 (calories) and now I am at 2,200.”
“Excellent message! I do feel though that a lot of the struggle people have in this day and age is that they have gained excess fat and can’t seem to shift it,” another wrote. “A solid nutrition plan and a sensible calorie deficit is what will fix the typical average Joe out there. Simple physiology.”
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