Lobke Meulemeester Went From 5000 Calories Daily To Losing 72 Pounds!
Lobke Meulemeester started gaining weight by eating 5000 calories a day, shooting her bodyweight to over 230lbs. After suffering from pains when walking, climbing stairs and even trying to sleep, she knew she needed to change her life.
After shedding over 75lbs in a year, for an incredible weight loss of 1/3 of her total bodyweight, Lobke now has a completely new outlook on life and plans to stay healthy and happy for the long term.
Find out below exactly how she did it.
Check Out Lobke’s Social Media Here:
Lobke’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lobs_ww_journey/
Lobke started having weight problems soon after the sudden death of her mother. It was this painful event that caused her to lose the will to eat right and care about her health and size. The weight soon piled on and it started leading to some serious health problems.
“When I started losing my breath going up stairs and experiencing back pain after walking short distances, I started getting scared. I thought, “This is silly. I’m 33 and I’m literally eating myself to death.””
The depression she felt after the loss of her mother was growing and how she felt about herself and her body was only compounding the problem.
“I had no confidence. I thought everyone was snickering at me when I went into town. I even felt embarrassed for my husband to be seen with me. I never went on vacation because I knew I wouldn’t be able to enjoy it. Life was passing me by and I knew I had to change.”
Lobke’s diet before she started getting healthy was typical of someone gaining a lot of weight quickly, eating high fat, high carb, high calorie snacks and meals all day.
“I was eating 5,000 calories a day and not doing any exercise. I was terrible. I would eat sandwiches, crisps, cake and a full fat coke for lunch. At night, I would come home and have pizza with garlic bread and a multi-pack of crisps. There would be six or eight bags and I’d eat them all then have chocolate, cookies and sweets.”
She realised the amount of food she was eating was “ridiculous” but found herself unable to find the motivation to stop.
“I’d feel bad and think, ‘I need to stop doing this.’ But I would wake up the next morning, forget about it and I’d do it all over again. I was stuck in a rut. Eating made me unhappy – but the only thing that made me happy was eating.”
After a while, the binge eating got too much and it started affecting other areas of her life, even how she slept. She knew she needed to make a big change.
“When I couldn’t breathe properly it started to worry me a bit. I’m borderline diabetic as well. I thought to myself that all I have to do is work hard for a couple of years and I can finally be the weight I want to be and look the way I want to look. Something just clicked in my head.”
It was then that Lobke made the huge strides to change her physical appearance and her mentality to her body and health. Giving up her lunch breaks to walk around instead of gorge on unhealthy snacks.
“Since I wasn’t ready to step foot in the gym, I got a Fitbit. I knew my desk job wasn’t helping, but I had no idea how inactive I was. On my first day, I only managed to hit 8,000 steps, which is below the recommended 10,000. I knew I had to work harder. I started using my entire lunch break to go for walks and worked my way up to 15,000 steps a day. Since I was still heavy, walking was enough to make the weight come off.”
After walking became easier and she lost some weight, Lobke decided to step things up further and look for more intensive training options.
“A few months into my journey, I started taking Zumba classes. After seeing some progress, I started using cardio machines at the gym three days a week. I’d do five minutes on the stair stepper, and then move to the bike or treadmill for the remainder of the hour.”
“Today, I work out three to four times a week by doing a mix of high-intensity interval training and weight-lifting classes.”
During this time, she also completely turned her diet upside down as well.
“In March 2015, I decided to join Weight Watchers, which taught me a lot about how to eat in moderation. I never deprived myself or stopped socializing, and I still lost weight. I realized that being too strict only makes me binge eat. Now I eat lots of egg whites, chicken breasts, low-fat burgers, and fruits and veggies. It’s all about allowing myself treats when I want them, which is pretty much every day! The key is keeping it small by having just one cookie or a bit of a chocolate bar.”
It’s this balanced perspective to eating that has helped her sustain most of her weight loss and stop years of yoyo dieting.
“I normally have a treat night once a week. There are times I don’t feel like going to the gym and I order a pizza. I don’t feel guilty about it because I know there’s always tomorrow.”
“Today I weigh 162 pounds. Though I lost 75 pounds total, I’ve gained about 14 back. But I’m OK with that. This is a lifestyle change, not a race. I have time to accomplish my goals.”
Lobke remains honest with herself and her 112,000 Instagram followers about the realities of losing weight and this helps with maintaining a healthy mindset. The support she receives from her social media also help her she times get tough.
“I still struggle sometimes, but I just wake up the next day and try again. My Instagram account is also a great source of support. It blows my mind that 112,000 strangers are cheering me on. Because of them, I don’t give up.”
She posts everyday about what she eats, how she’s feeling, progress pictures and motivational photos. If Lobke could let people into one weight loss secret, it would be,
“Set small goals for yourself. When you hit those goals, treat yourself. Maybe buy some jewelry, get a massage, or go get your hair done. I set a goal to lose eight pounds a month. And when I lost 20, 30, 40, and 50 pounds total, I made sure I took care of myself.”
