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Ashley (Avey) Vielma, 35, comes from a large family who gathers around food and spends their days relaxing. As a result, she was considered overweight for as long as she could remember.
“Throughout my adolescence, doctors often commented on my weight. That was the norm for me,” she told TODAY.com. “I remember being worried about my weight and thinking about dieting when I was about 10 years old. Looking back now, that seems crazy, because I was young.”
While attending college, she became more active and tried to stay healthy. However, she focused on diet and high-intensity training, which wasn’t sustainable for her as she worked a desk job as an adult.
Her weight increased to 205 pounds and she had problems with her thyroid and blood pressure. Additionally, she saw her family suffer from high cholesterol and diabetes, and she expected the same future for herself. “That was the norm,” she says.
He said he tore his anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus while training at a gym where he didn’t have much support. She required surgery in February 2018, and she was unable to put any weight on her leg for two months.
“I started sitting a lot and gained weight, which made me depressed,” she says. “It was really difficult emotionally and mentally to wrap my head around what my mobility was going to look like in the future.”
In September 2019, she needed a medical exam for work and discovered she was borderline diabetic. Although she considered her health problems to be a normal part of aging, she struggled to accept that she was on the path to diabetes.
Since then, she has found a way to eat consciously, strengthen her muscles, improve her blood sugar levels, and lose 70 pounds. Here’s how she does it:
She was looking for a sustainable weight loss solution
“I wanted to break out of this cycle that had been in my family for so many years, and when I looked at other people who were able to manage their weight, they weren’t doing all that intense stuff.” says Bielma.
She was listening to “Losing 100 Pounds with Corinne,” a podcast that focuses on lifestyle changes. That’s because I knew fasting and high-intensity training wouldn’t work for me. ”
This podcast taught her that if you’re going to make a lifestyle change, it has to be something you can stick with for life.
She reconnected with Pilates
Vielma recalled that her rehabilitation after knee surgery included some Pilates-based movements. “It was really effective, but not too intense,” she says. She looked for a studio near her home in Houston, and Her Pilates Club came up and she joined.
Pilates is a full-body conditioning program designed to stretch, tone, and strengthen your body with a focus on breathing and posture.
“I still remember the intro session. I felt my body, core, and legs working in a way they never had before. It was intense but felt so good. I worked my muscles. , I was adjusting my breathing to the movements, and the instructor was guiding me through it. I was hooked. It’s one of the few things I’ve done consistently.” she says.
She started attending classes once a week. “I started paying attention to my inner awareness, my breathing outside of class, and my posture when sitting and standing,” she says. “I made small changes, but Pilates was a consistent part of that process.”
She learned about mindful eating
Vielma started keeping a food diary, not to count calories, but to be aware of what she was eating and how it made her feel. “It was my data. I never eliminated anything. I just reduced the amount,” she says.
She experimented with how she felt after eating less cheese or sugary drinks, for example. It helped empower me because she wasn’t depriving herself. “I don’t necessarily care about this, because I don’t like the feeling it makes me feel,” she said. That’s really my philosophy when it comes to what I put in my body,” she says.
By eating consciously, she improved her relationship with herself. But once she reached a certain point, she realized that this was actually about loving herself. How can I say I love you if I treat something poorly? ”
I realized that this is actually about loving myself. How can I say I love you if I treat something poorly?
After a setback due to uterine fibroid surgery, fitness helped speed up recovery
A few months after Vielma started Pilates, she needed surgery for uterine fibroids, and her doctor had to open her abdomen.
“The surgery ended up being much more intense than I expected. I had to take six weeks off, but returned to class as soon as I was able to. The instructors were caring and empathetic. “Because I had the basics, I was able to level up a little bit faster,” she says.
Over time, she began to feel clarity in her body. She had a checkup in September 2021 and was surprised to find that she had lost 50 pounds. “She wore a lot of workout clothes and stretchy clothes, and she has broad shoulders,” she says. She had a little extra left in her clothes, but she didn’t realize how much she had lost. Additionally, her A1C, cholesterol, fasting blood sugar, and blood pressure levels were all good.
Pilates also helped relieve pressure in her neck and mid-back, eliminate minor aches and pains, and increase core strength.
“I discovered ways to move my body that I never thought I could do. I’m so much stronger and more flexible. I feel better now than I have at any point in my life. What a great gift!” “I knew I needed to move more to maintain my health and well-being, but in a way I was skeptical. It felt good, so I kept going,” she says. . “I’ve learned that I don’t have to accept the theory that I’m just getting older. And I don’t have to beat myself up in the process.”
she decided to become a pilates instructor
Vielma loved Pilates so much that she began training to become an instructor in January 2022. By that July, she was fully certified and had lost another 20 pounds. “After starting Pilates with her knee rehabilitation, she felt like she had come full circle,” she says.
She points out that Pilates has something for just about everyone. “It doesn’t matter where you start or how limited your mobility is,” she says.
Her previous work includes:
- A 94-year-old man was on vacation with his wife and wanted the mobility to look up at the sky and bend over to pick up a newspaper.
- A professional basketball player who wanted to play overseas and set up an aggressive rehabilitation plan.
- A 12-year-old girl with autism wanted to join her school’s cheer team.
her weight loss tips
She believes slow, sustainable change is the secret to success. “Don’t think you have to kill yourself to achieve a goal. Sometimes you want immediate results, but you have to be kind to yourself. You can achieve that goal. . It doesn’t have to happen overnight.”
