By Liana Jacob
MEET the fitness mum who was so used to being skinny that her pregnancy weight gain motivated her to join a gym and lose FOUR STONE in just SIX MONTHS.
Business owner and mother of two boys, Malin Bjork (29), from Vaxjo, Sweden, has enjoyed being skinny her whole life, until she became pregnant with her first son.
Before and during her first pregnancy she barely exercised, except for attending irregular classes at the gym one to two times a week maximum.
She would eat whatever she wanted; unhealthy junk food and home-baked cookies adding up to around 3,000 calories a day.
This ballooned her weight to 12st 8Ibs before she gave birth to her first son and a UK dress size of 12-14.
After adding weight-lifting to her barely-existent exercise regime, Malin was driven with enthusiasm and this motivated her to completely turnaround her unhealthy diet.
She now eats more vegetables, beans, lentils and clean food while focusing on incorporating more protein in her diet from other sources since she is a vegetarian.
This completely transformed her body not just from her pregnancy weight, but her previous skinny body into a muscle-toned physique.
She now weighs 8st 11Ibs and retains a UK dress size eight to 10, consuming just 2,200 to 2,500 calories a day.
“I lost all motivation to eat healthy and I didn’t exercise during both of my pregnancies. I didn’t feel so bad because I knew that I will get back to my precious weight, but I never knew that my shape would be better than before my pregnancies,” Malin said.
“I wasn’t comfortable in my bigger size since I’ve always been quite skinny and I always wanted to look more fit and strong.
“I love my body and my flaws, I’m not too hard on myself with the body I had before, I have some loose skin but that doesn’t bother me; no one is perfect and I don’t strive for perfection.
“I started changing my diet; avoiding all the sweets and fast food for a while and ate food high in nutrition and protein since I work out a lot.
“I started to exercise with weights and I really loved this form of exercise. I strengthened my knowledge about weight training and what it can do to your body and I loved seeing my body shape change.
“I now skip unhealthy sauces, white bread, cereals and food with extra added sugar. In my workout routine I do everything differently.
“I challenge my muscles and I’m not afraid to lift heavy weights. I train every muscle every week with focus on my legs and butt.”
Despite not feeling completely happy in her heavier body, Malin says that the inspiration she’s had on other mums is the real joy she’s had from her body transformation.
“My transformation inspired a lot of people, especially mums who think they can’t be fit after their pregnancy,” she said.
“I also feel better about myself than before I got pregnant. When you manage to do this kind of transformation twice, you feel very proud of yourself; no matter what goal you have.
“My first transformation was actually easy, because I fell in love with weight training; I loved going to the gym. After my second baby I feel it’s more difficult to have time for the gym and my business; to keep pushing myself after I reached my goal. I try to balance everything and I have my routines.
“People say I look good to have two kids and people like to see that even a mum can be fit and healthy and I want to inspire people to believe that it’s possible if you really want to change your habits or body.”
She says that it’s important to have the right knowledge about diet and exercise.
“If you don’t want to get a workout and meal plan or hire a personal trainer you can find a lot of information online.
“The downside of searching everything by yourself is that it’s hard to find the right information because you will find a lot of different tips online on how to lose weight and transform your body.
“It’s important to know which food is healthy and unhealthy, technique on exercises and how often you need to train for results.
“But if people don’t have a clue on how to exercise, it’s a great investment to purchase a meal guide and workout programme.”
For more information visit: https://www.instagram.com/malinbjork/
