By Liana Jacob
MEET the powerlifting warrior who beat her inner demons built up her muscles while losing one-stone four pounds in just three months and has now gathered over 50K Instagram followers.
Personal trainer, Stephanie Butch (22), from Michigan, USA, struggled with balancing her diet and exercising in a way that would make her healthy.
Reducing her calorie intake and incorporating whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and vegetarian options helped her build her former 11st 13Ibs and UK size 12 body into a more toned and curvy 10st 9Ibs and UK size eight body.
“I eat well and train hard because it’s what I love to do. The physical change is a by-product of that, but I feel very confident in the body I’m in now. I feel it reflects how hard I work,” Stephanie said.
“I never perceived myself as overweight because I wasn’t. I simply understood how to fuel my body correctly and found a style of training I love, which is powerlifting.
“I was unsure how to eat correctly. So, after experimenting for a few months, I finally found what worked for me.
“I didn’t decide to lose weight. It just kind of happened because I learned how to eat normally, not in a disordered way.”
While before she would consume a surplus of calories, she now only consumes 1,900 calories a day while powerlifting, a form of competitive weightlifting where she attempts three types of lifts at a time.
While Stephanie used to focus mainly on Powerlifting, she now adds cardio to her list of exercises and her new approach has helped boost her confidence.
“I lost the weight by eating in a slight caloric deficit and implanting cardio into my powerlifting regime,” Stephanie said.
“It has changed my life now that I feel more confident in myself. I finally feel like my hard work is shown through my appearance.
“I just learnt to eat like a normal athlete; enough to fuel my body but just enough to lose some weight too.
“I eat the same types of food and exercise the way I always do; hard and with intensity. But the hardest part was feeling like I should lose more weight.
“But now I know that is just past thoughts creeping up. I’m happy with how I look right now and I feel like there’s no need to lose any more weight.
“The only reason I wanted to lose the weight in the first place was to make my weight class for powerlifting. Everyone I know just think I look comfortable in my own skin now.
“If you aren’t aware of nutrition, I highly recommend hiring a registered dietarian. They truly know how to help you fuel your body correctly. Change takes time, progress is never linear. You won’t be perfect and that’s OK.”
For more information visit: https://www.instagram.com/stephbutch/
