By Rebecca Drew
THIS busy mum-of-two has lost an incredible six-and-a-half-stone in two years after she piled on the pounds, thanks to indulging in her home baked cakes meant for her children.
When Tegan Funk (30) from Sacramento, California, USA, became a teen mum at 18, she put pressure on herself to be a perfect mum and wife to her children and husband, Dan, and forgot to look after herself.
She enjoyed the fruits of her baking projects and gorged on leftovers as she dedicated herself to her family, and felt selfish investing her time to health and fitness instead of her children. This lead Tegan to tip the scales at 17st 12lb and she wore anything between a UK size 20 to 24 and often hid behind her children whenever a photo opportunity arose that would capture her full body.
Desperate to change her physique for the sake of her own health, Tegan started to read about macronutrients and intermittent fasting. She combined her newfound knowledge with calorie counting and going to the gym six times a week, and the weight soon dropped off.
Now a super fit 11st 5lb and a UK size 10 to 12, Tegan says she has flipped her previous lifestyle on its head and has done a complete 180 switch. She’s ditched large, cheap meals that sounded good for dishes packed with vegetables and protein to keep her satisfied like courgette lasagne or spaghetti squash chow mein. She now has plenty of energy and drive to do things with her kids.
“I was a teen mum, and I put a lot of pressure on myself to be a good mum, good wife, and forgot to take care of myself. I over indulged in baking projects and leftover mac and cheese,” she said.
“I hid a lot of my insecurities with a fake confidence. I always thought I was a pretty girl, but I hid my body in pictures behind my kids, or other people.
“The more I read about macros and fasting the more I wanted to see what my body was capable of.
“I started with intermittent fasting and my body craved healthy foods, I started reading about macros and implementing that with calorie counting and the weight started falling off.
“It’s a 180 from how I used to be. I was eating too much and eating crap sitting on the couch. To fuelling my body properly and working out six times a week because I love how exercise makes me feel.”
Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern where a person cycles between periods of eating and fasting – it doesn’t say anything about which foods to eat but when to eat.
There are lots of different methods of intermittent fasting, all of which split the day or week into eating periods and fasting periods.
Tegan says losing weight has made her a stronger and braver person but says the hardest thing about her transformation has been fighting of negative thoughts inside her head- she shared her words of advice to others and is currently training to take part in a bikini competition next year.
“The hardest thing is my mind. It tries to tell me that it isn’t worth it, that I can’t do it, that I would rather eat a pint of ice cream, that I still look big. I constantly have to fight off negative feelings,” she explained.
“I’m so damn proud of my body now that it’s hard not to radiate and stand proud.
“When people see how much weight I’ve lost I get everything from, ‘what drugs did you do?’ to ‘can you help me?’, obviously I prefer the latter.
“If you want to lose weight but don’t know where to begin, just start. Educate yourself and know that the payoff is worth the work.”
For more information see www.instagram.com/foxyfunk5/
