Get inspired by these Daily Burn success stories, which showcase real people who committed to fitness and saw results that were way beyond average.
When Randi Fields was 13 years old, she saved up all her money to buy a book about dieting. It promised to reveal the hidden secret that would finally allow her to shed pounds from her already-overweight frame. But the hidden “weight loss miracle” within its pages wasn’t quite what she expected. “All it did was tell me to imagine that my food had bugs in it!” she recalls.
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Growing up, Fields says nearly everyone in her family was large. “I don’t remember being very active other than when I was outside playing with my friends.” Though she was always heavy, it wasn’t until she became pregnant at age 18, that the number on the scale really began to escalate. “At that point, I was like, ‘This is a free-eating frenzy and I don’t have to feel guilty about it!’” Fields says of her pregnancy. By the time she graduated from high school, the 5’3” mom weighed around 250 pounds.
Taking Baby Steps with Daily Burn’s True Beginner
After the birth of her daughter, Fields tried Weight Watchers, and joined a gym, but didn’t see any success. “At that point, I didn’t realize that eating and exercise went hand in hand,” Fields says. “I thought that if I worked out I could eat whatever I wanted. But that’s not reality.”
Finally, after seeing pictures of herself on a cruise in March 2014, when she weighed 280 pounds, Fields felt inspired to make a change. Recalling a Daily Burn commercial she’d seen on her Roku, she figured signing up for a membership would be a good place to start.
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New to fitness, Fields signed up for Daily Burn’s True Beginner program. And that first workout wasn’t easy. “I remember I was so sore the next day I was like, ‘How am I going to do this?’ And then I just kept coming back,” Fields says. She lost a few pounds during her first few weeks, but realized she’d have to fix her eating habits if she wanted to see serious results on the scale.
Overcoming a Lifetime of Poor Eating
“My mental and emotional state has changed so much...As I progressed, I was happier and had a pep in my step.”
“Oh boy.” That’s how Fields describes the diet that led her to pack on pounds throughout her early 20s. Her favorite breakfast: Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal topped with chocolate milk, followed by a Caramel Mocha Coffee from McDonald’s on the way to work. After breakfast, she’d snack on cookies before eating pasta for lunch, she recalls. Then, she’d continue to graze between meals until going home for a dinner of mashed potatoes, stuffing and chicken. “If you let me have a little bit of cake, I’m going to eat the whole thing,’” she says.
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Knowing that portion control was not her strong point, Fields decided to adopt a low-carb diet that allowed her to eat unlimited portions of protein, cheese and vegetables. “At first it was a frenzy, I’d eat whatever eggs, meat, cheese and protein that I wanted,” she says. “But eventually I started watching calories a bit. I noticed if I ate too many calories, even if it wasn’t carbs, I wouldn’t lose.”
Fields continued to work her way through True Beginner and moved on to Cardio Sculpt, committing to 7:30 a.m. workouts nearly every day. “[Cardio Sculpt] workouts were harder. There were times I thought I’d never be able to do it, and I did have to modify a little, but I didn’t quit in the middle of a video. I was very determined,” she says. Her hard work started to pay off and by the end of June, she’d lost about 20 pounds.
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Learning How to Stay Accountable
With more than 100 pounds total to lose, Fields knew her weight loss mission would be a long haul. The hardest part: “Nobody joined me on this journey,” she says. That meant cooking two meals every night for her family of six: one for her husband and children, and a low-carb, portion-controlled version for herself. Her accountability partner was her food journal, which she started right after she decided to change her eating habits. When she wasn’t able to write down the foods she consumed, she’d take a picture of it. “That was very revealing,” she says. “You can say ‘I had a cup of macaroni and cheese,’ but, well, did you really have a cup or was it way more than that?”
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After Cardio Sculpt, Fields tackled Inferno and Black Fire, while also adding running to her routine. As the number on the scale continued to drop, muscles began to emerge thanks to the nine-pound and 15-pound weights she’d been training with. “I didn’t even know those muscles were under there,” Fields says. “People ask if I body-build or bench and I’m like, ‘No I’ve never benched anything!’ These muscles seriously came from Inferno and Black Fire.”
In May 2015, one year after she began her new fitness and nutrition regimen, Fields weighed in at a toned 150 — having lost a total of 130 pounds. “My mental and emotional state has changed so much. I was always angry. Little dumb things would make me mad. I was tired, I was blah,” Fields says. “But as I progressed, I was happier and had a pep in my step.”
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Now an avid runner, Fields completed her first half-marathon on September 13, 2015. And not only did she finish, but she placed first in her age group, making her the seventh female finisher overall. Someday, she hopes to run the famed Boston Marathon.
Slowly but surely, her family has also come around to her healthier habits. Her daughter completed a 5K race the same day she ran her half-marathon. “And we have salad with dinner every night,” Fields says.
While her journey was tough, she says showing up was half the battle. “Modify as you need to and just keep coming back,” she says. “Because if you just show up, that’s a step — and I don’t know anybody who can sit and watch a video and not do what they’re doing.”
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Note to reader: The content in this article relates to the core service offered by Daily Burn. In the interest of editorial disclosure and integrity, the reader should know that this site is owned and operated by Daily Burn. Daily Burn users who worked out for 30 minutes or more at least five times a week for 60 to 90 days reported an average weight loss of about one pound per week. For those seeking to lose weight, keep in mind that extreme weight loss can be harmful to your health if done improperly or too suddenly. Always talk to your doctor before beginning any exercise or weight loss program.
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