Meet the JoinCrave community members: Andreea O.

After moving to a new country, quitting her healthy habits, and gaining 20 kilos, a 32 years old woman rediscovers her path to a healthy lifestyle. 

It is easy to forget about your healthy lifestyle when your life situation changes! This is also the case of Andreea O. who moved to a new country four years ago and found out that maintaining her healthy lifestyle can be tough because food doesn’t taste as good as it used to at home and a gym for her workouts isn’t as available anymore.

From eating fresh foods from her parents’ farm, working out 5 days a week, and benefiting from massages in beauty salons, Andreea went to deep-fried foods and no movement. Later, she gained 20 kilos and realized it is high time she did something about this.

We talked to Andreea about her 5 months weight loss journey and how the JoinCrave mobile app and community helped her get back in shape and to a healthy lifestyle.

Fighting kilos since forever

I was a chubby child and teenager and the idea of dieting is not new to me. I have tried lots of diets along the way, from the so-called miraculous ones to low carb ones. In Romania, I lived in a busy city with endless possibilities when it comes to sports and lifestyle and then I moved abroad to quite a secluded but stunning area.

I went from 5 days a week in the gym and a high frequency to the beauty salon where I was getting electrostimulation, anticellulite massages, and other procedures to just going to work and making a hole in my couch. More than that, I gave up my healthier eating habits.

A different food culture affected habits

Firstly, because I couldn’t find vegetables, dairy products and meat that taste as good as the ones I was getting from my parents’ small farm and, secondly, because it was easier to just engorge on the local food of a country that has as a national dish fish and chips soaked in beef dripping, there was a dramatic eating habbit change.

A country that dips fry almost everything, even chocolate bars, and puts huge amounts of butter and sugar in almost every meal took its toll. Also, because I still had a waistline, I was considered the tiny one in the group of tall, solid friends, that encouraged me to eat more. This is my 4 years’ recipe to gaining almost 20 kilos.

Trust in yummdiet.com platform from the very beginning 

I knew about Cori for a very long time. I noticed her in 2010 at a TV show where she was one of the coaches helping overweight people to lose weight. I just liked her personality and her down to earth approach to dieting and sport. Since then I followed her on social media, so I was familiar with all her posts on Facebook about JoinCrave.

Probably the thing I liked most about Cori is that she didn’t create a myth of perfection for herself. She never posed in the kind of person that didn’t eat anything else but organic superfoods, and drank water from the fountain of youth, and breathed workouts as if there is nothing more joyful on the face of the Earth. She was always very genuine. She is relatable and … human. 

Lack of self-confidence and plans for a baby brought the need for a change

What determined me to make a change in my lifestyle is the fact that I didn’t feel beautiful and confident anymore. However, the most important reason was that me and my partner started to talk about having a baby in the next few years.

I knew I have to be healthy, have a good relationship with my body image and food to have a healthy baby and, later on, to be able to raise a child with a healthy body and a relaxed but healthy approach to meals. So, I pushed excuses aside and purchased the basic menu from yummdiet.com. My initial goal was to reach 65 kilos because I thought it impossible to go lower, but now I have 61 kilos. 

The journey to weight loss started spontaneously 

I remember I started the diet in the middle of the week, emotionally unprepared for what I was about to embark myself in. I knew I was overweight, but I didn’t know how bad it was as I refused to go on the scale for the past year and I was very rarely taking full-body pictures.

Realizing how much I weighted was a complete shock for me and the picture I sent to Cori was a wake-up call. I didn’t recognize myself! I was looking at that photo feeling disgusted because this is how we are taught in our society, we dislike fat, we fear fat, we think fat people are lazy. And there I was, a fat person.

Even now, seeing that picture of myself makes me feel uncomfortable but, at least, now I can look at it, and rather than body shame myself, I am trying to include it in a positive narrative. That picture is proof of my progress, it is my motivation for the future, to become a better version of myself each day, physically and emotionally. 

The sense of community and trust brought results in diets

Cori made a plan for me and Marina approached me with a few tips about the menu and, most importantly, she made me feel part of a group of friends where we weren’t competing with each other but supporting each other on our weight loss journey, sharing recipes, experiences and daily struggles or victories. 

I immediately started to follow the menu, the training routine, and drinking lots of water as I completely trusted Cori and her team. It wasn’t easy! I remember the first time I walked for half an hour: I thought I am going to die. The first Cardio Dance with Loredana was so difficult as I felt ridiculous to dance carrying all that extra kilos with me.

I continued and when I saw the results after 7 days of dieting, it made me see sports as an ally rather than an enemy. I also understood that diet food can taste good. I got used again to the natural textures and flavors of unprocessed food. 

yummdiet.com, a community that never lets you down

When I think about the JoinCrave community, I use the term “we” as you never feel alone on your quest, you benefit from the constant support of your diet coaches and the encouragements of the other girls who embarked on the same journey. The two coaches, Marina and Maria, answer all the questions, guide you, and lift you up on bad days.

Fast results with the right food and workouts

My body reacted very well to the diet and the training sessions and I started to see results from the first week. It’s important to be patient and kind to yourself. I could see an improvement in my appearance and my energy level kept rising from one week to the other. The stronger I got, the easier it became to do the training sessions.

Sticking to one coffee a day and exercising helped me sleep better. I remember I was getting happier, more energetic, and more confident in my body each week. The most important benefit was that this diet and the exercising routine solved my digestive problems. I suffered from constipation for a long time.

A new perspective on diets

I loved the yummdiet.com program from the start but I never expected that being on a diet means eating so much. My previous experiences with dieting meant reducing the meals, especially the intake of fruits and potatoes, bread, and pasta. I had a certain fear of carbs, I didn’t think that you could still enjoy a steak with roast potatoes and salad and still lose weight.

I never thought I will not feel hungry or crave sweets while dieting before I became a JoinCrave member. Always feeling full but still light after the meals, as the diet is made from easy to digest foods, made me trust this is not only a weight loss experience but it is going to become my healthy lifestyle from now on. Another thing that I never thought I will be able to do is exercising alone, but I did this too!

The most important lessons after using JoinCrave:

• Don’t feel guilt or shame after eating
• Don’t use exercising as a punishment for overeating
• Don’t look at food as a prize/reward after exercising
• Don’t turn the time spent with the loved ones into a food marathon
• Treat yourself with kindness and love your body the way it is
• Be patient because change doesn’t happen overnight 
• Don’t compare yourself with anyone on Instagram
• Try to be a better version of yourself
• Constant training at the right intensity is more important than pushing yourself hard
• Pay attention to your body

Why is JoinCrave a program for you to follow

I recommended the platform to my best friend and she is currently in the program. 

I am also recommending yummdiet.com to every woman who wants to learn how to take care of herself, how to love and respect her body, how to make working out part of her life without feeling it like a burden. 

JoinCrave is a diet and well-being mobile app where nutrition coaches are by your side every step of the way.