By Liana Jacob
MEET the stunning Aussie who has gone from flat to bodybuilding beauty and has now obtained more than 38K followers on Instagram.
Business owner and photographer, Lauren Jones (24), from Port Hedland, Western Australia, had a sporty upbringing as a dancer and netball player. While she has always exhibited a slender physique, Lauren never felt satisfied with her body and wanted to build it up.
With a slim figure of 8st 14Ibs and overloading on food with high carbohydrates, Lauren decided to change up her diet and exercise routine that saw her put on nearly a stone of muscle in a year. She is now 9st 8Ibs and reveals a much curvier shape with a visible six-pack.
“I think there’s always something my figure as a human being that I’m unhappy about, even if it’s something small,” she said.
“But I don’t think that’s completely a bad thing, it just means that I’m constantly in a battle with myself; setting new challenges to improve myself to achieve a bigger and better me. I wasn’t completely in love with my figure.
“Given that we live in an age where we live and breathe social media, we are exposed to a lot more in the world; one being others that are heavily into their health and fitness.
“I always felt a big influence that led me to make this change are from those that I have followed and admired on social media.
“I also felt like I was going nowhere with all the hard work and effort I was putting on my body, so there was nothing to lose by changing my diet and sticking to a twelve-week challenge, which has now completely changed my life.
“The biggest result came from diet, I never really understood portion size until now; I would practically eat the same size meal as my partner every night and given that I am a fast eater, that didn’t really help me either.
“I also changed my exercise routine slightly, added a small amount of cardio and added an extra glute session day a week. I now do glutes every second day, three times a week with a two-day break after the third session.
“I definitely understand what kind of food I’m putting into my body more now and I make smarter choices with the food I buy.
“Whenever I grocery shop and I buy a new item, I will always compare the nutritional value on the back of the items, while before this, I would buy whatever was on offer.
“I am so much happier now, but like I said, there is always room for improvement. I also feel better from the inside and my energy levels have increased.
“The moments I eat something bad, I notice the affect it puts on my body and I’m often left feeling sluggish.
“I now add more cardio and change or add different glute exercises, targeting and activating my glutes properly.
“Mind muscle connection is huge and finally becoming more of a hot topic. I used to train my lower body but always ended up using my quads rather than my glutes, so I struggled to build up my glutes for years.
“My diet has changed completely, I wouldn’t say I measure or weigh my food anymore but because I’ve done that in the past, I know roughly how much of certain food I should consume.
“For example, for dinner, I know how much chicken I should be eating, so I add the right amount to my plate – roughly one-hundred grams. I used to eat much more than this before.”
Lauren said that finding the right balance for her body was the hardest part of the process and that completely cutting out fat from her diet wasn’t healthy.
“When I did the twelve-week challenge, I cut back on so much body fat that my period stopped for a while,” she said.
“I like to make others aware, so I’m usually quite open about this. Sometimes cutting back on a lot of far isn’t entirely healthy for us and that’s why I really believe in balance.
“It took about six-months before I got a period again, so personally finding balance was the hardest part during the process but my health is more important that being as lean as I was.
“One girl in particular sent me a message saying how much of an inspiration I am to her that she ended up losing four-stone ten pounds herself and I think that alone says enough.
“I really do get so many amazing comments from women all over the world and it makes me happy that I am making an impact on them without realising it.
“You have to understand your progress will always be slightly different to someone else’s and we all have a different starting point.
“Get to know your body, try out different food and push yourself to your limit. You know your body better than anyone else.”
For more information visit: https://www.instagram.com/elljay12/
