The Ultimate Yoga Bootcamp: How I Lost 30% of My Weight and Transformed My Body

It was a warm Greek summer evening, and I was admiring myself in the hotel room mirror. My turquoise dress with spaghetti straps fit tightly around my curvy figure. Although I hadn't felt comfortable in my own skin for a while, I thought I could get away with it.

A Photo of me Before and After my Yoga Bootcamp Weight Loss Transformation in 2017

From Flab to Fab, My Yoga Bootcamp Journey

In the lobby, I asked my son to take a photo of us. That was a mistake. On the iPhone screen, a completely different woman stared back at me - one with a bloated round face and a double chin. The fat bulges under her arms spilled over the edge of the dress, and her calves looked pigs feet in the high-heeled sandals. I stared at the photo in near panic. How had I let it get this far? Especially since I had lost weight drastically eight years earlier. I was back to square one and exclaimed, "I need to lose 14 kilos, and I'm starting my own boot camp tomorrow!"

The entire winter season before, I had followed the TV program "Obese," where extremely overweight people were put on a drastic diet and exercised daily by a personal trainer. I decided to be my own personal trainer. I had already studied healthy eating for years, but somehow, I couldn't establish a routine; I was too busy with my business, often came home late, and had no energy to cook something healthy. And exercising? There was no consistency in that either. You know the excuses.

Creating a Home Yoga Bootcamp: My Peronal How-to

However, inspired by the TV program and with my nose pressed against the harsh reality of my iPhone screen, I started my own personal training challenge - a yoga challenge. Every morning, I stood on my mat at 9:30 am. In addition, I trained in the early evening for the 10 km Bridge to Bridge run. I rediscovered my healthy eating habits, and when I crossed the finish line a month later, I had lost over 5 kilos. However, I wasn't convinced whether I had lost weight due to yoga, running, or the combination.

The proof came soon enough, as autumn arrived, and I still had to lose at least 5 kilos. But with the rain, I had no intention of going outside for a run. So, I decided to do only yoga. I lost another 4 kilos, and then it stagnated again - those eternal last 5 kilos. Should I just accept that I was older now? As a yogi, accept and be happy with who you are now. I couldn't. My reflection didn't match the image I had of myself in my head, and my clothes never fit quite right.

Staying Motivated and Being Surprised

A few years later, I managed to maintain my weight with an acceptable margin, and I discovered Ashtanga yoga, a traditional dynamic yoga style. The beauty of this series is that you can practice it independently at home whenever you want. I went to India, where I followed an intensive yoga teacher training, and although I had somewhat resigned myself to the fact that I would carry those extra 5 kilos on my hips and thighs for the rest of my life, they unexpectedly disappeared. Ashtanga has earned extra bonus points because I can maintain it by practicing almost daily at home. It costs me nothing extra, and I don't have to leave the house. It saves me oceans of time, and as an entrepreneur, I want to be efficient. My eating habits have changed drastically, and I'm significantly less stressed in my head.

And those 14 kilos? I've permanently lost 30% of my current weight.