KINGWOOD, Texas ā Losing weight after giving birth is never easy. But what a Kingwood mom did after giving birth to twins is simply inspiring.
Not only did she lose the weight, she finished in the Top 5 of a national competition.
After the birth of her 22 month-old twins, Jennifer Ackerman lost 100 pounds. As if that's not enough, she went on to complete another one of her fitness goals.
You can see the difference in Ackerman's before and after photos for the Lifetime Fitness Challenge. Her body fat loss was amazing; she lost more body fat than anyone else in the competition.
"Almost 20 percent body fat. At the end, their scale measured me at three percent body fat," Ackerman told Local 2.
So how did she do it?
"I always did a ton of cardio and resistance training, but added really monitoring nutrition and diet, eating clean, eating every three hours and watching my macro nutrients," said Ackerman.
She signed up for the fitness contest on a whim at her local Lifetime Fitness. Before starting the challenge, Ackerman had already lost 100 pounds after having her twins.
"I increased my protein to 40 percent and my carbs I cut down to 40 percent and my healthy fats to 20 percent, with a 30 percent deficient in calories," she said.
To take her progress to the next level, Ackerman started doing 2-4 hours of cardio a day and resistance training four days a week for 90 days and closely watched her diet.
"It was a non-stop process throughout the day. I'd be standing making breakfast and doing squats," Ackerman said.
She admits she's super competitive.
"There's no quick fix, there's no magic pill, there's no easy way, you don't put it on overnight, you don't take it off overnight; you have to be consistent and dedicated," she said.
Ackerman has learned if you want extreme results you have to take extreme action. But you can't push your body too hard and not eat anything. She says don't be afraid to push yourself.
"You make time for what's important," said Ackerman. "I lost the 80 pounds by putting them in the stroller and running around the block. You make time for what's important to you."
She says right after the end of the fitness challenge she decided three percent body fat was too little, so since then she's gotten what she calls a healthier percentage.
One more point Ackerman wanted to pass along, while exercise is very important, she says 80 percent of a weight loss plan is related to what you eat.