I tried Chloe Ting hourglass challenge as a plus-size woman (review+results)
As a person who enjoys her food a little bit too much, I must say that the idea of trying out an exercise, let alone an intense workout challenge sounded hysterical to me. Before starting, I took a sneak peek of all the exercises and I was like; NOPE. I refuse to do that. Like there’s no way I am going to be able to get my body in this position. But yet here..I..am, sweating my vagina out to “glow up in quarantine” and get rid of my muffin belly. Here’s what I’ve learned in those 25 days of hell.
WHO IS CHLOE TING?
For those who don’t know, Chloe Ting is a fitness YouTuber with over 11 MILLION subscribers. Her ‘GET ABS IN TWO WEEKS’ video has been viewed over 166 million times on Youtube. I personally chose to follow Chloe Ting’s workout routines, because she’s also one of the realist Youtubers. Unlike other influencers, Chloe Ting often talks about feeling bloated, dealing with having a sweet tooth, and has created an impeccable community of ladies who support one another in their journey to weight loss. It all sounds lovely until you actually start her workouts and you feel like you’ve entered hell.
DAY 1
I CRIED. I will never understand how people can do this for fun. Although the first day only consisted of two exercises (25 minutes) it was the most painful 25 minutes of my life (yes, I have not given birth) Despite this, I felt very motivated. I had my goal in mind of having the “perfect” hourglass body. But this didn’t last long because soon after…
DAY 4
I lost my motivation. My whole body was aching, this came with no surprise since I haven’t exercised in years. My formation was non-existent and I had to pause the video 600 times (no exaggeration-okay maybe slightly, like 12 times) to catch my breath. I was already thinking of giving up but I was determined to see that scale go down so I kept pushing myself and I am so glad that I did!
DAY 11
I was surprised. Chloe Ting included TWO videos that were the same! She wanted us to repeat the ‘HIP DIPS’ workout TWICE! HOW DARE IS SHE? At first, I was so confused. I thought maybe I am seeing double or there’s some sort of a glitch on her website but girls it turns out she fully intended for us to do 4 workout videos in one day. ON THIS DAY I BURIED MY GLUTES!!
WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE DOING THE HOURGLASS CHALLENGE?
The hourglass challenge consists of 8 different videos that rotate throughout the 25 days of the challenge. Each video is different from one another but there’s usually 3 sets,27 exercises, 30 seconds on, and 5–15 seconds off. I would highly recommend that you would take more frequent breaks and longer ones. Especially if you’re new to the fitness world. There’s nothing to be ashamed of, I know that when I first started I felt extremely insecure about having to stop and pause the videos mid-workout. I felt guilty for letting myself get so unfit to not be able to finish one exercise without feeling like I can’t breathe. But it’s okay, we all have to start from somewhere so just keep going! It will get better!
In terms of the exercises, some are very repetitive, the glute bridges exercise is used in almost every video of the hourglass challenge. Overall it’s Chloe Ting’s favorite exercise to grow your glutes so no wonder she made us repeat the workout, sometimes 4 times a day! I personally liked the fact that I was familiar with what I was doing, but my friends who also completed the challenge; felt bored (they were extremely fit — I wasn’t)
SHOULD I TRY THE HOURGLASS CHALLENGE BEFORE THE TWO WEEKS SHRED CHALLENGE?
I’ve done Chloe Ting 2 week Shred challenge after the hourglass challenge. Personally, I believe that if you’re trying to lose weight, focus on doing the two-week shred challenge first. It focuses more on intense cardio, but there are low impact exercises you can do to build up your strength. In comparison, the hourglass challenge focuses more on shaping your body to give you that hourglass figure. It has minimum cardio workouts included and more booty related exercises.
WHAT DID I EAT DURING THE HOURGLASS CHALLENGE?
We all heard that it’s 20% exercise and 80% of your diet that helps you lose weight. However, me being aware of my weak mindset of never being able to resist sugary gods-like sweets. I decided not to make too many changes all at once. I started with drinking a gallon of lemon water for a week. (see the video below for the full review) This helped me to reduce my hunger. I also halved my portions of my meals and used smaller plates (the starter plates) instead of the dinner plates for all of my meals. I decided to eat more often but with a smaller portion of food since this worked best for me the last time I tried to lose weight.
From day 16 onwards, I tried intermittent fasting to maximize my weight loss. I fast for 18 hours and I had a 6-hour open window where I was able to eat. This was the worst mistake that I had made during this challenge. As a night owl, I like to stay up until the early hours, writing and creating masterpieces (if I must say so) Hence, stopping consuming food at 8 pm was difficult for me. I was always hungry and I felt like I had no strength nor energy to work out the next day.
Not many people are aware of this but Chloe Ting has a lot of ‘What I eat in a day’ videos where she shares healthy but tasty recipes. I would highly recommend watching those if you lack ideas on what you can eat during the challenge.
THE RESULTS!!
I wish I could be like all the other girls who said that the challenge got easier for them overtime. Unfortunately, it did not get any easier for me. I filmed a BEFORE AND AFTER video showing you guys my results from the challenge. I didn’t measure myself but you can definitely see the difference from the footage in just 25 days!
To conclude, I am so happy with the results. This challenge was definitely a struggle but I am glad that I went for it and completed the whole program. I want to give special thanks to Chloe Ting for dedicating her time to creating a free workout program for all of us. Thank you, Chloe, for helping me to lose weight x
(I do not own the right to use all of the images, nor videos. The credit goes to Chloe ting. View her program at https://www.chloeting.com/program/