Meet Reysa Macaraeg

We were lucky to catch up with Reysa Macaraeg recently and have shared our conversation below.

Reysa, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.

Growing up, I was the fat kid at school who escaped P.E. classes because that would mean my classmates would have to watch my whole body jiggle doing ab crunches. It was embarrassing, and at a very young age, I struggled a lot with my body image.

So combined with the lack of movement, eating in boredom & having asthma, this set me up to gain over 50 lbs at 19 years old.

I had zero confidence then. Heck, I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror. It was hard.

So in college, I decided I wasn’t going to be fat. I started working out. I cut out carbs. There were 2 years of my life when I did not eat carbs.

But before I knew it, I was gaining the weight back & forth, binge-eating, and developed massive fear of food. I still didn’t have the “confidence” I crave after all.

So l knew I had to do something different.

This was in 2016. And I knew this time I just wanted to be fit and healthy, without feeling like gaining 2 lbs is the end of the world. I also want to have a healthy relationship with food, meaning, no more binge-eating and finally utilizing it to actually nourish my body.

So then I studied all things about women’s metabolism, and learned how to track my Macros to sustain my fat loss long term while enjoying the foods that I actually love.

I have now went from size XXL to S and have a toned body. But more importantly, I’m healthy, not binge-eating and have control over food. This is how I built my confidence and I’m extremely grateful for everything I’ve learned.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

Hey, I’m Reysa!

At 19, I gained over 50 lbs and was size XXL.

Then in my 20’s I was miserably dieting and kept gaining the weight back. I felt like giving up and unsure of how to change my body.

Now I’m 32, enjoying 2,000+ calories at 16% BF, and feel more confident than l’ve ever felt in my entire life.

It’s not the numbers for me. It’s the peace of mind knowing that I’ll never gain the weight back and now I teach my students to do the same.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Looking back, the most impactful skills that really helped me lose the weight & keep it off are:

1. Learning how to track my food and learning the right Macros for my body to drop body fat & get toned

2. Shaping my body and creating a smaller waist “look” through Strength training.

3. Mastering my mindset which means learning how to be grateful no matter where I’m at in my journey and not taking a “high weigh-in” day personally but gather feedback from my body instead.

My best advice when you’re starting out is to not be afraid to be BAD at something new. You won’t track your food well at first. You will suck at lifting weights at first. And that’s ok. Keep practicing until you get better.

And never ever take failures as “personal attack”. The more I fail the more lessons I learned, which eventually helped me WIN in the end. And you will too!

Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?

You are a badass by Jen Sincero.

This was truly the book helped me believe in myself. I had zero self-confidence before. But this book helped me understand all of my underlying subconscious belief which were formed from childhood. My biggest takeaway from this book is to surround yourself with people who wants to live or are working for the life you want to live.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Reysa Macaraeg and Charles Reynolds

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