- Brenda Alarcon, 19, from California, opened up about her weight loss on TikTok
- She weighed 230 pounds and was pre-diabetic when she started her journey
- Brenda shared how she lost 40 pounds in four months in a now-viral video
A college student has detailed how she lost 40 pounds in just four months without sacrificing her favorite foods.
Brenda Alarcon, 19, from California, has been opening up about her weight-loss journey on TikTok, where she has nearly 20,000 followers.
The content creator, who uses the handle @brenda.lizard, weighed 230 pounds and was pre-diabetic when she overhauled her diet and fitness routine earlier this year.
‘I lost close to 40 pounds in four months,’ she shared in a recent video. ‘I do want to start by saying I’m not a professional. This is just what I did and what worked for me.’
Brenda, who now weighs 190 pounds, explained that she changed her lifestyle for health reasons and ‘still has a long way to go.’
In January, she got a breast reduction and found out that she was pre-diabetic after having blood work done.
She noted that she couldn’t exercise or lift anything over 15 pounds for two months after her surgery, so she focused on her diet instead.
Instead of following a restrictive eating plan such as the keto diet, she began eating in a calorie deficit.
Brenda said she simply found a calorie calculator on Caluculator.net and plugged in her age (18), height (5’4″), and starting weight (230 pounds) at the time.
She was also asked about her activity level, which was minimal at the time because of her post-surgery recovery.
The calculator told her that she needed to eat 1,670 calories per day to meet her goal of losing one pound a week.
‘I was losing the weight — and just by my diet,’ she said.
Brenda then broke down her daily meals, sharing that she would have overnight oats or a spinach omelet for breakfast. For lunch, she would eat tuna salad, chicken wraps, or salad topped with chicken and a side.
She started getting low-fat versions of sour cream, yogurt, cream cheese, and cottage cheese, as well as thinly sliced bread, bagels, and English muffins to reduce her calorie intake.
‘I’m personally not a picky eater, so I don’t care what I eat,’ she admitted. ‘It might be different for other people. I love cottage cheese, and cottage cheese is what’s gotten me through a lot.’
Brenda stressed that she was still able to eat whatever she wanted within moderation while losing weight, insisting she doesn’t have vegetables all of the time.
‘If I were to go to Wingstop, I would still mess up some wings, but instead of getting regular fries, I would get sweet potato fries. If I went to In-N-Out, I would still get a double-double [burger], but I’d get it lettuce-wrapped,’ she explained.
‘I would eat what I wanted. Like I’m being so serious. I never felt miserable throughout this whole entire process just because I would eat what I wanted.’
Brenda said she saw ‘the most weight loss’ when she was fully recovered from her surgery and able to incorporate cardio into her routine.
As a self-described ‘early bird,’ she would wake up between 6am and 8am and go for a run, jog, or hike — sometimes with her dog.
She also got a membership to LA Fitness, where she would use the treadmill and StairMaster, one of her favorite machines.
In a follow-up video, she shared screenshots of the weight-lifting workouts she now does in addition to cardio.
Brenda noted that she usually does as many reps as she can and alternates which parts of the body she is working on.
She admitted that she used to be ‘terrified’ to go to the dumbbell area at her gym because everyone was ‘so muscular.’
‘One day, I was like, “Screw it, I’m just gonna go,”‘ she recalled. ‘Honestly, I got over my fear really quick because I noticed that you aren’t the only one who doesn’t know what you’re doing.’
Brenda said she would put her headphones on and watch weight-lifting tutorials on her phone without shame.
‘Get over your fear. It’s going to feel so great when you’re in the gym just lifting weights, doing your own little workout with your music playing, or podcast, or whatever. People are nice at the gym, like seriously,’ she concluded.
Brenda’s original video has been viewed more than 1.2 million times and has received hundreds of comments since it was posted on July 17.
‘I can definitely 2nd this! I lost 120 pounds in a year doing this!!’ one person shared.
‘It’s honestly so easy,’ another agreed. ‘I thought it was so hard to lose weight. And I started at 190 in March and I’m currently at 156.’
‘So inspired [and] feel like this is actually realistic,’ someone else replied. ‘I’ll be looking at all your videos for help.’