Hi!

I think it's about time that I do this once and for all! I've been meaning to put up a diary but haven't had much time. I think it'll help me stay motivated and help me share my story with everyone

First I'll start by sharing some information about myself. I'm 26 years old from Montreal, Quebec. I was always involved in sports when I was younger. I started playing basketball when I was 8 years old and joined a bowling junior league when I was 7. I played both sports until I was 17. I'm talking basketball 5 days a week through high school, training at 6am, games after school, and tournaments on weekends. Bowling every Saturday mornings at 9am, and tournaments that would last until 6pm. It was non stop and I loved it.

When I graduated high school, everything stopped. I no longer played basketball because I wasn't on a team anymore and I had graduated from the junior bowling league. It was an odd time, I had started to discover other things that I enjoyed more at the time.. I started partying more, drinking beer with friends, stayed out late nights, ate Burger King at 4am and went right to bed afterwards. Started dating at 18 and we would order food at all hours of the night, we'd stay up late eating a whole pizza or 12" subs to ourselves. We'd go out to dinner every night. It was out of control and as a result, we both blew up. I used to weigh 130 and I ballooned to 237within 4 years (I'm 5'5" by the way). We dated for 4 years and I felt comfortable with him and didn't really think much about my body and what had happened to me. When we stopped dating, it hit me. I finally looked in the mirror and didn't recognize the person staring back at me. I had always seen myself as 130 in my head. I had no idea how bad it had gotten!

So, here I am, a few years later. At the beginning of 2008 I was at my heaviest, a whopping 237. Since then I've lost almost 30 lbs! I started eating better, cut out a lot of junk and cut out carbs after 2pm. For supper I'd have lean protein and veggies. I think that's how I lost most of the weight. I didn't feel heavy after supper like I usually did and I had lots more energy.

Beginning of October I bought myself a treadmill. I've been using it Monday, Wednesday & Friday for 45 minutes a day. I do walking/jogging intervals. I'd love to be able to run for 30 minutes straight but I know that'll take a bit of practice and that's okay cause I'm gonna get there no matter what! Since I started in October, I can tell a huge difference in my endurance. I can run for about 5 minutes straight now (I know that may not seem like much but it's a huge accomplishment for me hehe) On my off days I try to do other things like walk the dog for an hour. It sometimes frustrates me to think I was able to run non stop playing basketball and I wouldn't even breathe hard. Oh how things have changed! hehe..

So anyways, this is my game plan. I'd like to get down to 130 again. Ideally, I'd love to be under 200 by latest February. About 170 by summer and 130 by next year this time.

I want to lose weight for my health. Obviously I'd like to look great too But it's mainly for my health.

My weakness is chocolate! I get horrible cravings.. and I do allow myself to have a "reward" meal every week on Friday. And I do have chocolate now and again cause I think I'd go insane if I cut it out completely. Besides that I think my eating habits are great. I don't drink any soft drinks (never really liked em all that much) No coffee, no chips, no candy.. I love fruits, veggies and over the past year yogurt has started to grow on me. I basically forced it down my throat cause I knew it would be good for me and now I look forward to it

So that's me in a nutshell! I look forward to any tips and suggestions anyone may have! I'll be putting up pics tonight when I get home.

Thanks!

-- Tamara

Yesterday one of our clients took us out for lunch and boy it didn't sit well with me! I had a baked potato and a smoked meat sandwich (God I have a weakness for smoked meat) Anyways, felt sick all day afterwards. Got home from work around 8pm and had a yogurt with two bread sticks. I really didn't feel like having supper since my stomach was doing flips. So I had something just to keep me going. I then had a green tea and went to bed around 11pm. Couldn't sleep until ~3am though. We were having a crazy windstorm here in Montreal. Our power went out for a while and the wind was making too much noise. I could hear garbage bins flying by outside my window.

Woke up this morning, dragged my tired ass outta bed and made myself one peanut butter toast with a banana and chocolate milk. Starting to get a little hungry now for lunch, probably going to have a chicken sandwich. My stomach is still a bit uneasy but feeling a lot better. No more smoked meat for me, at least for a while!!

hello hello

i was looking at yourphotos and there is huge difference., and you have a very similar body shape as i do. i lost 30 lbs, then gained most of it back and now i'm trying again. and the thing is i lost it on the same diet as you. hehe similarities

anyway just came on here to wish you good luck with your goals and to tell you keep it up, because you're doing it really really great
btw that dog of yours is just plain adorable

bestto you
Lena

Thanks for stopping by Lena! My dog is my baby! His name is Prince. We've had him since he was 2 months old (he's almost 4 yrs old now) and I just love him so much.

That must have been frustrating..having lost 30lbs and then gained it all back. If you did it once, you can do it again and then some!

I had gotten to the point where I had had ENOUGH.. I was fed up of falling of the wagon so I just told myself "That's it! I'm done!! This time is for real and I'm never going back to how I used to be!" And so far, it has worked. I've started to really love my body and I wouldn't dare put things into it that I did in the past. I used to smoke too and I quit that almost 4 years ago. I appreciate what my body does for me and I understand things a lot better so I have a new found respect for my body. I want to give back to it by becoming healthy again and staying that way for the rest of my life

yep i know exactly how you feel...it all went back with me because i was put in a situation where i couldn't cook for myself, i didn't have money or time for healthy foods or for gym for about 10 months and before i even realized it all came back...it wasn't so much the food either...it was alcohol. too much partying during those 10 months (i was in budapest doing my masters degree lol).
now i'm getting myself back to my old self

have a great day
Lena

Had my alarm set for 7:30 but just couldn't get outta bed. Tummy was hurting a bit and I was just exhausted. So I pushed it until 9:30 (hihi..oopsy!) and got on my treadmill for 45 minutes. It was hard today. My body was just NOT in the mood. After that I ate egg whites on whole wheat toast with a bit of mayo and a slice of cheese, a banana and a glass of chocolate milk.

For lunch I had some of that frozeb Lean Cuisine stuff that you throw in a pan for 7 minutes. It was chicken alfredo with veggies. I also had some celery, carrots and cucumbers with low fat onion dip and a babybel light cheese.

About 30 minutes ago I had a yummy McIntosh apple.

For supper tonight I'm not quite sure what to make. I'm due for a grocery and I'm pretty much out of all meat so maybe I'll pick something up.

As I type this I could feel parts of my body aching. Can't wait to hit my pillow!

Tamara--trust me, you can get back to that state easily with just being diligent about your workouts and eating well enough so as the weight drops off, you'll be lighter and putting less stress on your joints, etc. I never did sports although I was a very active kid, and I had asthma; I couldn't run a mile, straight, until I was 15 and then it was only one time. I started running and just being diligent and now I run races at about a 7 minute mile pace (well the last 10K I was going at 7:11 and it pissed me off and I'm still wondering how I got so slow recently). Anyway I'm saying EXCELLENT you can now run 5 minutes straight, and if you keep at it, who knows? Fitness is kind of a hobby for me, if you make it YOUR hobby you'll see yourself get to amazing health and will look amazing, too

Sorry you feel ill!

WOW nice pictures--good thing for you that you're so cute! Hope you feel better, take care,
~Valerie

Thanks for stopping by Curvie Girlie and thanks for the words of encouragement.

That's EXACTLY what I'm trying to do, make fitness a hobby. I love challenges so I'm always looking forward to reaching my next goal. I promised myself that no matter what, I WILL be back in shape and be able to play basketball and run 10k's like you!

That's incredible that you can do that!! I can't wait to get to that point. With my weight loss up to now, I can tell a difference in my endurance and my breathing and what my body is capable of.

Perfect, well, welcome to the Lifestyles of the Fit and Hyphy We look forward to having you in our community

Thank you!

Well, yesterday morning I had peanut butter on whole wheat toast with a banana and a glass of chocolate milk, for lunch I had half of a 12-grain bagel with 95% fat free cream cheese. Had veggies, fruits, yogurt, babybel cheese as snacks throughout the day. For supper I got a 12" grilled chicken sub from Subways and had half of it, will have the other half for lunch today. Also had my green tea, read a book and went to bed. Slept like a baby!

Woke up this morning and hopped on my treadmill for 45 minutes.. oh, but before that I had my weekly weigh-in and I was 206lbs! YAYYYYYY!!! I still get surprised when I lose weight and I keep saying "wow, it's ACTUALLY working!" hahah..

For breakfast I had two whole wheat slices of toast with egg whites, a slice of cheese and my chocolate milk as usual. I attempted to eat my banana but I have this thing with bananas that are too ripe. I like my bananas with a hint of green hehe.. If there are any dark spots, I have trouble eating it. I don't like the pasty feeling in my mouth. I had one bite and gave the rest to my boyfriend.

I have some X-mas shopping to do today (yes, I'm very last minute hehe) so that'll get me some more exercise for the day.

Thanks for reading guys and gals! I really appreciate it

HELL YES IT'S WORKING!!!!!!!!!

yea i'm the same about bananas...always buy them more green lol
awesome about the loss girl almost to ONEderland

great loss, well done, keep up the good effort

I know right!!! I was hoping to be in onederland latest February but it's gonna be sooner than that! YAY!

I was so excited when I weighed myself this morning that I ran back to my bedroom, jumped on the bed where my boyfriend was sleeping and said "Are u awake?!?! Wake up!! I just weighed myself!!" and when I told him, he was super happy. He's been calling me "my 206 pound girl" all day and telling me how proud he is of me.

I went shopping with my mom today, she treated me to some Tim Hortons, had a soup with a grilled chicken sandwich. Then for supper, I had my left over Subway sandwich.. and I just had a hot chocolate cause it's FREEEEEEZING in Montreal!! *BrRRrRrr!* I might be going out downtown for a friends birthday tonight but I'm starting to wonder if I really feel like venturing out in this windy, cold weather

I just wanna get into some comfy, fluffy pajamas and read a book under my bedcovers.. HIHIHI! I get giddy just THINKING about doin that! I'm currently reading World Without End by Ken Follett (after finishing Pillars of the Earth last week) and I'm super in it. You know when you can hardly put the book down at night? Your eyes are shutting on their own but you want to stay awake so bad just to read on? It's really good!

edit: Oh and for those of you that don't live up north, here's what we Montrealers are experiencing right now!

That's about -20 F for my fellow American neighbours.. C-C-CCCCOLD!!!

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