Finding the Fit Girl Within...

I know she's in there, I just need to awaken her and bring her out to the forefront of my life! I wanted to start this blog as a way to document my own personal fitness and weight loss journey, but also as a way to encourage and support other women who are on a similar path.

I started my journey when I was just 7 years old. I was begging my dad to buy me a cute little bikini bathing suit for the summer, but he said, "no, you're too fat to wear that". I didn't know I was fat at the time (and really I wasn't), but it was quite the shock to a child to hear that kind of comment from my father. I did the next logical thing - I decided to become "un-fat". My seven year old self recognized that fat people must be fat because they eat alot. So I decided I would mostly stop eating. I stopped eating breakfast, I threw my lunches away when I got to school, and I picked at my dinners. I lost weight and made my stomach shrink. About a year later, my family found out what I was doing and made me stop - by forcing me to eat meals. I gained a lot of weight and stayed overweight until I was about 13, when the cycle started again.

Finally in high school, I had gained some independence and started making friends and building confidence. I started working out at the local YMCA, and spending my free time playing beach soccer, rock climbing and dancing. I felt so good and healthy. I lost weight, gained muscle tone, and suprised several of my peers at our graduation pool party - because I actually looked good!

In university, stress got to me. I broke up with my first boyfriend, and was too depressed to go to the gym. Slowly, the weight came back. I started to date another guy, but things didn't get better, because all we did was eat together! We would bake cookies, and eat them. We would go out to restaurants and ice cream places or stay in with hot fudge sundaes and popcorn! I gained a massive amount of weight before breaking up 6 months later.

Luckily, when I arrived back in school that fall, I was ready for action. I wasn't going to wallow in self pity. I started working out at the gym 1 or 2 hours a day, and taking 3 martial arts classes a week. In a few months, my ex-boyfriend's father barely recognized me! I was looking good (and healthy!). This time, it lasted only a year. I started dating another young man, similar to my last boyfriend, in that, mostly our activities centered around food somehow, and I didn't have as much time to be in the gym. I kept up with karate, but even that had slowed down, because I had night classes to take at university and couldn't take the karate classes as often as I wanted. I gained again. And I kept on gaining for 3 more years until I reached about 200lbs, my heaviest yet.

About a year and a half ago (JANUARY 2008), I was released from a very stressful job. I was relying on McDonalds to get me through most evenings because I was either too tired or too frustrated to cook dinner for myself. When I left that position, I weighed 88kgs (193.6lbs) and I was really unhappy with the way I looked.

I wanted to change that. I started looking after what I was eating. I started cooking more from scratch and relying less on take-out and convenience foods. In the first month, just with a few very simple changes, I weighed about 85.5 (188.1lbs). I stayed there until Fall 2008, when I joined CURVES near my home. I didn't always go very often, but by MARCH 2009 I was down to 80.5 kgs (177.1 lbs). I worked out hard and really watched my diet for the next 4-6 weeks and got down to 77kgs (169.4 lbs) with the help of Sparkpeople.com.


As of AUGUST 2009, my current weight is 73kgs (160.6lbs)

I have a goal weight of 58kgs (127.6lbs) to be reached through exercise and watching what I eat. I have recently joined a new karate class 3 times a week and I enjoy yoga at home.

I know there are women out there who are like me, so I hope to connect with them and support and encourage each other to be healthy, fit women!