Meet Tricia!! 122 pounds gone!!!

I am happy to introduce my new blog friend Tricia!! I have visited her site many times to get inspiration, see what she’s up to, what exercises she is doing, etc… When I e-mailed her to ask if I could do a weight loss success story on her, she happily said “YES!” I think for so many people who are in weight loss mode (like me!) who have struggled in the past, or maybe yo-yo’d up and down many times (also like me!) I just want to ask as many people as possible, HOW DID YOU DO IT! I think a lot of people have the same questions. Most times we know what to eat, or how to exercise, but it never seems to pan out. Reading about Tricia and all of the other people I have profiled gives you a glimpse of what they went through and maybe something Tricia says will resonate with you and start you on a healthier way of life.

Thanks again for your honesty and answering my questions!

Here is Tricia before:

And Tricia after!!! What a difference!! You don’t even look like the same person!

1. What was your AHA moment when you knew you had to take charge of your weight/health?

I don’t have one specific moment. It was several things all added together that finally made me say, “Its now or never”. I was miserable with myself, and those feelings led me to cut off my friends and family. I knew what I was doing, but didn’t know how to stop it. It also became apparent that I was no longer going to be able to keep up with my toddler. I was simply too out of shape. I knew he deserved a mother who was healthy and happy. And finally I went to the doctor, got on the scale and saw 278. Then he took my blood pressure and told me I needed medication. I was only 26. I didn’t want to start on medications at such a young age so I asked the doctor to give me 3 months to lower my blood pressure through weight loss. I was determined to start taking care of myself and it worked! Here I am just over a year later and I weigh 155 pounds (I’m 5’8″). The doctor may have doubted me, but I succeeded.

2. How long did it take you to lose the weight?

My initial goal was to lose 100 pounds. I did that at the 8 month, 3 week mark. I was amazed how quickly it came off. I lost an additional 20 pounds over the following few months bringing me to 120 pounds at my 1 year anniversary mark in January. Since then a few more pounds have come off, but I’m no longer focusing on losing weight. Instead I am simply focusing on living healthy.

3. What kind of obstacles did you have along the way, did you ever want to quit??

This is probably going to sound unbelievable, but I would have to say that losing the weight wasn’t the hard part. Making the initial decision to DO IT was the hard part, after that it was simple. The only obstacle I truly faced was that initial decision. I had to love myself enough to take those first steps. January 5, 2009 is what I refer to as “the day I saved my life”. I knew each step was bringing me one step closer to a new “healthy me”.

I know people WANT to hear that it was hard, that I struggled, that I “fell off the wagon”. That may make me more relatable, but it wouldn’t be true. No, I never wanted to quit. Looking back there’s not a single thing I would change about how I ate or worked out along the way. There was no wasted time or mistakes. Sure I would occasionally eat bad but those times were few and quite frankly that’s just part of life. I think what has made me so successful is that I never looked at an overindulgence as a mistake. I just moved on from there and looked at the next meal as an opportunity to eat right. And that’s what counts, moving on. Because in the large scale of things a few overindulgence’s mean nothing.

4. What kind of program did you follow, or did you do your own thing?

Throughout the years I tried everything under the sun to lose weight. This time had to be different. I wasn’t going to pay someone else to do the work for me. I knew how to lose weight all along, but this was the first time I had the strength to actually do it. So when people ask me how to lose weight I always answer, ” Eat less and move more.” Obviously that’s the simplified version of what I did, but it works. I try to eat whole grains, fresh veggies, fruits and occasionally fish. But I believe most foods are ok in moderation so along the way if I wanted pizza I would have it but in an appropriate portion.

5. What did you used to eat when you were at your heaviest, what was a typical day of eating?

Goodness, this is pretty embarrassing. I’d love to just answer, “Large quantities of bad food.” But I’m guessing everyone wants to hear gory details so I’ll play along. 🙂 With the exception of fish, I don’t eat meat so my diet consisted mainly of carbs. Breakfast was usually 4 pieces of buttered toast with a huge bowl of cereal. Lunch would be a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches, snacks throughout the day would be whatever junk food was in the cabinet. Dinner was often a box of Pasta Roni and several pieces of Texas Toast. And I baked often so that meant lots of cake and cookies. Its no wonder I was obese.

6. What kinds of things do you eat now? What’s a typical day like, do you stay at a certain calorie range?

When I first started losing weight I was eating between 1200-1500 calories a day depending on how much I was working out. Once I started running long distances I had to add extra healthy calories. Now I eat fruit and a whole wheat bagel with laughing cow cheese for breakfast, snack on nuts and fruits throughout the day, lunch may be a black bean burger with steamed veggies, dinner is grilled shrimp, a baked sweet potato and baked squash and zucchini. But like I mentioned before, there are days when I may want pizza. And I’ll have it, but just one serving and I balance the rest of the day around that.

7. Did you exercise during your weight loss? Did you exercise right away, or wait until you lost some weight to get started?

I started exercising right away. I made a deal with myself to work out and eat right for 21 days straight. I was hoping it would make it a “habit” and it did! I started out by having a hard time walking a mile but I just kept going. Within the first three weeks my fitness level had increased to the point that I was able to walk 6-10 miles every single day. Other than walking I used the elliptical, played tennis and did workout dvds. Eventually the walking turned into running and that is now my main form of exercise.

8. What are some tips you’ve learned along the way?

I think setting mini-goals for yourself is important. Look at each meal as an opportunity to eat healthy. Taking it one meal at a time makes it much more manageable. The same thing goes for working out. Just take it one day at a time so you don’t get overwhelmed.

If you slip up and overindulge don’t beat yourself up about it. Too often we get so down on ourselves that we feel like that one mistake negates all the healthy things we have done. That leads to people wanting to quit. Instead just use the next meal as a chance to eat right.

And finally I would say that one “tip” I still use is to get up and brush my teeth immediately after each meal. Having fresh breath keeps me from wanting to snack in the evenings.

Please visit her site often!!!! Here is the link below:
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Tricia’s blog

TO VIEW MY OTHER SUCCESS STORIES OF DIANE, KEITH, JEN AND SHELLEY, CLICK ON THE TAB AT THE TOP OF MY PAGE THAT SAYS “WEIGHT LOSS SUCCESS STORIES”