Weight-Loss Story:
Suzanne Brown

Age 34, from London, Ontario

I can't tell you how happy I am to say that my diet program has been a
success. I've been a wreck for a long time, and my weight loss has brought
my back on track, and I'm ready to go on with my life once again. But I
want you to know how it all happened.

When I was growing up, I was an extremely happy and energetic kid. I was a
thin, cute, blond-haired and blue-eyed little girl. I was full of positive
energy and I was always active, doing one thing or another. I was very into
gymnastics when I was a child, and spent a lot of my free time doing that.
I went to championships every year, and did really well sometimes. As I got
older I got into more and more sports. My favourite one was soccer, and it
kept me in great shape because I was running around a huge field for hours
every day. I can't think of anything finer a child could be doing with
their time.

When I was in high school, I developed into an attractive young woman. In
addition to sports, I got into cheerleading, and had a natural talent for
it. I was like one of these stereotypical prom queen girls, I had it all.
But I didn't realize that it could all slip away if I wan't careful. I was
into partying, and I loved going out. It started interfering with my active
lifestyle. But I was at that age where I really wanted to outgrow my former
self. I saw all those sports as things that little girls do and wanted to
grow up. I know that's totally wrong, but that's the way I saw things. So
I kinda gave up on my healthy lifestyle, and spent all my free time partying
and stuff.

I eventually had to get a job, and this is where I made my biggest mistake.
I figured the easiest place to get a job would be a restaurant or something.
I got a job at a local Tim Horton's coffee shop, and that was the problem.
Don't get me wrong, it was a great job, and I was treated well. I made
great friends at work and had a lot of fun. The trouble was all the baked
goods around. Whenever I was hungry at work I could just grab a doughnut,
without a thought. I never really knew how much fat was in a doughnut... I
do now! I got lazy about bringing a lunch to work, and it was hard with all
that good food around. So my diet suffered terribly, and I didn't want to
admit it. After high school, I continued working at Tim Horton's, and after
2 years of working there I had gained more than 60 pounds. I continued to
wear lowrise jeans and belly shirts... but at this point I really had a
belly. I was in denial, I didn't want to believe it, but eventually I had
to face the truth - I was fat.

I started to believe it when I noticed I was getting a lot less attention
when I went out to the bars. My personality was still the same, but I
wasn't getting as many smiles. It sounds superficial, I know, but that kind
of thing is important to me. I could have become an alcoholic, that would
have been easy, but I didn't want to give up. I figured that since it only
took me 2 years to get fat, that it shouldn't take me more than two years to
slim down. I was determined, and that was my most important asset.

I continued working at Tim Horton's, because I didn't want to give up and
leave my friends. So, what I did was make sure that my coworkers kept a
watch on me - they wouldn't let me touch the food. They always asked to
make sure I had brought a healthy lunch to work. In fact, if I ever forgot,
my friends would give me food from their own lunches, just so I wouldn't be
tempted to grab a pastry. I didn't have any sports teams to join anymore,
but I still wanted to be active again. I started jogging around the
neighbourhood a few nights a week. I'm happy to say that it's been working
really well. It's only been 10 months since I changed my life, and I've
already lost 40 pounds! That's so much better than I had hoped to do. I'll
be back at my goal weight in no time! The answer was so simple:
determination and work.






Based on 24 votes, this diet story has an overall score of: 8.29

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10 - Motivational! 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 - Keep Trying

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Comments

(#1) Sam posted on Sep 09, 2004 (IP: 68.107.170.107)

Good job on maintaining your goal and keeping up the willpower. I worked at a convenience store for three years. I drank probably about 6 or 7 cokes a day, in addition to having chips and candy for lunch (or breakfast or dinner...or all three!!!) I thought that it was ok because I worked so hard and burned so many calories, but then I got a sit down, computer job, and still ate the same things. So congratulations and keep up the good work.

(#2) Anonymous posted on Aug 29, 2004 (IP: 216.209.137.136)

eekk i work at timmy's and i feel guilty just eating a tim bit, i've gain a pound and im freaking out...help me!!

(#3) Texas-Two-step posted on Sep 01, 2003 (IP: 66.69.225.125)

Congratulations on moving toward your goal! I have 15 to go... and I know it is going to take the same elements you have used: determination and hard work.