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.