Introducing Tuesday Transformations Series! Tammy Loses 110 lbs/50 kgs

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Over the coming months I’ve got a new feature to introduce to you. It’s the Tuesday Transformations Series!

These are stories from real people who are making real changes in their lives and are willing to share their stories with you. These stories predominantly come from readers and subscribers of the Good Food Eating Community.

Not a subscriber yet? Click here to subscribe now

I thought a series like this would be a great way to let you connect with other people who are part of the Good Food Eating community. It’s also a great way to find motivation and a great way to know you’re not alone on this journey of change.

Coming up in this series

Today we’ve got an amazingly inspirational story and coming up we’ve got:

• Marge who has lost 212 lbs/ 96.4 kgs
• Inspirational tips from Karen who has lost 30kgs/66lbs so far this year
• Lorna who has lost 50 lbs/22.7 kg so far and is still on her journey to lose another 50
• We’ve got an inspiring story of recovery using essential oils
• And much more

You’ll see that people use different dietary strategies, different mindset techniques, different motivational strategies, and during this series we’ll get to share them and pick them apart so we can all find ways to improve our own results

Have you got a story you’d like to share?

Click here to let me know and I’ll give you the details of what to send in.

Now let’s share the first amazing transformational story.

Tammy Loses 110lbs/50kgs

I was over talking to my friends on Facebook sometime back and I posted a quote saying “Finish what you started”, This is one of the replies I got:

So I invited Tammy to share her wonderfully inspiring story.

Tammy’s Story

Before I started my lifestyle change I was in bad shape, my cholesterol was high and the doctor wanted me to go on meds. In fact I went a whole year with high cholesterol, talk about being a walking heart attack victim.  I told him that I would start eating well and exercising but it still took me a while to get started, like a year!

The initial inspiration

I started to get inspired when my sister and my nephew TJ started crossfit. Listening to them talk of the workouts were pretty interesting and kind of annoying all at the same time. TJ would always say ‘I missed you at crossfit today aunt Tamo’. That is all he would say and he would say that every time he saw me. I got to thinking that if TJ the computer kid actually liked working out then this has got to be some great thing for he was not an athlete type of guy.

The will to change

So on December 1st 2010 I made a promise with myself that next year was my year to get in to shape and lose weight. This promise I made consisted of these items:

1. No more soda – I was a diet coke queen. I drank at least 6 /20oz diet cokes a day 7 days a week

2. No more fried food of any sort

3. No more sweets – I was running to the bakery everyday to get a maple bar

4. I was to Join Crossfit and do this at least 3 days a week if not more – I told myself that if my sister who was 6 years older than me can do this, then so can I, for I was the athletic one in my family and I knew I wanted and needed to get that athletic ability back. I played 4 years of high school basketball and wanted to be able to play ball again.

5. Drink more water

And so it began

My journey started January 3rd 2011. After that first night of doing the newbie workout at crossfit, I went home so sore and I woke up the next morning and could hardly even move. I was so sore that I told myself I would rather be fat and unhappy and not sore at all. I told myself ‘I am not going anymore’, trying to talk myself out of it. Ha ha yea…I ended going back the next night and the next night and finally got my body un-stiff from doing the newbie thing. I didn’t give up, I kept on going!

The weigh in

I didn’t have scale at home so I had no idea how much I weighed. So I waited 2 weeks into my crossfit journey and got to know Phil (one of the trainers) and I asked him if I could weigh myself. Jan 15th I weighed in at 242.8 lbs (110.4kg)! I knew I was big but not that big so I thought ‘holy cow’ I’ve got some serious work to do. This was my true wake up call, I knew that I could do this, this was my time to take care of myself, it was time I moved myself to the top of my priority list.

I cannot describe how hard it was, I would get winded just from going up and down the stairs from doing laundry and I hated to walk anywhere for it was just too much for me to do. But I was determined. I even ran my first 5 k when I still weighed over 200 lbs! What a feeling that was to be able to do that!

Changes start occurring

I had been going to crossfit for little over a month when I went to the doctor again. I had been losing about 2lbs a week, and I was very excited to see what my numbers were on my cholesterol and see my doctors reaction was when he saw that I have lost some weight. My cholesterol had dropped to 2pts below the high mark and I had dropped 10lbs. I told him what I had been doing and how I was eating and he said I was doing a great job and to keep doing what I was doing.

My diet

In the beginning I talked to my neighbor about her diet and decided to do the same thing she was doing and that is, eat about 1600 calories a day. That would make my 3 meals at least 400 calories each and 2 snacks would be 200 calories each. I journaled everything I eat, how many calories and how much water I was drinking a day. I also journaled the work outs and my time on them.

From hearing Phil (my crossfit trainer) talking about the paleo diet I knew this was what I need to do to continue my weight loss and get to the goal I wanted to achieve. I knew it would also help me maintain my weight once I got to my goal. So I started with a Whole 30 challenge for 30 days and we had our body fat measured before and after the challenge. My numbers on my body fat dropped tremendously and I even continued to lose weight without even having to count my calorie intake. I am currently 100% paleo now and I have 1 ‘cheat’ meal a week. I have been really lazy on the journaling since I am on paleo. I don’t have to count my calorie intake anymore which is a great thing.

My whole relationship to food has changed. I can buy chips, snacks, for my husband to eat and I have no desire to eat any of it. I can walk by the bakery and know that I don’t have to have that maple bar any more. It feels great to know that I am in control of my body once again.

The weight loss

I’ve lost 110 pounds (50 kilos) and have gone from a size 44 in men’s size levi’s to a size 33 and from a 3 x in womens shirt size to a medium.  I’ve gone from a size 24 in pants to a size 10.

 

 Words Of Wisdom

It feels great to be healthy and I hope my kids will take heed in what I am doing. Too bad it took me until now to realize that I needed to do something with myself. I should have been taking care of myself when my kids were young but as a mother we put ourselves on the back burner and put our family first. Little did I know that I was hurting my family more than I was hurting myself by not taking care of me. It is okay to take an hour or so out of your day and tell your family ‘not right now it is my time to take care me’. You have to do it so that you will be able to take care of your family.

Here are couple of quotes that I live by:

“In running, it doesn’t matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say, ‘I
have finished.’ There is a lot of satisfaction in that.” – Fred Lebow

“The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination.” – Tommy Lasorda

This last quote is very important to me because the last 6 months of my journey became nothing but, yes I will say, Hell! I had a stress fracture and an injury during that time but I kept pushing through as best as I could. Sure it slowed me down and I could have thrown in the towel and called it quits with my injury and pain. But my determination kept me going and that made it possible for me to keep losing weight and inches so that I could fulfill my dream goal!

THE END.

WOW…What an inspiring story! Thanks for sharing that with us Tammy, we really appreciate it!

There are some wonderful golden nuggets in there to take away, so I hope you are feeling inspired to take your journey up a notch, or even just to get started. As Tammy says: “I love sharing my story to show other overweight people that they can lose the weight if they really want it”. And you can!

For now, please share your support and leave your comments below

 

Coming up in Tuesday Transformations

We’ve got Marge who has lost 212 lbs/ 96.4 kgs
We’ve got inspirational tips from Karen who has lost 30kgs/66lbs so far this year
Lorna who has lost 50 lbs/22.7 kg so far and is still on her journey to lose another 50
We’ve got an inspiring story of recovery using essential oils

And much more

Have you got a story? Be sure to click here to get in touch

P.S. Make sure you leave your comments and share your support and thoughts about Tammy’s story. What did you find most inspiring? What did you learn out of reading it?

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