.gif)
Coming up, I went through and awkward stage, then I began to appreciate my looks, but deep down inside, there was still some level of insecurity about the way I looked. At 16 years old, I wore a pair of shorts after getting off from work at my first job McDonald's. I thought I looked good in them but one of my co-workers thought otherwise. "I thought you had a banging body, but when I saw you in those shorts, I changed my mind." That crushed my confidence so much that I haven't worn shorts in public in 10 years. After my first semester at Delaware State University, I was riding SEPTA and saw a guy I was crushing on in high school. We conversed for a bit on the bus until he said "Tia in high school you were the truth, but now I don't know." Again talk about a blow to my confidence. I was about 150 lbs during my senior year of high school, once I discovered how nasty the food was in Conrad cafeteria, I lost 25 pounds in one semester, the smallest I had ever been since junior high school. Throughout undergrad, my weight began to fluctuate while I still had that nagging insecurity worrying about my weight, and the physical changes happening to my body. Once I settled into a serious relationship, I began to become content with the way I looked. Then from March 2009, I began to experience a lot of stress, worry, doubt and personals struggles, that made me pack on the pounds. Although I wasn't eating everything in site, my inactivity from lack of exercise contributed to it. i began to have some physical problems, and took a look in the mirror and didn't like what I saw. After looking for a dress for homecoming and realizing that some manufacturers purposely make hideous clothes for "plus size women" and looking at pictures from my family reunion, I knew that enough was enough, I had to lose weight. A friend of ours told us about the HCG Diet where you can only consume 500 calories a day. It sounds risky, but my friend saw positive results. The diet consisted of one Grisini breadstick or one piece of melba toast, greens, spinach, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, 3 oz portions of either chicken breast, crab, lobster, shrimp, fresh white fish, or lean beef, no sugar, no dairy, tea, coffee or water for breakfast, and apple, orange, or half a grapefruit, and 10-15 HCG drops three times a day, a half hour before each meal. So for the next month I will be on a diet. Starting yesterday September 6, I weighed in at 201.5 lbs. I will weigh myself every week and take pictures of my process. I'm determined to live a healthier lifestyle to not concern myself with other people's perception of me, but it ultimately do what's best for me. Stay tuned folks
Monday September 13, 2010
Okay, so this technically would've been the first week since I've been on the diet, but the temptation of desserts and my cousin's end of the summer cookout was too much for me to handle. By Saturday I was cranky, hungry and had a headache, which ironically are some "symptoms" of the diet. When discussing the diet with my family and friends they said it sounds like a plan, but when I said I could only consume 500 calories a day, they looked at me like I had two heads. Long story short, I broke and ate more real food. The drops takes a total of three days to be flushed out of my system, and after doing further research on diets, that one in particular wasn't the right one for me for two reasons: one it's dangerous to only consume that little bit of calories a day, second, for the "seven pounds" that I lost were all fluids...I actually only lost one pound. Talk about disappointing. I did my research on other diets that would not deprive me of food, and have now narrowed it down to three choices: Weight Watchers, The Fat Smash Diet, healthier foods with smaller portions 4-6 times a day with an exercise regiment. Once I've made a decision, I'll continue to update. Stay tuned.
January 18, 2011
It's a new year, and my boyfriend and myself have decided to either cut back on certain foods or cut certain foods out of our diets altogether. Before the end of 2010, I decided not to eat pork anymore. This wasn't hard for me to do since I've only eaten pork for five years. The beginning of this year, I've also decided to cut beef out of my diet, cut back on fried foods, eat more fruit, drink more water and natural fruit juices, take my vitamins regularly and eat almonds. I read almonds are healthy for your skin if eaten in moderation. I haven't developed an exercise regiment as of yet; however, I do praise dancing in church every Sunday and I just started pole dancing lessons last week, which requires great upper body strength, tight abs and strong legs. I decided on a whim to step on the scale to see if I gained weight over the holiday season. When I stepped on the scale I was surprised to see my weight at 185.5, I lost about 15 pounds. I don't know exactly how it happened, but I hope to continue to lose weight and inches for a healthier me.
