Personal Training

Special Guest Post-An Incredible Weight Loss Journey!

Posted on by Naomi

Hey lovers!
Today I have a special guest post today from a One Fit Foodie Reader, Diani, who emailed me and shared her amazing, inspiring and personal story with me. I had to share Diani’s experience with you all!
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First of all, I want to give a big “THANK YOU” to Naomi who has allowed me to be a guest blogger on her site and share my story.

I stumbled upon “One Fit Foodie’s” blog about a month ago and ever since then I’ve been hooked on her site. Thanks for all the great recipes and advice, it’s been a great big help. It’s also opened my eyes to the thousands of fitness blogs out there, coming from women who share a similar goal… to live a healthy and happy life. And that is where I come to play. For the first time in my life I am living a new life, happy and healthy.

Hello blog world, my name is Diani and I am a former junk food addict. Ever since I can remember I have always been overweight. My parents were healthy and thin when they were young but then after they had me, the weight and unhealthy eating habits just piled on and that’s what I learned. I came from the mindset of “clean your plate” instead of eating until you are satisfied. So these bad eating habits lead me to my heaviest weight of about 350lbs and a size 28 at 19 years of age. You have to understand that I was never a depressed fat girl, in fact, I was pretty popular in school and even joined sorority in college. So I guess since people accepted me for who I was I never really saw a problem with me being overweight. I always thought I was “healthy” since I played softball in high school then in college played intramural sports with my sorority. However, I would eat whatever I wanted and thought I would burn off the calories during practice and games. Yea, not reality. I always tried every “diet” known to man kind.. atkins, south beach, weight watchers, herba life, etc.. if it was a diet I was on it. I even went to see a doctor about gastric bypass and seriously considered it until I saw all the side affects and basically chickened out.

I decided that I wanted to lose the weight on my own, and I did. I lost 50lbs but then after a few months just didn’t give any more effort to losing weight and stayed at 300lbs for a while. It was my norm. I would lose 10-15 pounds and then gain it back. I was like this all through college. It wasn’t until April 2008 that I decided I needed to change my life ASAP. I was “happy” but not happy. There was something missing in my life. However, I knew if I was going to do it, I couldn’t do it on a “diet” because “diets” are temporary. This needed to be a lifestyle makeover. So I started doing eating what we know we should be eating (veggies, lean meats, etc.).

In the beginning I would eat all sorts of “sugar-free/fat-free” processed artificial diet foods just so I wouldn’t go cold turkey and quit. Before I would eat Taco Bell as my 4th meal no questions asked and now, I can’t even look at the stuff or would even think about eating McDonalds or BK or Wendys…gross! As the weight started coming off and I was getting used to this new way of eating I slowly started removing all the processed junk from my diets and exercising regularly. Oh and I did a lot of reading and research on nutrition and clean eating and found myself watching movies like “Food, Inc.” and reading Michael Pollan’s “The omnivores Dilemma.” Stuff like this really opens your eyes. I now try to eat as clean as possible. I read all the labels of the foods I purchase and if I am going out to eat I always try to do research on the restaurant beforehand just so I know what I they have to offer.

Another big change for me was learning to cook my own food. I used to go out to eat almost 5 days out of the week! I quickly realized that eating out was not only expensive but not always healthy. I was definitely the girl that had trouble making toast but now (with lots of trial and error), I find myself cooking everyday, whether it is something super simple like chicken and veggies or something new and fun from my clean eating cookbook like split pea soup. I enjoy cooking because it allows me to see exactly what I’m putting in my belly. Oh and a big shout out to all my oat loving friends out there! I Didn’t realize there were so many of us out there and I really enjoy reading all the new recipe ideas for oats…yum! So as you can see it’s the complete opposite of who I used to be but like I mentioned, it was a lifestyle change because my previous lifestyle didn’t do me any good.

It also helped that I was active when I was heavy. I just love sports and I love competition and I love the feeling of exercise…It’s in my blood. I am always looking for a new way to workout of how I can challenge myself at the gym and work up a sweat. I find myself at the gym at least 5 days out of the week changing it up between cardio and weights.

It’s been a long (almost 2 years now) and difficult journey. But has it been worth it? ABSOLUTELY! I am the healthiest Diani I have ever been in my life and I have a new found passion for fitness and health. At 145 pounds and a size 6 (can you believe it?) I finally feel like I can conquer anything. I want to encourage all of you out there struggling with your weight that it CAN be done! You CAN do it, just don’t give up! There would be days where I would want to throw in the towel and just go back to my “beer chugging, late night eating, cold stone’s addict” days but I would think of how hard I bust my fanny to get where I am and how many hours in the gym I had to put in and is a empty caloric treat with no nutritional value to my body worth it? NO WAY JOSE! As weird as it may sound, I find myself craving veggies now! Hope I didn’t blab too much but I’ve attached are some pictures so you can see the before and now. If you have any questions or would like to chat further you can reach me at diani.cristina@yahoo.com.

Never give up, the SKY IS THE LIMIT!

-Diani

Diani BEFORE
Diani BEFORE (on the right)
Diani after
Diani AFTER
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Thank you so much Diani, I know you have inspired so many people and will continue to do so with your amazing weight loss journey!

Naomi
Naomi

42 thoughts on “Special Guest Post-An Incredible Weight Loss Journey!”

  15. MelindaRD says:

    Congrats. You look great. Keep it up and keep on inspiring people. It is never easy to make such big changes, but once you start to feel better and know how healthy you are, you are more likely to stick with it.

  16. redhead75 says:

    Thanks for sharing! You look great and healthy! I can’t believe that is you in the green dress above. Nice transformation, just shows if you really want it it can happen.

  20. simplyshaka says:

    Inspiring story and keep up the great work! I’m the same way with fast food–before I started with a healthier life style it was a staple for me and now I may eat it once or twice a quarter so it’s funny how things change.

    Keep up the great work and love the dress in the last picture!!!

  23. RamblingBabushka says:

    Damn you remind me of myself so much! I was there once, got rid of the weight and kept if off for 4 years. Then “life happened” and half of what I lost initially crept back. (fun stuff) I’m once again working on getting it off and I’m over halfway there now. GO GO GO!

    Inspiring story!

  24. Kelly says:

    Wow Diani you look amazing!!! I love how you talked about how you can’t even think about fast food places anymore and before you wouldn’t think twice before eating it. I find the more I learn about healthy food vs…not, the more I don’t even want the unhealthy stuff. If only I could find a way to do that with ice cream haha

  25. goodtastehealthyme says:

    omg you look absolutely gorgeous! Congrats! I used to eat tons and tons of junk food too and didn’t even care about what I was eating. Now I read all labels and make sure I’m putting good stuff into my body.

  34. Mari says:

    This was an amazing post! I got chills reading it…I too was over weight and know the struggles of shedding it. and maintaining it!

    AMAZING DIANI…AMAZING!

  37. Gina says:

    What a fantastic story!! Thanks so much for sharing this with us. You are a true inspiration!! Keep up the great work. You look amazing.

  40. Tania Machicek says:

    I love you Diani!!!! You have come so far – truly an inspiration!!! Keep it up 🙂 you look beautiful!!  XoXo

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