About Miranda

Like I already mentioned in my little info in my profile, I’m 28 year old woman living in smallish town 30 mins East of Toronto, Ontario.  I have lived in Bowmanville all my life with the exception of having moved away for post secondary school.  I really love living in this town, and love that it is so close to the Tdot.   I work in the social work field.  I have 3 jobs right now.  1 temporary full-time day job with Big Brothers Big Sisters. 1 part-time evening job with a local child protective services. and 1 casual part-time job with a co-ed teen group home.  I keep busy.   When I was 16 I stopped eating meat all together.  I still ate dairy and eggs.  Around the time I was 23 I started eating chicken and fish again.  Not too sure why, but they are lighter and leaner than beef and pork.  Also with chicken and fish, if they are boneless and skinless I don’t see them as animals, and find it easier to eat them.  If the meat resembles too much like it used to be a live, I get in my head too much and can’t bring myself to eat the meat.  I think however it was the unhealthy vegetarian diet I was eating that resulted in my weight gain. Pasta. Cheese. Carbs. Not enough veggies. Not enough healthy proteins.  Now though I eat chicken and fish, I still eat like a vegetarian, lots of veggies and fruit, tofu, and protein alternatives (chickpeas, Edamame).   2 years ago, I weight close to 50lbs more.  I was pushing 200lbs.  It all came on over the course of 6 years, so it’s not like I balloon up overnight.  Rather one day I saw a picture of myself and didn’t like what I saw. I was the last pant size before having to wear plus sized pants.  Not good!  I had tried using meal supplement drinks, which were tasty but sweet and made me crave more sweet foods.  I had tried an appetite suppressant, however I knew from the start that they weren’t going to work.  They were the type that you have to take 30 mins before you eat.  I never knew when I was going to be eating, so let alone be aware of 30 mins before I was going to eat.  If I could manage my meals, then I wouldn’t be in the position of needing appetite suppressant.   All of these fitness boot camps started popping up all over the place 2-3 years ago.  I had seen an ad in my local paper for one that was being run out of Whitby.  It wasn’t for me as I wasn’t driving 3 towns over for a 6am workout session.  I did however find on their website a meal plan.  The meal plan was lose 10lbs in 10 days.  Again I was skeptical.  I gave it a shot and followed it almost to a Tee (I don’t eat beef or pork, so when meals called for that, I substituted either white boneless skinless chicken or fish).  The meal plan talked about portion sizes and measuring our your foods.  It also talked about empty calories in drinks (pops and juices), and how staying properly hydrated was key to weight loss.  So I made an effort to drink my 8 glasses of 8oz of water every day.  I also used water to snack.  As maybe I wasn’t hungry rather just thirsty.  The meal plan included 3 meals, and 2 snacks. I guestimated that the meal plan was a 1,500 calorie a day meal plan.  It included lots of fruit and veggies.  I never felt like I was being denied or depriving myself of food.    By day 3 I had seen 3 lbs drop.  I was skeptical, but excited.  Excited to see that eating better was working out, however I knew I wasn’t going to only eat these 10 meals for the rest of my life. I expected that once I finished the 10 day meal plan that I would see th weight come right back. . . . only to find, IT DIDN”T! So over the course of 8 months, I did this meal plan 4 times in total.    Now food was not the only thing that helped me lose the weight.  I joined the community centre with my husband, and started attending their aerobics classes.  I took everything they offered.  I took Box&Sculpt, Cardio Sculpt,Yoga, Step&Pump.  This helped with toning and losing an additional 10 lbs.  By May 2009, I was 150lbs and feeling great about myself.  In July of 2009 I took on a new challenge and started taking spin classes.  Instantly fell in love!  Now a days I do a muscle moves class (weight training), 2, 40 min spin classes a week, cardio bosu, step class and hot yoga while also using the treadmill and weights on the gym floor.    Recently I have signed myself up for a Try-A-Tri(athlon) for Aug 22nd.  As a result I have found a try-a-tri training schedule, and added swimming to my list of work outs.   Here I plan to not only hold myself accountable through making healthy food choices, keeping my body healthy through regular exercise, but also to inspire other people who may be or have been struggling as well with their weight.  I want to share all my ups and downs with food and nutrition (as they are different).   Enjoy my blog!