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Losing the Weight: Starting a New Journey Begins with a Look Back

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Oswego chapter.

Hello everyone! While I did not make it as one of the blogger finalists for Lose the Freshman
15: Healthy, Happy Weight Loss with SELF & Her Campus, I am still pumped to able to blog
about my own personal journey to my weight loss goal. In return, I hope that those of you who
do follow my blogs will be able to find the confidence needed to slim down to a sexier you!

For me, it wasn’t until fifth grade that I realized weight was a fragile subject often made fun
of. My mother’s love of cooking, especially baking, is what got me hooked on all that good,
but unfortunately, bad food. As the years piled on, so did the pounds. I didn’t like it, but when
I stepped on the scale to see the new score, I laughed it off and didn’t think about it. I just
continued to eat. It wasn’t until the beginning of eleventh grade when I turned to face the mirror
and really saw myself for the first time. There I stood in the mirror — all 239 pounds of me. I
looked disheveled and for the first time, I felt wrong in my own body.

I realized that night that I needed to make a change, but couldn’t do it without some kind of
motivation. I told my dad that night to ground me every weekend if I didn’t work out every
single day. He didn’t believe me, but I proved him wrong. By the end of senior year I weighed
135 pounds and felt amazing!

I believe I can get back down to that weight again, maybe even 10 pounds lighter. I miss the way
I felt back then – confident, relaxed and sexy. There were no fancy tricks or diets pills for me
either, I did it all by myself without feeling starved, because guess what? I still ate what I wanted
(just in portions) and worked out every day!

This past summer, I kept working at my weight loss and was able to get down to 125 pounds.
Unfortunately, I gained 25 pounds back in one semester because I felt stressed about different
parts in my life, which pulled me back into my bad habits. Seriously, stress can do that to you.
But you want to know something? I still believe in myself. I know I can get out of this rut and
back to a sexier me and if I can do it, then I know all of you girls out there can get yourself out
of the rut too. You are going to get sexier, you are going to be healthier and you are going to
be happier in no time! You know why? Because I believe in all of you. Ladies, it’s time to ask
yourself this one simple question: do you believe in magic?

Today’s Tip: Get a good breakfast: eggs, oatmeal with dried fruit in it, a whole wheat muffin
with low-fat cream cheese and/or sugar-free jam and a glass of orange juice or milk are all great
options to mix into your meal. This will not only keep you fuller longer, but it will also make
you feel more energetic and not sluggish. Plus, you need to eat breakfast to get your metabolism
running. Otherwise, your body goes into starvation mode and saves fat instead of burning it!
Kind of the opposite of what you want. So dig in, ladies!

Kaitlin Provost graduated from SUNY Oswego, majoring in journalism with a learning agreement in photography. She grew up in five different towns all over the Northeast, eventually settling and graduating from high school in Hudson, Massachusetts. Kait now lives in the blustery town of Oswego, New York, where she can frequently be found running around like a madwoman, avoiding snow drifts taller than her head (which, incidentally, is not very tall). She has worked for her campus newspaper, The Oswegonian, as the Assistant News Editor, and is also the President of the Oswego chapter of Ed2010, a national organization which helps students break into the magazine industry. She hopes to one day work for National Geographic and travel the world.