by Caitlin H,
Nov 8, 2021
Name: Tamara Petrosyan
Age: 37
Occupation: Optometrist
Meal Plan: Keto-Carb30
Favorite Meal: Pot Roast
Start-date: June 2021
Starting weight: 230
Height: 5’3”
Pounds Lost: 40
Activity Level: Walking 5 miles a day
When I get a craving, my go-to trick is: Ice water with a little tiny bit of Crystal Light
When the scale showed a number under 200 pounds, it was a big moment for Tamara.
“When I look back now on my photos in my young 20s, I think I look really good,” Tamara said. “But back then, I didn’t think so. I always wanted to be skinnier. Emotionally, there was never a time I felt comfortable with my body. I was a normal healthy size, but I didn’t feel it. Now, I know I’m on the right path, which is emotionally putting me in a good place.”
Tamara, a 37-year-old optometrist, recently gave birth to a baby girl, her first daughter after having three sons — ages 6, 10, and 11. The difficult pregnancy resulted in Tamara’s weight jumping to 230 pounds. At 5-foot-3, it was not a body size she was comfortable with.
“I’ve struggled with weight my whole life,” Tamara said. “I’ve tried doing it on my own, counting calories, diet pills, you name it.”
Those efforts, Tamara said, were in vain — and perpetuated a weight loss culture that isn’t sustainable.
“You’re constantly on a restrictive ‘diet’…and this puts you in this anxious state. You get physically and mentally exhausted, and you eventually burn out and start binging,” Tamara said. “You have no concept of moderation.”
Tamara said those issues started for her in childhood, where she started to gain weight and didn’t know how to eat healthy or manage it.
“Genetics plays a role, but knowing what to eat, how much to eat — it starts in childhood,” she said. “I was a chubby kid, but my parents never addressed it. I wish they had…had me play sports, eat right…but that was never discussed at all. I had to learn it all on my own. It was hard. There’s a lot of conflicting information.”
Tamara said she first started on Diet-to-Go in fall 2020 prior to getting pregnant with her daughter, and was able to shed 25 pounds, dropping from 190 to 165, within a couple months. It was something that, early on, helped her battle food addiction — something she’s struggled with throughout her life.
“You’re always driven to food, it’s like trying to fight an addiction,” she said. “It’s something I’ve always been working on, but at some point … you start something, then you fall off the wagon and go back and forth.”
Tamara said Diet-to-Go has changed all that for her.
“With the smaller portion sizes, you train your stomach to eat smaller portions so that even if you do binge, you eat much less because your stomach gets full more quickly.”
Tamara picked back up with Diet-to-Go in June 2021, after giving birth to her daughter. Since then, she’s shed 40 pounds, falling to 190 from 230.
“This program has made it very easy to stick with,” Tamara said. “I’m much more emotionally mature. I want to be healthy and look good, and I want to fit into the clothes I fit in, but I’m not looking to be super skinny. I’m looking to be healthy.”
Tamara said her aim is to get to about 150 pounds and feel good while also being closer to the size she was when she met her husband while she was in her early 20s.
“[My husband] said, ‘Find something that works for you, whatever that is, go do it,’” she said of when she first started looking into Diet-to-Go in 2020. “That’s when I looked into what I could do… a gym membership or whatever. But, I realized it’s the food that’s the culprit.”
Tamara said Diet-to-Go’s convenience, quality, freshness, and portion size have made all the difference for her.
“It’s not, ‘Don’t eat this or that.’ It’s, ‘This is how to eat, this is a proper portion size,’” she said. “This is truly the only thing that’s actually sustainable. It’s knowing what’s on your plate. It trains you and teaches you how to eat.”
The meal program has also fit well into Tamara’s busy lifestyle that involves raising four children, walking 5 miles a day, working full-time, and intermittent fasting.
“I start eating — breakfast at 12 p.m., then lunch around 2 p.m. or 3 p.m., then about 5-6 p.m. for dinner, and there’s no snacking in between,” she said. “I don’t look at what meals I’m eating anymore. I just put my Diet-to-Go breakfasts in one column, lunches in one column and dinners in one column and eat them. Throughout the week, it equals out to about 1,200 calories a day. You can also do the tracking, but really, if you do what you’re supposed to do and have the three meals…and don’t cheat, you really don’t need to track anything.”
Tamara said she hopes to use her mentality and story to inspire others. She posts weekly accountability updates in the Diet-to-Go Facebook community.
“There’s constantly people asking, ‘How did you do this? How did you lose weight?’” Tamara said. “People comment about exercise and about snacking. I feel like there’s such a huge misconception of calories in, calories out—and spending hours at gym. If you can exercise, great. But I’m just walking with four kids — a duck and ducklings.
“Weight loss is just about the consistency with the food. It’s not about stepping on the scale every day. It’s about being consistent and persistent. Ultimately, it’s just math. It’s about taking time and losing weight sustainably. It’s not going to happen overnight. It’s slow and steady. I’m not doing anything magical. I’m not taking diet pills. I’m taking electrolytes. I do take 2.5mg of melatonin. I take those and a multivitamin. Aside from that, I’m not doing anything special. I’m just taking it one day at a time.”
Do you have a weight loss success story to share? Email us at support@diettogo.com with “Success Story” in the subject line!
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Author: Caitlin H
Diet-to-Go Community Manager
Caitlin is the Diet-to-Go community manager and an avid runner. She is passionate about engaging with others online and maintaining a healthy, active lifestyle. She believes moderation is key, and people will have the most weight loss success if they engage in common-sense healthy eating and fitness.
