My name is Paula Blair and I’m 19 years old. I grew up in the small Northern community of Manitouwadge, ON.

As a child I was very active playing sports, figure skating, hockey, and swimming were some of my favorites. With community life decreasing and my parents separating I was no longer an active kid and it didn’t take long to see my body changing. I would go to the local convenience store and grab chips, pop, ice cream or candy and thought nothing of it being 12 years old at the time I never cared enough about my appearance.

I noticed once I was 13/14 years old that my friends were a lot smaller than me. I was around 200 lbs, and a size 16, about 5’6” and realized that I was not in a good position so, I talked to my mom who had started exercising frequently and asked how do I get to look like my friends. She then pointed me into my uncles direction where he set me up on a strict exercise routine.

For my grade 8 graduation I had set a goal, I wanted to be 160 lbs and being a larger boned girl I figured that was a perfect target weight.  I never reached my goal however, I did get down to 190 lbs.

I continued to exercise and eat healthy but never seemed to see the scale move. I relocated after grade 8 to Marathon Ontario, it was hard to get comfortable and continue to exercise because I was uncomfortable, also the gym didn’t allow students under the age of 16 to use the facility so I gave up and took back my old eating habits and gained several pounds.

It took me three years, age 17, 5‘11”, to weigh 275 lbs, this is when I decided I was going to stop weighing myself (see picture of prom 2009). I figured I was 300lbs or more. I wanted to take a tropical trip to Cuba but knew I didn’t want to be the largest girl on the trip. So I kicked myself in the butt and decided it was time for a change.

I took it step by step, only able to walk approximately 15 minutes before I was out of breath I would head to the gym 6 days a week and continue until my trip to Cuba was due. In 3 months I managed to lose 55 lbs and in 6 months I managed to lose 75 lbs and two years later I am 100 lbs lighter.

I still continue to exercise daily and  I have also accomplished a 5KM run. This is a goal I had set from day one, not able to walk 15 minutes without being out of breath to running 5KM seemed nearly impossible but now that I have completed that goal I'll push for a 10KM run.

My story seems to be a miracle. To me watching the weight slowly come off has been a great learning experience for me, but also for my family and friends. They look up to me for advice and I love helping them. My next step in my process is to lose another 20 lbs but in a slower matter and I also want to be able to run for a cause, the cause I have chosen is crohn’s and Colitis.