The secret to losing over 100 pounds? Start with your coffee order

In a previous column, I shared Tara Blakely’s journey to earning a black belt — an accomplishment nearly 30 years in the making, interrupted by life, motherhood, undiagnosed hemophilia, and everything in between. Impressive, certainly. I was equally impressed by her 110-pound weight loss.

I’ve struggled with my weight since my 20s and have used weight-loss medication to help me lose 60 pounds over the past three years. Tara achieved her weight loss without medication. We sat down over Zoom to discuss how she did it.

Tara started her weight-loss journey in February 2023 with two simple changes: she switched her 400-calorie Starbucks order to a 120-calorie version, and she started packing her lunch for work instead of eating out every day.

Tara didn’t even realize she’d lost 35 pounds at first. “It just was gone,” she said. “I wasn’t really even paying attention. I was just trying to make those choices because they were better choices.”

For women with bleeding disorders, weight loss isn’t just about aesthetics — it’s about joint health, mobility, and quality of life. Extra weight means extra stress on joints already damaged by bleeds. For Tara, who has hemophilia B and extensive knee damage, losing weight wasn’t optional. It was necessary.

Recommended Reading

January 7, 2022 Columns by Jennifer Lynne

Weighty Matters: The Relationship Between Hemophilia and Weight

The power of incremental change

When the first changes stopped working — because they always do — Tara made another change. She started tracking her calories, aiming for 1,700 to 1,800 a day. But she never banned any foods.

“I tried those types of diets in the past, and they never work for me,” she said. “If I eat it, I write it down. That was my rule.”

Some days she hit 2,000 or 2,200 calories. Some days she ate out. The weight came off slowly — lose five pounds, gain three, lose six — but it came off.

Her next change came with her next plateau: cutting evening snacking. This one was hard, and still is. Instead of chips or ice cream, she trained herself to reach for berries or carrots. Or one Lindt chocolate truffle — 60 calories — with a pile of carrots.

“I never deprive myself of any food,” Tara emphasized. “That’s the big thing I said to myself from the start, because I know that doesn’t work.”

Instead, she’s built habits: the same lunches rotated through the week, the same coffee order, the same approach to evening snacks. Her go-to foods: cottage cheese or Greek yogurt, fresh fruit, vegetables with hummus, hard-boiled eggs, and string cheese.

“I eat a lot of the same thing,” she said. “That’s really helped me — just stick with the basics and rotate them.”

When someone at work brought in Crumbl cookies, Tara cut them into quarters and had two small pieces of different flavors. “It’s hard, because I want to go back for more,” she admitted. “But then there’s that voice saying, ‘Don’t do that, you had your two little pieces, you’re good.'”

The impact on joint health

The difference in Tara’s joints is dramatic. Her knees — wrecked from years of undiagnosed hemophilia and joint bleeds — feel significantly better.

“It’s huge,” she said. “I still have knee pain, but it’s not like it used to be. The extra weight that is not being pushed on them every day is way better.”

She can do 50 jumping jacks without pain. She can climb stairs without getting winded. The pain she does have now is from arthritis and joint damage, not from excess weight — and she can tell the difference.

She’s avoided surgery on her right knee, something she credits to the weight loss and increased activity.

Advice for others

When I asked what she’d tell someone with hemophilia who wants to lose weight but doesn’t know where to start, her answer was immediate:

“Start with one small change. Just do that small change for a month, and then add one more small change. Pick one thing. Maybe it’s switching your morning coffee order. Maybe it’s packing your lunch. Do that one thing until it becomes automatic. Then add something else.”

Don’t try to cut calories and work out every day all at once. “Nobody’s ever gonna be able to do that,” Tara said. “That’s just not realistic.”

She got rid of all her old clothes — a vow to herself that she’d never go back to that size. On hard days, when the food noise is loud, she pictures old photos of herself. After an indulgent week, she goes back to tracking for a few days, adds an extra workout, and returns to her good habits.

Because that’s the real secret: not perfection, but small, sustainable changes that add up over time.

“This is my way of life now,” Tara said. “I’m not gonna go back.”

Note: Hemophilia News Today is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The opinions expressed in this column are not those of Hemophilia News Today or its parent company, Bionews, and are intended to spark discussion about issues pertaining to hemophilia.