23 y/o British guy, at it again.

Downwinds

Heya. Name's Charlie, I'm 23 and live in the north of England with my girlfriend Thea.

I'm not big at all. Technically a healthy weight. But still, it bothers me a lot that I recently gained quite a bit for what felt like no reason, and it really confused and upset me but also set me on a determined mindset of being desperate and committed to losing it. What can I say? I just like being on the skinnier side. It's how I personally feel most comfortable with my body. I do have depression and anxiety and a load of other mental health issues in my life currently and in the past, yes, and body/food issues included. But I am trying to at least do this in a healthy way, by eating healthier and walking more rather than getting the bus into town to avoid the half-hour walk.

I'm also a vegetarian. I was vegan for a while, but that kinda fell to the wayside a little, because of convenience and my depression. But I don't like to eat dairy products or eggs that aren't definitely free range if I can help it. So I guess I'm mostly vegan. But definitely vegetarian, as I have been all my life. My family raised me that way, so I've literally never eaten meat or fish in my life.

I'm going to try and keep my food diary open. I'm a bit nervous about it, as I'm not the sort of person who cooks really healthy things from scratch every day, and it's never going to be perfect. But I think I want to do it anyway, to show people what I'm really eating. I've made a big deal of going out and buying kitchen scales especially for keeping track of what I eat, so I weigh everything so that I can be as accurate as possible. Guesswork makes me nervous as I can never be truly sure of what I've had. If you look at it and think I'm not eating enough, or that my weight is already 'too low', please consider that I'm very short and of a small build. In all honesty, and I don't particularly like being open about this in real life too often, I was born a girl. I'm not one anymore, but unfortunately I'm stuck being 5'4". So there.

I'd quite like some people to add on here who will be supportive and ideally relate to some of the stuff I've talked about here. Age, gender, sexuality, location, religion, race - none of that matters to me, though I am an atheist and don't particularly appreciate people assuming I'm a Christian and telling me they'll pray for me and God bless, etc. Everyone should be free to practice whatever faith they like, in my view - I just don't appreciate people assuming I share their faith or that I believe in God and the power of prayer or that I even have a faith at all. Sorry for that slight non-angry 'rant'...

Even better if people want to chat with me and exchange messages often and get to know each other. I enjoy meeting new and interesting people from all different places through the internet. It's also much more motivating as we're more likely to keep coming back to this website if we have friends on it, right? Actual people we message, not just a few token 'well done' comments.

Erm... that's my lot. Come here and let's be friendly, people!

ptsmiles

Hi Charlie! F/37/US I have had and still have some issues with anxiety and depression. Mine started in the early 2000's. I've been big since puberty and bad eating habits started as a child. I'm now down from 275 to 216, a size 22/24 to a 14/16. I've had low self esteem since high school where I was bullied about my weight. I won't tell you god bless or that I'll pray for you. I might say something to the effects of I'll keep you in my thoughts though. I'm not an overly religious person(raised Christian/leaning more towards Pagan now though) and don't feel it is ok to push religion on other people.

JoshuaMcAllister

Welcome.

Long time logger, short time poster here. Nice to make your acquaintance, I had no idea MFP had a forum until several days ago but id say you've come to the right place. Literally hundreds of discussions and several great vegetarian threads.
Always happy to exchange a couple message and motivation.

Added you to my friends list, hopefully we will achieve our goals..

Downwinds

^ Replied to you in a message. I will do that to anyone who starts chatting with me here. I'll add you too. I prefer not to add random people who haven't even said hello to me. I'm not scary. Actually I'm really socially anxious irl. The internet makes it easier for me to open up and talk to new people. Also, my food diary is gonna be open to friends. So if you're interested in that..