Cut the crap!

janivl

Hi,

During my youth, right up until I was 18, I've always been a very sporty kid: soccer, karate, swimming, you name it. I did it all, I did it competitively.
However I never stopped snacking and reaching out to candy.

When I quit excercising, right when I was going to uni, basically from my 18th birthday until my 26th, I simply got bigger and bigger. I ignored reality altogether, pretended as if nothing was wrong. Not once have I braved the confrontation with the scale in that time. I didn't have the heart.

The past 12 months I started excercising again. At this moment I can comfortably run 6km (3.7 miles) in about 40 minutes. I know that's not impressive, but keep in mind that I couldn't even run 2 minutes without breaking down 8 months ago. I also picked up my swimming habits again, right up to the point that I can sustain a 1 hour freestyle pool session at a moderate pace (compared to my competition days) again.
I've also signed up for a gym membership and have been hitting the weight room on an average of 2 times per week.

In these 12 months I have sort of tried to be mindful of what I eat, which resulted in the fact that I really did not keep track of it at all. 1 Conscious healthy food choice followed by 5 (un)consciously unhealthy choices. Net result? Things got even worse

Until 3 days ago. I was sick of it all, utterly covinced that it's time to stop running away.
I bought a scale. The biggest confrontation was seeing the 140kg (308 lbs) for my 1m91 (6'2) height. I'm a big guy and I definitely don't look 308, but numbers don't (always) lie.
Madness. I did not expect this and I wasn't prepared for it either. It shocked me.

Time to take ownership. I'm 27 now, discovered MFP, taught myself all there is to know on BMR, TDEE, macronutrients, etc.
After calculating these with the lean body mass method, I struck out on 2400 kcal per day goal. I excercise 5 times per week for 60 minutes, 2 cardio sessions, 3 resistance training sessions.
Building my own MFP database and keeping track of every single calorie and the nutritional value of what I eat has been insanely motivating. It feels like I'm in control, it feels like this can really make a long term permanent change.

This is the first time I told my story like this. I've been running away from reality and a better future for far too long.

I know it's going to be tough, I know it'll take months and years. This time i'm not giving up, it's time to cut the crap!

J.

JulieFinn

This site will help you a lot and there are some really great people here. You're going to lose that extra weight! I'm in a bit of a lull right now, but I'm happy with the solid 25 lbs. I've lost. Add me as a friend, if you'd like!

zoeysasha37

Hello and welcome

Vanessalookingood

Welcome! Keep on tracking daily and you are going to do great!

steph2strong

Your story just re-enforced to me how important diet is in the weight loss/maintenance department. When i was reading it I was proud of the accomplishments you had made over the past year with your fitness and was fully expecting you to talk about your weight loss and improved physique due to it. I have been a fitness fanatic my whole life, and along with that slender. However, a few years ago i went through a rough period in life and totally let my diet get out of control. Despite an increase in activity level (working out 2-3 hours a day, running up to 20 km a day) I gained 20 lbs of jiggly fat! I finally took stock of what was happening and "cut the crap", which for me was late night binges totalling around 2000-3000 calories. Once i adopted healthy eating patterns and actually cut back on exercise to a reasonable level, i regained my prior physique and maintained my weight at 115 lbs (5'6). It took me about 3-4 months to go from my utmost worst to my perfect place and i have maintained since (with a pregnancy thrown in along the way). Good luck and don't give up!