Today is the day I truly make a life-style change

thanatos

Hi everyone,

** Sorry for the long rant to follow! I'd love to everyones experiences and connect with as many of you as possible **

I've been using MFP off and on for over a year just to keep track of calories. I never used the forums until I posted about a week ago about an issue I have with food. I wanted to post a thread here to introduce myself and hopefully connect with others to share the joys and pains of the journey.

I'm a 25 year old guy currently living in Canada (though I'm American). I never had weight issues as a kid/teenager because I competed very seriously in martial arts and was training about 30 hours a week. Long-story short I suffered a series of injuries that made it so I could not compete anymore and I put on a lot of weight very fast. Throughout college, my weight was up and do. I would let it get out of control, not working out and eating everything in sight, then I would go the complete opposite route by working out 5 days a week and eating incredibly healthy. My weight fluctuated between 210 and 240 in my four years.

Before I joined my job, I decided to get in shape and got to 215 (which I looked better than when I was 210 because I had done some strength training) and entered my job at a decent weight (though I knew I had to lose some more weight). My job is very demanding and throughout the next year and a half, I ballooned up to nearly 260 lbs. At this time I was also making my move to Canada with the same company and thought why not complete the new change with another new change. Again, long-story short, I exercised my tail off, ate incredibly healthy, even did a round of P90x. At my lowest (last August), I was around 205lbs and in the best shape of my life.

But just as preceding time where I lost a bunch of weight, I started to slowly put it back on. My cheat meal would turn into a couple which would turn into a week which would turn into a couple weeks, all of which where I wasn't exercising either. Needless to say after some more yo-yoing, I put on about 20 of those lbs I lost.

About a week ago, I decided to post to the forums here about my issue with food - which is my main issue. A lot of you said some very encouraging words and in that week I really did some soul searching to figure out what was it that kept me coming back to eating like crap. I like working out. I actually do like eating healthy. It makes me feel great. But for some reason, I always come back to crap foods. I think while I said I was in it for the long-haul before, I just wasn't committed to a life-style change. It was always ok I'll push real hard than its ok if I let go a bit.

When I dropped over 50lbs a year ago, there were some days that I did eat a bad meal or two. But I was able to control it. The next day, back to the healthy eating and working out. The catalyst for me falling off was when I had a week long vacation followed by a mini-vacation in a span of 2 weeks. I let myself go completely - I actually made it a point not to eat anything healthy because I was on "vacation" If it was truly a life-style change, sure, maybe I would eat more generously on vacation. Everyone does. But I wouldn't stuff myself like a kid's piñata while avoiding healthy foods like the plague.

So here I am now, realizing now what has to be done. This time I'm not dieting. I'm not overstuffing myself when I go on vacation. I'm making a change that will impact everyday of my life for as long as I live. I know there will be hills and mountains to climb and I will fall down from time to time. But I won't ever fall off the cliff again. Not this time.

Thanatos

miamimommy

I'm really excited for you! Keep it up!

nosidda

Thanatos,

Do you log your calories every day? How about your exercise? Even on vacation, do you log everything? The thing I like about this program is the accountability piece. I have committed to logging everything even free days to hold myself accountable. I am curious to hear if you log every day. Congratulation on the success that you have had, I hope to have a success story someday.

Thanks!

Jamiecfc1

Hope it all goes well for you. Yes you do have to make it a lifestyle change, something I tried (and failed) before, its a combination of many things but naturally food education is the most important, you shouldn't be afraid to let go - once in a while - its the "once in a while" that's the problem. I'm sure you'll work out what's best for you, and more importantly what actually works. Think positive!

merbee

I just LOVE your post !!! If you are as honest with your self as you have been in this post you will do wonders. Oh - and by the by - welcome to Canada eh !!!!

thanatos

Thanks for the kind words.

nosidda: I do log-in everything I eat and my workouts - but only when I'm being healthy. If I had a cheat meal/day, I feel embarrassed to come to the website and log in. You're aboslutely right about the accountability - its why one of my goals is to log-in everyday

merbee: You've lost over 60 lbs! That's awesome - keep going!!