Ex Athlete

westo22

Hey all, I've been using MFP for just about a month now. I am ready to join the community. : )

The first couple of weeks all I did was record what I ate. There was no watching calories or anything, I just wanted to see if I could record and be honest with myself. I did that and now I am on to correcting some of the things that need to change.

I have played soccer competitively as far as I can remember. I played for a division 2 university and I have never had issues with weight and I could eat basically whatever I wanted. Training 2-3 hours a day 6 to 7 days a week will let you do this. After college (4 years ago) I broke my foot...twice. I was out almost a year. I went from training 2-3 hours a day to just about nothing. I quickly put on 35+ lbs.

I could go into details on my battle on getting back to a fit healthy status but it would be quite long. I started MFP at heaviest I have ever been in my life (27 yrs old 5'10" 211 lbs ) and my goal is to get down to a 180 lb athletic build by July 2nd.

I have struggles watching the amount of food I eat and MFP has been helping me do just that. I am plagued with constant injuries because I still train like I am 18 years old and push myself to the brink. I have recently discovered spin class at my local gym, low impact high heart rate exercise and I'm loving it. Tracking my calories eaten on MFP and my calories burned with a heart rate monitor has given me pretty good results the last two weeks.

I'd like to make some friends with similar issues, are you an ex athlete who has let yourself slip a bit? : ) Friend me I could use the support.

skittybang

Definitely in the same boat. All through high school and college I was involved with sports. High school it was back-to-back practices for soccer, crew and swimming. Continued crew and swimming in college and I could eat ANYTHING! As soon as I graduated (and discovered five guys) I ballooooned!

I've been lazily losing a little weight with a jog here and there and opting for some healthier meals - but still having a yo-yo weight. As of a couple months ago I'm being pretty serious. Planning to get back into my sport of swimming and do some ocean competitions this summer Good luck and once you get back in the rhythm you feel great

And as a swimmer (and ex- swim teacher and swim coach) if you have had injuries, swimming is a great way to burn calories, gain lean muscle, and not put any strain on the joints

westo22

I agree with swimming, its crazy hard. I did a triathlon sprint last year (got me down to 185lbs before I got injured again...lol). Its been a long battle but I'm finding as I get older the only way to keep my weight down and health up is to balance my exercise AND eating habits.

Once I get to my goal weight I think I'll be able to splurge every now and again as long as I keep tracking it. Its definitely swallowing my pride a bit to be on here counting calories and stuff but some day I'm going to have kids and I want to teach them to live healthy. In order to do that, I am going to have to sort this out now.

Do you have a goal set?

skittybang

That's was the toughest part of growing up, you can't get away with eating an entire pizza by yourself. Now you see the outline of the pizza in your stomach for weeks to come.

My goal is to be in my "healthy range." I'm about 5'10'' just under 200lbs... I should be anywhere between 160 and 140. I'm trying to get to 150/145. In the past I resorted to some crash diets which blew up in my face. I'm just taking my time now and setting "mini-goals." My 1st mini-goal is to lose 8lbs by May 16th.

:)

westo22

That's was the toughest part of growing up, you can't get away with eating an entire pizza by yourself. Now you see the outline of the pizza in your stomach for weeks to come.

My goal is to be in my "healthy range." I'm about 5'10'' just under 200lbs... I should be anywhere between 160 and 140. I'm trying to get to 150/145. In the past I resorted to some crash diets which blew up in my face. I'm just taking my time now and setting "mini-goals." My 1st mini-goal is to lose 8lbs by May 16th.

:)

Awesome! I'll be checking in, so make sure you're sticking to it! : )