A little belated...

anony999

I put the cart before the horse and posted several times in the last week without properly introducing myself... sorry for the breach of etiquette!

My story:
I started to get pretty heavy around the 5th grade, then really grew all through college (too many late nights and trips to Wendy's!). After college, I topped out at 212lbs (quite a lot for my 5'11" frame) and I had a major issue with reflux and had to have a few throat surgeries... pretty bad for mid-20s!

At that time, I saw a nutritionist who specialized in controlling reflux. Turned out that most of the unhealthy things I was eating were the cause of my reflux (in addition to some very healthy things, like tomatoes and grapefruit). She put the fear of fire and brimstone in me as she kept reminding me that reflux was a major cause of esophageal cancer. I had just witnessed someone die from that and it was very, very unpleasant, to say the least.

I took her very seriously, and got the GERD under control to the point where I could stop taking daily medicines. Since I started losing weight as a side effect of the anti-GERD diet, I started researching more about nutrition, then adding exercise... about 2 years later, I was down to about 160 and feeling great. Treadmill, hiking, stationary biking, cardio classes, abs classes, kayaking, martial arts, etc... something just about every day.

Fast forward to about 2 years ago: I moved for a new job and fell off my routine, big time! I was still watching what I ate, but couldn't seem to get back into my groove with the exercise. I started forcing myself to walk anywhere I needed to go (store was a bit under a mile away, so I made a deal with myself that if I wanted to eat, I'd have to walk to it!). But the routine was nowhere near my old levels. Just as I found a good boxing class in that area, I took a voluntary layoff (was very unhappy with the job) and moved again.

Again, tried to get back into a routine, wound up walking about 1/2 hour each day at the new place. Problem here was too many people around with food, so I started to go off my diet as well as get less exercise.

Then, for the 3rd time in 2 years, I moved *again* and started a new job. Really like the new job and boss and coworkers, but there is food around constantly. So lately I've found myself just eating whatever is presented to me, and I'm putting in quite a lot of OT so I'm not getting that much time in to exercise.

I find that I eat very healthy when left completely alone (I'd just need to work on portion sizes - otherwise, I stick to fruits/veggies/whole grains/etc. mainly), but I have trouble passing up free food when offered, as I have a massive appetite! So I've decided to plan ahead and pack food for work, and ONLY eat what I bring. In addition, I'm parking about 7-8 minutes away from work (as far as I can go without crossing a major highway), so I at least get in about 15m of walking even if I get nothing else each day. I plan to improve that aspect in a bit. Finally, I'm being realistic, and assuming I'll go over (within reason) at special events/parties, but will try to limit restaurant outings and such.

Long story short (too late!), I noticed my reflux is acting up again, which depresses me. In addition, my pants are getting tighter (which adds to the reflux!) - some of my skinny ones won't fit at all anymore! Scary. I weighed myself after a party last weekend and found that I was up to 192 - YIKES! Only 20lbs away from my max weight that I worked so hard to beat down.

So that's why I researched sites like this one, and decided on MFP since I really liked how the food diary was so easy to work with. An added bonus is the community here seems helpful, knowledgeable, and supportive!

If you've read this far without falling asleep, congrats and thanks! I look forward to working with everyone on the board - I actually have done a lot of research on nutrition, exercises, reflux and other GI disorders, so I may be able to help others as they help me.

anony999

I put the cart before the horse and posted several times in the last week without properly introducing myself... sorry for the breach of etiquette!

My story:
I started to get pretty heavy around the 5th grade, then really grew all through college (too many late nights and trips to Wendy's!). After college, I topped out at 212lbs (quite a lot for my 5'11" frame) and I had a major issue with reflux and had to have a few throat surgeries... pretty bad for mid-20s!

At that time, I saw a nutritionist who specialized in controlling reflux. Turned out that most of the unhealthy things I was eating were the cause of my reflux (in addition to some very healthy things, like tomatoes and grapefruit). She put the fear of fire and brimstone in me as she kept reminding me that reflux was a major cause of esophageal cancer. I had just witnessed someone die from that and it was very, very unpleasant, to say the least.

I took her very seriously, and got the GERD under control to the point where I could stop taking daily medicines. Since I started losing weight as a side effect of the anti-GERD diet, I started researching more about nutrition, then adding exercise... about 2 years later, I was down to about 160 and feeling great. Treadmill, hiking, stationary biking, cardio classes, abs classes, kayaking, martial arts, etc... something just about every day.

Fast forward to about 2 years ago: I moved for a new job and fell off my routine, big time! I was still watching what I ate, but couldn't seem to get back into my groove with the exercise. I started forcing myself to walk anywhere I needed to go (store was a bit under a mile away, so I made a deal with myself that if I wanted to eat, I'd have to walk to it!). But the routine was nowhere near my old levels. Just as I found a good boxing class in that area, I took a voluntary layoff (was very unhappy with the job) and moved again.

Again, tried to get back into a routine, wound up walking about 1/2 hour each day at the new place. Problem here was too many people around with food, so I started to go off my diet as well as get less exercise.

Then, for the 3rd time in 2 years, I moved *again* and started a new job. Really like the new job and boss and coworkers, but there is food around constantly. So lately I've found myself just eating whatever is presented to me, and I'm putting in quite a lot of OT so I'm not getting that much time in to exercise.

I find that I eat very healthy when left completely alone (I'd just need to work on portion sizes - otherwise, I stick to fruits/veggies/whole grains/etc. mainly), but I have trouble passing up free food when offered, as I have a massive appetite! So I've decided to plan ahead and pack food for work, and ONLY eat what I bring. In addition, I'm parking about 7-8 minutes away from work (as far as I can go without crossing a major highway), so I at least get in about 15m of walking even if I get nothing else each day. I plan to improve that aspect in a bit. Finally, I'm being realistic, and assuming I'll go over (within reason) at special events/parties, but will try to limit restaurant outings and such.

Long story short (too late!), I noticed my reflux is acting up again, which depresses me. In addition, my pants are getting tighter (which adds to the reflux!) - some of my skinny ones won't fit at all anymore! Scary. I weighed myself after a party last weekend and found that I was up to 192 - YIKES! Only 20lbs away from my max weight that I worked so hard to beat down.

So that's why I researched sites like this one, and decided on MFP since I really liked how the food diary was so easy to work with. An added bonus is the community here seems helpful, knowledgeable, and supportive!

If you've read this far without falling asleep, congrats and thanks! I look forward to working with everyone on the board - I actually have done a lot of research on nutrition, exercises, reflux and other GI disorders, so I may be able to help others as they help me.

TamTastic

Welcome to you!

All I can say is this site and the people on it are amazingly helpful to staying on this "journey".

I am sure you will find it to be a help to you as well!

Let me know if I can do anything!!!

:bigsmile:
-Tami

arewethereyet

Thanks for the intro...are we related?? I have yet to tell a short story and blame my Irish roots.

Welcome!! There is much support and encouragement on this site!!

:flowerforyou:

janiebeth

Welcome to the site. As others have noted, this is a fantastic site for help and motivation. Reach out whenever you have questions and concerns. The folks here are great.

Good luck with your journey. :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

janiebeth

anony999

Thanks all!!

Thanks for the intro...are we related?? I have yet to tell a short story and blame my Irish roots.

Welcome!! There is much support and encouragement on this site!!

:flowerforyou:

And yes, WALL OF TEXT BLINDS YOU!! Hehe. I will keep future posts MUCH shorter, just figured I'd write out my background... even if it doesn't interest others, it helps keep me focused to remember what I'm working towards!