Hello everyone!

rbeardsteel

Hello everyone out there in MFP land!

I've been on the site for about two months now and haven't really gotten involved in the forums, as I'm not much of a sharer. I believe that people need to motivate themselves to do whatever it is they want, and while it's nice to get accolades and kind words, when you get down to it, it is you that needs to meet your goals and it is you that needs to do the work to get there. Losing weight takes a lot of effort and work, and constant vigilance and that's what I've armed myself with to achieve this goal. So that's why it's taken me a while to get in the swing of things with the forum and I'm not sure how much I want to share in the first place.

Suffice it to say that I'm no stranger to weight loss, having been heavy for most of my life, but I realize that as I get older that things get much harder if you're heavier than when you're younger. Bodily systems start to break down faster and things start to creak and groan more if you've got excess weight on your frame. If you're a guy (as I am), being able to please your significant other becomes a challenge as well (at least that's what I've found). Issues that you had when you were younger start to come back to haunt you if you're lugging around extra weight as well.

I'm on a quest to lose the weight, once and for all, and though I'll never be a superbly muscled specimen of modern masculinity, I want to be fit enough to wake up, do my thing at work and have enough energy left over to work out and keep up with my girlfriend and my daughter and most importantly to make a difference in the world, no matter how small a contribution I might make. That is really all that counts.

As I get older, I also realize that things will inevitably slow down and I'll need to eat less to support my bodily functions, but I LOVE to eat and I can certainly pack it away, but now I find that I need to control those impulses and that is what takes so much effort. My key issue has always been portion control, and its taken me a long to time to finally figure out what a serving is and to allow myself the luxury of eating that single serving of something and be satisfied with that. For example, I used to eat a whole pint of Ben and Jerry's and think nothing of it, that was normal at the time. While I might still want to do that, I realize that eating that entire thing is not congruent with my goals, so I might have 1 serving, which is a 1/4 of it, or not buy it in the first place and have something much healthier, like my Fruit Smoothie #1 (In the MFP recipe section).

It's just a question of goals and what you need to do to achieve them, while training yourself to recognize what a serving is and how to eat again. Instead of massive portions of food, loaded with all kinds of stuff, now I opt for something much healthier and lighter, and my waistline is starting to show the results of my efforts. It's all about choice and how much you want whatever goal you've set for yourself.

It's not a 24/7 thing either, I mean I slip up sometimes and I record it faithfully, but I look at what happened and try to understand what triggered my desire to eat more. Most of the time, its peer pressure, so I get it when everyone says to control yourself, its tough when you're out there and everyone is ordering nachos and such and you're having a small salad. I have also taken to exercise and though I'm stretched kind of thin at the moment, come springtime, I'll get back into the workout groove and accelerate my weight loss.

I'm still over 40 pounds from my goal, but I'm confident that I'll get there in due time. I know that there will be ups and downs as many of my fellow MFP'ers have elucidated in their posts, but I know that I'll get there.

In closing, good luck to everyone and I'll be checking the forum a bit more often!