New Member and Life Turned Around!

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kdearlove
kdearlove Posts: 1 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Hi All
As a new member I just wanted to share the breakthrough I'm having if you are interested. To give you a bit of background on myself, I'm 30 years old and for as long as I can remember. I've always obsessed about my weight and the way I looked. I've never been overweight as such so many people don't understand that even if you are a healthy weight and look ok your life can still be ruled by your weight. My main problem over say the last 20 years is my relationship with food. As a teenager and under pressure to be skinny I toyed with the idea of anorexia and bulimia but instead took to skipping breakfast and sometimes lunch and eating an apple if I felt funny! Then starving when I got home would end up raiding the fridge! I turned vegetarian for a year, partly due to my love of animals but mainly because vegetarians seemed to be skinny!! In my early twenties I began to appreciate healthy food and enjoyed it too but my love of wine and desserts and lack of exercise obviously didn't make me feel any better about myself. In my late twenties my career took off and long hours and a lot of traveling meant irregular meals. Stress and not enough time to eat had a big part to play in any weight loss which I thought was great so I pushed myself even harder. Only to end up irritable and exhausted and binging on the foods and wines I loved when I got home! I was however quite active at the gym when I wasn't traveling and I saw improvements in my fitness and general wellbeing however I wasn't eating enough and sometimes over exercising. My reason for sharing all this information was at 30 I was finally fed up with my weight fluctuating so much and only achieving weight loss temporarily through poor diet, stress and sometimes over exercising. When back to normal all the weight I'd lost went straight back on in a couple of days! So I set out to monitor myself more closely and found the myfitnesspal app on my iphone. It was great for me as I'm away from home so much and I feel I am finally in control of my health! The thing is its so simple. You only consume the calories you need, reducing them sensibly over a period of time to achieve weight loss but still eat whatever you want. Exercise more to keep yourself healthy and burn off any excess calories you've had. It's amazing when you realise what you normally consume in a day which makes you choose healthier options to stay within your limit. I have never really enjoyed eating due to feeling guilty but now I'm allowing myself foods I'd normally reject because I know the nutritional content and how much I can eat. If I know I'm going out for dinner and want an extra glass of wine and a dessert I'll make sure I get to the gym that day to compensate.
I really do think that if kids are better educated in nutrition and fitness at school we wouldn't be facing a future of obesity and people can actually enjoy life instead of obsessing about food and trying to live up to unrealistic images in magazines.
So I wish everyone the best in whatever they are trying to achieve. I'm off to the gym as it's Christmas day tomorrow and I intend to enjoy it. Merry Christmas. :happy:

Replies

  • linzismith
    linzismith Posts: 139 Member
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    thank you for sharing your story. mine is not quite as extreme, but we are similar in that i've always been 20-30 pounds overweight (like since 2nd grade) and i never felt like it was something i could control. to me, being thinner meant not getting to eat--and i liked eating! (unfortunately it was one of my favorite things) it didn't help that I was a really picky kid and hated vegetables and anything that was crunchy. hello! if you don't eat vegetables it's almost impossible to be a healthy weight.

    As a kid my mom saw me getting bigger and bigger so i did ballet, figure skating, swimming, gymnastics, skiing and soccer. i played soccer through college and now at 27 am playing on competitive men's team in south korea (as the only woman in the league). i was even a wildland firefighter for three years--basically a professional athlete--and yet through all that, still that extra 30 pounds.

    this is the second time i've used a calorie counting website. the first time, i lost like 8 pounds but then after a month or two i was binge eating again and feeling too guilty about it to calculate it. then i just stopped. i don't know what it is about this time around, but like you, it's like I've had a breakthrough. i think one of the biggest things people have to get past is learning that it really has very little to do with how much you eat and how much you exercise. the most important things is WHAT you eat. once you realize that if you make better choices you can still eat quite a bit of food, it becomes a lot easier. it takes more time spent cooking, chopping, preparing and shopping for fresh food, but i consider all that "me time." put on good music or a good tv show and chop away! now my heart just reaches out to my friends who complain about having trouble keeping their weight down (as i watch them eat all that processed food).

    good luck on the rest of you journey!
  • perktms
    perktms Posts: 47 Member
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    I enjoyed reading about both of your stories. It's interesting to me that our stories can be very different in specifics, but very similar at the same time. I, too, have struggled with weight my whole life, and can appreciate that it will always be a challenge. For me, my issues are portion control and emotional overeating. I let food take control.
    At my heaviest weight to date, I started yesterday with the myfitnesspal.com. I love that all the nutritional info is at your fingertips. For the first time in a long time, I felt in control of what I ate and not the other way around!
    I look forward to the support on this site and wish you both Happy Holidays!
  • cassandra1220
    cassandra1220 Posts: 284 Member
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    You guys will all do great. Just remember, food is fuel. We are huge cooks at my house and anything that tasted good was fair game. Once I realized that I was fueling my body, not just stuffing my face because something tasted good, things changed. Listen to your bodies (sounds easier than it is) and focus on how you feel when you eat, what your craving, and your emotions.

    I quit logging in my weight and instead go by measurements. I might start again after the first but it can be frustrating to focus on a number and in turn that can lead to "falling off the wagon". At any rate, stick with it and the results will come. Good luck to you all and happy holidays. :drinker:
  • golddogs
    golddogs Posts: 42 Member
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    I totally get it - your story is exactly like mine! Still have struggles with my attitude about food but can honestly say that I have never been happier now that I am exercising and eating healthy. This site and all the wonderful people on the message boards have helped me focus on a healthy lifestyle rather than just being thin. Good luck with all your goals and Merry Christmas to everyone!

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