Hello from Alberta, Canada

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to stop in and introduce myself, I've been using MFP for quite a while (off and on) but haven't taken part in the community here yet. My name is Randy and I live in Alberta, Canada. I am 40 years old and I am married and I have 3 kids, a daughter who is 10 and twins, a boy and a girl who are 8 years old. I am an electrician by trade.

I have always struggled with my weight and my eating. I have been overweight for all of my adult life. I have had some other personal struggles in recent years with substance abuse (alcohol) and losing my job as a result. I have those aspects of my life under control now, I have been sober since August 1 of 2013 and I have a good, stable, well paying job again. I also have a wife and kids who are very supportive of me.

Now it is time to face my other demon, my overeating. I have tried many times to lose weight and get into shape but I haven't been successful yet, so I am looking to get involved on the message boards to get (and give) some support in my weight loss/fitness journey.

I am ready to change. My strategy will be to strive for consistency in my diet and exercise. I will aim for a moderate, sustainable calorie deficit and to show up consistently for my workouts. If I don't feel like working out, I will reduce the scope of my workout but stick to the schedule rather than skip my workout altogether.

In the past, I tried to cut too many calories with intermittent fasting too long and trying to create too large of a deficit. This time around, I know that long fasts and large deficits lead me to binging. I still plan to incorporate intermittent fasting, but with shorter fasts in the 16 hour range. (i.e. skipping breakfast.) A small deficit almost every day with a day or two at maintenance every now and then is much better than several days with a large deficit followed by a large eating binge that negates anything progress I've made over the previous days.

My goal is to create a system of eating and working out that I will be able to stick with for the long term. I'm 5'9" and I weigh 240 lbs right now, so I don't expect to look like a Men's Health cover model any time soon, but I will aim for progress not perfection.

If any of you would like to add me as a friend, feel free, I will take all of the support I can get, and hopefully give some good support in return.

Looking forward to going on this journey with all of you,
Randy