The Right Combination (for me)...

This is actually my adapted profile, but I thought I would post here to introduce myself and get some more friends.

What I say below is the combination that works for me. In no way do I want to insinuate that it will work for everybody. Everyone has their own combination that helps them. I'd like to know what is your winning combination.

I joined MFP back in January 2012 to help me lose weight by tracking what I was eating and burning. I was 230 lbs, out-of-shape, and taking several medications for medical conditions. At that time I felt very uncomfortable with my body. It's silly, but I didn't even want to go to the gym b/c of how I looked. I had tried dieting on my own, diet pills, lemonade diet, south beach diet. None of it worked for me. It left me hungry all the time. Sure, I lost weight, but along with that I lost muscle mass, which reduced my metabolism. I tried walking around the neighborhood, but I lacked motivation, energy, and it just increased my appetite. I needed to diet and exercise, but dieting left me with lower energy and less muscle mass, and exercising increased my appetite. I was definitely getting frustrated.

I didn't realize then, but now I do; most everything I was eating was processed or had preservatives in it which was causing inflammation in my stomach. My GI track was mainly processing the easily digestible products, like simple carbs and fats. What I wasn't getting a lot of was the necessary vitamins, minerals and amino acids needed throughout the day. Sure some foods like cereal and milk was fortified with vitamins and minerals, but it came with a big price, high calories. So I started picking foods that wasn't processed and didn't have (or had very little) preservatives.

Also, I needed a goal, something to work towards. A friend from work introduced me to triathlons. I figured what the heck, I'll give it a go. I found that having a goal to work towards helps to keep me motivated on days I don't want to exercise. For me, just saying I wanted to loss weight and be more fit was too vague. I needed something specific, like I'm gonna do a Sprint Triathlon. Some people have a goal of fitting in a dress or pant size, some people want to compete in cross fit games, and some people want to compete in body building competitions. For me, it was Triathlons.

I also learned that I needed to burn more calories than I was consuming. However, I still needed to get a steady supply of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids throughout the day. Eating healthy was necessary, but b/c I was reducing my caloric intake, I wasn't getting the proper amounts of vitamins, minerals and amino acids. I needed supplements to do that. Some people get everything they need just from food For me, I found that supplements help me

So in a nutshell, I use MFP to keep track of what I'm eating and burning, eat healthy, exercise with a goal in mind, burn more than I eat (if I'm trying to lose weight, which I still am), and use a good supplement system. That is the combination I use. Since 2012, I have:

• Lost 60 lbs
• Lost 10% body fat
• Lost 5 inches on my waist
• And I no longer take any medications.
• And November 2013 I did my first Ironman Triathlon.

I'm always looking for new online fitness pals, so shoot me a friend request. I'm always good for some positive encouragement to help others reach their goal.

What combination do you use?