One month at MFP

I’ve always scoffed at calorie counting in the past. It seemed too unnatural, too much of a pain. I had better ways to manage my weight. Well those ways worked just fine, except that I didn’t have accountability or the day in and day out focus.

About 3 months ago, again at my lifetime highest weight of 256, I had a serious health scare. Basically, I have stenosis or plaque build up in my carotid arteries, which puts me at risk for a stroke or heart attack. I’m only 35 years old.

I started making some gradual changes. I had a big move which luckily got me out of my old environment and I had a chance to set up new habits. I started bringing my lunch. I started taking dance classes again. In my first class I could barely make it through two songs. I did gradually lose some weight. But I was still binge eating and not paying much attention to my overall intake.

About a month ago, things finally clicked into place. I needed to make this my number one priority. I picked up a supply of healthy foods. Something told me to go back to myfitnesspal and start logging. My first goal was just to log and be accountable. It was tough, I think the second day I was here I binged and I did not want to think about it or write it down. But I did. And that was so freeing. I realized that it was a big success to be willing to look at exactly what I was doing. And I haven’t binged since.

It’s been 28 days without binging. 30 days of logging. I weighed in at 236 lbs this morning -20 lbs down. I can now dance for several hours straight, even with energy to keep on kicking past midnight. I see foods like donuts and chocolate covered pretzels in the office and hardly think twice about them. I’ve joined two September challenges which has really pushed me to work out every day.

Which isn’t to say everything is perfect. I stay up too late. I watch too much TV. Sometimes I eat when I am bored rather than when I am hungry. I’m eating way too much sodium. I get a bit obsessive about the forums here and the number on the scale. I’ve been battling pretty profound fatigue. But I feel like I have such a great foundation here that I am confident that I will tackle and work through these issues as well. Calorie counting has actually given me the freedom not to need to be perfect but to be objective and accountable and know that I will keep going no matter what.

A huge part of this has been the support from people here. I’ve gotten great advice and support. It’s amazing the difference one month makes!