Hi MFP! Everything about me in one long post. Looking for Al

Hi everyone. I’ve been on MFP about 9 months now, and I need to add some likeminded friends that share at least some of the same traits as me. I've used MFP to track food for some time with great results, but I'd like to know there are folks there when I log in. I want to be inspired by your progress and motivated to be accountable.

I'm in my late 40's, married, with no kids. I am an Actor & Writer, but Game Development is what really pays the bills. Austin has been home for the last 25 years, and I've been overweight and unhealthy most of that time.

Over the years I’ve tried different diets and workout programs with varying degrees of success, but nothing sustainable, and I would always revert eventually. Sometimes regaining more weight that I had when I started. True change didn’t start until I began psychotherapy for depression. After a few years of that I started to rewire my core programming that had led to repeated self-sabotage, compulsive eating, and a host of other unhealthy behaviors. My work in this area is ongoing, and will last the rest of my life, most likely.

My max was about five years ago, when I was close to 300 pounds (at 5’7) with a 48 inch waist. Today I’m at 230 and 38 inch pants, and still 5’7. Don’t know how to get taller. The lifestyle changes were not dramatic, but slow and steady, therefore I believe they are sustainable. My intention is to continue down this path until nothing jiggles when I jump around.

The core of my fitness routine is weightlifting and Bikram yoga. My garage is a home gym, and the Bikram studio is five minutes away from the house, so that makes things much more convenient. And more convenient means I am more likely to do them.

For those who know Austin, this is a hard place to be out of shape. There is a huge cultural value on fitness, hippie food, active lifestyles, outdoorsiness and health in general. Of course there's also lots of Tex-Mex, beer and BBQ. Rather than live a life of denial, I walk a fine line of “some”.

A few of my personal rules:
Drink at least 3 liters of water a day (this is required to survive Bikram)
Don’t buy anything at a drive through or wrapped in cellophane.
Eat half, wait a bit to see if I’m still hungry. If not, save the rest for later.
Log everything I eat.
Don’t beat myself up when I break one of these rules.

I’m not here to recreate Facebook, so I don’t look to collect friends or join someone else’s bullpen. I’d like to have a group of people I can relate to for sharing a journey to health and fitness. If you read this far, that’s probably you. Let’s connect!

Even though this is a long-*kitten* post, I don’t tend to be chatty or overshare online. So if you add me you won’t hear about the tiny details of my day. But I will be there for support when you need it.

tl;dr
Making long term lifestyle changes to be healthy.