Hi everyone,
I have been lingering around these forums for about a week now, and have decided I am ready to actively participate. So far all of the information I have read has been so helpful and inspirational, so thanks to everyone who contributes!
I was always a very thin kid, I never had any eating problems until the end of middle school. My appetite drastically increased with puberty, and soon even though I wasn't hungry, I was eating all the time. Because I gained at least 20 pounds in 8'th grade, I became confused by my body. I grew to know food as comfort and entertainment, instead of energy for my body. My best friend and I would always eat junk food when we hung out, and would even drive to neighboring towns to get our favorites foods. In high school and college my weight fluctuated a lot, and I was always counting calories and trying to lose weight. I would wake up everyday on a diet. I have been between 118 and 175 pounds, and even when I was at my lowest weight I still thought I needed to lose weight. I seem to have an unhealthy relationship with food and at times a distorted body image.
I feel like I am finally mature enough to understand that this new journey is not only about weight loss, but about being able to live a healthy and happy life. I am 24 and just about to finish my graduate studies, and would like to move into the next chapter of my life as a confident, healthy, and truly happy person. So far I have been at this lifestyle change for the past 2 weeks or so, and I have already lost 6 pounds, which brings me to 169. I hope to keep up the good work through a healthy diet and at least 30 minutes of exercise every day.
This will be challenging for me because I am highly addicted to sugar and I am also a binge eater. Some weekends I will stay in my apartment and eat boxes of cookies and get fast food for every meal. While it is comforting in the moment, I feel very uncomfortable after I do it. I also eat when I am stressed, happy, or bored. So, I guess we can say I am an emotional eater. Emotional eating is such a strong addiction, and it feels so good when you do it, but then you realize...oh no, I keep gaining weight. This will also be a challenge, because the friend group I hangout with loves to go out to eat, and they are almost all overweight or obese. They always tell me how skinny I am, and yes, in comparison I am thinner than them, but I am by no means thin. Those types of comments distort my thinking, and confuse me about my body image even more, because then I think to myself, maybe I am not that overweight, even though my bmi is in the overweight category.
Well, thanks for listening, and I just know this site will offer me a lot of support and I hope I can support others as well. Yay for new beginnings and a healthier lifestyle!
Getting my life back on track
