Morning guys!

Hope you're all well and ready start another on track and wonderful day.

I've been thinking tons about what got me to my highest weight of 180lbs. Part of my journey also includes dealing with my disordered eating patterns and figuring out what I was doing wrong and why I was doing it.

For me, the biggest contributing factors included the following:

- Skipping breakfast. Until very recently I'd always skip breakfast and sometimes lunch too. I've killed my metabolism this way although at the time I thought I was doing my body a favor by doing this. Now, I make it a point to eat every single morning. Sometimes it's a small something that doesn't constitute a full breakfast but at least I'm giving my body some fuel.

- Justifying eating 2 or 3 times a portion of something simply because it's healthy. For years, I convinced myself that if something is healthy then it's okay to overindulge. Calories add up regardless of whether it's a low-cal dish or not.

- Soda. I've given up soda 100%. I was addicted to it and realized I would drink anywhere from 500-1000 calories of coke each day. Scary when you think of it!!!

- Exercise. I always had a love hate relationship with exercise and was almost ashamed to do it because of the feelings of hatred I had while I was doing. I convinced myself that everyone who exercises on a regular basis loves it and since I don't then I wasn't meant to do it. I realize now that although some people like to exercise not many truly love it...... I'm also really loving the high I get from exercising and the wonderful feeling and energy I get afterward!

I'd love to hear your experiences!!! Have a great day everyone!

JennR this was a great idea! I love it!

I can definitely second the breakfast. I didnt always skip breakfast, but when I did I almost always made poorer choices the rest of the day.

I think my biggest contributer to weight gain was the "eat now we diet tomorrow" syndrome (yes I'm calling it a syndrome). I would have intention of going on a "clean eating only" plan. So anytime I gave in and ate something that wasn't clean whole unprocessed foods I would throw the towel in for the day and promise myself that I would eat perefctly "tomorrow". Throwing in the towel often meant that I would over indulge the rest of the day. This was a continuous pattern for the five weeks encompassing the holidays. I gained 10lbs! I did notice that many of the junks foods I love were not so good after eating them so frequently.

I wish I could say I am never eating junk foods and ONLY eating clean whole foods. But I am very human and very falible. So even on my "good day" I have eaten some not good foods. This is why I am so excited about calorie counting. Now if I eat something off plan I log it, assess the damage, and immediately either eat lighter and stay where I should be, or if it was a really bad choice, and I cant stay under calories, I still have the information to know how bad the damage was and stop it from getting bigger. With calorie counting I have to log it all. So saying "oh well I already screwed up today" doesnt help. I still have to track and see whatever else I may want to put in my mouth since that days "ruined".

I totally get the "eat now, diet tomorrow syndrome". What I find works best for me when I do want to eat off plan or indulge a little is make a commitment that my next meal or snack will be 100% back on plan. I also tend to plan my indulgences this way I feel more in control of them. If I know ahead of time that I'm going to eat something that isn't on plan I'll compensate for it by revving up my workout and planning my next healthy meal. I think that's the whole point of a balanced lifestyle is after eating so-so acknowledging that you need to move on and jump right back on the wagon...

My downfalls were/are:

1) "Picking" while preparing foods---It's almost a compulsion with me! I have to fight tooth and nail not to automatically taste everything I'm preparing. This is crazy but that habit was so ingrained that I almost found myself bringing a piece of dog food to my mouth as I was preparing my dog's food! That shows you how mindless it was. I am making a concerted effort not to do that now.

2) Eating fast---This is a lifelong struggle with me. Oddly enough, I do not enjoy my food as much when I eat it slowly (I know this goes against the conventional wisdom that says eat slowly and "savor" the food). I feel so un-ladylike when I eat. I wish I could find a way to enjoy my food while eating it slowly.

I also find that when I indulge---even within my calorie range---it makes me want that indulgent food more and more (this isn't true of all foods, just some of my red-light foods---e.g., pecan pie, cake, etc.).

My downfalls were almost all related to working in the food industry when I went to college.

1. When I gained my first 40 pounds, it was a combination of Dr. Pepper and deep fried fish and chicken. I used to drink 5 or 6 20 ounce cups of Dr. Pepper everyday that I worked (which was five days per week). I believe that's between 1250 and 1500 calories right there. I got promoted to a management position after a few months, and I got to eat anything I wanted for free. So I would eat a greasy Long John Silvers meal five day a week, plus random hush puppies and fries as the night went on.

2. The next 20 pounds came from working at Quiznos. Healthier than Long John Silvers, but I would pile sauces and cheese on my sandwiches and I'd always eat the biggest size, plus chips and soda (and probably the same amount of soda as I did at LJS).

3. The final 30 pounds I gained came from working at Pizza Hut. Another job with free food, and almost everything there is bad for you. A personal pan has between 600 and 900 calories, depending on what you put on it. Then there's a bigger size called the individual! Plus breadsticks, wings, poppers, etc.

4. The final component that contributed to my weight gain was lack of exercise! In high school, I swam a lot and I took karate classes three times per week, plus I was practicing at home, too. Once I went to college, I stopped my karate classes, and the combination of working 40 hours a week and taking 18 credits at college left me with little time for physical activity.

So the combination of really bad food choices and becoming less active took me from a range of 200 - 210 that I was in high school (and a size 14/16) to 302 pounds (size 24/26).