Long time lurker, first time poster and all that. I finally decided to make an account and share my story.
I used to be normal weight while still being able to eat whatever I wanted (crisps, chocolate, cookies, you name it). About fifteen years ago, after a difficult period in my life (money was tight, lots of work and just not feeling good about myself) I changed to a desk job with better pay and slowly gained weight until my BMI went over 30. Of course I realized I was getting fatter, but really, I didn't care that much, lots of people are fatter than I am right? Food quickly became an important stable factor in my life; I deserved to eat and snack whatever I wanted especially after a few difficult years.
About five, six years ago I decided that I really needed to change something, I saw pictures of myself and didn't like how I looked, my family made remarks about it and I wasn't up to any physical activity. I remember the first time I undertook some activity with the kids, we went swimming and after that a 2-mile (easy) walk. The next day literally every muscle in my body hurt, which is when I realized I had to become more active and I had to do it now.
I joined a gym and started with 2 hours a week of exercise. After a few months I got the hang of that and ramped it up to 3 hours. Slowly I began to regain my physical condition. Great! However I didn't really change much in my eating patterns so while I definitely shaped up and lost a small bit of weight, I still remained too fat and hanging around a BMI of 30. I felt better than before, but I'm also not stupid; a BMI of 30 is not okay.
About a year and a half ago I finally decided to be honest with myself. If I wanted to get to a healthy weight (and thus to a healthier life and a future with less chance of weight-related illness) I had to stop telling myself all was well. I knew by that time what a healthy/necessary caloric intake was for me (thanks r/loseit and MFP!), it just didn't mesh with what I WANTED to eat. I learned two important lessons:
1) What I needed to eat and what my stomach expected to eat are two completely different things. So from now on my brain is deciding and not my stomach (in other words, if my stomach tells me "I want crisps" I tell it "no you don't").
2) I am the only person responsible for what I feed my body; not my genetics, not family, not medication, not my stomach, not ads for yummy unhealthy food and so on. I refuse to treat my body as a trashcan even if at a particular moment I feel like I NEED to eat; I am stronger than that and I did already eat the required amount of calories and nutrients for the day. If my stomach is empty it dang well can get a bottle of water.
At this point I was physically an active person and hoo boy did cutting out the snacks make a difference. I lost most of the 65 lbs in the past 18 months. I felt good before, but now, with a BMI of 23 I feel A LOT better, both physically and mentally; not only do I have less blubber to carry around, I also know that I fought and won this battle; not the battle with fat, the battle with myself and my unhealthy habits. I had to learn to value myself as a human being. I still eat snacks, I just make sure not to buy too many and have them as a reward (for example after an extra walk).
A miracle diet doesn't exist, a lot of people have asked me what diet I followed (and it's surprising how many people commented positively on my weight loss); my answer always is: less snacking, more exercise. The true miracle is learning how to be honest to yourself.
Over the years a lot of stories and experiences I came across in this sub have helped me and likewise I hope that maybe my story will help someone else as well. :)
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from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/2Wjfxha
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