Switching Gears

The best way to stay on track, or to loose weight, is to change one thing at a time. It is different for everybody, but I can only talk for what has helped me, in hopes of helping, or giving someone else ideas. First, I would start by cutting down on dinner portions at night. Since we don't usually expend much energy at night, it is not good to eat a lot of calorie rich foods. Second, I would stop drinking sugary beverages. Replace sodas, or sugary juices, for fruit, tea, water, and low fat milk. Next, I would stock up on healthy snacks to eat through out the day. Fruit, unsalted nuts, vegetables, non-fat yogurt, there are so many other options, I would just recommend getting creative, reading labels, and mix 'n match different foods so it doesn't get boring. If you want to do even more than that, you could take out all processed, and white foods. White foods meaning things like bread, and rice. Replace with whole wheat, or brown rice. Finally, try to incorporate exercise. Even the smallest amount is a help. Whatever you can fit in your schedule. Getting your heart rate up will help those endorphin levels as well. Just by incorporating one, two, or even three of these steps through time will make a difference. Sometimes it's all the little things that makes the difference.

A Bad Habit Of My Own

About A year, and a half ago, I started A bad habit that currently remains in my life. Well i stopped going to college, and decided to devote all my time with my daughter, which made me feel like a failure, and also kept me indoors ninety percent of the time. A few nights in a row i would eat junk food to help me feel better, then it turned into a habit; furthermore, if i didn't eat at night, i started feeling angry if there was nothing to eat. So for the next year i would eat LARGE amounts of junk food all through the night, and if it wasn't for exercising i would be as big as a house! Finally later that year i was tired of being overweight, and i would start to try to find ways to stop. First I would try cold turkey, and that maybe lasted days or weeks. Next i tried to eat healthy stuff instead, but I only craved fattening sweets, so that didn't work. After that I tried to eat just one snack; however, I wanted a lot of snacks, because i would get up like five times a night so that didn't work either! I finally gave up. Then my relationship ended, and for some reason that worked. I moved home, and lost thirty pounds in two months. Well after i started to get comfortable, and happy i started back again, and gained thirty pounds in three months. I am currently dealing with this issue. I went to the doctor for it recently, and he gave me Prozac, and Trazadone. Still I'm continuing my habit, so now hes going to up the dosage. I guess the way i want to end my story is I may know a lot of good advice, but it has not worked for this issue, so please anyone who is reading this, if you have any advice, i will much appreciate it, thank you.

Falling into Bad Habits

From what I can see falling into bad habits can sometimes take weeks, months, or even years. For me it takes just a few weeks, of changing patterns to form a bad habit, or pick a new one up. The habits I'm going to talk about are the ones directly related to weight gain. For me I start eating sweet, and salty foods, just the taste on my tongue, instantly hits a pleasure zone for me, and leads me to wanting more, and if eating well doing something else, ill eat way more than a serving. I think this can be true for a lot of people, and wants you start eating those foods, it is pretty hard to just stop cold turkey. Eating the foods that aren't good for your body leaves all kinds of negative effects, mentally, and physically. Physically, you will feel sluggish, heavy,and energy less, mentally may be different from one person to the next, but i feel less motivated, ashamed, regretful, unhealthy, and cravings for those types of foods, are much stronger. I find that the aroma, of anybodies favorite foods, are also a big trigger, it is easy to be focused on goals, and catch a scent of cake baking, and fall right back into a habit. Now for some people, they can just have a small piece, or if eating cookies, they will be content with two, but those are usually the people who don't have eating issues,for the rest of us, it is extremely hard to stop at just one. Exercise is the other factor involved, not enough can contribute to weight gain, and not eating the right foods, for energy is crucial as well. In order to conquer, and overcome, you must first examine what truly is motivating you, what are your goals, how can you attain those goals, what has held you back in the past, and what are solutions, that could make things better this time. I believe that no matter how much you fall off the wagon, that doesn't matter, there is always a new day, and different solutions, that with the strong desire can be found.

my introduction

I think the biggest reason i chose this topic, was because i have struggled with it for the last eleven years on , and off. Over the years i have picked up on a lot of useful information that could possibly help some one else who is struggling too, i that is also what i hope to achieve, maybe connect to someone else or help them in some way. I think with a subject like this there is no quick fix, and sometimes, it is a never ending process to try, and change, old ways of thinking, and behavior's.

Where It Started

My experience with the need to lose weight, and get healthy really all started as a teenager. At the age of twelve, my step father joined the army, and we all moved to Texas. At that time i was entering into middle school, and the kids down there were completely different, being that it was a army town, most of the kids were pretty angry, maybe because they moved around a lot, among other things i am sure. After being threatened by one of the girls in school, i didn't look forward to going anymore, and decided to stay home, and do home schooling. What really ended up happening, was me staying home, never leaving the house, getting very depressed, and eating all the wrong things. This is where my bad relationship with food really started, for four years, i watched TV, ate food, and dreamed about having a life, so as you can imagine i gained to much weight, and became unhealthy both mentally, and physically.