I reached 350 pounds in my early 30s. I was using an old-fashioned scale, and the needle only went to 350, so it could have been more. When I stepped on the scale, and the needle banged all the way to the end, I knew that either my habits or my hopes had to change for me ever to be healthy. One of them had to give up because they were not compatible. I chose the first one and started my lifelong quest of becoming healthy, staying healthy, and getting to the root of it all.
I set up 19 conversations. I talked to people I thought were healthy [not just thin- some thin people I know are anything but]. I chose people I respected- people who seemed to have a good dynamic with their food and bodies. That was the beginning of the end of my fat life. I looked the same for a while, but my mindset had changed. My body needed to catch up, but these conversations planted the seeds.
I asked for everything I ever wanted to know about eating - the physiological element, the emotional component, the mental constructs, and the actual habits around working out (or not). I dove deep and studied the darn thing - what worked, what made sense to me, what was logical, and what was maintainable for the rest of my life.
I studied diligently almost every day to enrich my knowledge about it. What would help for the first 20 pounds? Then the next 20 pounds? Then the next. Like when you paint a room. You do one wall at a time, not all at once.
I needed to lose so many pounds that I could not keep doing what I was doing. Not even a little bit. So, every day, I found one idea, shifted one habit, thought one different thought, and chipped away all that had led to where I was - on the right side of a very large number on a scale. I have been at it for 20 years. I am still at it in many ways.
