So for the first 23 years of my life I was quite the athlete. I played basketball almost religiously through my teen years and later switched to lifting weights. It all went downhill when I moved away to to attend a school in a different city, different province. I weighed 230 pounds. There I really found joy and comfort in food. It was there I learned to binge eat. Very quickly the pounds packed on. Then a whole new level of problems arose. I become self-conscious of my appearance, started avoiding socializing, and developed a real love (and need) for eating. My weekends turned into movie nights with ordered-in pizza and a whole host of unhealthy snacks and treats. It became the only thing that I would look forward to, and there's the cycle; eat more, get bigger, go out less, eat more to feel better. I came back two years later, weighing around 290 pounds and had developed the worst eating habits. It's now 7 years later and I've only gained more weight.
Over the last week I added over a minute of running to my cardio days, added more weight to my lifting days, and today I weigh 313. The tough question is how to keep things up? How to prevent from falling back into my old habits? Well.....at least I've lost some weight so far.
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Thursday, 13 October 2011
The first step
I'm sure this is nothing new. Everyone and their dog has a blog up these days. This is more for me and my desire to create some sort of accountability to give me that push to improve my life. But first, the background.
About a year ago I started having anxiety attacks and after seeing a number of doctors I was prescribed an SSRI (Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitor) called Paroxetine. See, I was told that I have a serotonin deficiency and that the symptoms can manifest themselves in different ways. Some get depression, others get anxiety. I was given the minimum dosage for about 8 months and then I developed a serious sleeping problem (a serious lack of sleep) so I changed to 30 mgs of Mirtazapine (which has an added sedative). As I hope most other doctors have told their patients, I was told that this anxiety problem is 90% mental. The anxiety attacks build up and get out of control, and I let them. I dwell on the smallest issue and make it out to be something major in my head and the anxiety grows every step of the way. The deeper problem is said to come from a poor overall feeling about one's own life. The longer you're unhappy, the more problematic it gets. That's the mental side, there is obviously a real physical issue at play here....and that comes from treating your body like crap.
Right now I'm 32.5 years old, I weigh 315 pounds, and I'm about 6'5. I've been this way for 7 years and I've hated every second of it.
I'm tired of this life and I want something new. So here we are.
Ask anyone even remotely involved in the field of health sciences about overcoming anxiety and they'll give you a small list of of things in order to beat it. The first two items on that list will undoubtedly be diet and exercise. My doctor has been telling me for years to lose weight, eat better, and get more exercise. Being overweight (and yes even at my height 315 is definitely overweight) makes me feel crappy. I feel tired, lethargic, shameful, and I have a generally unhappy disposition.
The plan. The end goal is a place called happy...and I haven't been there in a long time. How do I get there? Being healthy. So this is the start. I plan on posting my weight on a weekly basis, how I've changed my diet, how I've improved my exercising, and everything in between. I hope that maybe by documenting the journeying, it will not only inspire me to get better, but get a few others to do the same as well.
God I hope this works.
About a year ago I started having anxiety attacks and after seeing a number of doctors I was prescribed an SSRI (Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitor) called Paroxetine. See, I was told that I have a serotonin deficiency and that the symptoms can manifest themselves in different ways. Some get depression, others get anxiety. I was given the minimum dosage for about 8 months and then I developed a serious sleeping problem (a serious lack of sleep) so I changed to 30 mgs of Mirtazapine (which has an added sedative). As I hope most other doctors have told their patients, I was told that this anxiety problem is 90% mental. The anxiety attacks build up and get out of control, and I let them. I dwell on the smallest issue and make it out to be something major in my head and the anxiety grows every step of the way. The deeper problem is said to come from a poor overall feeling about one's own life. The longer you're unhappy, the more problematic it gets. That's the mental side, there is obviously a real physical issue at play here....and that comes from treating your body like crap.
Right now I'm 32.5 years old, I weigh 315 pounds, and I'm about 6'5. I've been this way for 7 years and I've hated every second of it.
I'm tired of this life and I want something new. So here we are.
Ask anyone even remotely involved in the field of health sciences about overcoming anxiety and they'll give you a small list of of things in order to beat it. The first two items on that list will undoubtedly be diet and exercise. My doctor has been telling me for years to lose weight, eat better, and get more exercise. Being overweight (and yes even at my height 315 is definitely overweight) makes me feel crappy. I feel tired, lethargic, shameful, and I have a generally unhappy disposition.
The plan. The end goal is a place called happy...and I haven't been there in a long time. How do I get there? Being healthy. So this is the start. I plan on posting my weight on a weekly basis, how I've changed my diet, how I've improved my exercising, and everything in between. I hope that maybe by documenting the journeying, it will not only inspire me to get better, but get a few others to do the same as well.
God I hope this works.
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