Hi everybody. I've been kinda lurking around this site for a few hours and finally decided to go ahead and share after so much time spent being super secretive. I'm 29 going on 30. I'm a recovering fast food addict (self diagnosed, of course, but that was easy) now on the South Beach Diet, although I'm really just using their cook book, and it's been working wonders.
A little background: Just two years ago I was honorably discharged from the military. I was in good shape, but I never ate right. In fact, I think the only reason I wasn't a heifer while I was serving is because I was always running around. I've always struggled with my weight, but never to this extent. Fast food was dinner just about every night while I was growing up. It was literally a choice between McDonald's, Wienerschnitzel, Taco Bell or something of that sort. Mom was busy working and going to school and my gramps wasn't much of a cook. I love fast food, and that's what got me here today. The funny thing is it really doesn't matter what it is, so long as it's from a restaurant. Don't care about sugar; fast food is my vice. Well, that and energy drinks and soda.
After I left the military, I found myself gaining weight. It started slowly, a couple pounds here, a couple pounds there over about 6 months. But after about a year and a half, I was right in the middle of a serious, no-kidding fast food addiction. I would eat constantly. I was charging fast food meals to my credit cards and eating in secret so that my partner didn't know what I was doing. I'd stuff myself to my full capacity as often as I could, and nobody but myself knew about it. I ate SO much and SO often that I just blew up.
To give you an idea of the seriousness of the issue, here's a typical day:
-Leave for work. Cup of coffee and maybe an english muffin or waffle that my girlfriend made me. Stop and get more food when girlfriend isn't with me. Either 2 breakfast sandwiches and 3 breakfast roll-ups from a gas station or two sausage mcmuffins from mcdonald's with hash browns and a coke. Sometimes a trip to Carl's Jr. for a mushroom and swiss six dollar burger AND a breakfast biscuit... my favorite choice.
-Get to work. Eat through whatever snacks my girlfriend packed me that were meant to last the workday. Maybe eat some extra crap from the vending machines; mainly cheetos and an energy drink. Go to lunch shortly thereafter. Drive through McDonald's and order a big angus burger meal; maybe a little something extra on the side. That, or go to Subway and order a big, fattening footlong tuna or philly with extra cheese and some chips or cookies. Plus a drink. Tell girlfriend I ordered a salad.
-Leave work. On the way home, spend some time thinking about what sounds good to eat. Stop at whichever place does. Usually Wienerschnitzel for 2 chili dogs, 2 mustard dogs and a chili cheese fry. If not, probably jack in the box for an ultimate cheeseburger with mozzarella sticks. Yep, really healthy choices. Charge these foods on my credit card again so that girlfriend doesn't know what I'm up to. Pathetic.
-Get home from work. Eat dinner that girlfriend has prepared. Feel disgusting. Pretend I'm too tired for sex because I feel unbelievably fat and unattractive. Go to sleep.
And the cycle repeated this way every single day, with the exception of the weekends, because I'd be with my girlfriend, but we'd still eat out. There were times that I'd skip a day of the fast food here and there during the week, but it got to the point where I couldn't. I was so addicted, it was literally all I thought about. The more I consumed, the more it consumed me, and I was getting really fat. All I wanted was to be able to stop, but I just couldn't. And every time I gave in, I felt miserable and depressed. And coming from someone who's been addicted to other things in the past, let me tell you, this addiction was just as strong as a drug addiction can be. Not joking.
Well, I gained a good 60 pounds in that 2 year span. I felt horrible about my body and my weight was starting to really become an issue between my girlfriend and I. She would try to encourage me to work out and eat healthy, but I didn't have the guts to tell her I was a food addict. It didn't help that she was an active runner. I didn't want to go out anywhere where I'd see my friends because I was ashamed of myself. Finally, things started getting worse, and then I made the choice to stop and started the South Beach Diet.
At the start of my diet a month ago, I was 206 pounds (I'm only 5'7"). The first week or two were excruciating, but I knew if I didn't do something, I was going to lose everything important to me. My girlfriend did it with me and that really helped to keep me strong. I'm four weeks into it and I'm down to 188! I am so excited and motivated that I am determined to keep it up. One thing I will say about the South Beach Diet is that it's hard at first, but the pounds come off quickly, so it becomes its own addiction. I'm eating healthy foods all the time and now it's not even a diet. It's just the way I eat. And the more pounds you shed, the more determined you are to keep it going. What's even CRAZIER about the diet is that in the book it says it will rid you of your addictions to the bad foods, and it really, really did. I don't crave any of that crap anymore, thank God!!!! I mean it's still hard when someone sitting next to you is eating a big fat cheeseburger, but all of the foods in the cookbook are delicious. It is saving my life as we speak.
My blood sugar has leveled out (surprisingly as the book promised), and I feel great! I've been buying new clothes left and right because I'm excited about the way my body is changing, which is the absolute opposite of the way I felt when I was throwing fast food bags out the car window before I got home after chowing down all day in secret. I HATED shopping for clothes!!!
Anyway, I'm four weeks and 17 pounds into it, and I am going to keep it up. Hope you all enjoyed reading that; I've never told anybody those things. Feels so liberating!!!
A little background: Just two years ago I was honorably discharged from the military. I was in good shape, but I never ate right. In fact, I think the only reason I wasn't a heifer while I was serving is because I was always running around. I've always struggled with my weight, but never to this extent. Fast food was dinner just about every night while I was growing up. It was literally a choice between McDonald's, Wienerschnitzel, Taco Bell or something of that sort. Mom was busy working and going to school and my gramps wasn't much of a cook. I love fast food, and that's what got me here today. The funny thing is it really doesn't matter what it is, so long as it's from a restaurant. Don't care about sugar; fast food is my vice. Well, that and energy drinks and soda.
After I left the military, I found myself gaining weight. It started slowly, a couple pounds here, a couple pounds there over about 6 months. But after about a year and a half, I was right in the middle of a serious, no-kidding fast food addiction. I would eat constantly. I was charging fast food meals to my credit cards and eating in secret so that my partner didn't know what I was doing. I'd stuff myself to my full capacity as often as I could, and nobody but myself knew about it. I ate SO much and SO often that I just blew up.
To give you an idea of the seriousness of the issue, here's a typical day:
-Leave for work. Cup of coffee and maybe an english muffin or waffle that my girlfriend made me. Stop and get more food when girlfriend isn't with me. Either 2 breakfast sandwiches and 3 breakfast roll-ups from a gas station or two sausage mcmuffins from mcdonald's with hash browns and a coke. Sometimes a trip to Carl's Jr. for a mushroom and swiss six dollar burger AND a breakfast biscuit... my favorite choice.
-Get to work. Eat through whatever snacks my girlfriend packed me that were meant to last the workday. Maybe eat some extra crap from the vending machines; mainly cheetos and an energy drink. Go to lunch shortly thereafter. Drive through McDonald's and order a big angus burger meal; maybe a little something extra on the side. That, or go to Subway and order a big, fattening footlong tuna or philly with extra cheese and some chips or cookies. Plus a drink. Tell girlfriend I ordered a salad.
-Leave work. On the way home, spend some time thinking about what sounds good to eat. Stop at whichever place does. Usually Wienerschnitzel for 2 chili dogs, 2 mustard dogs and a chili cheese fry. If not, probably jack in the box for an ultimate cheeseburger with mozzarella sticks. Yep, really healthy choices. Charge these foods on my credit card again so that girlfriend doesn't know what I'm up to. Pathetic.
-Get home from work. Eat dinner that girlfriend has prepared. Feel disgusting. Pretend I'm too tired for sex because I feel unbelievably fat and unattractive. Go to sleep.
And the cycle repeated this way every single day, with the exception of the weekends, because I'd be with my girlfriend, but we'd still eat out. There were times that I'd skip a day of the fast food here and there during the week, but it got to the point where I couldn't. I was so addicted, it was literally all I thought about. The more I consumed, the more it consumed me, and I was getting really fat. All I wanted was to be able to stop, but I just couldn't. And every time I gave in, I felt miserable and depressed. And coming from someone who's been addicted to other things in the past, let me tell you, this addiction was just as strong as a drug addiction can be. Not joking.
Well, I gained a good 60 pounds in that 2 year span. I felt horrible about my body and my weight was starting to really become an issue between my girlfriend and I. She would try to encourage me to work out and eat healthy, but I didn't have the guts to tell her I was a food addict. It didn't help that she was an active runner. I didn't want to go out anywhere where I'd see my friends because I was ashamed of myself. Finally, things started getting worse, and then I made the choice to stop and started the South Beach Diet.
At the start of my diet a month ago, I was 206 pounds (I'm only 5'7"). The first week or two were excruciating, but I knew if I didn't do something, I was going to lose everything important to me. My girlfriend did it with me and that really helped to keep me strong. I'm four weeks into it and I'm down to 188! I am so excited and motivated that I am determined to keep it up. One thing I will say about the South Beach Diet is that it's hard at first, but the pounds come off quickly, so it becomes its own addiction. I'm eating healthy foods all the time and now it's not even a diet. It's just the way I eat. And the more pounds you shed, the more determined you are to keep it going. What's even CRAZIER about the diet is that in the book it says it will rid you of your addictions to the bad foods, and it really, really did. I don't crave any of that crap anymore, thank God!!!! I mean it's still hard when someone sitting next to you is eating a big fat cheeseburger, but all of the foods in the cookbook are delicious. It is saving my life as we speak.
My blood sugar has leveled out (surprisingly as the book promised), and I feel great! I've been buying new clothes left and right because I'm excited about the way my body is changing, which is the absolute opposite of the way I felt when I was throwing fast food bags out the car window before I got home after chowing down all day in secret. I HATED shopping for clothes!!!
Anyway, I'm four weeks and 17 pounds into it, and I am going to keep it up. Hope you all enjoyed reading that; I've never told anybody those things. Feels so liberating!!!
