200 Pounds and Counting...

So I'd decided to make a lifestyle change , not a temporary diet.  And part of that lifestyle change was to eliminate most carbs.  That was easier said than done.  I mean, if you were to ask me to list off the foods I love, it would be filled with things like pizza, pasta, mashed potatoes, and burgers with fries.  Desserts and sweets?  Yes please.  And on top of all that, I work in a profession where we have a lot of catered meetings filled with sandwiches and cookies.  I could try to tell myself that I was just never going to have those things again, but that would be an existence of misery. I was going to have to figure out a way to still let myself enjoy an occasional exception without letting things get out of hand. I don't believe in cheat days for a couple of reasons.  I've seen people cheat on their diets, and it usually gets out of hand quickly.   There needs to be structure, because it's too easy to just declare any day a ...

So I'd decided to lose weight .  I was more than willing to make that possible, but I'd tried to diet in the past, and it never stuck.  Don't try to diet, my girlfriend told me.  Instead, make some sustainable changes and see what happens.  She wanted to get back into the shape she was in when she was a model and participate in fitness competitions, and she suggested we could push each other.  I had never thought about it from that perspective, and having someone in it with me was a welcome change.  We outlined several changes I should make, and I was more than willing to give them a try.  I now had a mission. Over the course of the next several months, I built a new way of living.  I started with just a couple of changes, and once I had embraced and gotten used to those, I'd move on and add another.  Lifestyles are built over time, so expecting anyone to be able to change everything they do overnight is unrealistic.  Playi...