My History with Food and Weight

(I am going to do this in 3 related posts so that they're not so long - and if you you just want to get to the main topic, skip to the 3rd one, although this stuff may make you appreciate it more)

Over the past ~ 4 years, I have once again let myself slowly slip into some bad habits when it comes to eating and exercise. While this isn't a yo-yo cycle for me, I can now see some trends that I've decided I need to break, hopefully once and for all.

I'll make a standard disclaimer before I start - I am not a doctor or a medical professional, and some of the information about diets and medically-related topics are based on my own reading, research, and experiences of what works for me. Everyone should consult a doctor before making any life-changing decisions related to their health. That being said...don't forget that YOU are ultimately responsible for your health. Doctors, as good as they are, can only make their best judgments on the information they know about you, and the information they know themselves, and even the best doctor on Earth still can't know everything about everything. I would encourage people to remember that it's ok to get a second opinion and that there is often more than one way to solve a medical or health problem.

So, I have issues with food. I have had them since I was very young, before I can even remember (according to my parents, somewhere around age 2 1/2). I was EXTREMELY picky as a child - I don't think I threw tantrums about much of anything, except probably food. You say, "yeah I was picky too, we all grow out of it". Well, to put it in perspective - most of my younger life, there were about 4 or 5 things I would eat (other than things like dessert which pretty much anyone eats, although I was even picky about that). I lived on peanut butter and crackers, fried chicken, bacon, toast, cereal, milk, Wild Berry Hi-C, and fruit rollups. I did not eat pizza until I was about 15, and then it was ONLY cheese pizza from Pizza Hut. As I got into high school, I figured out french fries were ok, as well as plain chicken sandwiches. I didn't eat any fruits or vegetables to speak of, unless you count corn-on-the-cob, during the one month in the summer when it was in season. Not until college did I even start edging my way out of my eating shell (a little).

I don't know exactly when I slipped into the "overweight" category as a kid, but I have one "reference point" I usually go with. In 7th grade in PE class, we did a unit on wrestling, and were divided up into weight classes. I was at 200 lbs by then - easily the biggest in my 7th grade class (to be fair, I was also the tallest at that point because I grew sooner than just about everyone). I hovered around 200 through most of high school, which at 5'10" (even with a large frame) is probably still too much.

In college, I actually got to some period during my junior year where I dropped down to about 185 - I wasn't really specifically trying to lose weight, but a combination of having a walking campus, taking a weight lifting class (that really de-mystified weight training which I've continued to do through most years after that) and maybe a lot of studying and stress, I just dropped some pounds. During my IBM co-op, I also worked out a lot because I had a lot of free time. Sadly, my senior year I think I over-endulged a bit on pretty much everything, and graduated college in 1997 at an out-of-shape 215, my all-time max weight then.

Next post...my attempts at diets, cardio, marathons, weight training, and how they worked.