...from the hinterlands just outside of OneDerLand!
I know some people must have been like, "Whatever happened to THAT guy?" at the end of the Shaun T. DietBet in April. Long story short, I lost, and I felt like I had let a bunch of people down. Life was really getting in the way of me working out the way I should have been, and eating what I should have been. I had wandered into the wonderful, terrible world of vegan fast/junk food, and the same eating habits that had put me in the severely overweight category were starting to creep back into my eating habits as a non-animal flesh consumer.
The saddest part about it all was that I felt myself starting to get frustrated enough by my own weakness that I was just not caring if I put the pounds back on. Much more slowly than I would have eating meat, but packing them back on nonetheless. Couple that with the incredible stress I was feeling from finishing up super-long grad school papers and getting all of my masters degree requirements out of the way, and I was not having a great go of it in May or June.
We did have a really nice family vacation to Florida to meet up with friends and get some beach/Disney World time as well. With the end of my thirties fast approaching, I decided at some point during the trip that I needed to take another radical step to get my eating, and my entire outlook on food, under control. For me, that step was to commit to another extended juice fast, beginning July 1st. I committed to a 45-day juice that would effectively usher out my thirties, as well as continuing to eat a whole food, plant-based diet after that, only focusing much more on the life-giving veggies and fruits, and much less on the meat substitutes and "healthy" chips that would never last more than a single meal within my arm's reach.
How's it going, you ask? Well, so far, so good. I weighed in at the beginning of the month at 240, which was about 25 lbs. heavier than the lowest weight I reached at the end of my last successful DB challenge. This morning, I stepped on the scale and it read...200.2 lbs! I have not weighed this much since 6th grade, and I'm super-stoked that I could well step on the scale tomorrow morning and see that long-coveted ONE at the front of my weight!
As it stands, I'm still about 25 lbs. away from my Super-Ultimate Dream/Goal Weight of 175 lbs. The one that I wrote down in the first journal entry I ever wrote in which I acknowledged my already desperate struggle against food addiction. Christmas Break, 1990. I was fifteen years old, and even then I had some serious doubts whether I could reach that goal. Well, as I type these words, I have considerably fewer doubts than I ever have. Even if I don't reach the goal juicing, I will eat mostly raw fruits and veggies, with a small portion of cooked grains, veggies, etc. until my body settles in to its natural weight. Whatever that is. If it's 175, that's awesome! If it's 185, that's fine as well. If it's 165? Hmmmm...
I appreciate the community DietBet provides, and I'm still excited about the prospect of losing weight for money. However, at this point I don't think I should feel like I'm under any sort of time constraint. In the past, that has led me to some pretty questionable practices, in pursuit of a number. Sauna suit, anyone? I'm hoping never to have to do that, ever again.
Still, though. I will be posting blog entries here and at my site, http://mybondagemyfreedom.blogspot.com/. I'm posting regular entries detailing my ongoing struggle against food addiction and compulsive overeating, in the hopes that at least one other person going through the same thing will take heart and be encouraged that yes, there is in fact a light at the end of the tunnel that is NOT an oncoming train.
I'm living proof of that. Nearly 150 lbs. lost in less than 10 months. Almost half my body weight, gone FOREVER (God willing)! If I can do that, anyone can...