Joining the awesomeness

[jariff]

Hey all! Like many people around here, I've been lurking for awhile. I was always overweight growing up even though I played a bunch of sports--carb addiction probably had a lot to do with it. Back in high school I lost 20 lbs on Weight Watchers, but when I went to college and abroad, I fell off the wagon hard, and it did a number on my self esteem all throughout college. Plus, my family has a predisposition to diabetes; I was diagnosed pre-diabetic a few years and developing it is one of my biggest fears.

In November I started WW again after getting mad at my reflection in the mirror one time too many, but walking and some yoga was the extent of my exercise. Back in January I read through ALL of Steve's archives (took me a good few weeks) after a friend introduced me to the site and I've been hooked ever since. I'm a super book nerd (waiting to hear if I got accepted to Harvard for grad school), so it was amazing to find a place for people like me! I switched over from gym-rat cardio to bodyweight/free weight workouts--luckily my apartment building has a pretty solid workout room--and dropped another 13 pounds, on top of 10 I'd lost already, for a grand total of 23 so far. (Started at 206, now 183)

Starting:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1934[/ATTACH]

Now:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1935[/ATTACH]

But I want to step it up since my eventual goal is to get down to about 140/145, and I know a new six-week challenge is coming up soon so I figured I'd introduce myself. I plan on sticking with WW for diet since it helps me keep track, but I've been minimizing breads/maximizing fruits and veggies (can't really test out Paleo since my roommates keep the kitchen vegetarian) much better than before.

Can't wait to join the community for real!

[AKLulu]

Welcome! The progress you've already made is great and another nerd added to the Rebellion is always a good thing I was always involved in sports too, but it never made much of an impact... guess I was sneaking too many sweets away from my parents' eyes. I'm super excited to finally be taking steps in the right direction and have a great community like this to be a part of. We're glad to have you!

As far as your roomies keeping the kitchen vegetarian... do you just feel uncomfortable eating meat around them or do they kind of.... compel you to have a similar diet? Are they strict vegetarian or do they ever eat fish? Eggs are okay too! I guess if you really want to try Paleo you can make it work on your own and don't need me to tell you what you can do

Anyways, welcome again!

[jariff]

Sneaking definitely was a part of it for me; I've had to learn that it doesn't fool anyone, and only hurts me in the long run

My roommates actually keep the kitchen kosher, which I figured would be a little more difficult to explain, so its a mix of both things you mentioned -- they have separate dishes for milk and meat, and meat also would need to be kosher (which is also much more expensive) but I agreed to respect it when I moved in. I do eat salmon multiple times a week and plenty of eggs, and I've cut way down on bread, entirely cut pasta and throw in a little brown rice only now and then (do love my goat cheese and greek yogurt though). I also try to get in my meat for lunch when I'm out of the apartment.

Thanks for the welcome!

[AKLulu]

Ah, I gotcha! We have some Jewish friends here in Portland, so I'm slightly familiar with kosher practices. I'm a huge fan of goat cheese and Greek yogurt too! I'll probably integrate that back in after I try being a slightly stricter Paleo person for the next month or so. Not that I'm that hard on myself.... I still get a little red wine and dark chocolate Sounds like you're doing pretty great!

I stopped sneaking.... but for a long time it was more that I decided I was an adult and shouldn't have to be ashamed of what I ate, so if I was eating sweets, my mom (yes, she was the major problem for me) would just have to deal with it. I don't know how many times we had it out before I finally got her to stop giving me dirty looks every time I picked up something less than healthy. But I could go on about that for ages, so I'll stop now