mardee57's Journal, 16 January 2014

Well... I have just finished challenge 2 since December 10 2013. In that time 37 days I lost 17 pounds. I went from 165 pounds to 148 pounds. Today I am starting the Eat to Live challenge by Dr. Joel Furhman. I am excited to continue down this path to reach my ideal healthy weight. I have lived too many years un-fit and unhealthy.

15 years ago I weighed 345 pounds, I was miserable, lonely, board, and unhappy. I guess that was a turning point for me and I realized that I couldn't put myself through that anymore. I lost 90 pounds and never gained it back, however I seemed to hover at the 255 pound range for a very long time. I would loose 20-40 pounds but gain it back over the next year or two.

In Nov. 2013 I had a lap band removed which never worked for me and had the sleeve replace it. That didn't work either... I could still eat massive amounts of food and felt no restriction from the procedure. It finally dawned on me that I was on my own and I made a firm decision that I was not going to let my historical weight issue beat me or win! I was finally fed up with food controlling my life. The trap that I had allowed to snare and entrap me with was no longer an acceptable option.

So this past December I made a commitment to myself to finally make the changes needed in a lifestyle reconstruction and eat to live and not live to eat as I had done for a good 30 years of my life.

I knew it was going to be time consuming and challenging to eat a truly healthy diet that was void of empty calories, processed food, chemically tainted meats, sugar, fat, and flour. I know that my options will now be vegetables, fruits, legumes/beans, nuts and seeds but after a life time of bad choices I was willing to commit to this forever.

I had been a bad Vegan for the past two years but after reading Dr. Fuhrman's Eat to Live book I realized that I was only partially on the right track.

So today is the day I start to lead a truly healthy lifestyle on the Eat to Live plan. I hope a lot of other folks will join me in this challenge for support and friendship...