Hello everyone
I'm Blake, and I have recently read Doug's book, after finding a video of him online so wonderfully illustrating how much sugar is in the food I usually eat. My story, in brief, follows:
I'm 26 years old, 6'3 and just hit my all time highest weight of 230 pounds. Because of my height, people tend to think that I am not 'fat', and I am not by many people's standards. But when you consider that just 3 years ago I weighed 185 pounds, and carried about 10 pounds more muscle mass at that time than I currently do... its safe to say I am carrying about 45 pounds more weight than I need to be. ALL of this excess weight resides in my midsection. I am not one who puts a lot of stock in weight in general, its much more about how your clothes fit, how healthy you feel, and your height and muscle mass plays a large part as well, but it is a useful tool that gives you a guideline. What I do know is my size 41" waist will no longer fit into the collection of size 32 pants hanging in my closet
I have done extensive reading on different theories and supposed science regarding how we should eat, what is healthy and what isn't, and something about this just makes sense. Doug puts his ideas out very plainly where ANYONE can grasp what he is saying. Seeing the equivalent in terms of table sugar makes me look at every food I eat in different terms. In the past I had started Atkins, but I quit after 9 days because I did not do enough work to find variety in what I was allowed to eat, and despite losing 14 pounds in those 9 days, I quit. I'm not a gifted cook. I could demolish a kitchen and rebuild it from scratch, but as far as cooking in it, well, I struggle with boiling water.
A lot of why I am here is because I am not happy with seeing those extra pounds, every time I look in the mirror I think "that's not me, it cant be", but I know that it is. The mirror and the scale don't lie. But perhaps a more important reason is the impending health problems that are no doubt coming my way if I don't make a change. At 26 I am borderline or stage 1 hypertension depending on the day. My mom is overweight and has type 2 diabetes as well as high blood pressure, and my dad has the same build as myself, but he has an additional 20 pounds on his frame. I have shown my mom the book, and she agrees that it all makes sense, and we are both going to give this thing a shot. I am trying to get her to join the forum for additional support, but she is computer illiterate, so that will take some work.
I usually am just a lurker who reads forums and never joins, but I figured this time I would say hello, and perhaps get some insightful responses, or some level of accountability. Food has always been my major weakness. I am hoping I learn some skills from my time spent on this forum and learn how to replace my favorite foods with ones that wont contribute to my waistline.
Thanks to Doug for writing the book, and I am looking forward to this journey, and trying some of the great sounding meals I have already found discussed here!
