The Addiction of Food: The Final Stretch

The Final Stretch

For those who don’t know my story and journey of weight gain and weight loss… It has been a long one. Due to life and the stress that comes with it I gained about 40+ pounds after I graduated High School. The more I think about it the more I feel strongly that the addiction to food is probably the hardest addiction to kick. I know there are millions of people who struggle with the addiction to drugs and alcohol everyday. That breaking their addiction is a struggle non the less. However after breaking my addiction to food I have to say, lucky them to only having an addiction to drugs and alcohol.

During the peak of my weight gain I would eat no matter if I was hungry, with out thinking twice. On my way to school, I would stop at Taco Bell and get a burrito and quesadilla, usually after eating something small for breakfast. Then after school on my way home I would get something else to eat. I didn’t care, I just NEEDED food. It hurt me to pass a fast food restaurant (with the exception of McDonald’s I hate that place) and would have to stop. I gained the 35 out of 40 pounds within just a few months of starting college. I had no control, nor did I care. The more I look back on it now the more I realize how addicting it all was. When I would eat out, I would HAVE to eat the whole plate… no matter how big the portion.

With the addiction of eating, it is something we can’t avoid. We all have to eat, and if you don’t have it within yourself to stop then the addiction continues for the rest of your life. It was after the break up of my last boyfriend and I that I woke up one day looked in the mirror and thought “what the hell happened to me?”. I had given up the things I loved, food became my prime focus. I know people judged me for my size and I probably lost a few friends because of it.  It was after this wake up call that I made my attempts to slowly adjust my life style. Although it wasn’t until January of the next year that I truly put my mind to it. I was turning 21 that March and I was just tired of being almost 250 pounds and a tight size 18 almost a 20. I was thoroughly disappointed with myself. I always struggled with weight, I was always a big girl, but never like this. So i figured if I was going to lose the weight, I was going to go big. I wanted to lose the 40+ pounds I had gained and 60 past that. My ideal goal is a size 4-6. So I stuck with it, and kept a very strict diet, following Weight Watchers, doing WII Fit religiously, and bringing a lunch with me to the Renaissance Faire instead of eating the delicious food. I set goals for my self, small ten pound goals and I accomplished them. Septermber, a year and a month after I started my weight loss, I had lost about 50+ pounds. It was then that my motivation started to diminish. I started eating out more, still healthy of course, and the weight slowly stopped coming off.

At December I had lost 70 pounds and dropped 10 dress sizes. I was hoping to lose 10 more before the next season of faire, but currently I stand at about 72-73 pounds loss. I haven’t been strict on my diet, cheating at culinary and enjoying food. I have been able to keep the weight off, but I still have about 30 more to lose.

So now, starting today I will be following Weight Watchers religiously, going back to a more vegetarian diet and doing what I can to exercise. It doesn’t help that me being at cooking school and being a writer only adds difficulties. I decided to put my mind to it yesterday, to finish the final stretch, at dinner. I ate a meal, enough to sustain my body weight but a portion to big to lose any. I was disappointed in myself again, that same motivating feeling I had that summer of 2010.

It was that same, have to eat as much as possible feeling that was creeping over me once more. That eating large portions and not exercising much was taking over my life. I am proud that I was able to stop myself before it escalated, but it was an addiction. I felt myself falling into it and I can’t not eat. I only wish that other people out there would give it a try, and change their life for the best. I know its hard, but honestly I am here for anyone that needs it.

Benefits to losing the weight:

Skinny jeans, cute boys, feeling great, walking for long periods of time with out pain, walking with ease in heels, my balance has immensely improved, and so much more.

This is the final stretch, hopefully for the rest of my life. I have a lot of challenges standing in the way with my Novel’s editing for the publisher and taking Asian Cuisine next quarter, but I did it once I can do it again…

If you need great tasting recipes that are healthy, follow my blog, add me on facebook or like my facebook page. I write for the examiner.com and most of the recipes are weight watchers/healthy for weightloss and great tasting!