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Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Ben's Story

Wow! I am actually going to make this public along with some *amazing* before pictures...

Here is my story. I applaud my lovely wife for her honesty in what she shared.

Growing up from my childhood through my later teenage years I had never considered that fact that I could gain weight. As most teenaged boys, I could and did eat anything I wanted in whatever quantities were available. It took a lot of food for me to get stuffed.

As a young adult serving a mission in South Florida and the Bahamas I started to gain weight. It came on slowly,but my shirts and pants still fit (benefit of being a guy ;-). Good Jamacan food in the Bahamas and lots of driving contributed to this.

It was at this time in my life that I started to use food as comfort and reassurance of my worth. I was on my own for the first time and found that I actually had the freedom to choose all of my meals.

Upon arriving home I became more physically active and the pounds melted off steadily. The unfortunate thing was that I was so physically active that I could eat anything at any time (only 21 years old here) and I kept dropped weight.

At a reasonable weight and physical condition I met Karen and not long after getting married, life settled in on me. I subconciously used food as a way to express my independance and adulthood and would eat out as a way to show my independance and control. The weight came back and then some.

Since then (nearly 13 years of marital bliss), I have fluctuated up and down in my weight, having lost many pounds successfully and then finding them again when I got confident.

Only recently have I discovered some things about myself that have played heavily into my condition:
1) As an escape from dealing with my feelings, I turned to food as medication
2) I learned that the heart of my weight problem is emotional and spiritual, not physical
3) Attempts at losing weight in the past failed because I was only treating my problems physically and not their spiritual roots

I am committed to addressing the real issues that cause an unhealthy life and hope to see vitality return as I find balance to all aspects of my life.

Ben

3 comments:

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  2. I love this, Ben. It sounds a lot like me. My confidence gets me every time and stress and anxiety always play a role in my not being able to take any weight off. Karen's story is inspiring because she is as busy as it gets. I just love this blog. Very inspirational.

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  3. I go back and forth between thinking I've faced and addressed my emotional issues with overeating/bad eating, and thinking I have no clue. No clue at all.

    But I know Heavenly Father wants me to be healthy and fit. So I'm going to ask for His help to help me see what I need to do. To change my heart so my efforts will stick and have lasting value in my life.

    Thanks for sharing this Ben!

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