A Journey to Health

When I was twenty-one I decided to quit smoking and at the time I was over a pack a day smoker and had been for years. I quit cold turkey by being disciplined. About a year later I borrowed a couple cigarettes while I was playing pool and drinking a beer. A couple years later I was playing pool and drinking beers borrowed three or, four cigarettes and realized I better be careful and become more disciplined in my decision to quit smoking. I haven’t had a cigarette since.

Seven years ago I decided to set a goal weight of 175 mainly through portion control and making better food choices. 

About a year later I was at 176 (yes 1 lb. short of my goal) and started to gain weight little by little. Within two years and thereafter I weighed as much as 218 and never got back under 200 lbs. Of course I realized (I have an MA in Psychology) that my need for more food than necessary and the wrong kind of foods went beyond the physical and was also, inseparably, psychological as well. I don’t believe in Descarte’s ‘mind body dualism’ so it was easy for me to realize that the physical/psychological/emotional circumstance of my being overweight would take discipline starting with learning about nutrition and following out my own designed regimen.

I also realized that the road would have ups and downs and did not require myself to be perfect. Little increments with two,steps forward and one step back would be the norm given my personality. The only thing I would not do is take two steps forward then two or three steps back. It would take discipline and knowledge.

In early 2017 I started my journey toward better health and over the next few weeks/months I will tell those who log on how I went about getting to my present weight between 160 and 165 and have been at that plateau over the last six months.