unsure11 Posted May 31, 2004 Posted May 31, 2004 Hello there I haven't posted on these boards before but from reading over many posts here I see that this place seems to have many people that are very knowledgeable in what they talk about. Anyway my problem is that I want to, or rather need to change my life around. I was never really that confident of myself all through school, I had bad acne, went on accutane which made it worse etc, I'm sure you've heard someone say it all before. Anyhow I just recently turned 20 and realized my life is going nowhere. I work at a somewhat dead end job, pays good, but there's no room for advancement. When I was younger I used to play sports quite alot and my body was in great shape, now after nearly 5 years of neglect it's not quite what it used to be. No more six packs etc I'm sure you know what I mean. Now the reason I want to change is because I really want to join the Army, it's something that really interests me and I'm looking forward to sending in an application. However I can barely meet the minimums and need to improve. But here's my main problem, not being inactive for the past several years, not my confidence, but what I eat. I have never eaten a balanced meal for more then 1 or 2 days my entire life, whether it was because of work or when I was younger my mom working, I just never ate right. Not my day consists of no breakfast, a pizza sub for lunch, and maybe a snack out of the fridge for supper. Along with various junk foods and about 2-4liters of Pepsi a day, no water. So here's my dilemma, I really want to change the way I live my life, but after cutting out the junk I can't do anything, I'm more tired/irritable and I seem to be sore, now I had hoped that cutting out all that junk and starting to eat say and apple every time I wanted a candy would be a good idea, but staying off the candy is damn hard. It seems more like an addiction, but after thinking about it I realize that it might actually be an addiction, I mean I probably ate a ton of sugar in my life and maybe it's coming back to get me. But what I need to know is if anyone else has tried to completely cut sugar out of their life? Not a chocolate bar I mean 4liters of pop, a bag of jubjubes, I usually have something in my mouth at work all day. Hopefully someone else will be able to help my out here, then I might come back and ask a few question about going to the gym, I figure I should get my diet together before working out.
longlegzs80 Posted May 31, 2004 Posted May 31, 2004 I totally feel your pain brother. I find myself just like you and wanting to work on changing my life around to be a more fulfilling life and possibly happy. I am probubly not the best person to give you some suggestions, but there is one thing I want to comend you on and that is your passion for wanting to go in the Army. That is something that I really find to respect. Anywho, my suggestions to you is, figure out things you want to change about yourself and your lifestyle. I am shocked to even say this but maybe even possibly go to some kind of group to talk about how your looking to change your life around. That could help, and even get you thinking about what kinds of things you would like to change. For myself I would like to be happy. Don't know anymore and never really known as to what makes me happy and that is why I am going to go to this depression group, not only to talk about whats bothering me but to see if this could possibly give me some suggestions on making my life happy. That is what you need to do. Not so much go to a group, but just try to figure out what aspects of your life you want to change. List them on here and there are people like myself and many others on this site who could give you some suggestions. You mentioned about how you eat junk food. I would like to hear someone say that they don't eat junk food. But anywho, what you need to do is if you still want to eat the junk, make it a habit of having it only twice a month or something after you reward yourself for doing something for yourself. Just when you do eat the food, don't eat so much of it. But I know what your saying. It is an addiction that needs to stop. Because it sounds to me like you are a truely depressed person who is using food to satify your loneliness or whatever going on in your life. But, you know that it has gotten out of control and you need that help. You need someone to help you or point you in the right direction to get help and turn your life around if you are not capable of doing it yourself. Help yourself by getting the help you need, just to talk to someone who can give you some kind of plan or just someone to be there. Hey, we all need it, but in time, everything will form and come together for you.
Author unsure11 Posted June 1, 2004 Author Posted June 1, 2004 Thanks for the reply, I don't think I am a really depressed person really, I mean I did have a slight problem years ago, but have changed my life since then, and have been taking St. John's Wort, apparently it's a good anti depressant, not to sure though. Anyway I was hoping for tips on how to change, I've started to empty the fridge of useless crap, and have since bought some more healthy alternatives, everything says light/diet in there now But my main concern was my lack of energy since dropping the junk food, I mean it's all I have lived on for my whole life, and I've dropped it and now, maybe the sugar rush is gone? But one thing that made me get my priorities in order was my little sister was diagnosed with Diabetes not to long ago, and apparently it runs in the family. That is one more thing that I could do without in my life at the moment. You were mentioning groups? Do you suppose that I should talk to someone about changing my eating so drastically? I suppose I could find a dietician, there ought to be one around here that I can talk to. Anyhow thanks for the help, I don't believe that I am really filling in my depression with food, it's just that on the way home from work I pass 12 of each fast food joint, and I'm usually hungry, it's so easy to stop in and get something, I'm stopping this habit now, it's been almost a week and it's getting quite bad, I mean I could easily down 4L of Pepsi, but 4L of water? no way, it's just not natural Alright guess I'm rambling now, if anyone else has any advice it'd be very much appreciated, such as maybe a diet planner, or maybe I need to find a dietician.
moimeme Posted June 1, 2004 Posted June 1, 2004 I happened on this site today while looking for something else. There is a wealth of excellent information on it about healthy eating and it's from Harvard. Can't get much more reputable a source than that! http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy_weight.html
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