Story Time!

December 4, 2010 is when I first started my lifestyle change, and I have lost over 30 pounds since then. I realized that dieting is not the best solution because that only causes deprivation. I'm only seventeen years old but I have struggled with my weight starting in kindergarten. At age twelve, at over 200 pounds, was when I went on my first diet. I was eating rice cakes and Lean Cuisine and feeling miserable. My diet was crappy and I was getting less than 1000 calories a day as well as exercising. If I went over, I felt very guilty and because of that I picked up some eating disorder tendencies. That didn't last too long and a few months later I was heavier than when I started dieting. At age fifteen I went on a similar diet. I lost nearly 60 pounds in less than four months. But that didn't last and I got back to where I was.
So on December 4, 2010, weighing 235 pounds on my 5'5.5" height, I decided I needed to do something for real. But I didn't want to suffer through crappy frozen dinners and 100 calorie snack packs. Those things aren't healthy at all! So I decided to learn from my past mistakes and change my lifestyle for good. I became a vegetarian on that day and a vegan a few weeks later when I cut out yogurt from my diet. I did it mostly for ethical reasons but also for health. I feel great and I don't personally feel like I'm missing out on anything. Of course I don't think it's necessary to give up meat to be healthy, but I feel like it's the right choice for me, personally.
I'm not afraid of olive oil, avocados, nut butters or carbs in moderation. I try to balance out what I eat and I'm enjoying a wide variety of foods. I now weigh 199 pounds, and I feel like I could go on with my new lifestyle forever. It sounds like common sense but I'm eating in moderation now. All my life I ate too much until I felt ready to explode, or starved myself. It was always all or nothing for me, and I hope to never end up in either way. My only issue is to exercise more regularly.
I guess that's my life history(hehe). If anyone cares to read my blog, it would make me so happy, but I created this blog mainly to document my new lifestyle and write about other things I like as well.