Richard Nieves
Well-known member
As someone who's struggled with weight a while I've Boyce's (for me) some of the problems start to turn up around
- stress
- money
- time/not wanting to cook
In 2007 I went on a vacation with my family and close friends and it was a blast! The only thing is, I felt so self conscious and also wish I had someone special to bring. I hated being alone and what weight did to my confidence. I also hated having no energy After that, I started a diet. I had done plenty other types of diets but this time, I chose weight watchers. I didn't go to meetings or pay or anything like that, but I did use points. I like that the diet was balanced and concentrated on eating smaller portions and better foods. I knew if I wanted to eat more I needed more filling foods or better ingredients with less points. This made it fairly easy because I could eat anything I wanted as long as I counted and portioned. I lost about a 100 lb's in 9 months from 350-250. My diet was going great up until about halfway through 2009.
This is when the environment changed.
In 2007 I wasn't working. I was primarily focused on school.(i was looking for jobs but economy in Florida, especially where I lived sucked as I couldn't drive and we were a small city with lots of people and like no commercial property or public transportation) lived at home and took all online classes. I didn't have to worry about money because my mom would buy everything I needed to make healthy food. I also didn't really do much outside of exercising and schoolwork so cooking was a fun thing! It was also easier. I had 3 brothers so with everyone helping it was painless. We had a decent sized kitchen and everyone helped cook and clean.
In late 2008 my family became a victim of the economy (mom was in real estate) and we lost everything. Me and my other brother who were old enough to work couldn't find jobs and neither could my mom.My mom decided we should move to Virginia close to my aunt. It was a great idea and everyone was in. Even my best friends a couple) moved up with us and it was a new beginning. Both me and my mom worked as well as my friends and brother. This is where. I started to motice some problems. Between work and school, no longer did I want to cook when I got home. I was way too tired and our kitchen was way too cramped for much help in the kitchen. Thought the first half of the year I would flux between hardcore dieting and not dieting. I also was not making enough money to always buy the healthier stuff and it just wasn't always worth it. I could hit the dollar menu on the way home or get something cheap at the store that wasn't healthy and I could easily warm up. Ordering pizza also happened more on nights I planned on cooling but was just too tired to cook. Stress also played a large role as I was now living in a house slightly smaller than our old place with two extra people and a whole lot less income which meant more fighting. By the end of the year I had completely stopped caring. I was always exhausted and didn't want to cook. No one else cooked like I did (used healthy ingredients and counted what they put in) so if anyone did cook it wasn't healthy. Also one of my best friends that moved with us died that winter of a Nmimonia and not only was everyone distraught, but when she died, my other best friend left us to be with his family and we now had less income. Any healthy foods we did buy were now gone. Dollar tree, store brand cheap stuff was what we tried to get just so we could eat. Every so often I would try to diet but I went from being about 210 in early 2009 to being about 260 a year later. We once again lost our place when my mom lost her job and couldn't make enough at the two jobs she got afterword. Me and my brother helped as much as we could. Maxed out credit cards. Ate cheap etc. we all split up that year. I lived in about 3 different places within the next year 2011) before ultimately living with my mom and two of my brothers who lived with a roommate and his daughter. I also had to entirely restart school when I switched from my Florida school to Virginia in 2010. 3 years of credits USELESS.... I was pretty depressed and dieting was not really even on my mind anymore. My new school was more time consuming now that I had to take public transit (less online courses available) and I was so tight on money. Then I lost my job due to having no place to live for two months and having to take a leave of absence and stay with my dad for that summer in Florida. Fast forward a year to summer 2012 and life finally started to stabilize. During the year I fell in love and moved in with my girlfriend. My best friend moved back to Virginia and me, him and my girlfriend got our own place. I still couldn't find a job but I decided to take advantage of student financial aid to help with living expenses while in college until I found a job. It was a translation but yet more stable than I had been in years. Me and my girlfriend had talked about dieting but financially we were not there. We could easily spend 30 bucks and feed both of us for a week which I was not going to argue with. Fast forward to now. Our income hasn't changed much but we are now on a diet. I have gained almost all of my weight back (started my new diet at 341) since march I have lost 15 lb's. the biggest. Problems are a desire to cook and costs of healthy foods. Our kitchen is microscopic so I hate cooking in it and since 2008 prices on healthy stuff have gotten worse!! Even when stuff goes on sale, they conveniently leave out the healthy stuff. Our groceries went from costing 120 a month to 300 a month. We basically gave up entertainment for trying to be healthy which sucks... It shouldn't be like this. Costs of healthy foods shouldn't be so different. Also there should be better options for eating out! There are enough obstacles in dieting (life being the most challenging). When we cheat while on the diet it's because of not wanting to cook usually. And generally involves eating out as cheaply as possible (we do try and avoid fast food because its the worst) this of course can also get costly so we find ourselves getting frustrated trying to figure out the best ways to do this!
Here are some things I would like to see change
- more healthy choices in restaurants ( grilled chicken and vegetables gets very old... )
- healthy fast food (subway is a ripoff and a misleading joke if you ask me)
- better pricing on lighter ingredients. (I understand some may cost more due to processes used but does lean meat need to cost significantly more per pound?? Does a tortilla shell by the same brand that has more fiber and a little less fat need to cost 2 dollars more than the original of the SAME BRAND for less product???
NOTE: sorry for the long story but I believe when it comes to dieting, it's important to note the life situations that can affect it. Many people like to criticism overweight people for being lazy and having no self control but that's rarely the true case. Lazy isn't the same as being tired from doing a lot (especially when your energy is lower due to being overweight and unhealthy) so many things affect weight. I will always continue to try to loose weight because I want to, but it will likely always be struggle until I find the right system (and am finished with college and start my career) I commend the OP for their hard work. Honestly you can literally make any of your favorite meals healthy if you can afford it and have the time. My favorite is Alfredo and I have perfected turning my moms Italian recipe healthier without taste loss!! I also might post some non-family recipes I've found or created later the beat way to loose the weight is to cook at home but also to try and recreate your favorite dishes healthier. This allows you to eliminate cravings while still loosing weight! If anyone can help with our quick food issue please feel free.
- stress
- money
- time/not wanting to cook
In 2007 I went on a vacation with my family and close friends and it was a blast! The only thing is, I felt so self conscious and also wish I had someone special to bring. I hated being alone and what weight did to my confidence. I also hated having no energy After that, I started a diet. I had done plenty other types of diets but this time, I chose weight watchers. I didn't go to meetings or pay or anything like that, but I did use points. I like that the diet was balanced and concentrated on eating smaller portions and better foods. I knew if I wanted to eat more I needed more filling foods or better ingredients with less points. This made it fairly easy because I could eat anything I wanted as long as I counted and portioned. I lost about a 100 lb's in 9 months from 350-250. My diet was going great up until about halfway through 2009.
This is when the environment changed.
In 2007 I wasn't working. I was primarily focused on school.(i was looking for jobs but economy in Florida, especially where I lived sucked as I couldn't drive and we were a small city with lots of people and like no commercial property or public transportation) lived at home and took all online classes. I didn't have to worry about money because my mom would buy everything I needed to make healthy food. I also didn't really do much outside of exercising and schoolwork so cooking was a fun thing! It was also easier. I had 3 brothers so with everyone helping it was painless. We had a decent sized kitchen and everyone helped cook and clean.
In late 2008 my family became a victim of the economy (mom was in real estate) and we lost everything. Me and my other brother who were old enough to work couldn't find jobs and neither could my mom.My mom decided we should move to Virginia close to my aunt. It was a great idea and everyone was in. Even my best friends a couple) moved up with us and it was a new beginning. Both me and my mom worked as well as my friends and brother. This is where. I started to motice some problems. Between work and school, no longer did I want to cook when I got home. I was way too tired and our kitchen was way too cramped for much help in the kitchen. Thought the first half of the year I would flux between hardcore dieting and not dieting. I also was not making enough money to always buy the healthier stuff and it just wasn't always worth it. I could hit the dollar menu on the way home or get something cheap at the store that wasn't healthy and I could easily warm up. Ordering pizza also happened more on nights I planned on cooling but was just too tired to cook. Stress also played a large role as I was now living in a house slightly smaller than our old place with two extra people and a whole lot less income which meant more fighting. By the end of the year I had completely stopped caring. I was always exhausted and didn't want to cook. No one else cooked like I did (used healthy ingredients and counted what they put in) so if anyone did cook it wasn't healthy. Also one of my best friends that moved with us died that winter of a Nmimonia and not only was everyone distraught, but when she died, my other best friend left us to be with his family and we now had less income. Any healthy foods we did buy were now gone. Dollar tree, store brand cheap stuff was what we tried to get just so we could eat. Every so often I would try to diet but I went from being about 210 in early 2009 to being about 260 a year later. We once again lost our place when my mom lost her job and couldn't make enough at the two jobs she got afterword. Me and my brother helped as much as we could. Maxed out credit cards. Ate cheap etc. we all split up that year. I lived in about 3 different places within the next year 2011) before ultimately living with my mom and two of my brothers who lived with a roommate and his daughter. I also had to entirely restart school when I switched from my Florida school to Virginia in 2010. 3 years of credits USELESS.... I was pretty depressed and dieting was not really even on my mind anymore. My new school was more time consuming now that I had to take public transit (less online courses available) and I was so tight on money. Then I lost my job due to having no place to live for two months and having to take a leave of absence and stay with my dad for that summer in Florida. Fast forward a year to summer 2012 and life finally started to stabilize. During the year I fell in love and moved in with my girlfriend. My best friend moved back to Virginia and me, him and my girlfriend got our own place. I still couldn't find a job but I decided to take advantage of student financial aid to help with living expenses while in college until I found a job. It was a translation but yet more stable than I had been in years. Me and my girlfriend had talked about dieting but financially we were not there. We could easily spend 30 bucks and feed both of us for a week which I was not going to argue with. Fast forward to now. Our income hasn't changed much but we are now on a diet. I have gained almost all of my weight back (started my new diet at 341) since march I have lost 15 lb's. the biggest. Problems are a desire to cook and costs of healthy foods. Our kitchen is microscopic so I hate cooking in it and since 2008 prices on healthy stuff have gotten worse!! Even when stuff goes on sale, they conveniently leave out the healthy stuff. Our groceries went from costing 120 a month to 300 a month. We basically gave up entertainment for trying to be healthy which sucks... It shouldn't be like this. Costs of healthy foods shouldn't be so different. Also there should be better options for eating out! There are enough obstacles in dieting (life being the most challenging). When we cheat while on the diet it's because of not wanting to cook usually. And generally involves eating out as cheaply as possible (we do try and avoid fast food because its the worst) this of course can also get costly so we find ourselves getting frustrated trying to figure out the best ways to do this!
Here are some things I would like to see change
- more healthy choices in restaurants ( grilled chicken and vegetables gets very old... )
- healthy fast food (subway is a ripoff and a misleading joke if you ask me)
- better pricing on lighter ingredients. (I understand some may cost more due to processes used but does lean meat need to cost significantly more per pound?? Does a tortilla shell by the same brand that has more fiber and a little less fat need to cost 2 dollars more than the original of the SAME BRAND for less product???
NOTE: sorry for the long story but I believe when it comes to dieting, it's important to note the life situations that can affect it. Many people like to criticism overweight people for being lazy and having no self control but that's rarely the true case. Lazy isn't the same as being tired from doing a lot (especially when your energy is lower due to being overweight and unhealthy) so many things affect weight. I will always continue to try to loose weight because I want to, but it will likely always be struggle until I find the right system (and am finished with college and start my career) I commend the OP for their hard work. Honestly you can literally make any of your favorite meals healthy if you can afford it and have the time. My favorite is Alfredo and I have perfected turning my moms Italian recipe healthier without taste loss!! I also might post some non-family recipes I've found or created later the beat way to loose the weight is to cook at home but also to try and recreate your favorite dishes healthier. This allows you to eliminate cravings while still loosing weight! If anyone can help with our quick food issue please feel free.
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