[Rick76]

I was overweight my entire life up to when I was 21. In less than 2 years I went from 300lb to 198lb (136kg to 89kg). I'm 6'4 so 198 personally was not maintainable, but I was working out, and I felt my best at 205, which I sat at for 3ish years. Recently I hit 240, I got an office job, so working out and just life in general is harder to do right now but I'm actually doing pretty well about eating again.

I agree with what he is saying, but I think the trap starts earlier than that. I think a huge aspect is your eating habits as a child. I feel like my hunger is not normal, I can have a giant meal and still feel the need to continue eating, my brain just loves it. It is frustrating to feel the need to eat 24/7, I believe my family has some form of ADHD because we all have addictive personalities, mine and my sisters were eating. My eating habits as a child is something that I ALWAYS have to fight against, it can get pretty tiring.

What I can tell you though is losing weight is also a feedback loop, I'm not saying positive or negative because I believe it depends on who you ask. When I was losing weight, it was so much easier once the ball was rolling, I'm less hungry, I have more energy, but you also start thinking about everything you eat. I was refusing to have dinner with college roommates because it didn't fit my daily caloric intake, and I never truly felt like I looked better, I was never satisfied. At my skinniest you could see my ribs and my arms were twigs.

The inverse is true, I truly believe that most American food is designed to make you eat more than to provide enjoyable nutrition. I visited Europe once, and it was crazy how much weight I was losing because I could have a great meal and feel content, something that I rarely feel here.

The weird thing is I wouldn't change a thing, maybe I did overcorrect, but it taught me a ton about nutrition, and seeing my weight go down made me feel more passionate to keep going, I'm not sure if I had stuck with it if I did the healthier slow and steady approach.

I'm back on the grind and have been working out more, it sucks that I don't have the time to dedicate to my health that I used to during covid, but that's something I'll have to figure out.