In the beginning

Once upon a time I was a fat kid. I was the only child of a single working mom, becoming a latch key kid by the 3rd grade. The eating became a habit when I got home from school, I was bored and just sitting in front of the t.v.. My mom did the best she could to provide for us and no one knew back then that processed foods are not that great for you. Dinner was something like ham steak, mac and cheese, and canned green beans. You gotta give her credit for always wanting to provide a balanced meal for me. Dinner usually came with canned green beans or corn. The years keep passing, now I'm in high school and I weigh 230 lbs.

My favorite breakfast during high school was macaroni and cheese, preferably left overs because its different when you microwave it as opposed to freshly made, and diet pepsi. My favorite lunch and dinner was fast food or restaurants. For a snack after school I would eat a box of wheat thins with a package of american cheese slices and wash it down with a liter of diet pepsi while I watched the end of General Hospital and Oprah. My mom would be home around 6pm to find the front room blinds drawn and me passed out on the couch. She would be mad and and ask why I was so tired. Neither one of us knew it was because of the food I was eating.

My first experience with a diet happened right after high school. We moved to northern California. I saw an ad on t.v. for NutriSystems and asked my mom for the money to start their program. I lost around 50 lbs. Unfortunately it triggered a gallbladder problem, so I got off the program and spent a few years dealing with that. My weight ranged from 170-180 for the majority of my 20's.