Magic ~ /ˈmadʒɪk/
noun : "The power of apparently influencing events by using mysterious or supernatural forces".
I am over 4 decades old, and as long as I can remember I was always overweight.
As a kid I distinctively remember being heavier. I was active and played sports, but my eating habits were as bad as they can be. I grew up eating a lot of bad stuff, which back then was considered OK. My parents did not know any better, it was what everybody did back then. This, in effect, turned me into a metabolically defficient kid. I am not talking about just a slice of bread. I am talking loads of cereals, loads of white sugar, loads of white bread, juices, margarines, pastries, fruit juices, packed food, processesed snacks ..... a lot of it.
When I was 14 years old I broke both my legs within a span of 6 months, in two different ocassions. I was on a wheel chair for about one and a half months after I broke my left leg playing football. To this day, I can say without a doubt that it was the most horrible pain I have experienced in my entire life.
Breaking my legs made a bad situation even worst. My breaks in school would consist of just sitting there, doing nothing and eating pastries, pizzas, hot dogs, coca-cola and all the stuff they sold in the cafeteria. I did not have any control over my hunger, did not realize when I was full, nor did I even think about what I was eating.
Many of you reading this may not understand the meaning of that, nor why would someone just eat like that and not understand the meaning of being full, or being able to just say no to something. Some of you understand this feeling of powerlessness. This is what I experienced most days all the way through my adult life, which brings me to the Yo-Yo effect.
When I became an adult, I tried to 'fix' myself by doing a lot of extreme things to lose weight, and that was my main focus, just to lose weight. I never thought about being healthier, I never considered the implications of what I was doing. I just wanted to lose weight.
This went on for the good part of 17 years. I would lose some, gain it back, and then some more. This cycle repeated itself until I reached 123 KG (271 pounds) right after my second child was born. This ties up with 'that 14th of October' post which you can read here.
I now realize how wrong I was, and how all the social aspects of weight loss have constantly failed me. Not that I am not at fault, because I am. Is my life and it was my decision to eat the way I did all my life. But I was not aware of the implications of such actions, and why it was important to gain control over them, and not letting my 'bad metabolism' beat me up every time.
I was always searching for a 'Magic Pill'.
There wasn't any. Not for this.
If you are reading this wondering what needs to be done to stop the cycle, I wish I could tell you to do this 'one thing' that will fix everything for you, but I can't. There is, however, a lot of little things you can do.
In my case, I had to read a lot. I researched a lot of different things, and tried to understand the science behind those things. From all the literature I read, I got to the bottom line that seemed to be the main issue with my 'bad metabolism' and Yo-Yo dieting: inflammation.
It took me the best part of 3 to 4 years to really tackle the different issues inflammation brought to my life. It all started about 8 years ago when I found an article by Dr. Patrick Nemechek (The kindest Doctor who selflessly helped me via email, never asking for anything). It took not just this, but also a bit of luck along the way. It took 'that 14th of October', it took 'the importance of a best friend', it took 'the dynamic duo', and most importantly, it took for me to say good bye to 'Pete', for good.
You will get to know who Pete was in a future post.
I hope this grain of sand helps you in your journey.
Thank you for reading.
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