Hey y'all,
My name is Roberto and I'm 25 years old. I'm a Brazilian living in the United States. I've been living in the USA for the last year and a half.
Since I was a teenager I have been struggling with my weight. Things got a little too complicated once I got here in the USA. When I first got here in September 2008 I was around 175-180 pounds. Far from being in shape or healthy.
The first thing that comes to one's mind when you land here is: I'm not getting fat, the food sucks. It does, indeed, suck; until you get used to it.
I think I spent more than a month with the feeling I wasn't really eating after I had a meal. I would have sandwiches for lunch and pasta with tomato sauce for dinner. Back home I was used to have a hot meal for lunch and something like a sandwich for dinner.
Not only the taste of everything was different, but how I felt after eating was the main reason why I was so concerned in the first place. Of course, like everything in life we get used to it. Shortly after I was already happy and enjoying every single meal, every single fast-food restaurant, all the cheap Mexican and Chinese food. I ended up gaining around 20 pounds in my first 6 months here. Needless to say, I was not exercising or doing anything. I was taking classes 3 times a week and long naps during the day. I never felt that tired in life. I was having trouble even to tide my shoes, and I'm not kidding.
When I had the chance to go home for vacation I decided I was going to lose all that weight (I had decided that so many times before, deep inside I knew I was not going to succeed again). I started going to the gym every single day. My body reacted violently to that and started dropping pound faster than I thought. I was not dieting, just working out. Basically cardio, running in the treadmill and elliptical. I dropped some good 10 to 15 pounds. Went back home feeling good, but still bigger than when I left. That was the first thing people told me every single time they met me over there: How fat I was compared to how I left 10 months before that.
I felt a little discouraged but I was home, I was happy... I had only 10 days to eat all I could of real food. And I did it. I lived to eat. I probably gained all my 10-15 pounds in 10 days in Brazil.
Since then I have been completely demotivated. I have been on and off the gym since December but nothing really makes me keep going. There is always an excuse, whether is a snow day or chest pain.
Watching TV last month I came across this interview with Alanis Morissette where she talked about how she lost all this weight in a easy, life-changing way. She talked about this book called "Eat to Live" and how it changed her life completely. I was so curious about it, but I was not ready to give up food. Meat, cheese and all the things that have helped me to get this big as I am now.
Talking to a good friend of mine back home, I've come to realize that maybe that was what I needed it, to change drastically. She became a Vegetarian for the past year and has dropped over 40 pounds, just by eating right, the right things at the right time. That conversation made me think of Alanis's book and I went to Google and found out about it. I got my car immediately, drove to Barnes and Noble and got myself a copy.
So yesterday, February 11 2010 I bought a copy of Joel Fuhrman's book "Eat to Live". I started reading last night and I'm already half-way through. I'm excited about that. That book makes so much sense to me that I can't wait to finish it and change my life. Never thought I could give up meat, cheese, milk or eggs. It might be a little harder to quit them all, but the book offers 2 paths. Eliminating meat, eggs and milk or keeping them in a less aggressive way.
I don't want this to be another thing I try to do. I want this to be part of my everyday life. I have around 7 months here in the USA before going back to my real life in Brazil. I challenged myself to go home weighing around 150 pound. Bare in mind I'm a short man. I'm around 5'5" (1.65 m).
So I will keep blogging about this journey everyday. I know how hard it must be, but I am really convinced that once you read that book you gotta be really stupid not to follow or going back to your old life style.
So from now on my main goal is: To finish that book in the next 2 days and start this new life style as soon as I'm ready.
I am not writing this to anyone in particular, not sure if someone will even read it in the first place. But it means a lot to me to be able to share. And the main reason why I'm blogging this is because I wanna be able to come back here in 6 months from now and see the process/progress I made to succeed.
Hope you enjoy that too and it motivates you to change your life. The first thing you gotta do is buy yourself a copy of the book. It's only 15 bucks, cheaper than a large pizza that will make you fatter and help you to die younger. LOL
I will post pictures of my progress as soon as I start for real.
Beijos!
XXX
Roberto
My name is Roberto and I'm 25 years old. I'm a Brazilian living in the United States. I've been living in the USA for the last year and a half.
Since I was a teenager I have been struggling with my weight. Things got a little too complicated once I got here in the USA. When I first got here in September 2008 I was around 175-180 pounds. Far from being in shape or healthy.
The first thing that comes to one's mind when you land here is: I'm not getting fat, the food sucks. It does, indeed, suck; until you get used to it.
I think I spent more than a month with the feeling I wasn't really eating after I had a meal. I would have sandwiches for lunch and pasta with tomato sauce for dinner. Back home I was used to have a hot meal for lunch and something like a sandwich for dinner.
Not only the taste of everything was different, but how I felt after eating was the main reason why I was so concerned in the first place. Of course, like everything in life we get used to it. Shortly after I was already happy and enjoying every single meal, every single fast-food restaurant, all the cheap Mexican and Chinese food. I ended up gaining around 20 pounds in my first 6 months here. Needless to say, I was not exercising or doing anything. I was taking classes 3 times a week and long naps during the day. I never felt that tired in life. I was having trouble even to tide my shoes, and I'm not kidding.
When I had the chance to go home for vacation I decided I was going to lose all that weight (I had decided that so many times before, deep inside I knew I was not going to succeed again). I started going to the gym every single day. My body reacted violently to that and started dropping pound faster than I thought. I was not dieting, just working out. Basically cardio, running in the treadmill and elliptical. I dropped some good 10 to 15 pounds. Went back home feeling good, but still bigger than when I left. That was the first thing people told me every single time they met me over there: How fat I was compared to how I left 10 months before that.
I felt a little discouraged but I was home, I was happy... I had only 10 days to eat all I could of real food. And I did it. I lived to eat. I probably gained all my 10-15 pounds in 10 days in Brazil.
Since then I have been completely demotivated. I have been on and off the gym since December but nothing really makes me keep going. There is always an excuse, whether is a snow day or chest pain.
Watching TV last month I came across this interview with Alanis Morissette where she talked about how she lost all this weight in a easy, life-changing way. She talked about this book called "Eat to Live" and how it changed her life completely. I was so curious about it, but I was not ready to give up food. Meat, cheese and all the things that have helped me to get this big as I am now.
Talking to a good friend of mine back home, I've come to realize that maybe that was what I needed it, to change drastically. She became a Vegetarian for the past year and has dropped over 40 pounds, just by eating right, the right things at the right time. That conversation made me think of Alanis's book and I went to Google and found out about it. I got my car immediately, drove to Barnes and Noble and got myself a copy.
So yesterday, February 11 2010 I bought a copy of Joel Fuhrman's book "Eat to Live". I started reading last night and I'm already half-way through. I'm excited about that. That book makes so much sense to me that I can't wait to finish it and change my life. Never thought I could give up meat, cheese, milk or eggs. It might be a little harder to quit them all, but the book offers 2 paths. Eliminating meat, eggs and milk or keeping them in a less aggressive way.
I don't want this to be another thing I try to do. I want this to be part of my everyday life. I have around 7 months here in the USA before going back to my real life in Brazil. I challenged myself to go home weighing around 150 pound. Bare in mind I'm a short man. I'm around 5'5" (1.65 m).
So I will keep blogging about this journey everyday. I know how hard it must be, but I am really convinced that once you read that book you gotta be really stupid not to follow or going back to your old life style.
So from now on my main goal is: To finish that book in the next 2 days and start this new life style as soon as I'm ready.
I am not writing this to anyone in particular, not sure if someone will even read it in the first place. But it means a lot to me to be able to share. And the main reason why I'm blogging this is because I wanna be able to come back here in 6 months from now and see the process/progress I made to succeed.
Hope you enjoy that too and it motivates you to change your life. The first thing you gotta do is buy yourself a copy of the book. It's only 15 bucks, cheaper than a large pizza that will make you fatter and help you to die younger. LOL
I will post pictures of my progress as soon as I start for real.
Beijos!
XXX
Roberto
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