Dan America

2021 -> Today My whole life I struggled with my weight. I had a bad relationship with food. I’d try to do these extreme unsustainable diets that would make me just gain everything back. FINALLY, I’ve made the necessary lifestyle changes across 4 years to keep the weight off. It’s not an overnight thing. It’s not a diet. It’s a literal change to who you are to your core. Some will say “just eat less calories than what you burn.” I knew that but it wasn’t THAT simple. Eating was tied to every emotion. Celebration? Dinner. Stressed? Eat. Bored? Snack. Sad? Food to make me feel better. I also forced myself to do workouts that I just didn’t enjoy. I’ve NEVER enjoyed lifting weights. I would dread going to the gym. Finally, I always acted on my hunger right away. I would just go grab a snack or a meal every 2-3 hours during the day. Now? It’s all changed. I made small steps to begin to recognize if I was eating for the wrong reasons or tying it to an emotion. I made sure to be realistic with myself. Friend’s birthday dinner? Enjoy it but don’t go overboard and lock right back in. Having drinks one night? No over-eating. Light day calorie wise the next day with a nice long walk. On the top of walks, it changed my life. I’m blessed to live in an area with nice weather year round so everyday I just made it my routine to get outside in some capacity. I started small and built up my habit. Now, I’m doing the 2025 NYC Marathon. It’s become something I WANT to do and crave because it’s something I actually enjoy. Find out what that is for you. Finally, I learned the power of controlling my hunger urges. I began fasting and learned how to live with feeling hungry. It made calorie control so much easier. Started with 12 hour fasts and built all the way up to a handful of 40+ hour fasts. I share this because I want to remind myself how good I currently feel AND inspire even 1 person to better themselves. My entire life I just thought I was going to be “that fat kid” but I’ve shut that down and proved to myself it was all in my head. Today, for the first time since I was 14, I weighed in at 189 pounds. 51 pounds down. New goals set. The best is yet to come.