Knowledge is POWER!

I have always said that I didn't really know what I was doing with food, what to eat, when to eat, and I needed to take an intellectual approach to learning because it is not something that is beyond my ability to know, comprehend and put into place.  I have done a lot of reading, and while some folks still would like for me to believe that the only option I have to lose the amount of weight I'd like to use is surgery, either lap band, sleeve, or full-on gastric bypass, I know that I haven't done everything in my power to make the changes necessary so I'm going to put my knowledge into practice and see what happens.

I still haven't been feeling all that confident with my new eating philosophy which is one of the reasons I haven't really put it into full effect just yet.  Then, the other night, at my aunt's house, my cousin who is the last one not enlisted in the Army was talking about how he still needs to lose another inch off his weight before he goes back to be re-measured.  He explained that he is eating broccoli for his afternoon snack, and only 1 meal/day and working out every night to burn off the calories he had eaten that day.  I launched into this long-winded, and very educated sounding explanation of why this theory was failing him.  I explained that eating 1 meal/day had his body in starvation mode, and that your body is like a furnace.  I told him he should be waking up early and exercising in the morning because doing so kick-starts your metabolism.  Then I explained that he should be eating 6 small meals, about every 3 hours throughout the day.  This "stokes the fire" of your metabolism and keeps it in high gear for the remainder of the day.  I told him that by being in starvation mode he was defeating his purpose and would actually hold onto weight, rather than losing it.  I also explained to him that he needed to be putting high quality fuel in his furnace, eating meats, fresh fruits and vegetables and no processed shit.

I realized after this long-winded rant what a hypocrite I looked like.  Here I am saying that I don't understand what I need to do to get this weight off and lecturing my cousin about how to lose the weight to get into the Army.  I guess my lack of knowledge is no longer an acceptable excuse, and I now need to decide whether I'm willing to actually put that knowledge into action.  The simple answer.....HELL YES!!!

As a side note--For the first time in years, I bought an XL sweatshirt, and it fits!!!  It is only fitting that the first XL shirt I bought is a CrossFit APX shirt.  The people that are so instrumental in the changing of my life.  YAY!!!