How's this?
Firstly, every single male in my family is over 250lbs, and none of them are over 6' tall. My father is an insulin dependant diabetic with a bad heart, 288lbs, I have an Uncle who is close to 400lbs who has to use an oxygen machine at night to sleep because he has sleep apnea from being so heavy, and his brother is about 260lbs. My grand-dad wasn't so huge, but a little over 250 and all in his gut from alcohol. The women in my family aren't much better, I have an Aunt who snores when she's wide-awake. This woman will take a nice healthy meal of lean meat and a green veggie and dump a lb of ketchup all over it, which she might as well douce it in sugar.
I myself, was 180lbs when I was 12 years-old, and was about 5'5" or so. I'm 5'10" now and weigh about 170lbs, and am going to turn Pro Boxing at the beginning of next year. I was always an athletic kid, played baseball, football, wrestled, did Martial Arts, but I was never totally slim because of terrible eating habits. Quite frankly it was because of my home-life. I spent A LOT of time alone as a child because my Father was never around, my mother had to work two jobs, and my grandparents hated each other so they spent a lot of time apart, and the result was me sitting in houses by myself with only one thing...food. Plus, because everyone felt bad they would buy all kinds of junk food for me in a way of making it up, I grew up in one of those families where if you have a problem, rather than talk, everyone's answer is "here, have some cake, you'll feel better." Food has always been like that for my family.
When I was in my late-teens I was on a mission to be as good as I could get at Martial Arts, so I was training twice a day every day just about, starting at 5:30am before school. I would do 15 minutes of stretching, 45 minutes on a heavy bag, 30 minutes in a weight room, and 30 minutes of lap-swimming in a pool, go to school, go to work, then after work go back to the gym for 15 minutes more of stretching, 45 minutes more of heavy-bag, and 30 minutes of forms or sparring. I was solid, but I still didn't look very athletic. Why? Because I ate like shit. I figured because I was working out all the time I should be able to eat what I want...no, in reality it keeps you from breaking REAL noticable ground in your abilities. It brings you to a plateau you'll never get off unless you change your eating habits, which I never did until a couple of years ago when I started working at GNC.
I got to work side-by-side with a licensed Nutritionist, and a couple of other people who were very knowledgable about the body's use of things, and learned quite a bit, and decided to give it a shot. Almost every person in my family who passes of natural causes is subject to heart-disease, everyone has blood-pressure problems, or is diabetic, I don't want a laundry list of ailments as I age. I want to be that grand-daddy who gets my grand kids in a headlock and they can't get out of it. I want to be one of those 80 year-old men who is as strong as any 40 year-old. In my time working at GNC I've met a couple of these guys. I have a client who is fucking 94 years-old and rides a bike everywhere he goes and is as healthy as can be at his age, doesn't walk with a limp or walk really slow, or anything you would expect. That's really my motivation. That I want to have children. I never got to meet my Great Grandfather who I'm told was this jewel of a human being, because he passed of heart-disease when I was very young. I'm told I knew him as an infant, and took my first steps to him, but I have no recollection of the man and that blows.
So now, I'm like the ONLY member of my family who exercises consistently, as part of a daily/weekly routine. I'm the ONLY member of my family who makes a point to eat more than one serving of green vegetables per day. I'm the ONLY member of my family who can run a mile without having to call 911 at the end. And the funny thing is NO ONE in my family accepts that I work hard to be in the shape I'm in. At my job I get compliments and accolades, because when I started there I was up to 214 and it was all in my gut, but now they say I look like a Boxer, meaning I'm achieving that sleek and cut look a boxer should have, slowly but surely. But my family says shit like "OMG...I don't know HOW he's so slim!!!" Yeah, these are the same jackasses who live with me and watch me work out pretty much every single day. Who hear the house shaking when I hit the heavy bag in the little gym I went as far as to build into my house. Who see me eat all kinds of healthy foods and even talk to me about them saying "ew...that's gross, I just can't see how you eat that shit." And to them, me being in this kind of shape is magic, witchcraft. It CANNOT be that I work my ass off for it. No.
Kick your junk food habit because everyone around you suspects you won't, and that you're too weak to actually go through with it. When I think of junk food I think of all the times I got called "porky" as a child. I think of all the people in my family who came before me whose lives were shortened by horrible eating habits, and thus, they never lived to their full potential, some of them even didn't amount to diddly-fuck because of it. I also think of America. This Country pisses me off because everyone is fucking spoiled rotten and food is half of the problem. Who needs NEVERENDING pancakes at IHOP? Why are there 11 restaurants in the vacinity of my one little shopping center, and why are more than 2 of them "all you can eat"...? Why do people bitch about the expensiveness of eating healthy when they can see the expense is THEIR fault. If we weren't buying so many fucking 59 cent cheeseburgers and buying more healthy alternatives, the healthy alternatives would be much cheaper. People are slowly killing themselves with food. I see it on a daily basis man. People come into my store eating a fucking ice cream cone telling me they have no idea why they're overweight. When they ask "what's the best way to lose weight?" And I respond "eat right and exercise"...you should hear all the bullshit excuses I get as to why they are completely incapable of doing so.
"I have no time for that."
"I just cannot eat anything I don't like."
"I tried that, it doesn't work."
"No, seriously, there's got to be a pill here that will do it faster where I don't have to."
This is what society has come to. You want to define yourself as a person? You want to see how strong you really are? Look into two things regarding your eating habits that people these days are DEATHLY afraid of. Hard work, and discipline. Prove to yourself you can set a goal of eating right and achieve it. It's going to be one of the hardest things you've ever done. You have no idea how harsh it's been for me, a kid who grew up on sugary cereals, doughnuts, cookies, chips, fast food. Sometimes when I'm looking at my food all I can think is "Jesus fucking Christ WHY!?!?!?" But when I'm done with a meal I know why. Because I feel like a damn Sherman Tank. And Mick up there is right. Once you drop the shit food it does taste like shit. I cannot even bring myself to finish a whole slice of cake without wanting to vomit, and soda tastes like drinking straight syrup. I don;t know how I ever lived off that garbage. You really are what you eat, food is fuel, nothing more. You put shit gas in your car what happens? Eventually there's a multitide of complications from improper use of fuels and fluids, same thing with your body. Those idiots saying they don't have the time or money now cannot see the laughable irony, that they WILL have the time and money when they're paying out hospital bills to keep their fat lazy asses alive. Do not become one of those drones.
Good luck, hope this ramble has helped.
