I am a food addict
TweetThe weight loss/health blogging world has a lot of paper tigers.
You know, the ones that will tell you that they are strong on their blog, yet will not tell you the pain they go through with food in private.
The ones that will talk about motivation, yet need seventeen Tweets to tell them to go work out.
The ones that will tell you losing weight gets easier, yet yo-yo’s back and forth.
Sometimes that is my fear. That I will be a paper tiger.
I know the right things to say on here to get you motivated.
I know key words to make you comment.
I know how to make you laugh and cry with a few phrases.
Yet it means nothing if I do not do this for myself.
I am a food addict.
Look at my pictures. Look at all of them. Stare at them.
You are looking at a food addict.
I am not a liar. Some bloggers are. Some will tell you how easy it is. How you should read their blog for inspiration. How you should be like them.
I am a food addict.
I control it. I am careful every day. I watch what I eat. I refuse to be an 1100 calorie a day guy. Yet, I will not eat 5000 calories a day. I fight for a balance.
All food addicts do.
I do not want you to be like me. I want you to know that although I have a crazy addiction, I lost weight. Without pills. Without Sensa. Without surgery.
I did it because I truly saw so much talent in an overweight man that no one else would ever see.
I was there at 3am in 2008. When I came home and I saw my wife sitting in a chair wiping away tears. For five minutes I did not say anything. Neither did she. Yet, it was a meaningful conversation. How long would I still be around? Would my wife be a widow in her 20′s?
I was there in my Acura promising myself I would eat better. Stuffing myself with Taco Bell. Maybe tomorrow would be a better day? I always said that. Luckily, there were a lot of tomorrows. For how long?
I was there the day my son was born. Can you imagine? Sixteen months prior I could not walk on a treadmill for 48 seconds. Now I was having a baby.
Being a food addict does not mean you are a failure. It does not make you weak. It does not make you less of a person.
It means the relationship with food is different.
Period.
So I am unique. I do not give workout tips. I do not answer weight loss emails. I am not a dietitian. I am not a personal trainer.
I do not put pictures of food all over my blog. I was a chef for many years. I have been in restaurants for over fifteen years.Yet do not need to show you everything I eat.
I am a guy who decided that my personal hell was not the best place to live anymore.
I am different. I play with my son. I do things for my wife. I make time for working out and no one motivates me to go.
Does my wife have a problem with me going to the gym?
No. Did you ever live with a 420 pound guy who would lay in bed and kill himself slowly every day?
So when you come back to my blog in a year or two, you will see my pictures getting better. My days of chasing my son around will be fun. The love of my wife will be as strong as ever.
I am no paper tiger.
I am a food addict.
“I am a guy who decided that my personal hell was not the best place to live anymore” —->exactly that
YES! ….
“I did it because I truly saw so much talent in an overweight man that no one else would ever see.”
and I do it because I decided I want to LIVE my life and later I saw that my weight had become my excuse for not doing ALL the things I saw within myself!
Life is so precious and I am very glad you are living it now!
I am Tori and I am a food addict. I work at it every day, every meal. I am not perfect. I sometimes fall. I have also struggled w/ eating disorder issues in my high school and college days. I have learned how to eat and how to work out to obtain the body I want. I have learned the physique I thought I wanted is not what is healthiest for me to function. I want everyone to have freedom from the hatred I think many people feel every day over their food/lifestyle choices and their body image.
Me too. I try to make sure I show my struggles in my blog – sometimes I succeed and sometimes I fail. Usually when I fail, it’s not because I’m not being honest with the readers, it’s because I’m not being honest with myself. Sad, but true.
Cool.
Tony, I admire you so much for being able to do what you have done. I think addiction to food must be one of the worst addictions because it’s not something you can completely cut out of your life. So I commend you for being able to be strong and find that balance, for getting healthy so that you can better support the other people in your life, and for just being an all around amazing person.
I post pictures of my food from time to time – usually when I’m proud of the fact that I cooked something. I am so not a chef.
And I can’t say that losing weight gets easier, but it’s totally worth the struggle on days that aren’t easy…and I had plenty of those over the summer.
My relationship with food has changed, but I’m still aware of my weaknesses, and I would guess that I always will be…at least if I want to continue down this path..
I don’t want to be a paper tiger either…so I won’t. Just saying..
Wow, thanks for sharing this. It’s so important to show the ‘real’ side of all this healthy living stuff because at the end of the day, life is so much more than what makes it onto a blog.
I, too, am a food addict. I’ve been an my goal weight for 7 months. It NEVER gets easier, never. I will struggle with food portions every single day for the rest of my life. It is my choice, and my choice alone. I do it for me. One bite at a time.
I love this! Thank you for your honesty and you’re definitely an inspiration to many of us.
It’s great to see a male perspective, since so many men struggle with their weight, but aren’t always comfortable discussing their feelings about it.
You are a badass and an awesome dad!
While losing weight doesn’t get any easier, especially during a plateau, getting into a routine of working out and other routine tasks associated with losing weight does get easier.
Choosing to eat healthy when you are down does not get easier. This is aspect I struggle with quite a bit. When I have a bad day at work, or when I am feeling lazy, eating right is not the easiest thing to do.
Bravo.
I’m a food addict as well, it is hard and it is a daily struggle. It’s always there looming, but as long as I know it’s there and acknowledge it, I can contain it and control it.
Good post Tony
Amen brother.
I read a few paper tigers! They don’t know they are, at least I don’t think so,…but we do. Maybe they’re too busy posting pictures & getting free stuff from food companies to see it. I want to read blogs that speak the truth, even if it slows a weakness. Because that’s life and it’s real.
Glad to see that you’re one of the good ones.
Me too. Great post.
I am also a food addict. I wish more people understood that its an addiction just like drugs, alchhol, sex etc. I fight my urges everyday, its a battle 24-7. Somedays I win and somedays I lose, I just hope to have a winning record.
I am much like you Tony. I’ve lost over 80 lbs in the last year, however, i am going through my current ‘food addiction’ phase, where i AM making runs to taco bell again. The runs where i order two large pizza’s and eat them. Right now i am in the phase where i have lost the battle with my addiction. I am back to where i started and i am desperately trying to gain the upper hand again from this fierce enemey within.
Reading your blog doesn’t tell me what to do, it tells me that i am not the only one struggling. It tells me there are others like me out there. It tells me that i have to keep plugging away each and every day.
Thank you for being you Tony.
Excellent post! Thanks so much for sharing your journey with us.
I too, am a food addict. It took me a long time to accept that. Being addicted to anything…or having an addictive personality…is rough. For me, being addicted to food seems to be the worst. It’s not like I can give up eating.
I don’t think it will ever be easy and I will probably struggle everyday. Reading your blog, as well as several others, helps me to know that I am not alone. You guys, and girls of course, HELP keep me working towards my own goals of a healthier and more active life. No one else’s opinions, or articles for that matter, will change that for me.
Thanks again!
)
I never comment but had to say thanks for posting this. I have lost 110 pounds myself & battle the food demons sometimes daily. They lurk, ready to pounce but it feels so much better being healthy so I fight them off.
Blog-land sometimes is so rainbows & unicorns that folks forget that real battles have been won!
Kudos to you for reminding folks of that!
YES YES YES!! Thankyou dude, I needed to read that. I fight everyday, and sometimes I do NOT win… but I keep fighting, Im not giving up xx
VERY well written. I too am a food addict.
what an inspiring journey.. i love looking at your pictures and seeing you evolve into the man you were meant to be… great post ~ how amazing you must feel inside~
Thank you. Just….thank you.
Just found your blog today when linked from Ex Hot Girl. This is poignant and moved me to tears. While I think it’s important for those of us who deal with food addiction to see the real strength of people out there who have overcome obstacles, I know what you mean by paper tiger. And Paper Tigers just continue the quiet destruction that food addicts and bingers and those with other issues deal with in the dark, afraid to talk it out and learn to accept/change.
Thanks for this.
Amazing post. So True, you just shouted out the words millions of people would like to say. it’s a struggle, it’s not easy and it never will be. Even though I have lost weight and kept it off I still find at time have a hard time controling myself when I’m eating something delcious and I’m not ashamed to say it because I’m not alone and I won’t give up. I’m a food addict, it’s who I am. Thank you for this post.
Good post Tony. I like the term “paper tiger” but I’d have to agree with you, I don’t like paper tigers much…
I am a food addict too. Always will be.
Paper tiger. Ouch!
I don’t want to think I am.
Food addict? Sure. Yeah. I can admit to that . . . maybe.
I think I need to gnaw on this a bit. Thanks for brain food. Seriously.
I am a food addict also. I am no paper tiger. I have lost over a hundred pounds, but I will tell anybody that asks that I struggle daily. I always will, but I know this is worth it. I struggle with the fact it may take a very long time to do this, but I know I will if I don’t give up.
Hey there,
My name is Rebecca and I’m a Casting Producer for the TLC show Freaky Eaters. We are launching into our second season and we are looking for adults OBSESSED with FOOD!!!
I can be reached by emailing pickyeaterscasting@gmail.com or 323.904.4680 x1147
Thanks so much and have a great day!
Rebecca
this is really cool, I like it here!