Day 1

Hello everybody. My name is Shane Griffin and I have a problem. I eat more than I should and for the wrong reasons. I mean seriously, I had a bad day, so I eat too much supper, I have had a hectic week, come on cake! I am so happy I accomplished that task! Sonic foot long cheese coney baby!! Sometimes, I don't even have a reason to eat, I guess I just do it out of habit. The worse thing is, while eating the food, I KNOW I shouldn't, heck I even feel bad doing it. That alone should stop me, but it doesn't. I used to drink too much when I was a kid, I used to play video games too much, heck I had a problem with the original mini-thin pills for a looooong time. I kicked all those habits but apparently just replaced them with food. I can't even tell you when it started. I just know that it has taken my life over. I beat it in spurts, but eventually it wins again. I was thinking about it though and I have almost always fought that battle privately. I have spoken to some close friends about it, but for the most part, it was an inner demon. I let it have its way with me and held it all inside. To make matters worse, I developed diabetes in my late 20's and as we all know, food is the enemy with that disease. So common sense should have been my driving force to beat this problem with food, but it hasn't kicked in. My wife has tried to be the food nazi at times, but I just sneak around and she finds out and feels defeated about trying to help me.

So here is the deal. I am stealing this idea from another guy, but I bet he won't mind. I want to blog everyday about my weight loss journey. Not the nuts and bolts of I ate this and totaled this many calories and did this many minutes of cardio. I mean yes that will be part of it, but the weight loss journey is much more than that. It is the bad day that you had and wanted a pizza to fix it all, and the realization you had that not only does it not fix the problem you just acquired, but it makes the problem you already had, overeating, even worse. I mean I want it all to come out and be talked about and dealt with. I recently had a bout with anxiety, well a couple of years ago anyway. That was actually how I took control of it, I told people that I had it and was dealing with it and it gave me an empowerment over it. Now the anxiety has essentially been resolved and I hope this forum will allow me the same luxury with my overeating.

So here is my request. Please read my blog, please comment on it, maybe even share your story with me if you have a similar problem with food you have been fighting. But most importantly let me know you are watching, holding me accountable to finish this, to make this attempt work. I have to do something. I have a family now that depends on me, that needs me to keep myself alive long enough to finish with law school and start making a living for them, to get them set up with financial security, but most importantly, to keep spending the quality time with them. Here is an embarrassing story to get us started off. For our first ever family vacation this year, we spent a week in Branson. We had a blast. On one of the days, we went to Silver Dollar City for the whole day and it was fun. Buuuuuuut, Lauren really wanted to ride the roller coasters and the giant barn swing thing. I did the wait in line and everything for the barn swing, but was unable to get the guard to close on my big ol' belly. So Lauren didn't want to ride alone, and had to get off too. It was terrible, and not the first time it had happened. I want to be successful in this and make that a story I tell after I am considerably thinner and in better shape. So I repeat my plea, please comment, please let me know about any suggestions you may have after seeing what I am doing. If I am wrong, set me straight, if you think there is a better way than I am doing something, let me know. If I tell you I screwed up, don't enable me, blast me, but nicely. I need help and I hope I can count on you. Thanks in advance and hope to not ramble as much.