Well, I joined SP in 2006 I think and used it on and off for a few years, but I haven't been on much in quite awhile. My weight when I started SP, my highest weight ever was 165, and I hit that weight twice, losing & gaining back about 25 pounds in between. Looking back, I honestly cannot imagine how I ever let myself gain that weight back.

Regardless, I've lost slowly over the past couple years, and am now about 18 pounds below my highest weight. It's great, I'm very happy to not be quite as heavy anymore. But in looking at my body, it's very clear that I could afford to lose some more, and I know I could be in much better shape. My current goal is to lose about 7 more pounds and then see how I feel.

Over the past couple years, I've also gotten much more interested in health from a more biological and holistic standpoint. What motivates me now is not so much losing weight (though that is part of it, of course) as much as generally being healthier, feeling better, working toward living longer, pushing myself, having the ability to be active.

These days, I read a LOT about health and nutrition from all sorts of sources, and the more I read, the more I find a lot of "mainstream" information to be incorrect or incomplete. I recognize more and more how much of the food in the standard American diet is stuff that people were never meant to eat - foods that fill us with chemicals and don't fuel our bodies. I follow a vegetarian and largely egg- and dairy-free diet, which I feel is healthier (as well as cheaper for the most part), and it fits much better with values and worldviews. I also limit starch, wheat, and processed foods as much as I can, eating much more produce, legumes, nuts, (actual) whole grains, and the like.

I just wanted to write out a brief update, another blog is coming soon!