MindPrep HW2

Genetics:
My parents were always overweight, but not super obese. I have a sister who is very obese and another that is overweight. And my brother is normal weight. My grandparents were normal weight as far as I could tell. I personally think genetics have very little to do with my weight.

Culture and Environment:
Growing up we didn't eat a ton of junk for but often times the food wasn't that great for you either. Mostly a typical American diet except that we had white rice at almost every meal. That being said, I was never really heavy until I hit my 20's. Even though I feel I'm well versed about nutrition and exercise I slowly ate out more and more. And sometimes didn't even care at all about how much food I was eating. I created my own culture of excess.

Metabolism:
I'm guessing I have a typical metabolism. It's definitely not high, but when I eat right and exercise I do lose weight. I can't eat whatever I want like my brother-in-law. I know my metabolism revs up if I'm doing resistance training and staying away from bad carbs.

Illness and Medications:
I don't think I get ill more often than most people my age. I get the occasional cold or flu but nothing too crazy. I am on many medications. I think I would probably be able to get off all of them if I got down to a more normal weight. Might have to keep the one for gout though since I had those flairs before I became morbidly obese,

Sleep:
I sleep fairly well because I use a CPAP. I do notice when I eat better/less that I'll sleep for longer stretches. If I'm eating a lot of junk, especially before bed then I'll typically wake up after 4-5 hours to use the bathroom. When I'm eating right I'll sleep about 6-7 hours straight. I do feel somewhat tired on most days. I think that's just because of my weight. Even when I get 8-10 hours of sleep I'll often feel a little tired. This is way better than what it was before the CPAP though. Before that I was lethargic all the time.

Personal Behaviors:
Well, obviously, I have a history of not exercising regularly and eating too much of the wrong things. Those behaviors need to change for me to be successful with this weight loss.

Psychological Aspects:
Being overweight can play a heavy role on the psyche. Especially when you are as big as I am. I know that people look at me differently. One guy on the bus actually asked me how heavy I was. Most people are cool about it though. But unless you're my weight you don't really understand everything that a big person goes through. I can't do certain things in life. In general, the opposite sex is not attracted to me. And my self esteem suffers sometimes too. When I lose this weight I will definitely be more confident. It's going to affect so many areas of my life in a positive way.