Launch of Mindful Bytes!!

Thank you Nick and Jean Luc!!!. I’m really excited to be able to blog on your site!!! Your journeys have been inspiring to me from the first time I heard your stories. And the similarities to my journey have been really validating for me.

For those that don’t know me, my name is Bill, and I consider myself a food addict. I joined WW in Sept 2018 and weighed in at 361 lbs. I had just been diagnosed with diabetes and along with a number of other health complications it had become clear that after 20 years of obesity I wasn’t getting away with that lifestyle anymore. Since then I’ve lost over 155 lbs and kept it off through the pandemic. As part of my journey, I started using the WW social media platform (Connect) to journal what I’ve been learning about myself and how to finally achieve my health goals. And the response I’ve received has been enthusiastic (and inspiring!) as I get to see these thoughts help others discover mindsets that improve progress towards their health goals.

It’s important to point out that in real life I work in finance, so I’m not a life coach, nutritionist, personal trainer, psychologist, or addiction counsellor. I have no formal training in any of these fields. Although I’d argue that having been overweight for 30 years and obese for 20, I have a perspective on trying to get healthy that doctors and lifelong athletes don’t have.

I’ll post every week or two on Thursdays. About all kinds of topics related to living a healthier lifestyle, but mostly about the battle that goes on between our ears.

See, unlike other goals (learning a language, a new sport, a new hobby) there is so much emotion that clouds and complicates trying to live healthier. Our weight, our use of food, and our emotions have usually been co-mingled over years so that that pinpointing how to “fix us” feels like shooting in the dark.

We turn to food to celebrate, to show love, to medicate during stress and difficult times, we organize holidays around it, vacations around it, or just as a companion watching a movie. Food has intimately been a part of all of it and