Day 1

I've titled this day 1 not because I'm starting a diet today but because I'm starting the blog and hopefully starting a new mindset to eating and working out. I picked the name Moving Mertle because I like moving (overall). I enjoy going to the gym, trying new exercises, hiking, and going for walks. I'm a graduate student at Montana State University, studying civil/geotechnical/water resources engineer. I love movies, going to the library, and hanging out with friends. I'm also single :)

All my life it seems I've been trying to lose weight. Currently I'm about 70lbs above a normal/healthy weight. I have trouble with dieting (if I was good at that I probably would've tried Dieting Dorothy or something). And sometimes bad dieting can get in the way of going to the gym. You know it's much easier to sit on the couch and eat ice cream, then change clothes, get in the car, go to the gym, come home, shower, and then sit on the couch. After a bad day of eating you sometimes need a day to recover which includes sitting on the couch and moving as little as possible. Its a viscous cycle but that ice cream (or cake or candy bar) tasted so good for those 5 minutes you were eating it.

I LOVE sweets. Besides for my binges and need for dessert after dinner, I think the best way to explain my need of candy is with alcohol. Well the buying of alcohol. I turned 21 before my other friends so of course I was the beer, wine, Boones Farm purchaser. But I would also always get 3 Lindt Chocolates (for $1). It started to become a compulsion, I couldn't go to the store without getting the candy. Even though I was using part of my friends money, even though people were waiting, and even though I probably had a large dinner (to help with the absorption of the alcohol).

So there it is I love eating and desserts. Its become almost a need. They always make me feel good which can become a self fulfilling prophecy. I feel not that great, then I feel the need and compulsion for a snickers or pint of ice cream, then I obsess over the food (do i need it, what else could i eat, how long should i wait), then I usually cave in to the original want or eat twice as much as I need with some secondary alternative. So then I got what I wanted which somehow had become a goal to achieve and I DID IT!! so I feel better. or I feel sick and will never learn my lesson.

Wow this is very long post but an introduction is always long until the real plot begins. First the background, then the plan, then the doing of said plan. The plan is to update you all on my various struggles, diets, exercising, etc. And you can comment, give advice, tell your story etc. Thanks for reading!!

Moving Mertle!