As an autistic person, I have been battling obesity for over two and a half decades, primarily due to the medication that  I am on. While I understand the necessity of not being as big as I am, there Is also the necessity of having the medications that I need to be well. They have been proven to work and while I have lost weight in the past by making destructive decisions regarding my medication regimen in the past, I now fully comprehend and understand that is not a feasible option.

The one thing that is an option is to work at making simple lifestyle choices. It is hard to believe that it has been over a year since I have stopped drinking sweet tea and just almost 11 months since I have eliminated caffeine from my food intake. While I thought that I would have never been able to make these changes, they became a necessity because of past meltdowns of manic episodes in the past. They are necessary because of my mental health conditions and as such in time they have paid off with my body working much better than it ever has.

Now that I fully understand the necessity of taking my medications to stay well, I also understand that it is an equal responsibility to take care of my physical health by starting to make the changes that I need to make. That has started in the past few weeks by staying in the necessary calorie goals that I need to for a person of my stature. It is also working towards being less dependent on soda, which is now a behavior of habit rather than something that is something that is an addiction. While I have an addictive personality, it is knowing that I must work at making better health decisions by working at drinking more water and eating more at eating home cooked meals when I can.

Making the change has not been easy for me but I now understand the necessity of doing it and the benefits that it can eventually provide. In between the past two weekly weigh-ins of my weekly weight loss support group, I have lost six and a quarter pounds. This I feel has been attributed to making better decisions that are more beneficial for me and are paying of more at the scales because I am willing to make the changes along with being more diligent and initiative-taking about the necessity of working towards a lifestyle change.

I know that there are going to be more changes that need to be happening, but sometimes its just making one change at a time and getting it under your belt (literally)  before moving to do something else. Overall, it is important to no be over-critical of yourself. Mistakes are going to happen and that is OK. However, it is important to not let them get to you and continue to keep your mindset away from doing what is necessary to make the changes as it is for me too. Some things we cannot change, but we must work at what we can change to get our health situation under control to prevent consequences from happening that are going to make us have to undergo more painful treatments eventually. Often seeing others experiencing those methods, which is not something that I want to try to prevent.