How it all started

Welcome to My Blood Sugar Diary. This is my first blog, so I will start off with a little bit of information about me. My name is Chris Stephens. I am 31 years old and live in Arkansas. I am a decorated veteran of the greatest Air and space Force on the planet, the US Air Force. Also, I graduated high school when i was 16 and have a Master's degree so before anyone reads any of my comments and thinks "Oh, he's just stupid", I assure you, I am not.
I have waged an ongoing battle with my weight since I was about 7 years old. When I was in high school, I tought I had won. When my beautiful wife got pregnant with my daughter, in 1998, we started eating out more and more. I know this is not an excuse, and I could have cooked, but I didn't and the weight came back. I hit an all time personal high of 225lbs. That doesn't sound like alot but I am 5"8" so it was. Then, in 2001, I was shown the awesomeness of Xenadrine RFA-1 (with ephedrine). Even though the recommended dose was 4 pills per day, I found out that if I took 8 per day, I didn't have to excersize!! I lost about 45lbs in a little less than 2 months. Then, we got "orders" to go to Germany for 3 years. We ate out (fast food) for the month before our PCS (Permenant Change of Station).  We stayed with my mother for almost a month before we actually boarded the plane for Germany. During that month, we ate at my Grandmother''s house most of the time. She doesn't cook a wide variety of foods, but one that she does better than anyone is my favorite.... Fried Chicken. So, in less than 1 month, I went from about 190lbs back to about 210lbs (when i weighed in when I got to Germany).
In 2004, we came back to the USA for 1 month to visit family and friends. I had been working out some and had gotten to about 215lbs with about 18% body fat. After the 1 month vacation, I had gained so much weight (from Grandma's fried chicken and almost constant force feeding) I could barely fit into my uniform. Then, the next year, we PCS'ed to Colorado Springs. Just like before, we ate fast food for almost an entire month while moving. When we got to CO, I weighed in at a whopping 245lbs!! I tried eating ultra low calories and doing some cardio but I didn't lose much weight. Then, in 2007 we moved AGAIN!! This time, we moved back to Arkansas (my home state). When I weighed in at 265lbs!!!