Month: January 2016

Calories are calories, right?

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I have heard this from many people, and I used to spew this as well. “Calories are calories; if you take in fewer than you use, you should lose weight.” Is this really true, though? Not really, because the body is a complex biochemical system that regulates energy balance through the use of elaborate processes. Eating 200 calories of McDonand’s hamburger is processed very differently than 200 calories of green peppers, and can have a very serious impact on your ability to get healthy.

There are many different things to consider when picking the type of diet to be on. What am I doing? It’s a combination of Paleo Primal with a strong Keto influence. What should you do? That’s entirely up to you, but I would consider the following when trying to decide.

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Wheat, Oats, and Brown Rice

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My entire life has been filled with advice from experts saying that whole wheat, oats, and brown rice are good for you. These “whole” grains are supposed to be better for you than their “bad” counterparts like enriched wheat and white rice. Some of this is based on a study in 2010 that found that eating brown rice instead of white rice may reduce the risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes:

Qi Sun, MD, now an instructor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and colleagues at Harvard estimate that replacing 50 grams daily of white rice (uncooked, equivalent to a one-third serving) with the same amount of brown rice would lower the risk of type 2 diabetes by 16%. Read more at WebMD

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From Marine to Civ to Citizen Soldier

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As a young Marine, I was at the pinnacle of my physical fitness. I weighed 134 lbs and was in amazing shape. I could run miles without getting out of breath (really!) and maxed my pull-ups and sit-ups at 20 and 80 in two minutes. This is my boot camp photo:

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Fast forward 28 years and this is what I morphed into:

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It’s hard to believe that both of those are the same person. In the second photo, I weigh over 300 lbs and can barely tie my own shoes or climb a single flight of stairs without getting out of breath and light-headed. That was frightening. That had to change.

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You’re Fat

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I said it. It’s harsh, ugly, and something none of us wants to hear, but if it’s the truth, then it needs to be said.

You’re fat.

Now that I’ve said it, let it sink in. This didn’t happen over night. It didn’t happen through mere breathing. Nobody is “Big-boned.” The plan truth is that  you’ve eaten more calories than you expend. Your body, being made up of DNA that, through the ages, has made improvements to how we store calories for those lean times, has taken the excess calories and turned it into an energy storage medium that our bodies use when we don’t get enough calories. It’s called lipid, aka FAT. The bigger problem is that you never allowed your body to receive fewer calories than its taken in which leads to more and more storing of these fats. After a long time, the internal structure of your body is that of a hoarder; full of junk (fat) that’s difficult to get rid of without professional help.

The first step in getting rid of a hoarder’s stash is for the hoarder to accept that they have a problem and that they need to make a drastic change in their life to change. I have seen first-hand a friend of the family go through this. She’s recovering from being a hoarder, and there are times it’s tough for her, but she’s doing great with a lot of support from her family. Getting rid of the fat is the exact same thing.

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