Month: June 2016

I’m certain more than a few of you wonder why I push Whole30 and Paleo so much and not other alternatives. I have acknowledged in the past that there are many plans that people can use to lose weight and to get healthy, but in my personal experience, none of them have worked as well for me. But that’s the key: for ME. I am not implying in any way, shape, or form that what worked for me will 100% work for you in exactly the same way it worked for me. However, the evidence is stacking up that what worked for me can and does work for many other people.

As for my personal story, I tried all kinds of plans in the past. The most disastrous was “Moderation.” This is an excellent article that explains why moderation fails, and why it’s not a viable or sustainable way to eat and get healthy. I also tried low-fat which, as my previous post stated, is also filled with bad science and silly assumptions. I’ve tried to exercise the fat away to no avail. I’ve tried just about every fad diet out there from one time to another, and while I may have experienced short-term positive results, the nature of the diets restricting my food intake so dramatically led me back to my pre-diet habits and gaining back all the weight and then some. Here are the bullet points as to why I am so in love with Whole30 and Paleo:

• I’m lazy and I don’t want to have to work out to lose weight. Doing so would have probably made my weight loss faster, but I didn’t want to lose too much too fast.
• It worked for me where everything else had failed before. Did I mention I didn’t have to work out?
• It makes sense from a nutritional standpoint. It relies on science based on how our bodies actually work, not on pseudo-science or assumptions from 60+ years ago.
• It has, and is working for many close friends and family members. Their results don’t lie: these two are the recipe for success in weight loss and in taking back your good health.

I literally feel like I’ve found the secret to weight loss and taking back my health, and I want everyone to know! I want everyone to have a shot at a longer, healthier life. I want everyone to know that being thinner and healthy isn’t something only the lucky people can be. This is something we can all do, and just by changing the food we put into our bodies.

Here is a plate I had for lunch today. Notice how much awesome is on it: grilled rainbow trout, sauteed crab meat, and grilled vegetables. This was an amazing lunch, and it’s all Paleo-compliant.

This brings me to my last point: I don’t suffer. I’m not craving foods between meals, I don’t leave meals hungry, and the foods I can eat are found at nearly any good restaurant without any extra special ordering or fussing, and it tastes amazing! The photo above is a meal right off the menu. They had lots of options that were Paleo that I could have went with (and I will be going back soon to try some more of them).

The best plan for any long-term solution to our sugar addiction and our best chance for long-term success is to adopt a lifestyle that allows you to eat normal high-quality foods that you can make and/or find easily. Paleo fits the bill for this quite well which is why I’m shouting about it at the top of my lungs.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering: I don’t get any money or kickbacks from Whole30 or Paleo. I just believe in them wholeheartedly.

There is a HUGE difference between them, but our nutrition education is very poor, and we’ve been taught bad information for the past 60 years. The worst part is that the government and even the World Health Organization (WHO) is acting very slowly to catch up to the realities of the dangers of a low-fat/high-sugar diet (which is what they’ve been pushing with the whole wheat/brown rice recommendations coupled with low-fat).

The Low-Fat diet comes from the 1950’s when doctors falsely believed that eating fats resulted in high cholesterol in the blood. Believing in this flawed hypothesis is to ignore the fundamental fact that our bodies are marvelous, complex machines that utilize intricate processes to turn food into energy. This is a chemical processes far more complicated than taking fat from food and putting that fat into our blood streams. It is the liver that processes sugars and turns them into fat, and this information has been known to the medical community for decades, yet they refuse to acknowledge it. The reasons for this are many, but mainly due to where the money for research comes from: the food industry. It is not in the best interest of the food industry to let word get out that all the stuff they’ve labeled as “Heart Healthy” and good for your bones turns out to be the very stuff that is causing us to be obese and eventually, to kill us.

Low-cal is another fallacy that persists. It comes from the misguided belief that all calories are created equal. From a very simple standpoint, calories in must be equal or less than the calories you expend. However, the food has to make you feel satisfied. I see meals people prepare, or buy prepared, and they contain all kinds of carbs but they are low-cal. The problem is that 190 calories of some pasta dish or a salad isn’t much food, and it won’t fill you up. Then, you’ll be hungry sooner and you will think, “I ate low-cal and I am hungry again. This sucks. I can’t eat low-cal and be comfortable or do this forever. Screw dieting!” That’s one reason so many people fail at eating healthy and losing weight; we’re hard wired with a strong desire that overrides all others to NOT feel hungry. We’re not made to live hungry.

Enter Paleo. The food you eat allows you to feel satisfied and full while eating foods that are delicious and, in most cases, very normal and even made the same way you’ve always enjoyed them. In other cases, you may need to substitute ingredients, but when the food tastes good and fills you up and is good for your body, then it’s a win-win-win! Some great cookbooks that Sherry has found and uses for us regularly include the following:

• Against All Grain: Delectable Paleo Recipes to Eat Well & Feel Great
• Practical Paleo: A Customized Approach to Health and a Whole-Foods Lifestyle
• The Slim Palate Paleo Cookbook

There are also a large amount of recipes available online at some of the following websites:

• Nom Nom Paleo
• PaleOMG!
• Paleo Leap | Paleo diet Recipes & Tips
• Elana’s Pantry

Take a look at some of those sites and you’ll find that the food looks amazing and appetizing. The best part: they are all good for you! Try some of them out; I think you will be very pleasantly surprised with how good they are and how full you feel after eating them. I just ate a bowl of chili that Sherry made for our lunches this past Sunday, and I can’t believe how filled up I am after eating about 2 cups worth of chili. Could I eat more? Sure, but only because it was so delicious! My stomach honestly feels full, and I can’t imagine eating any more right now. Well, at least not until dinner time.

Paleo is a way of living you can sustain for the rest of your life. It involves eating whole foods and avoiding grains and added-sugars. It allows you freedom in what you eat and in return, your body will reward you by losing weight, becoming healthier, and giving you more mobility and flexibility. Don’t continue down the path of low-fat or low-cal. Those paths are lined with the corpses of failed effort. The path to low-sugar is a paved road that leads to a healthier you!

At dinner last night, Sherry and I were talking about the changes in our lives since taking back our health and going Paleo, and one of those that may seem prohibitive to people who are wanting to eat well is the cost.

The truth is that getting grass-fed, free-range, or organic foods costs more than their regular counterparts. Whether you are compelled ethically or by the quality of the food and the lack of chemicals/drugs in the foods, the reality remains that these foods cost more. However, Sherry and I also noted that since going Paleo, we have been making and eating more of the meals we eat throughout the week ourselves, and due to that, we are no longer spending large amounts of money eating lunches and dinners at restaurants. When looking at our budget, we found that even with the increased cost of ingredients, we find ourselves each eating, on average, only one lunch and one dinner at a restaurant a week compared to five lunches and three to five dinners at restaurants per week. With each lunch averaging $12-20 and each dinner averaging (per person) $20-40, you can see how that adds up quickly. Multiply that by two for us, and it’s a staggering amount of money spent at eating establishments.

I understand that some people are on fixed incomes or have tighter budgets. My son falls into the latter category due to the oil slump. This makes buying the more expensive organic foods prohibitive. He complained to me that he couldn’t eat well because it was cheaper to get the $1 menu items at McDonald’s, or the two meal deal for $10 at Burger King. It’s hard to argue with him on that point; cheap food is easier to acquire, takes no effort, and satisfies empty stomachs. However, I pointed out to him that by buying non-organic ingredients and making his meals, even if the cost was a wash, the quality of  the food would be better for his health. After looking at how much money he spent per week eating fast food versus how much money he would spend buying ingredients to make his own food, it came out pretty close, but even non-organic homemade food is far better for your health than anything from McDonald’s, Burger King, or Taco Bell.

There are ways to minimize the cost of the organic food. One of those is to shop locally. There are literally hundreds of farms around Houston (and I’m certain, around the area you live in), and there are many farmer’s markets that sell produce from these smaller farms. There are markets that open only on the weekends for these small farms where you can buy some really tasty and healthy organic vegetables, fruit, and even meats at a decent price. You’re also supporting your community, and these small farmers who toil the earth to bring you healthy foods.

Another way is to buy in bulk. There are coops available online that allow you to buy a share of a larger order and these companies will ship to your front door a package full of meats, vegetables, eggs, etc. At Paleo f(x) this year, we met at least a dozen such companies that were little more than family farms who do business online and deliver their organic, grass-fed, and/or free-range products weekly for a very fair price. It’s hard to argue the cost savings or the quality of these services.

In the end, if it’s your health you’re wanting to take care of, then you have to remember that our bodies are machines made up of the nutrients from the foods we eat. Cells can’t make new cells without material to build on, and that material comes from our foods. The better quality foods we put into our bodies, the better quality our cells will be, which in turn makes them hardier and more resistant to disease and other ailments. Our bodies, as machines, work more efficiently when the foods we eat aren’t out of balance with the energy requirements of the body. Eat well and you feel well. It’s a crazy simple concept that has worked well for my wife, for me, and for many of the readers of this blog. I honestly think that if you give Whole30 a try and follow it with Paleo, you will feel better, your body will be healthier, and if your weight is an issue, that will decline as well. I can’t guarantee anything, but the results everyone I know who has done this so far has been overwhelmingly positive.

In other words, ditch the added-sugar junk foods and anything with grains and high-carbs, make a plan to eat well, and execute that plan. Yes, it’s going to cost some money, but so did that XBox, that sewing machine, or that set of tools in the garage. You wanted those things and made way in your budget for them. Make way for your health and budget for it. You’re worth it, right?

So, now that I’ve lost 94 lbs since September 1st and I’m now back into 34 inch waist trousers (which I haven’t worn since I was an active duty Marine), I think it’s time to leave the “Fat” behind from the name of the site. I have thought about it for a  while, and I think I’ve settled on a new name for this site based on the focus of my journey to being healthy and losing weight coupled with the mindset I take into that journey.

The new name of the site that I’ve also purchased a new domain name for is:

PaleoMarine.com

Having the name of this blog, “The Fat Marine” was a motivator to me. I looked forward to the day that I could change the name to something without the word “Fat” in it. I made a goal for myself: once I got below 200 lbs, I could change the name. I didn’t do it immediately; I wanted to get at least a few pounds under 200 lbs. As of this morning, I weight 195.8 lbs which is another new low for me, and it was the trigger for me to change the name.

The name of the site will change immediately, and the URL will go live shortly. I hope you come with me to the new domain name. There are some other changes in store, but all positive, and all designed to help me get the word out, and to make it easier for folks to get some straight-talk on taking back their health and attacking fat!

Thank you to everyone who has been following me so far, and I look forward to giving you more information and motivation as we move forward with the new name.

Semper Fi, my friends.

Most of you who are skeptical about the benefits of eating a low-carb diet or reading this blog for the first time may think I’m absolutely crazy. Who can live without bread, pasta, iced tea with sugar, cake, cookies, bagels, crackers, pizza, pies, chocolate bars, soft drinks, and all the other foods and drinks that have sugar in them? Well, I’ll tell you who can.

YOU.

Keep reading. Trust me.

If you haven’t taken a look at the video Sugar Crash or read the article in The Guardian about how a scientist discovered sugar was the root of our health problems back in 1972 and how the nutrition establishment and food industry ran him out of his job, then I recommend you do so. It’s absolutely critical that you get that information before you dismiss the information I present here as a mere fad or some untested science. Sugar isn’t the root of ALL of our health problems, but it is the root of our most serious health problems: type 2 diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and many more.

I have been living a life without carbs since last September and I honestly feel the best I have in over 30 years. Heck, maybe ever. I remember having a groggy feeling every morning my entire life. I remember wanting to take naps after meals. As I grew older and heavier, I lost mobility, flexibility, and almost the ability to even tie my own shoes. When I look back on my life, during much of my younger years, I was an athlete and then an active duty Marine. I was never out of shape until I was over 30, but I still struggled with my weight for the last 8 years of my time in the Marines. Looking back at it, I know why: I ate the most horrifically bad food imaginable from a nutritional standpoint. So many burgers, fries, pizzas, breads, Taco Bell/Del Taco, and donuts. Add to that a healthy dose of alcohol at social functions which were a few times weekly and it all added up to enormous amounts of sugar. I might as well have been mainlining sugar syrup into my veins.

Since doing my Whole30 in September and then going Paleo in October (and ever since) and living a life without carbs, I’ve found the following:

• I lose weight steadily
• I have more energy
• I have better flexibility
• I have more stamina
• My blood sugar has returned to normal after being diabetic for 6 years
• My cholesterol levels are all normal
• The liver enzymes in my blood that indicated non-alcoholic fatty liver are back to normal levels
• I no longer experience acne breakouts
• My heart rate has reduced by 15 beats per minute on average
• I no longer have cravings between meals and only get hungry at meal times
• The amount of food necessary to fill me up has been greatly reduced
• The skin on my elbows, which used to be dry, is now normal
• I taste more flavors in the foods I eat

I can’t stress enough that I am no longer craving snacks between meals and I feel full after eating the food I eat. I only get hungry at the next meal time as long as I eat enough at my meals. It does take a little time to learn, but once you do, it’s easy. Also, I’ve mentioned before that the down-side to eating Paleo is preparation and planning, but that’s a small price to pay for good health.

I’ll be honest with you here (as I always am): It took me a long time to get to the point I’m at now with admitting that sugar is as evil as it is. I didn’t understand just how bad, nor was there any good evidence or reading material available to me that would have taught me this sooner. What I did know was that I didn’t want to exercise for hours a day more than I already was when I was a Marine. I didn’t want to have to change my life and live my spare time in a gym; I had kids to raise and hobbies to pursue. Going Paleo has freed me from having to give up my spare time by spending it in a gym, on a bike, or running. Some people love that; I wish I was one of them. I just don’t. So, this is how I stay healthy and maintain my weight loss. Also, there are some people who are too unhealthy to exercise (I was one of those when I began this Paleo journey).

Food. We all love it. We all need it (duh). We prefer foods we grew up with and that we have grown to love. Food is at the center of our cultures. Think of any culture on the planet and what sets them apart from the others. There’s language, clothing, and food. Our foods are central to who we are. That’s why it’s so difficult for people to separate themselves from certain foods, and I get that. However, what a lot of people don’t realize is how many of the foods we eat today are vastly different from the original recipes dating back to before the non-fat movement of the 1950’s took hold.

Food makers all rushed to remove fat from their recipes and found that people didn’t like the flavor or texture: the food became bland and had lost the consistency that made the food appealing. Food makers found that by replacing fat with non-fat alternatives coupled with sugar made people find foods delicious. What was even better was that people became addicted to the bad foods and soft drinks which in turn made them come back and buy more. Profits increased, and it was in the best interest of the food makers to squash any mention of sugars and carbs being bad to people.

As we are finding, going back to recipes that pre-date the ’50’s yields much better recipes with more natural ingredients. Sure, there are still those that have a lot of sugar in them, or grains/beans, but leaving those aside, recipes using butter, fat, lard, and natural ingredients are much better for us and our bodies. Just making your own food from scratch instead of buying/eating pre-made foods is so much better for you and it makes it easier to keep your food low-carb.

Paleo is not a non-carb diet. It’s not a fad that has just hit the scene. It’s a name for a way of eating that humans have practiced since the beginning of, well, humans. It’s a way of eating that cuts out foods that are known to contain an abundance of carbs as a percentage of its mass. Its a way of eating that has allowed me to lose over 93 lbs in nine months, and is keeping me healthy. It’s a lifestyle I endorse and recommend wholeheartedly. I know people who can live without avoiding carbs, and I’m happy for them. Their genetic makeup is obviously different from mine, as my body reacts negatively to excess carbs.

The food I eat is delicious, satisfying, and for the most part, the same food I grew up with. My parents are Hungarian, and the food I ate as a child was mostly Hungarian, but fortunately, my parents were gourmands and loved foods from all cultures. I got used to eating a varied menu of foods from all over the world and I gained an appreciation for them. This has allowed me to easily transition to a diet that cuts out the rice, beans, pasta, and breads. I know that not everyone has my background in eating such varied foods, but in all the cultures I’ve looked at, all have recipes that are naturally low-carb. For those foods that contain ingredients that are carb-heavy, there are alternatives available to help bridge the gap between what we love and what we must have to survive. I’ve eaten Paleo breads, pizza, thin mint cookies, and even chocolate mousse that were as good, or better than the original high-carb versions. The recipes are out there, but you have to find them and you have to know that these recipes take longer to prepare, sometimes with more ingredients. However, the payoff is healthy food that won’t kill you.

On the surface, it sounds hard. When you think about what you can no longer eat, or only have in strict moderation, it feels oppressive and you focus on what you can’t have. Instead, focus on what you can, and you will find that the variety and amount of foods you can eat will likely outnumber the foods you can’t, and many of the foods you should no longer eat have Paleo analogues.

You can do this. You just have to commit. I’ve led you to water; it’s time to drink.

If you have questions or comments, please comment or message me. I am willing to help in any way that I can.

Current stats:
Weight: 196.2 lbs (Started 289.9 lbs on 9/1/15)
Body fat: 22.3% (Started 47% on 9/1/15)
BMI: 30.7 (Started 45.4 on 9/1/15)

For those of you who have been following my blog since I started writing it back in February, you are probably familiar with my story. But for those who have only recently found this blog, or are just finding it today (welcome!) and have not gone back to the beginning, I figured it might not be a bad idea to recap my weight loss journey to-date.

It began in August, 2015. After the convergence of a number of realizations, my wife and I decided to get serious about our health and change our lifestyle to a more healthy one. With the help and support from my cousin Sarah and my friend Matt, we were armed with information about the evils of sugar, carbs, grains, and the added sugars in prepared foods. Coupled with our own research into Whole30 and Paleo, Sherry (my wife) and I began our first Whole30 on August 31, 2015.

I’m not going to sugarcoat it; the first week was tough. Probably one of the toughest things I’ve done in my life.  Breaking a sugar addiction is tough, and as long as I’ve been eating high-carb foods, it was a very hard addiction to break. Add to that the fact that nearly everything in my diet had added sugars and carbs makes for a tough transition. Or did it?

I was surprised, even from the very beginning, at how many foods that I considered delicious and that the nutrition establishment had deemed “bad” due to not being low-fat was actually good for me and allowed on Whole30 (and later, Paleo compliant). Foods I loved such as bacon, eggs, steak, sausage, pork chops, ribs, brisket, and every manner of meats were all not just allowed, but staples of Whole30 and Paleo. As for vegetables, with the exception of beans and grains, pretty much everything that grows in the ground naturally is good-to-go (as we say in the Marines). What began to happen, that I did not expect, was that I was actually enjoying all the food I ate, and I was full afterward. I no longer experienced snack cravings, and I only got hungry when it was time for the next meal. This was all a new experience for me, and I was enjoying it immensely. As an added bonus, in my first month, I lost 20 lbs.

After our Whole30 was complete, Sherry and I looked around for what to do next. Staying on the Whole30 for longer than 30 days is possible, and there are many who do just that, but we wanted something a little more sustainable for us, and something that allowed us a little more freedom in the foods we can eat. After a lot of reading and a lot of discussions, we settled on Paleo. Initially, I was also doing a very Keto-inspired diet, but it’s hard to get into ketones and easy to get out, so I stuck with Paleo. If I were doing this alone and could control every meal better, I might have stuck with the Keto, but Paleo has been serving me well. As an example of how well, by Christmas, which was only four months into my new Paleo lifestyle, I had lost 50 lbs.

My great weight loss continued through March, but then began to slow for a few reasons. One, there was a lot less weight to lose, so losing 10 lbs a month was getting difficult to sustain. Two, we went on vacation, and Sherry and I ate foods we wouldn’t regularly have eaten (How can you go to Canada and not eat Poutine?!). Where I was sustaining about 10-12 lbs per month of weight loss has now turned into about a 5 lbs/month weight loss. I’m totally okay with that, though, as progress is still being made, and I’m still getting closer to my final goal. 

Some of the things I’ve learned over the past nine months:

• Cravings go away after you wean yourself off sugar.
• Eating Paleo is easy and delicious, but requires a lot of preparation and planning.
• Having self-discipline is important, but if you fall of the wagon for a meal, you have to just get back on for the next. Don’t throw away an entire day just because you ate a hamburger at lunch; make your next meal Paleo.
• You will eventually not crave bread, donuts, and sweets when you see them. It took me about five months, but now I see those foods and it doesn’t even effect me. 
• Sugar is EVERYWHERE. It’s in foods you would not expect it to be in, and you have to be vigilant to keep added sugar out of your diet.

Finally, don’t be so hard on yourself. You will have successes, and there will be times when you don’t. That’s perfectly okay and normal. Also, don’t base your progress solely on the scale. It’s a horrible single measure of your health and progress. Instead, look at not only your weight, but your clothing size and how it feels as well as any blood work that you have done during a doctor’s visit or physical. There is also one very overlooked measure that always surprises me how few people consider: how you feel. If you have more energy, have fewer aches, and have much better flexibility and mobility, THAT’S A HUGE WIN! A neighbor of mine in his 70’s recently went Paleo after seeing my progress, and he told me that for the first time in nearly 15 years and after his 15 lbs of weight loss in his first month after going Paleo, he is able to stand for more than five minutes, tie his shoes without being winded, and able to play with his grandchildren. He isn’t concentrating on the weight loss, but rather on his improved quality of life. I think that’s a great way to look at it.

My progress so far isn’t out of reach for anyone. It’s not atypical. I didn’t lose it overnight. There were a lot of times I felt I wasn’t losing enough weight fast enough all while I was losing inches off my waist or neglecting how much better I felt. Losing the weight in the time I’ve lost it and in the manner I’ve lost it is within reach for you. Seriously. All you have to do is commit to the lifestyle, do some planning, spend the time to make the good food, and stick with it. That’s what I did to lose over 93 lbs in nine months. And you can do it, too!

Yesterday, I tried some different breakfast food, and I’m still on the fence about it. While at Paleo f(x), Sherry and I tried lots of samples at the vendors there, and one of the products I tried and enjoyed was an oatmeal substitute called Wildway Instant Hot Cereal. The sample we tried was delicious, and based on the sample, I bought not only the flavor we tried, but a flavor they didn’t have a sample of: Blueberry. Well, yesterday morning, I decided to go with the Blueberry hot cereal instead of my normal two eggs and two slices of bacon. Preparation was easy and to the point: add water, microwave for two minutes, and stir. I used the 3/4 cup of water because I like my hot cereals runnier than solid, and I was quite happy with the consistency. Taste was good; not too sweet and a little tart as natural blueberries are. Up to this point, I was pretty pleased.

What I wasn’t pleased with was the fact that I got hungry within an hour of eating. It seems that my body has gotten used to the protein and fat in the mornings and changing it to this hot cereal substitute didn’t fill me up nearly as well as the bacon and eggs normally do. I ended up eating lunch a little earlier to compensate. So, while I like the hot cereal substitute, I didn’t get filled up as much as I would have liked. I will try the other flavor next time and have some nuts on-hand in case I get hungry before lunchtime.

As for lunch, I had some sausage and squash that we had left over from Sunday. I also had a single Paleo thin mint that Sherry made that we keep in the freezer. It was the perfect lunch and kept me full until dinner.

We just bought a new Instant Pot and I decided it was time to try it out. The first thing I made was some applesauce by peeling 12 Gala apples and slicing them into small cubes leaving the skin on. I then added 1/4 cup of organic apple cider vinegar and set the Instant Pot to 10 minutes on manual. When it was done, I used an immersion blender to make the applesauce smooth after which I poured it into two mason jars and let cool. I decided this would be a great dessert or ingredient later for Sherry.

I then decided to make pork chops with a mushroom sauce, but I don’t think I did it right although it turned out delicious. Dinner ended up being one pork chop with mushrooms and onions as a topping/side followed by 1/2 cup of applesauce with cinnamon powder on top. This dinner kept me full and satisfied for the rest of the night.

I was rewarded this morning with more weight loss and a new low: 196.7 lbs! The best part is that once again, I’m not starving, not taking any pills or additional products, and I’m feeling better than ever. The nutrients my body needs are coming straight from the natural foods I’m eating, and as long as I make sure I get the right mix of nutrients, my body feels great. Now, I will admit I don’t track the macros as closely as others do. Instead, I let my body tell me how I feel after I eat certain foods. This feedback has been guiding me well for the past nine months towards over 93 lbs lost since September 1st, and over 112 lbs overall.

Current stats:
Weight: 196.7 lbs (Started 289.9 lbs on 9/1/15)
Body fat: 21.3% (Started 47% on 9/1/15)
BMI: 30.8 (Started 45.4 on 9/1/15)

Since going Paleo, our lives have changed drastically. My wife and I are no longer “Big people.” We are far more active, and we are finally able to do simple things many people take for granted like eating in a booth in a restaurant (I couldn’t fit), buy clothes off the rack in stores, and go zip lining. OK, we haven’t done the last one yet, but we will at some point. We are able to walk great distances, and on our last vacation, we fit in so much more than we could on previous trips due solely to the fact that we could both go 110% from 7:30 a.m. until 7 or 8 p.m. This allowed us to have a lot more fun, see a many more things, and to create more awesome memories.

Our self esteem has also risen. No longer are we given looks of disgust, or at best, looks of apathy or even sympathy. We’ve both noticed people smile at us more. Men hold the door more often for my wife. People make more eye contact and smile a lot more when I’m talking to them. Little things, but it all points to the fact that we’re no longer outcasts due to our bodies. I’m not saying it’s right; it’s just a reality we’re experiencing.

One of the strange “new normals” is that I feel cold more often. When I was fat, I had a lot of natural insulation that kept me warm. Now, I find myself wearing my long sleeve t-shirts and even light jackets to restaurants and movie theaters just to keep warm. I never realized how cool a lot of these places are kept to keep the overweight masses comfortable.

While at the doctor’s office a few weeks back (I was there for my annual physical), a lady sitting in the waiting room struck up a conversation with me, and told me that, “Thin people like you don’t have to worry about losing weight.” I almost laughed out loud, but I just gently told her that I used to be very overweight and that I’m still working on losing even more weight. I thought it was funny that someone would assume that I didn’t have to worry about gaining weight just because I looked thinner than she was.

Another really strange new normal for me is not being the biggest guy in any gathering. I’m, at worst, the average, and often I’m among the thinnest in the room. It’s weird because after almost 20 years of being fat, you notice this. You FEEL it. There was a sense of comfort when I was among other fat people because at least they understood what it was like. Now, I get looks from them; some of the same looks I likely gave people who looked fit to me when I was fat. The looks vary from rolling of the eyes in judgment (I don’t understand this one and I never did it, but it happens to me among the really overweight people), to the “sighing look” where someone looks at me, realizes they’re the same age as me, and then they realize they are overweight and with some effort, could look like me. The worst part is that I want to go up to them, hug them, and tell them that there’s an easy, natural, and free way to lose weight, and all it takes is some time, preparation, and determination. I want to tell them they can do this. But I can’t. It’s not appropriate.

My point is that with our weight loss, lots of things have changed in our lives.

One of the biggest changes, and the one that facilitated all this, is our eating habits. In the beginning, it was difficult because it required a lot of learning. There were hits and misses. The first month of dinners we made to conform to Paleo were like playing bingo at the local VFW: we won sometimes, but most of the time, we were underwhelmed. Eventually, though, we got the hang of the food, the preparation, the cooking styles required, and the changes in flavors. What came next was unexpected: we actually found that we prefer this food and don’t miss the “old” foods.

The flavors are amazing: many layers, textures, and combinations that are very delicious, good for us, and best of all, delicious. After eating all our bad foods on vacation, while it was all yummy, Sherry and I found we were looking forward to getting back to eating our good foods.