Month: August 2016

At the grocery store on Sunday, Sherry and I saw a bunch of big people there who were all trying to eat well: low-fat, whole grain, and organic fruit juices were among the items in their carts. These people actually believe that eating that food is good for them. It’s what they’ve been taught their whole lives, and by God, they’re doing their best to “Eat right.” To me, this is criminal. Our system, our health professionals, and our government have let these people down. What’s worse is that the food lobbies pay for professionals to keep spewing horrible nutrition advice to keep selling their horrible foods.

In the grocery store, it’s amazing to see how little of the food is actually good for you. I would estimate that nearly 85% of the items on the shelves for consumption have some kind of sugar in them. A lot of that comes from wheat, rice, beans, dairy, or straight-up sugar like corn syrup or other sweeteners. It’s morbidly laughable how many of these items sell themselves as “Heart healthy,” or “Gluten Free” (as if Gluten Free meant it was somehow better for you).

I don’t blame fat people for being fat. I know how easy it is to get to that point where you’re 50, 60, or even 100 lbs overweight. It creeps up on you like a ninja in the night. I blame our government, our education system, the majority of our medical and nutrition professionals, and I blame wholeheartedly the food lobbies and food manufacturers for outright lying to us about what is healthy and what is not.

The problem is that this won’t change anytime soon. There’s too much money to be made selling horrible food to people. The profit margins on fries, pizzas, and hamburgers is too high to give up. Breakfast cereals? How much money is made on breakfast cereals?

The breakfast cereal industry has gross profit margins of 40-45%, 90% penetration in some markets, and steady and continued growth throughout its history. -revolvy.com

I don’t see any of these companies giving up on these types of profits anytime soon. After all, the only thing they care about is shareholder value. The heck with us and our health as a nation.

This article isn’t so much about Whole30, Paleo, or motivation. It’s some observations I’ve had since losing over 105 lbs in under a year.

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When I was fat, I used to notice the skinny people. I would look at them and think, “Wow. I wish I were them.” I would wonder whether it was genetics, or if they were exercising their guts out. Maybe they were just lucky and never got fat like I did. Either way, I noticed them all the time. As for the other fat people, they were unnoticed; they were like me. Heck, I even felt better among them: like being a bird in a flock of similar birds.

Now, I feel like a fish out of water most times. Now that I’m into what I would call normal sizes, I notice the fat people, and there are so many of them. It’s alarming how many people in our society are not just overweight, but obese. I’m not saying this to shame anyone, or to make anyone feel bad. I say this because it’s what I see. And what I feel for every large person I see is sadness.

I feel sorry for them because I know they don’t want to be that big. I know first-hand what it’s like to be that big, and I know it hurts in more ways than just in the knees. I feel sorry for them because they’ve been lied to all their lives about nutrition and diet.

Now, I notice the overweight people looking at me. I know what they’re thinking. I feel their stares, and I avert my eyes. I feel guilty in their presence for being thin now because I know they think I judge them. I don’t. They believe that I think they are weak or gluttons. I know they are not. I’m sure some could never imagine that I was just like them not so long ago.

I don’t say a word to them about nutrition, health, or losing weight unless I’m asked or unless it comes up in conversation. I know that’s hard to believe after reading this site, but it’s the truth.

After nearly a year, I also find that I don’t talk about my weight loss or nutrition as much among friends unless it comes up in normal conversation. Sherry and I are asked all the time for nutrition tips, food recommendations, or recipes, and we gladly oblige, but I feel that we’ve slowed down our talking about our weight loss.

I use this website to let out the pressure that builds up inside me like an Instant Pot. I have to get this stuff off my chest online otherwise I would explode.

Our perceptions of ourselves and others have changed a lot. The way we see the world has changed. Some of the things we see now are amazing, beautiful, and wonderful while others are heartbreaking and sad. It’s a new adventure and experience every day. We just have to learn to roll with it and make the best of it.

With that said, living the thinner life is definitely better in so many ways. I just wanted to shed some light on some of the things we’ve noticed since losing the all the weight we’ve lost.

I was fat. Really fat. I don’t say overweight; that would be making light of the situation I found myself in after years of neglecting my nutrition and health. I was facing failing health and issues that, if not attacked head-on, would kill me.

After a lot of consideration and reading, I undertook a lifestyle that I would be able to stick with for the rest of my life that I could actually enjoy without suffering and being hungry. I also wanted a lifestyle where I could use exercise for strength and stamina and not to regulate my weight. I didn’t want to become a gym rat. What I came upon was Whole30 and Paleo.

The hardest part was addressing my relationship with food. I had to break up with sweets, foods with high-carbs, and those that had added sugars. Breaking up was hard to do, but like being in a bad or abusive relationship, I had to get out and not look in the rear view mirror. It wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t hard, either. It had to be done, I did it, and I moved on.

Once we began our journey, we took strength from each other. We would bolster each others’ resolve to stick with it, to eat right, to eat serving sizes that were correct, and to avoid temptation. Some days were harder than others, and there were times when one of us had to pick the other back up, but we did it as a team, and we overcame the darkest days.

After a few months, we found that we had settled comfortably into our new lifestyle. Our foods were no longer different; they were our meals. They no longer had strange textures; they were our meals. The foods that we thought we didn’t like or weren’t our favorites were quickly becoming foods we enjoyed and looked forward to. What surprised me the most was that many of the foods I swore would be so difficult to give up no longer looked appealing to me anymore. Bread, pasta, donuts, cake, sweets: none of these elicit cravings anymore. Temptation has all but evaporated for these items for me.

Nearly a year after beginning, I’ve lost over 105 lbs (125 lbs total weight from my heaviest), and I feel great. I have more energy, more flexibility, and I feel better in every aspect of my life. Although it’s been eleven months, the transformation feels like it took place overnight. I still marvel at the changes that have taken place. I am still surprised by the man looking back at me in the mirror every morning.

I am often asked what the secret or the key to my success has been. I think the best answer is that I had a ring of keys that led to my success:

• Information: I was armed with a lot of information that allowed me to make an informed decision about what lifestyle to adopt.
• Teamwork: I had my wife to help me get through this. She planned and made our meals, and motivated me when I needed it.
• Mindset: I broke up with bad foods and decided to stick with this no matter what. I ignored cravings in the beginning of my journey and stuck with it with steely dedication.

I didn’t see results overnight. I didn’t even really see the results after my first month when I lost 20 lbs. I have to say that I lost over 50 lbs before I could really see the changes, and a full 80 lbs before I felt like I had really made changes that others would see. Now at over 105 lbs lost, the changes are too large to ignore, and even people who I’ve known for decades sometimes don’t recognize me.

The best part of my story is that it can be your story, too. You can do this. I have no super power that makes me special or allowed me to lose all this weight. My story is not atypical or unattainable. You can do this; you just have to be as strict and motivated about it as I am. I promise you that if you put in the effort, you will see results.

I love pancakes. I think I like them more now than I did pre-Paleo. The funny thing is that while I always liked them, not until I went Paleo did I really learn to appreciate them. Part of the reason, I think, is because as I’ve cut out foods with added-sugar, I can taste subtleties in food better.

I make breakfast for Sherry and I Monday through Friday. It’s typically the same thing: two eggs sunny-side up and two slices of bacon: hers crispy, mine semi-crispy. She gets a cup of tea while I get a cup of coffee. It’s amazing how satisfying and tasty this breakfast is. I haven’t tired of it in the four months we’ve been having it. Heck, I look forward to it as I’m cooking it! On the weekends, however, Sherry cooks breakfast for us, because we have more time and she makes us what we call “Dandy breakfasts.” These include either some sort of Paleo waffles or pancakes. The pancakes are my favorite.

She makes them with blueberries and I eat them with 100% maple syrup and a few slices of bacon. It’s the one day of the week when I feel like a kid on Christmas morning. She has the recipe on her site, and I can’t recommend it enough for those mornings when you want something that tastes like it should be bad for you, but it is actually oh-so-good!

From this week forward, I will be featuring articles by my amazing wife, Sherry! She has her own blog at ourdailybacon.com, but she and I feel that the real strength in our message and example for others is the combined message we share: I’m the tough love and she’s the soft side with the great recipes. Together, we make for a good team!

Her site will still be separate and she will continue to post there, but I will be reblogging her articles here which will make it show up as a blog entry on my site as well. This should be a helpful feature for those who read both of our blogs. There are so many times I wanted to post the same thing she posted, especially when it comes to foods and recipes. This solves that problem for me!

If you haven’t checked out her blog yet, you should do so! It’s really well written, and the recipes and insight she has is truly valuable. GO NOW!

This post starts rather innocently and ends with me in full Staff Sergeant mode. If your sensibilities are easily hurt, you may want to skip this article.

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My weight is around the average for people my age, or so I’m told. This is great! Or is it?

We know how averages work: Take all the values and add them together and then divide the sum by the number of values. The problem is that what we really should be looking at is the mode: the most commonly occurring number in the set. What is the mode average weight of people my age? I don’t have the answer, but it’s much higher than what I weigh. How do I know this? Because I’m now considered “thin” in comparison to most people my age, and I am most definitely not thin. I’m average, at best. Heck, by BMI standards, I’m still overweight.

I bring this up because it’s common and accepted for people to gain some weight as they age. It’s even biological for us to put some weight on in the midsection as we get older. What is not biological nor should be common and accepted is being obese. I don’t mean that it’s okay to shame people for it; that never is. However, being obese or fat is a condition that is within our power. Skin color, genetic conditions, and gender are examples of things we cannot easily change, but our weight is something within our power.

I have been told by a few people that their being overweight is caused by a thyroid condition. If that’s true, then we need to look into thyroid technology that can take 1000 calories and turn it into 5000 calories in the bodies of those people with this condition. I don’t doubt the condition: I doubt the honesty of these people in dealing with what they are putting into their bodies. This is not shaming: this is observation. Hyperthyroidism doesn’t make you eat Big Macs, Pizza Hut, or Taco Bell. Hyperthyroidism doesn’t take 1000 calories and bloat you. Eating too much bloats you.

If you’re not going to be honest with yourself, then you are wasting your time. I say that over and over again; so much, in fact, that I feel like a broken record. Stop wasting time. I don’t say that to inspire you to give up; I’m hoping for the exact opposite. We hate wasting time and effort. Make your effort count! Make the time you spend more efficacious. Find a diet that works for you, and STICK TO IT AS IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT (because it does!).Losing weight is not hard. Beating cancer is hard. A combat veteran running a marathon with one leg is hard. An orphaned child in a third world country raising her brothers and sisters in poverty is hard. Losing weight is a first world problem. Stop lying to yourself and being weak and giving into cravings and eating like crap. You have no excuses, and nobody to blame for your being fat but yourself.

I have heard more than once, “I’m not so sure about eating Paleo. It seems like it’s not a very varied diet and that your health will suffer.” Well, if my health is suffering, it’s suffering in a weird way.

Most of these very same people who tell me my diet isn’t varied enough suffer from being overweight, having issues with staying awake, and having mobility issues. I ask them if their diets are healthy, to which they answer, “Yes, I just need to practice more moderation.” Once again: the moderation myth.

When it comes to the food I eat, I would rather take my chances with a diet that contains healthy foods and no added-sugar or foods that are high in carbs. With all the evidence mounting about how bad high-carb foods are, I would rather err on the side of caution and just avoid them. Besides, the “suffering” my health is doing is manifesting as normal blood sugar, normal cholesterol, normal weight, normal body-fat percentage, and improved mobility and strength.

If that’s what Paleo is, I will suffer for it.

At least once a day, I hear someone say to me, “I could never do what you’re doing.” Sherry and I talked about this last night as I was recounting my experience earlier in the day with someone asking me how I lost my weight and once I told them, they said they couldn’t do that. Sherry smiled and said, “Well, nobody can do anything. Until they can.”

It sounds simplistic and silly, but it’s true. I used to say I couldn’t give up carbs. Until I could. I reached a point where the decision was a simple one. It’s that tipping point from, “I can’t do this” to “I have to do this” or “I will do this.”

I can’t push you to make the decision to eat healthy or to do what it takes to eat right and lose weight. Only you can do that yourself. You have to find your motivation, whatever it may be. Once you do, I can encourage you, congratulate you, and push you to keep going, but I can’t get you there. That’s all on you.

If you’re not willing to go 100% toward this goal, you are wasting your time. I say that not to someone who is trying and occasionally slips and cheats, but to those who give lip service to eating right yet continually make exceptions and don’t stick to the plan and then wonder why they aren’t seeing the results I have experienced.

There are things I could never do. I could never go anything less than 100% on this lifestyle. I could never go back to eating pre-processed, added-sugar foods. I could never give up and eat the way I used to. I could never go back to how I used to be: fat, out of shape, and always in pain.