Month: October 2016

It’s been almost 14 months since my wife and I did our first Whole30 and then went Paleo. In that time, I’ve lost a total of 112.1 lbs with a grand total of 130.7 lbs. My body fat went from over 50% to around 15%, and my BMI went from 47 to 27.9. My resting heart rate went from 72 to 52.

I am now able to run 4+ miles daily, and I can pass an Army physical fitness test (PFT) which is important for me as I’m in the process of entering the National Guard. As a former Marine, running always played a large role in my life, and it’s nice to have it be a part of it again. It’s also helping to keep me strong and fit.

In terms of clothing sizes, I went from wearing trousers with a 48″ waist to wearing 32″. Shirts have gone from XXXL (that’s a 3XL!) to M. Shoes even went from 9’s to 8’s.

I made the vast majority of my progress through diet alone. I ate meat, vegetables, and some fruit. I didn’t allow myself to eat fast food or anything with added sugar. I only started running six weeks ago, but my body was ready for it, and I’ve been making great progress. My pace is up, distances greater, and I feel great while running. I actually look forward to the runs now; something I’ve never been able to do.

I feel like a new person. I never knew I could feel so vital, so young again. I can’t imagine ever going back to how I used to feel: slow, sluggish, and old. I put on a happy face, but inside, I was always sad about my weight and health. My outlook now is greatly improved, and I feel able to do so much more, so much more easily.

As of this morning, I weigh 177.7 lbs. That’s just 2.7 lbs from my penultimate goal, and 12.7 lbs from my final goal. It’s taking longer to reach this goal than I thought, but I’m okay with it. I wear smaller clothes that I can actually buy off the rack, and I feel great. All of this would not have been possible without my amazing wife Sherry at my side and helping me at every step of the way.

We all have our own reasons for wanting to lose weight, get fit, or just eat healthy. That reason is what determines how far you will go to accomplish your goals, or how hard you will work to reach those goals. For me, it was about a few things.

Health

My health was deteriorating. It wasn’t bad yet, but the signs were all there, and they were clear: if I kept up being heavy and eating anything and everything, it would all catch up with me and make my life miserable and short. I didn’t want that. If there was anything I could do to stop it, I would do it.

Mobility

I wasn’t able to do the things I used to enjoy doing: biking, walking, hiking, or exploring in new places. I like having adventures with my wife, and a big part of that is walking, hiking, or being able to meet weight requirements for things like hang gliding, zip lining, etc.

Military

Not many people are aware of this because I haven’t posted much about it, but I’m currently in the process of re-entering the military. As a former Marine with 11 years of active duty service, I will be returning to the military; this time, into the National Guard. Yes, they still take crusty ol’ warriors like me as long as I can complete 20 years of service prior to my 60th birthday (which I will be able to do). My goal is to make the other soldiers wonder why they are having a hard time keeping up with such an old man!

Wife and Children

I love my wife, and I love my kids. I want to be with them as long as I can. I hope to meet my future grandchildren some day (not yet, though!). I want to be able to annoy and molest my wife for a long time and to spoil my grandchildren and send them home with loud and messy toys. None of this looked like a possibility just a year ago.

Those four things mean more to me than the short-term gratification of eating a pizza, some spaghetti, or drinking a rum and Coke. Those other things are delicious, but nothing is as delicious to me as knowing that my health is no longer being negatively impacted by the food I eat. I’m also getting a  lot more exercise now, which is helping me with my general health and fitness.

Find your motivators and cling to them. Use them to your advantage. When you are presented with tempting food or in a situation where you feel weak, think of your motivators. If they are as important to you as you think they are, they will make it easier for you to say no to the temptation or to make the right decisions when eating. They may even get you up off the couch and onto the sidewalk.

Seriously. This is going to be a brutally honest article, and if you are easily offended by straight-talk, stop reading now.

You’ve been warned.

Continue reading “The Truth Hurts: Don’t Read if you get Butt-Hurt Easily” →

Someone said this to me the other day. “Why eat well and exercise? You’re not gettinga ny younger!” Really? Thanks for that nugget of wisdom. I guess I should just pack it up, give up, and wait to die. At age 49, right?

You can’t stop getting older, but you can feel young, spry, and energetic past 40 as long as you eat well and get some exercise. I was beginning to feel like an old man. My muscles ached and my joints were sore nearly every moment of my life past 40. My ability to do something so basic as tying my shoes became a chore. I became winded climbing one flight of stairs in my house. Running anything past 15-20 feet was out of the question. Long walks would leave me sweaty, tired, and winded. I really felt like I had lost my youth.

Then, I got tired of it. Based on information from my cousin Sarah, my friend Matt, and the reading I did on the Interweb based on the information they gave me, I decided that I wasn’t ready to just roll into the grave. I was going to get my health back and lose weight (and hopefully get fit). I didn’t expect to become a runner, but I’m ahead of myself here.

I convinced Sherry to join me in this endeavor, and we both committed to the lifestyle change in perpetuity. There was no turning back; we were in it for the long haul. We both did a Whole30 which changed our lives, and then we transitioned into Paleo. After 13 months, I’ve lost 110 lbs and have started running. Sure, I’m only running 3.25 miles in 30 minutes, but that’s after four weeks of running.

The best part of it all: I feel young. I feel energetic, I no longer feel sluggish, tired, or craving foods all the time. I eat three times a day when it’s time to eat a meal to fuel my body, and nothing more. I eat well, and I eat delicious food that leaves me satisfied. I don’t suffer when it comes to what I’m eating. As for the exercise: I never thought I’d be one of those people who enjoy exercise, but I do enjoy my runs. I probably like the post-run feeling a bit more than the actual run itself, but out of my last five runs, four of them were actually fun. One was even amazing.

I know I can’t stop the clock. We all have an expiration date. I refuse to feel old prematurely. I refuse to be so heavy that I can’t sit in a booth at a restaurant. I refuse to ne so big that I need a belt extender on an airplane (or have to face the look of the person who has to sit next to me on the plane). I love how I feel. I love having energy. I love being flexible. I really feel like I did over 20 years ago, and that’s no exaggeration.

Everyone can do what I did. It’s just food and a “whole lotta discipline.” I lost 110 lbs without running. To be honest, I’ve only lost 2 lbs since I began running a month ago. Food plays a much larger part in weight loss than any weight loss fitness program will lead you to believe. It also requires no additional products; just eat right and stick to it.

And yeah, I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing. I never want to feel like I used to before I got healthy. That life was filled with pain, embarrassment, and disgust. Never again.

I see a lot of people posting these “Tasty” videos on Facebook. You know the ones I’m talking about: it’s a very cleverly edited video that shows ingredients being placed into a bowl and then the food is prepared. The vast majority of these, while most likely delicious, are very unhealthy. I watch them every time, and as soon as I see flour or sugar or rice or any other ingredient that is not Paleo get thrown into the bowl, I continue to scroll past.

It’s not that I can’t stand the temptation: that’s easy for me now. It’s that I feel badly for anyone who is still eating this stuff and thinking that it’s okay for us. If you, the reader, have been following along with me for any period of time, I hope that if you have learned one thing it would be that the diet recommended by the US Federal Government is horribly bad for us and based on bad science. Sugar is bad for us. Wheat and grains are bad for us. Dairy is only okay. Beans (legumes) and soy are not great for us, either.

Think about this: what do farmers feed their animals to fatten them up quickly? Grains. When did the US Government begin advocating eating a diet rich in grains? 1977. In what year did obesity begin to skyrocket in the US? 1977. Coincidences?

Our grandparents and great-grandparents knew that a diet rich in protein and vegetables was good for us and the key to losing weight. Even they knew that grains were fattening. That’s why they didn’t eat as much bread, cakes, and other grain-heavy foods as much as we do.

Is eating a slice of bread a day going to kill you? Probably not. Heck, I’ll even say most likely not. However, how many of us really eat just a single slice of bread a day? How many of us minimize the amount of carbs in the way of sugar, grains, soy, legumes, and dairy in our diets every day? Unless you are actively trying to reduce these things, it’s likely in nearly everything you eat. Strangest food find: most tuna has soy in it. Second-most strange find: most bacon has sugar in it.

Look at the labels of your food. Eliminate the foods that are bad for you. The amount of weight you will lose by just eliminating grains and added-sugar alone will surprise you.

And those “Tasty” videos? I’m over them. They are beautiful, but mostly bad for me.