Month: January 2017

What makes me an authority on Whole30, Paleo, losing weight, or getting fit? That’s a good question, and I hope that you question the credentials of all people who offer information about any topic you are seeking guidance on.

Here are my credentials:

• I was a US Marine (the Marine part of my name here, PaleoMarine) from 1986 to 1997.
• Upon leaving the Marines, I gained weight. A lot of weight. I reached a high of 312 lbs.
• I tried various diet plans and exercise plans to try to lose weight. They all failed.
• I cut out sodas in 2013 and lost about 10 lbs/year until 2015.
• In September 2015, I started Whole30 and broke my addiction to sugar.
• In October 2016, my wife and I began a Paleo lifestyle.
• Through Whole30 and Paleo, I have lost over 110 lbs.
• I began running in September 2016 after not running since 1997 (on active duty in the Marines).

Here are my uncredentials (I totally just made that up):

• I’m not a nutritionist.
• I’m not a doctor, nurse, PA, or medical professional.
• I’m not a personal trainer or fitness instructor.

With that said:

• What worked for me may not necessarily work for you.
• Doing exactly what I did may not give you the same results as quickly.
• I don’t have all the answers.

You can (and should) take everything I write with a grain of salt. This is all based on my observations and experiences through my own journey. I can only speak for myself and the experiences I have and have watched my wife have. As they say in car commercials, your mileage may vary.

I’ve gotten really good with resisting the temptation of foods that are not good to me (pasta, bread, cake, sweets) but every now and then, temptation rears its ugly head and makes things difficult for me. Last night was one of those nights.

My wife found a chocolate bar that she brought back from NYC for me. It’s dark chocolate, so it’s considered okay in Paleo since it’s over 70% chocolate and the sugar content is very low. However, I can’t just eat a small piece. If I were to break into the package, I’d end up eating the entire bar. So I stared at it. It stared back at me. We stared at each other fora  long time. In the end, I won. The bar is still there, intact, sitting on my desk.

The point is that we control how we handle temptation. We need to remember that WE are the captains of our destiny. I know that temptation is powerful, but with each temptation we avoid, we show ourselves how strong we are. It makes future temptation easier to resist. Resisting temptation is like exercising a muscle: the more you do it, the stronger it gets. The more you resist temptation, the easier it gets.

But yes, it still rears its ugly head from time to time.

A friend of mine recently undertook intermittent fasting in conjunction with Paleo. I did some reading about it, and it looks interesting. The science behind it seems pretty solid, but in my personal experience, I need some energy in the mornings. I did intermittent fasting for many, many years without knowing it was actually a “thing,” and my mornings were always sluggish and I felt like I needed energy. To be fair, I haven’t tried it since going Paleo, but I’m in no hurry to do it.

With that said, it’s an interesting concept and is quite different from starving. In my previous post, I mentioned how I was putting my body into starvation mode. This happens when you don’t eat enough for days or weeks at a time, shorting your body too much of the calories it takes to run. Intermittent fasting is when you eat from noon to around 8 pm but then not again until noon the next day. It forces your body into a short-term fast that actually boosts metabolism and is said to have many health benefits.

I say all the time on this blog that my way isn’t the only way. Our bodies are all different, and it’s important for everyone to discover what works best for them. If intermittent fasting and Paleo work for my buddy, then more power to him! Paleo and running are doing it for me, and I’m happy with it. Find what works well for you and stick with it! If you find it’s not working, tweak as necessary. Whatever you do, do it to the best of your ability!

My wife and I went to Paleo(f)x last year and we had a really great time learning more about the Paleo lifestyle and being introduced to new products and ideas that were all Paleo-friendly. We also subscribed to Paleo Magazine and we’ve been really excited to see what’s in it every month!

We plan on going to Paleo(f)x again this year. We’re also hoping that you might take a moment to nominate us at the Paleo Magazine’s Annual Best Of Nominations! It’s all write-in at this point, and we’re hoping that we are worthy of your nomination and vote. Also, Sherry’s blog would be a great write-in nomination as well. At least I think so.

That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever had to write, I think. It was even harder to wrap my head around it than it was to write it, but it’s something I’ve come up against at least twice so far, and I’ve come face-to-face with it again: you have to eat enough to lose weight.

In the past, I was able to allow myself to starve to a certain point and continue to lose weight. Heck, I learned to embrace that hungry feeling because it was a constant reminder that I was being, “Good” and that my body wasn’t being overfed. My logic reasoned that the result would be lost weight. Only, there are two problems with this.

1. If you don’t eat enough for an extended period of time, your body goes into a starvation mode where it reduces your metabolism to hold onto all the fat/spare energy it can to keep you alive in what it considers a lean time for food intake, and;
2. What I was thinking and feeling are what leads to anorexia nervosa.

Yep. Anorexia freaking nervosa. There are two types: Binge/Purge Type, and Restricting Type. No, I don’t have anorexia nervosa, but reading about it made me really think about what I do and how I do it and to look out for warning signs. Contrary to popular belief, men can get anorexia nervosa, too.

While I work hard at being healthy and fit, I try to keep an open mind and a healthy perspective. I think that’s why I don’t see myself slipping into anorexia nervosa and that while some of its symptoms overlap into what a healthy person believes, I am not obsessed with it. I don’t tell myself I’m fat after losing weight. I allow myself to eat a little more every now and then and I don’t purge afterward (I never even consider it; ewww!).

Back to my weight; my weight had returned to normal after the holidays but had once again stalled. I thought about it and realized that I was going through the days feeling a bit hungry. Not starving, mind you, but my stomach would growl every now and then an hour or two before a regular mealtime. This weekend, I decided to eat a few nuts or a small Paleo graham cracker that Sherry made for our New Year’s Party (leftovers!) and I made a point to watch what happens on the scale. What I found confirmed my suspicions: I wasn’t eating enough. My weight is down and I even feel slimmer (if that’s possible).

I know it’s still a bit early, but I plan on keeping up with the eating a tad bit more this week to see if the trend continues. I weigh myself every morning, so it’s easy for me to get quick feedback on what’s happening. I also gauge how my clothes feel (and today, they felt GREAT).

Don’t think that starving yourself or depriving yourself of feeling satisfied after a meal will always result in weight loss. You could very well be keeping your body in starvation mode. If I learned anything on my Whole30 experiences is that you should eat until you are no longer hungry (but not stuffed!). Eat slow enough so you can recognize when that feeling comes, and then stop. I need to keep that in mind again and eat until I’m no longer hungry.