It’s been a strange trip these past 20 years, but without having done a Whole30 and adopting the Paleo Diet, there’s no way I would be where I am today. Heck, there’s a chance I wouldn’t be HERE today.

After leaving the Marines, I quickly became overweight by the USMC height and weight regulations. While I was always on the heavier side of the regulations, I rarely was over the standard for long. I did struggle with my weight due to poor eating habits, long hours, and not enough PT, but as I look back, had I known about the Paleo Diet back then, weight would not have been a concern. The past is what it is; the past. I can’t change that, but I can change my future.

As a civilian, I let myself go. My weight ballooned, my health was in a steady decline, and the most mundane things were starting to become difficult. Doctor after doctor told me that my health was a result of having borrowed time. I was in such good health earlier in life that I had credit, so to speak. However, the bill would soon come, and my credit would run out. When I started experiencing health issues related to Type-2 Diabetes, I knew it was time to do something about it. Surrender was not an option.

I did a Whole30 and adopted the Paleo Diet. A year after starting my first Whole30, I began running. Five months later, I enlisted into the National Guard. Today, I am well within the Army height and weight regulations (which are the same as the Marine Corps), and I score in the top 10% of my unit for our physical fitness tests.

I am 50 years old, and I’m healthier today than I have been since I was a teenager. That’s no accident. It’s not genes, it’s not luck, and it’s certainly not something that happened by accident. Like anything valuable in life, good health is something you have to work at. Wishing or hoping to stay healthy and eating without regard for nutrition and a lack of exercise will work out for a very small percentage of people. For the rest of us, it results in obesity and poor health. I didn’t accept that, and neither should you. You don’t have to have been a Marine or be a soldier to get healthy and lose weight. All it takes is motivation, determination, and perseverance.