Month: June 2024

Healthy Living: Embracing the Rewards of Persistence and Self-Determination

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Nothing feels better than progress, especially when it’s hard earned. Nothing worthwhile in life comes easily unless you are just lucky, and let’s face it; most of us just aren’t. So, to attain anything truly special or amazing takes a lot of preparation and hard work.

Getting healthy is no different. Losing weight is no different. Getting fit is no different. It is the reason why people who are fit and healthy get a respect that nothing else does. It takes discipline, effort, planning, and dedication to execution unlike anything else. And also unlike anything else, it’s not something you can shortcut or buy. A fit body isn’t something you can just go to a store and buy. There’s only one way to do it: put in the work.

That’s what I remind myself every time I get an urge to eat some chocolate or to have a larger portion than I should: put in the work. Be disciplined. The payoff will be worth it.

Yesterday, I was able to put on some clothes that I haven’t worn in a few months, and they fit perfectly. It was one of those moments that reminded me why I was doing the work and why I was sticking so strictly to the plan.

It’s not easy. It’s why 40% of all Americans are considered obese. If it were easy, we wouldn’t have to spend so much time and effort trying to get to a healthier weight or to trim down. But it is 100% worth the effort. Feeling good in one’s own skin is the ultimate payoff, and everyone will know that you put in the work and you stuck with it.

I was asked recently on Reddit in a thread I posted over 7 years ago if I kept the weight off. I replied that I had, and beyond that, I got fit and was able to join the National Guard and I’m still serving today. I continue to do the work and continue to be disciplined. Sure, I had a few back-slides here and there where my weight went up more than I’d like, but ultimately, I know what has to be done and I know how to do it. I know how to get the results I want and need. But it ultimately comes down to one thing: nobody can do this for me. I can get help, but what goes into my mouth and how much I move is all determined by me. And it’s a good feeling when you see the fruits of your labor come in.

The secret ingredient to weight loss

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Sleep.

Seriously. That’s the secret ingredient I never see mentioned anywhere. Get at least 7 to 7.5 hours of sleep a night (8 is preferable) and as long as you’re putting in the work and eating right, you will maximize your weight loss.

There is science behind this, but I’m not a doctor nor a scientist. I’m just a guy who has almost 8 years of experience with Whole30 and being on the Paleo Diet, and one thing I can count on is that if I am not getting enough sleep, regardless of how much work I’m putting in or how strict I am with my diet, I will not lose weight. On the other hand, if I am sleeping properly, I can count on steady weight loss.

Don’t underestimate the value of sleep on your health or with weight loss. I call it my secret weapon.

Rethinking Health Metrics: Beyond the Scale

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Too many people put all the emphasis on a single metric for success when adopting a healthier lifestyle: the scale. While a person’s weight is a good, solid, and measurable metric to track, it shouldn’t be not only the sole metric, but even the one with the most emphasis.

I learned almost 8 years ago that health is a collection of different data points that, together, paint the whole picture. Weight, my emotional health, how I feel in my skin, how my clothes fit and feel, how my joints feel; these all put together tell me how I’m doing. The funniest thing about it is that I even mentioned weight first in my little list, and that’s because it’s the easiest data point to acquire. Just step on a scale, and *BOOM* there it is. But how do I feel? How do my clothes fit? My empotional wellbeing? Those are much more subjective, but honestly, they’re more important.

Case in point: this morning, my weight was up. Unexplainebly up by more than I liked, but the crazy part is that my pants haven’t fit so well in months. As for the shirt I put on, it’s another one that was skin-tight just two and a half weeks ago. Today? It fit perfectly. Then, there’s how I feel emotionally. I’m a little tired from not getting enough sleep, but otherwise, I’m doing great. I can feel the progress, and I feel that the sugar addiction is almost all gone. There is a mental clarity that comes with being off sugar, and it makes everything feel hyper-real as compared to a few weeks ago. I love that feeling!

So, the scale may not have been my friend today, but the way my clothes fit, the lack of pain in my joints and my back, and my emotional clarity all told me that I’m well on the right path, and I need to keep going.

First morning without back pain

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It’s been a weird couple of weeks. I somehow hurt my back without doing anything at all. Yeah, yeah: I know. I’m old. But c’mon! I’m not that old.

In the office and thinking, “I need more coffee.”

But anyway, this morning was the first morning I awoke without any back pain. My right Achilles heel still has pain, and I think it always will. I’m learning to just live with it. But while I can do my exercises and even ride my bike with the Achilles heel pain, I can’t do either of those (and more) with the back pain. That it is now gone is significant.

I’m not sure when exactly I’ll start back up my exercise routine; maybe next Monday. I want to give my back enough time to fully heal and feel better. I want to make sure that I’m not rushing things and getting back into exercise too quickly. At the same time, I really want the benefits of exercise as it pertains to my health. I just feel better after a good bike ride or a good session in the gym. But I also don’t enjoy working with injuries, so I will wait.

Weight-wise, my weight didn’t change from yesterday, but that’s a win. I know that not every day will see a loss. I remember from my very first Whole30 that sometimes, I’d go 3-4 days without losing and then WHOOSH 2-3 lbs would disappear. I don’t know why it works like that, but it does. Now that I know what to expect, I’m good with these mini-plateaus and fluctuations.

As for food, today started with my Keto cereal with blueberries, and my lunch with be a Whole30 chicken parmigiana (without cheese or breading, obviously) with zucchini cut up like spaghetti noodles and a tomato sauce. This is one of our favorites, and I’m looking forward to it. Dinner will likely be the carnitas tacos again (one of my ultimate favorites). I will also have an apple after lunch, and likely a peach after dinner. We picked up some peaches on our way home from Dallas on Saturday, and they are the sweetest peaches I’ve had in years.

Cheat Meals are Sabotage

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Plain and simple: cheat meals are sabotage. Let me explain.

A cheat is defined as a way to gain an advantage by behaving dishonestly. Cheat meals don’t help you gain advantage over anything. In fact, what you actually do when you have a cheat meal (or worse, a cheat day) is you sabotage your hard work and your progress by setting you back. How so?

First, you’re reinforcing bad behavior and habits and continuing to make it okay. A lot of cheat meals are (and you know this or you wouldn’t even call it a cheat meal) bad for you or contains foods that contain ingredients that aren’t healthy.

Second, any progress you’re making in breaking those bad habits is being discarded because you’re still clinging to your old way of eating which got you into trouble with your weight or your health (or in my case, both).

Third, it can stall your progress, or worse, set you back. If you’re doing Keto, this can throw you out of ketosis and set you back as much as two weeks. For me during a Whole30 or when I’m on my regular Paleo Diet, it can erase days or even a week or more of progress in weight loss.

Fourth, it is a slippery slope. It’s how I always end up having to do another Whole30. By allowing one cheat meal, you start to rationalize not eating healthy and say to yourself something like, “Oh, it’s just this one meal,” or “It’s just this one dessert.” The problem is that the one meal turns into two which turns into days which turns into falling off the proverbial wagon altogether.

I tend to have cheat meals on vacations. I do this as a treat, but I do so knowing full well that I will need to do a sort of detox by doing a Whole30 afterwards to mitigate the emotional and physical damage done by not watching my diet closely. This is precisely what got me to this most recent Whole30: my last month of deployment to Kosovo, my two months back from my deployment and reintegration into my civilian life, and then a two-week trip to the Balkans. Now, I’m back to eating healthy, and resisting any suggestions from friends about, “Oh, c’mon, just have a cheat meal!”

I can’t, and I won’t. For me, sabotage is what it is, and it’s why I always frame cheat meals as sabotage meals. This morning, I was at 202.2 lbs. That’s almost 8 lbs in just over 2 weeks that I’ve lost already. While it hasn’t been hard, it hasn’t been easy, either. I’ve had to resist a lot of temptation and at a few social events, I’ve had to refrain from indulging in the way that our culture does at gatherings and get-togethers. Some people don’t understand my level of commitment, and they infer it as me being unsocial. It’s nothing of the sort; I’m just taking care of me.

I’ve repeatedly been successful on Whole30’s, and over the nearly 8 years I’ve been on the Paleo Diet, my health has never been better. I’ve kept off the vast majority of the weight I gained, and right now, I’m well on my way to getting back down to a weight I’m much more comfortable at. This will not only make me feel better in my own skin, but allow me to fit back into all my favorite clothes (and uniforms!), but will also allow me to do my exercise much easier. Riding a mountain bike with an extra 30 lbs is much harder than when I weighed 180 lbs!

So, there will be no sabotage for me. I work too hard for this progress. I will not throw it away for the short-term satisfaction that a meal brings. I prefer the delayed gratification and long-term benefits of being healthier and weighing less.

End of week 2 and the result is…

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203.3. That’s nearly 7 lbs in two weeks. It’s keeping me on track for the 10+ I was hoping for this Whole30. Now, here’s the crazy part: Sherry and I are considering this a pre-Whole30 because we have a summer party in two weeks where we will imbibe alcohol and probably eat some things we aren’t supposed to. But the plan is for us to then start our REAL Whole30 the following day which will lead us into a strict Paleo for the rest of the summer and fall going into the holiday season just like we did on our very first Whole30. That first Whole30 led me to lose 110 lbs in a year without exercise and shoehorned me into the Paleo lifestyle which saw me lose another 40 lbs and reverse my Type 2 Diabetes and fatty liver disease.

I’m incredibly excited and motivated to see 203.3 lbs on the scale this morning for another reason: I forgot to weigh myself when I woke up, so that was after eating breakfast and 10 oz of coffee as well as needing to *ehem* go to the bathroom. So… I could have weighed up to half a pound less! But, I’ll put that loss off for tomorrow.

Mushrooms are a great ingredient for Whole30 foods.

Today, Sherry and I are doing meal prep for the week. We are making some Carnitas, Al Pastor, and a deconstructed cheeseburger. All of these are Whole30-compliant, and among some of our favorites. Whole30 is really not that difficult to get through when the foods taste as good if not better than the non-compliant foods. Even my daughter who was staying with us last week commented on how much she liked the food. She was even happier to know that it was all very healthy for her.

My success is only possible because of the teamwork with my wife. Between her being the driving force behind our amazing menu and the cooking, to the portion sizes she’s been helping me with (my biggest problem is over-eating), the nearly 7 lbs I’ve lost is in large part due to her support. Teamwork makes the dream work.

Trusting the Process (Again)

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This morning at my daily weigh-in, my weight remained the same (yay!), but my pants are already definitely feeling better, and my shirts are fitting better. It seems the inflammation of my body which manifests with swelling has been decreasing enough that my “Puffy” look is going away.

As for my back, it continues to feel a little better but I think there is an underlying issue I will have to see a doctor for. I don’t want to venture guesses publicly, but I think it’s better to be checked out to know for sure.

Food-wise, I started the day with my Catalina Crunch Keto cereal (chocolate) with a handful of blueberries sprinkled on top with the Califia Better Half coconut/almond milk. I really enjoy this quick cereal breakfast and it tastes great and keeps me sated until lunchtime.

Speaking of lunchtime, today I will have a deconstructed chicken with salsa verde bowl with riced cauliflower and grilled pepper, onions, and mushrooms. It’s a new-ish recipe that Sherry started to make recently and I love it!

Dinner will likely be a salisbury steak with mushroom sauce over mashed cauliflower. I had this a few times this week, and it’s really tasty and filling!

Although my weight remained the same, I am happy about how my clothes are feeling. It’s a process, and it takes time. I just have to continue to trust the process and monitor my progress and adjust as necessary. So far, no adjustments have been necessary; I’m eating the right foods, getting enough sleep, and making sure I’m properly hydrated. I look forward to being able to add exercise back after my back (and possible other issue) gets better.

Two steps forward…

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So, the progress with my weight loss is going back in the right direction with a new low; 204.9. That’s over 5 lbs now in just over a week. That’s what I expected. I’d hoped for more, but in the first month, if I can get 10+, that’s a victory, and I’m well on my way to that number.

This is me right now in my office at work.

As for how my pants feel, they’re much looser. Things are fitting better already. I look forward to being able to wear all my clothes again soon. It’s ridiculous how quickly I was able to pack on weight with just a few months of being marginally careful. I guess I need to remain eternally vigilant and really stick to the Paleo Diet. It has done well for me for nearly eight years. Just two months off of it and my weight soared and my health declined quicker than anything I’d ever experienced. There’s no better endorsement for the no added sugar/low-carb diet than what I’ve just been through over the past two months.

The one step backward is my back pain. This morning, my back pain was pretty bad when driving into the office. Now as I sit in my chair (very upright with good posture, I might add), it doesn’t hurt, but as soon as I try to move or get up, it will be sore again.

I think the spasm is, once again, tightening up. I did some stretching exercises in my bed before getting up, and it may not have had the effect I was hoping for. I will continue to be careful and move slowly and deliberately, but if this persists, a visit to a doctor or a chiropractor may be in order.

Weekend and back pain

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This weekend was supposed to be full of me doing some chores and tasks I’ve been putting off for a while and ended with me in bed taking muscle relaxers.

Ugh.

So, how did I get into this predicament? The best I can guess is that I was using poor posture at my desk on the first half of Friday. At noon, it was sore, and by Friday evening, I was in excruciating pain. I then spent the next two days either on a couch propped up with pillows or in bed laying down.

The good news is that today I feel a lot better, although there is still pain.

As for my Whole30, it has been progressing as planned. I’ve been eating only compliant foods, and I feel my body being less swollen or inflamed. As for my weight, the last time I checked on Monday morning, my weight was up a little to 206.9, but this is why they tell you on Whole30 to not weigh daily; your weight fluctuates naturally, and some people can get discouraged or demotivated by weight gains. I do not. I use them as fuel to further motivate me, and to take a very close look back on why my body is reacting the way it did to not only what I ate, but what I drank and what activities I did. It makes sense that my weight was up a little on Monday; I was sedentary all weekend.

I’m still not 100%, so I’m still taking it easy, but I’m looking forward to this weekend to do some more activities. I am really looking forward to getting back on my bike and getting back to lifting, but this back spasm really threw a monkey wrench into those plans. However, I know Whol30 works without exercise, and I lost 110 lbs without any exercise at all doing Whole30 and Paleo, so I’m not discouraged. If anything, I’m looking forward to getting started again at a lower weight. Running/biking are so much easier when you’re lighter, anyway.

Embrace the Suck

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Wow. What a great way to start the day. I did my (illegal according to Whole30) weigh-in this morning and found myself to be at 205.4 lbs. I started at 310 lbs on Monday! I know, I know: a lot of that is water weight. Of course it is; I was eating foods containing sugar, grains, and dairy, and on top of that, the portion sizes were, well, a little crazy. All of those things cause me to swell and retain water. BUT!!!! The bottom line is now I’m not carrying that almost 5 lbs of water weight! I can already notice the difference in my gut and face.

How do I feel? Sluggish, a little bit, but it’s to be expected. I won’t really start feeling more energized for another week, and this weekend, the worst of the flu-like symptoms should start to hit.

I was talking to Sherry last night, and I told her that the worse the symptoms get, the more I feel satisfied that the process is working. I’m embracing the discomfort. Anything worthwhile involves discomfort: want a degree? You’re going to spend a lot of time and late nights studying and writing papers. Want to get fit? You’re going to spend a lot of time exercising, whether it’s in a gym or on the pavement. Want to become a Marine? Boot camp isn’t easy and involves a lot of discomfort before you earn the title and the right to wear the eagle, globe, and anchor.

If you want to accomplish anything that’s valuable in life, you have to be okay with sacrifice. In this case, I’m sacrificing my comfort and my apetite to eat ceaselessly and carelessly. In some ways, I’m sacrificing some happiness, but at the same time, the happiness I’ll gain by being healthier, fitter, and lighter will outweigh the happiness I’m giving up. In the Marines, we say, “Embrace the suck.” The more you get used to and embrace things being hard, difficult, and sometimes illogical, the better off you will be emotionally. When it comes to this Whole30, I’m definitely embracing the suck.

As for last night’s dinner, I didn’t eat the planned meal-prepped dinner because my daughter and I had an impromptu father-daughter date for dinner. We went to a Greek restaurant, and I had beef tenerloin on a skewer with vegetables on a skewer with a side salad. I skipped on the Feta, dolmades, the pita, and the tsaziki. The meal was actually Whole30 compliant and very tasty! It’s nice that there are options out there for me to enjoy a dinner outside the house that is healthy enough to not derail my process or progress.

Today, I had my standard two eggs, bacon, and tomato breakfast along with some coffee. For lunch, my plan is to hit the refrigerator for another meal-prepped container of goodness. I haven’t quite yet decided which one I’ll eat, but I’m leaning towards the Picadillo. As for dinner, my wife returns from a one-week business trip tonight, and we plan on going out for a steak that I’ll have with half of a baked sweet potato.

All in all, while the actual end of Week 1 will be Sunday night, I’m already jazzed with my progress. I know that body weight fluctuates naturally, and sometimes I’ll weigh myself and wonder how my weight went up, but if the past is any indicator, those days will be very rare and few and far between.