When I first started my new lifestyle with a Whole30, I happened to have an annual physical scheduled about 45 days later which I went to. They drew blood, took vitals, and after the doctor admonishing me for partaking in a “Fad diet,” I went home. Three days later, I was called by the doctor’s office telling me that they had made a mistake and I needed to re-do my bloodwork. They said my blood was somehow changed with someone else’s, and the tests had to be re-done. I went in and they drew blood again, but this time, the results were the same as before, so the doctor called me in to talk about them.
He told me that he’d never seen someone go from being Type-2 Diabetic to not having elevated blood sugar at all. My blood pressure was normal, and with the exception of one of my lipid counts being a bit elevated, everything else looked normal. This was not the case for me before which is why they initially thought that my blood had somehow been exchanged with someone else’s.
After a year and 110 lbs lost, the doctor told me that he had also done a Whole30 and transitioned to Paleo and that he was advising all his patients to do the same. He said he’d never seen as successful of a transformation as mine and I was the inspiration for him to change his life and the lives of his patients struggling with weight and weight-related health issues.
We often hear that most people who diet to lose weight gain the weight back and then some within a year or two. First, Whole30 and the Paleo Diet are not fad diets. Second, I adopted a healthy lifestyle, not just a new diet. After my initial year of weight loss, I incorporated a lot of exercise and activities that are physical (mountain biking, hiking, kayaking, and re-joining the military). Eating sensibly and being cognizant of portion size coupled with limiting non-compliant foods as much as possible, I’ve maintained my weight loss for over 10 years now.
There are times when my weight fluctuates; typically when my wife and I go on a vacation and we sample local foods that are non-compliant. We mitigate the impact by sharing meals and limiting portion size, yet the weight still sticks to us. The butcher’s bill is usually between 6-10 lbs for a two-week trip. Fortunately, a lot of that is from water weight, and the vast majority is lost within a week of returning home and eating compliant foods again. But for the most part, I’ve stuck around the 185 lbs mark for over 10 years now.
I would prefer to be 170 lbs or less, but my body has other ideas. For whatever reason, it seems like this weight, because no matter how much I exercise or how closely I follow my diet, the weight seems to stick between 188 and 183 lbs.
Has it been hard? Not really. I still get to sneak the occasional dark chocolate or croissant without any significant impact on my health and weight, but otherwise, the Paleo Diet has become not only my new normal, but the new normal for my entire family and even close friends. There are many Paleo recipes we even prefer now over their non-Paleo counterparts as we find them even more delicious.
I don’t miss being winded walking up a flight of stairs. I don’t miss having pain in my legs when I wake up in the morning. I don’t miss not being able to tie my shoes because my stomach was so large it got in the way of me bending forward. I don’t miss the feeling of always being tired, and of always being over-heated even in air-conditioned spaces. For all those reasons, I stick to my diet happily and continue to be physically active as much as possible.
Paleo Marine 